Code Shifter revealed by Arc System Works

Here at Disposable Media, we love announcements of crossover projects. As a fan of a particular brand, you’re already pretty invested in the lore, the world and the characters within that world… and so when your favourite names come together in a crossover your mind can’t help but explode as it considers the situations that could emerge. Admittedly, crossovers can’t strike gold all of the time – for every Street Fighter X Mega Man there’s a Street Fighter X Tekken – but with the right creative talent great things can happen. Recently we got to see Code Shifter revealed on various media channels, and it seems like it can continue the trend of teasing myriad possibilities…

Code Shifter revealed with 2D debugging action

Code Shifter is a forthcoming 2D action game from Arc System Works, the developers behind some of the best fighting games of recent times and the home of enough varied and interesting franchises to make a crossover game instantly intriguing. With Code Shifter revealed in a short but wholesome trailer, we can see that the game itself has a narrative premise that brings to mind Wario Ware (another DM favourite) – here, a fictional videogame developer named Awesome Rainbow Corp (abbreviated to ARC, of course) is approaching the release of its latest game, but mysterious bugs have started appearing and there’s not a whole lot of time left.

In response to the bugs, ARC programmer Stella creates a debug program that lets her enter these games in avatar form and get them fixed. For the player, this means entering 2D action platformer environments, negotiating hazards and eliminating enemies. However, Stella is not alone: by finding key points in the stage she can transform into one of 100 characters from iconic Arc System Works franchises and use their abilities to proceed forward.

Cameos and bonus modes

We also saw the trailer for Code Shifter revealed alongside some translated statements which tease at characters appearing from Guilty Gear, BlazBlue and the River City series, all presented in a charming scaled-down form to suit the 2D platformer format. Stella herself exists as the default playable character before she transforms – essentially acting as vanilla Mega Man before he has changed into one of his acquired forms – and unfortunately she might be one of the less interesting designs as she has no associated game… but you’ll probably be transforming so frequently that you won’t worry about this too much.

In addition to the standard single-player campaign, an additional multiplayer mode was also included in the trailer – “Colourful Fighters” (above) appears to be a separate bonus game that players can experience outside of the standard Code Shifter campaign, and takes the form of a versus mode where up to four players can pick one of the characters and face their friends in a brawl until they’re the last one standing. Again, arenas are in a 2D format and some of them have platforms and other stage furniture to jump around on, so mobility will be an important part of a player’s strategy.

Code Shifter revealed and coming soon?

The product information in the trailer’s description suggests that the game will be released on the 30^th January for Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PS4 for 2000 yen (according to currency conversion websites, this is a little under £14 at the time of writing.) With my personal gaming schedule looking a little quiet in the first months of 2020, I might be tempted to pick this up later in the month… and hopefully Arc will end up with a better crossover project than Street Fighter X Tekken. As always, if you have any thoughts on Code Shifter, Colourful Fighters or crossover games in general, let us know in the comments.