With the Tsukihime remake finally being released, the talk around French Bread’s latest entry in the Melty Blood series, Melty Blood Type Lumina, is sure to generate lots of hype, excitement, and countless memes of Neco-Arc whether we want them or nyat. If you’re a long-time Tsukihime fan who doesn’t know anything about fighting games, a member of the FGC who wants a primer on the latest entry, or somewhere in between, read on for more information on what we know so far with Melty Blood Type Lumina:
How To Play It
Melty Blood Type Lumina is coming to us on 9/30 for Switch, Xbox One, and PS4. While it does not have crossplay, it will have rollback netcode. A Deluxe Edition with an art pack and sound collection is available which comes with an early purchase bonus of a Arcueid announcer pack. The announcer pack will later be available as paid DLC for non preorders.
Characters
The launch cast is currently comprised entirely of returning characters including…
- Shiki Tohno
- Arcueid Brunestud
- Akiha Tohno
- Ciel
- Hisui
- Kohaku
- Maids (Hisui & Kohaku fighting together)
- Kouma
- Miyako
Check the character page for Type Lumina for trailers and details on all the characters. You can also track down further information on who is out there through achievement lists but we’re trying to keep it to what’s been officially announced so far! Officially we know “more than 10” but we’ll see where that number lands.
What is coming back?
Reverse Beat, the ability to chain your buttons downward in strength as well as upward (L> M >H or M>H>L as an example) is still in. We can see reverse beat used in a few instances of the trailers.
Shield and Shield Counter are both in; strong options to counter incoming attacks.
Heat is also a returning mechanic though the specifics of how it will be implemented aren’t completely clear just yet.
What’s New?
Rapid Beat is a new addition to Melty Blood Type Lumina, a form of auto combo. We don’t yet know how this will be fully implemented. If past titles that use a Rapid Beat-adjacent function are any guideline, it will be useful for new/entry-level players and then have niche applications for more advanced situations.
And then, we have Moon Gauge.
Moon Gauge
Moon variants, the system that Melty Blood Actress Again brought to the table, are out. Characters look to be a single kit, likely in a move to make the game feel less overwhelming to newcomers. However, we do have Moons as a resource, the Moon Gauge is separate from your Magic Circuit (similar to EX or super meter).
The Moon Gauge seems to have a few functions, but we don’t yet have a clear picture of how it all ties together. We have Moon Skills, enhanced specials with shortcut inputs (similar to Granblue Fantasy Versus). These grant enhanced properties at the cost of Moon Gauge.
The Moon Gauge also seems to enable the use of some sort of counter strike/movement option. In reaction to the opponent using Shield on your attack, you can use this counter tool at the cost of some Moon meter. It appears to be a strike that also moves you forward.
If your Moon is full you get access to activate Moon Drive, a special mode that looks to crank up your movement options. It has additional effects on a character-by-character basis, but this is what we can tell from videos so far.
Damn, Type Lumina Sounds Kinda Sick….
French Bread has quite the pedigree of fighting games including “the little IP that could” with Under Night. They are no strangers to delivering a top-shelf fighting game experience. If they bring their usual mark of quality to Type Lumina we’re all in for a treat. I’ve fallen into the Melty hole myself over the pandemic and isolation due to its ease of access, the willingness of its community to help teach me, and quality netplay. I expect all of those things to remain true and will keep you updated as we get further information on the upcoming release.
If you’re looking to learn more about Melty, check out the wiki and consider joining the Melty Blood Community Discord, both of which can be found here.
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