Many gamers always like to wonder what a fighting game would look like if you threw in character A to fight character B. This is a natural thought as sometimes some characters are just destined to be seen as warriors capable of beating all who stand in their way. Blade Strangers does this but in a rather peculiar manner having 14 warriors from numerous games that usually are 2D based. Developer Nicalis and Saizensen have teamed up and their end result is a fighting game with characters like Shovel Knight and a girl who rides a giant cat. Weird, yes. Awesome? That decision will be answered below in our review.

Blade Strangers takes several gaming franchises—Code of Princess, Cave Story+,The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+, and many more—and pits the characters from these titles in a 2D fighting game. Take control of characters like Isaac, Solange, Gunvolt and Quote to see who has the fighting chops to be consider the true Blade Stranger. Embark on a weird story of interdimensional realities in Story Mode or fight against the AI in Arcade Mode. Blade Strangers might seem strange and outlandish but for those who love cross over games, Blade Strangers will certainly please you. Haven’t you ever wondered who would come out on top if Gunvolt beat Shovel Knight?

A powerful being known as Lina has begun a move that could damage the very fabric of space and time. Thankfully, a group of computer servers known as motes have begun to act out a plan. Using their powers, the motes scramble to find a hero/heroine to stop Lina and protect the interdimensional networks. Known as a blade stranger, one warrior will be summoned and have the skills to defeat Lina to prevent mass chaos. Who will be dubbed the Blade Stranger?!

Crossover fighters aren’t a new thing in the gaming world. Last May, we had BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle release having franchises like Persona 4 and RWBY duke it out for ultimate dominance. However, we’re use to developers like Arc System Works developing fighters like this as it makes sense, these characters are made for fighting and it works well in a fighting focused game. Developer Nicalis—known for Cave Story+ and The Binding of Isaac—isn’t a group you would think of for a fighting game nor studios Saizensen. Yet, both developers worked together and created a mashup fighter known as Blade Strangers. What are our thoughts on this rather interesting cross over creation? Let’s find out as we dive into our review of Blade Strangers for the Nintendo Switch.

Usually, we begin our reviews with a quick look at the main theme of a game. With Blade Strangers we won’t be doing this as the main theme is pretty much as random and weird as you can get. All you need to know is that universes have been gathered together to see who is worthy of stopping some evil threat. The story mode is the weakest element of Blade Strangers because unlike other crossover fighters like the earlier mentioned BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle or even Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite, the story just seems random as do the 14 fighters that have been gathered together in Blade Strangers. Luckily though, most fighting games—even the veterans like Tekken or Dead or Alive—aren’t known for their stories but their fighting mechanics. Blade Strangers isn’t the best fighting game in the world but it sure does a great of being a competent one.

Players will take on characters like Shovel Knight, Isaac, Quote, Solange, Gunvolt and numerous more as you perform numerous combos and unleash some wicked specials on your enemies. Blade Strangers makes use of nearly every button on the Nintendo Switch as each one is assigned to a different attack. Combos and special attacks can be performed quite easily though making Blade Strangers a good fighter for those who like more relaxing brawlers but for more hard-core players it might be a bit simple at the end of the day. Though we did like how each fighter felt very different and mirrored the games they exist in with Gunvolt’s specials using his electric aura fields or Quote blasting enemies away with rocket barrages. For fans of the games, Blade Strangers takes its characters from this is a neat little detail and makes for some truly spectacular looking animations.

Visually, Blade Strangers is very animated with a high level of detail. The characters visually remind us of a mixture of modern 2D fighters and more old school ones like Fatal Fury or King of Fighters. The music also hits some high notes with tracks from the games these warriors are based on and some originals thrown in for good measure. For Nintendo Switch players, Blade Strangers looks great in handheld mode and impressive in docked mode. We did notice docked mode doesn’t make Blade Strangers look 10x better but there’s a bit of a upgrade in visuals with characters having just a bit of touch up and the stages looking sharper in general. Needless to say though, Blade Strangers looks and sounds good in every mode. Kudos to the opening animation as well as it just screams anime all the way and you know we here at Honey’s Anime love that.

Finally, let’s discuss some of the other modes in Blade Strangers as we only briefly mentioned story mode. Akin to most fighters, there are several modes in Blade Strangers. Arcade Mode allows you to just go through several stages, Survival Mode has you going for as long as you can and Mission Mode is where you try to perform various combos as each of the characters. We don’t have much to say about online as we didn’t get to play it—due to Blade Strangers not being fully released and thus, servers aren’t up—but if we notice anything good or bad about it, we’ll include that in an updated review. Blade Strangers won’t be a fighter you’ll play forever but at least, it’s got some meat to it which we always appreciate in any fighting game. There have been some cross over titles in the past that barely had a story mode or arcade mode but Blade Strangers has enough to keep you invested for some time.

Blade Strangers doesn’t feel like a serious fighting game and will never be a title you see on the pro-circuit but that’s honestly okay at the end of the day. At its core, Blade Strangers is a solid fighter with a nice slew of weird—but fun—characters and a lot of the style thanks in large part to these strange warriors thrown together. We honestly loved our time with Blade Strangers even though we weren’t sure if a crossover like this would work. Luckily, Blade Strangers feels good and while it isn’t going to be awarded the best fighting game award anytime soon, we can still say Blade Strangers beats with a heart of a fighting game. We fully recommend Blade Strangers to fans of developer Nicalis and or Saizensen as well as anyone who just likes weird fighters in a competent fighting game which not all crossovers end up being.

We’ve seen a lot of crossover fighting games as of late but none as strange and peculiar as Blade Strangers. However, that isn’t meant to be taken in a negative annotation. Blade Strangers works well on the Nintendo Switch and plays just as well to offer a solid fighting game title that will appeal to many who love titles like it. At the end of the day, that’s all we wanted from Blade Strangers and we’re happy to say it delivers a truly fun and enjoyable fighting game. Are you excited to try out Blade Strangers now or are you going to pass on it? Let us know in the comments below! Remember to also keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime for more game reviews and gaming related articles!