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Arcana Heart
Developer(s)	Examu Yuki Enterprise (Arcade) Atrativa Japan (Arcade, FULL!) Ecole Software (PS2)
Publisher(s)	JP Lucky Co., Ltd. (Arcade) JP Examu (Arcade, FULL!) JP AQ Interactive (PS2) NA Atlus (PS2)
Designer(s)	Sakuraitooru
Series	Arcana Heart
Platform(s)	Arcade, PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	JP 22 December 2006 (Arcade) JP April 2007 (Arcade, FULL!) JP 11 October 2007 (PS2) NA 10 April 2008 (PS2)
Genre(s)	2D Versus fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Rating(s)	CERO: B ESRB: Teen
Media	1 DVD-ROM (PS2)
Input methods	8-way Joystick, 4 Buttons (Arcade) DualShock 2 (PS2)
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Original

Arcana Heart (アルカナハート, Arukana Hāto ^?) is a 2D arcade fighting game developed by Examu Inc. (formerly Yuki Enterprise). The first edition was released to arcades (mostly in Japan, but a few in other countries) in late 2006. The game features an original all-female cast (each a variation of the moe archetype), and after choosing a character the player chooses an "elemental alignment" which determines the character's special moves.

Development

In mid-April 2007, a patch was released for Arcana Heart called "Arcana Heart FULL!". The patch fixed a variety of issues, toning-down overly-powerful characters and "buffing up" weaker characters. A controversy arose, however, due to the fact that the patch (which is physically housed on a single custom chip) costs ¥78,000 each, whereas similar patches for similar games have been released for free (such as the patch for Melty Blood: Act Cadenza).

Console version

On July 4, 2007 it was announced that a console version of the game is slated for release on PlayStation 2 in Japan on October 11, 2007.^[1]

The home version allows the option of playing individual characters in "Original" or "Full," reflecting the original and patched versions of characters from the arcade. Voice acting was also added to all story segments.

On April 11, 2008, the game was released in North America. A notable difference between Arcana Heart and most other US PlayStation 2 titles is that the game has only Japanese voiceovers and no English voiceovers. Atlus removed the voices present in the Japanese console version's story mode as well as prebattle and victory screens, but kept the voices used in battle.

Arcana Heart 2

Arcana Heart 2 is the sequel to Arcana Heart, which was developed by Examu as the first Examu title published after the rights of the franchise had been transferred to EXAMU, Inc. The base platform was changed to eX-BOARD, the first game for the system.

Arcana Heart 2 was unveiled in AOU2008 Amusement Expo.

New feature is the 6 extra fighters (with unique arcana), Arcana blast, Arcana homing, Critical heart.

• Arcana blast: By consuming 1 power gauge, player becomes temporarily invulnerable.
• Arcana homing: By consuming 1 homing gauge, player can split and perform homing cancel.
• Critical heart: By consuming 3 power gauges, player can use the fighter's specific move when there is a specific distance between opposing fighters.

Suggoi! Arcana Heart 2

It is the updated version of Arcana Heart 2. First operation began on Sun. October 30, 2008. This version brought some balance and design changes. Also, some additional elements are added. New fighters to this version include Nazuna Inuwaka, Akane Inuwaka, and Parace L'Sia. Their respective Arcana include Cayatshime (Flower), Fenecs (Sound), Parace L'sia (Life).

-Differences with Suggoi!

• Illustrations of the character images, and redesigned Hirotaka Kaya to be painted red.
• One additional character.
• One additional stage.
• One new color set for the characters, selected by pressing the START button when selecting the character.
• Game balancing.
• The following changes made version (Ver2.6) at the 2009 production start date February 27.
• Additional training mode.
• Some bug fixes.

Arcana Heart 3

A third sequel to Arcana Heart has been announced by Examu via their blog and according to the creators, the game is still in development and it will be released in the eX-BOARD Arcade machines in Winter 2009.^[2] In the latest issue of Famitsu and in the newly opened official website, a new official main character of the series was revealed named Weiß and another second was confirmed name Eko.

Adaptations

A manga based on the video game was serialized on the March 2008 issue of Comp Ace magazine, published on 2008-01-26.^[3]

Audio Drama

The Arcana Heart Fan Disc was sold in 2007-08-17 in Comic Market 72. The package includes 1 DVD and 1 CD. DVD contains 3 audio dramas and interviews. CD contains 3 character songs, and instrumental songs.

A drama CD was included with the limited release of Japanese PS2 game.

Arcana Heart Drama CD Heartful Situation was published by TEAM Entertainment. Episodes were released in 2007-10-24 and 2007-11-21.

Arcana Heart Stick

It is a limited edition PlayStation 2 controller for the game, manufactured by HORI.

See also

• List of Arcana Heart characters
• List of fighting games

References

External links

Arcana Heart

• Examu AH Website - Arcade version
• AQ AH Website - PS2 version
• Atlus AH Website
• Official English Forum
• A short insertcredit article about the patch
• Hori Arcana Heart Stick page

Arcana Heart 2

• Examu AH2 page
• Examu Suggoi! Arcana Heart 2 page
• AQ Suggoi! Arcana Heart 2 page

Arcana Heart 3

• Examu AH3 page

From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki

Arcana Heart
Developer(s)	Examu
Publisher(s)	AQ Interactive Atlus USA
Release date(s)	Arcade  December 22, 2006 PlayStation 2  October 11, 2007  April 10, 2008
Genre(s)	Fighting
System(s)	Arcade, PlayStation 2
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	CERO: Ages 12 and up ESRB: Teen
Followed by	Arcana Heart 2
Series	Arcana Heart

This is the first game in the Arcana Heart series. For other games in the series see the Arcana Heart category.

Arcana Heart (アルカナハート, Arukana Hāto ^?) is a 2D arcade fighting game developed by Examu Inc. (formerly Yuki Enterprise). The first edition was released to arcades (mostly in Japan, but a few in other countries) in late 2006. The game features an original all-female cast (each a variation of the moe Anime-Girl archetype), and after choosing a character the player chooses an "elemental alignment" which determines the character's special moves.

On July 4, 2007 it was announced that a console version of the game was slated for release on PlayStation 2 in Japan on October 11, 2007. The home version allows the option of playing individual characters in "Original" or "Full," reflecting the original and patched versions of characters from the arcade. Voice acting was also added to all story segments.

On April 11, 2008, the game was released in North America. A notable difference between Arcana Heart and most other US PlayStation 2 titles is that the game has only Japanese voiceovers and no English voiceovers. Atlus USA removed the voices present in the Japanese console version's story mode as well as prebattle and victory screens, but kept the voices used in battle.

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