Azure Striker Gunvolt
Azure Striker Gunvolt is a 2014 action-platform game developed by Inti Creates and directed by Yoshihisa Tsuda.
In a near future, a lot of humans begin to develop special abilities. These people are known as the "adepts". These "adepts" were soon victimized and treated as a threat by mankind.
The Sumeragi Group, a Japanese conglomerate, soon began to make illegal and unethical research on the adepts to use them as source of energy. In a country devoid of big energy sources like Japan, the energy they managed to produce from adepts gave them a lot of power. Still, the dehumanization of Adepts didn't reach a point where they can openly use them as batteries, so their crimes are kept a secret from the general population, treated at best as a conspiracy theory. Soon, however, underground groups began to form to fight against Sumeragi's rule.
Our protagonist, Gunvolt, works for one of these groups, called QUILL. In a mission to destroy a so called "Muse", an pop idol that Sumeragi uses to control the population, Gunvolt discovers that the Muse wasn't some kind of computer program but the projection a female Adept. Being an Adept that was rescued by QUILL from a similar situation, Gunvolt takes the decision of rescuing the girl instead of killing her and leaves QUILL to give the girl a chance of living a normal life instead of eliminating her as QUILL orders him. But the girl, now named Joule, is too valuable for Sumeragi to give up on taking her back....
- Bad Boss: Merak tries to kill Gunvolt by drowning by leaving water fill the aquatic base, not caring what happens to his subordinates. And he did this purely because he was lazy and didn't want to fight Gunvolt directly.
- Beehive Barrier: There's one protecting the main reactor of the Biochem Plant. After blasting it away, Gunvolt meets Viper.
- Black Eyes of Evil: All of the Sumeragi Seven have black sclera in their Weaponized forms.
- Brilliant But Lazy: Despite being apparently very intelligent, Merak avoids any kind of effort, only working because he needs the money to keep his lifestyle, and even at that he half-asses it, even avoiding fighting Gunvolt at full-force.
- Brutal Honesty: Joule, sort of. Sort because it's Lumen who tells Gunvolt her deepest secrets outright, but Muse is part of Joule so is still her confessing anyway.
- Bullet Hell: Viper's Special Attack, Refulgence, ends with him floating in the air while he launches cloud of projectiles towards Gunvolt.
- Color-Coded Elements: Viper has red hair and red armor and red personality, so of course his powers involve manipulating fire.
- Cool Chair: Merak attacks while he sits on a chair, from where we can presume he can command his weapons.
- Electric Torture: Gunvolt is tortured in this manner at the beginning of the game, but it is useless because of his electrical powers that give him immunity against electricity.
- Hot-Blooded: Viper yells every word it comes out of his mouth and attacks Gunvolt ferociously.
- Humongous Mecha: Merak battles Gunvolt using a combination of his powers and the weapons of a robot he sits on to fight.
- La Résistance: QUILL serves as this against Sumeragi.
- Locomotive Level: The first level, where Gunvolt is searching for the Muse.
- Meaningful Name
- Gunvolt, because he uses a gun and uses electric and magnetical powers, get it?
- Sumeragi means "emperor" in japanese, and they control the country of Japan like an absolute emperor.
- Mega Corp: Sumeragi, that controls Japan with an iron fist.
- Playing with Fire: Viper's power allows him to manipulate thermal energy. He uses it mostly to generate heat projectiles and, when fighting Gunvolt, he creates giant columns of fire to restrict his opponent's movements.
- Rapunzel Hair: Justified on the case of Lumen because she isn't even real, so hair issues aren't a problem.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Gunvolt decides to defect from Quill because he don't wants to kill Joule just because Sumeragi can use her powers for evil.
- Sensor Character: Between other's powers, Joule's Septima allows her to localize other Septima users, that Sumeragi was using her for at the prologue.
- Sexier Alter Ego: Not that Joule isn't attractive in her own way, but Lumen looks and specially acts more seductive towards Gunvolt.
- Shipper on Deck: Lumen, sort of. She is technically part of Joule, so you may even consider her actions to make Joule and Gunvolt a couple just Joule unconsciously trying to seduce Gunvolt.
- Shock and Awe: One of Gunvolt's powers is to generate electricity.
- Space Master: Merak can create holes in space to move people and objects around.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Played for Laughs. Joule curls in a fetal position because Gunvolt caught her humming.
- Under the Sea: Merak's stage is on a subaquatic base.
- Unknown Rival: Viper sees Gunvolt's as his "rival" for Joule's love, but the truth is that Viper never even talked to her before.
- Wave Motion Gun: Merak's special attack, Lazy Laser, it's a giant energy beam launched from a cannon on his chair. To make it sure it will hit Gunvolt, he uses his warp holes to move it around the battlefield in different angles.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: QUILL is treated as terrorists by the general public.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Class A by Lumen, probably to appeal to her fans.