A few months ago, it was announced that Melty Blood: Actress Again would be added to this year's Evolution tournament. While Melty Blood has become fairly popular in Japan, many in the US are still quick to dismiss the series thanks to its visual novel/anime roots. This is unfortunate as the fighting engine has matured greatly since the series debuted in 2002. With any luck, being at Evolution will help to bring the fighter the recognition it deserves amongst the more mainstream audience.

For a while, I thought that most gamers had at least heard of Melty Blood. However, after I talked about Actress Again's inclusion at EVO and its RingWide port back in February, it became evident that that was not the case as I received quite a few messages asking about the series. The interest that was shown convinced me to do a write-up before EVO, but thankfully, the writers over at iPLAYWINNER did the work for me. The primer that they put up covers the series' origins, American scene, and basic gameplay mechanics and also includes lots of useful links. It was written by gamers who are fairly knowledgeable about the series, so give it a look if you've ever wanted to learn more about Melty Blood.

LINK A Closer Look at Melty Blood: Actress Again Written by its Players @ iPLAYWINNER
RELATED Melty Bread - "home to a community of fans who try to ignore the fact that their fighting game of choice has its origins from a hentai-game"
RELATED Melty Blood: Actress Again – Current Code’s official site is now live
RELATED Melty Blood chosen as the final game to be added to Evolution 2010’s roster

Related posts:

1. A Look Back: the Evolution DVD trailers
2. Melty Blood: Actress Again – Current Code’s official site is now live
3. Melty Blood chosen as the final game to be added to Evolution 2010’s roster

Though Melty Blood: Actress Again - Current Code is essentially an arcade upgrade that incorporates the changes made to the latest PS2 entry in the series, some hope that the fact that the game is going to be released on Sega's new Ringwide system means that there will be more to it. We'll know more once it is shown at AOU 2010 next week. Luckily, Ecole saw fit to launch the official site beforehand, so we at least have something to peruse while waiting.

Related posts:

1. The Evolution 2010 World Finals will be streamed live from July 9 through 11
2. Cool Link: a Melty Blood overview
3. The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match’s official site is now live