Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel asks a very specific question: what if you took the roster logic of a fan-service crossover and handed it to a studio that actually knows how to build a fighting game? Examu’s Team Arcana is that studio. The result, first in arcades on April 30, 2015 and later on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on December 10, 2015, is a game that understands its audience completely and mostly delivers on it.
Trailer, via XSEEDgames.
Light, Medium, Heavy, Escape, Heavy Action
The foundation is a five-button layout: light attack, medium attack, heavy attack, escape action, and heavy action. That last pair does the structural work. The escape action button handles evasive maneuvers and guards, while heavy actions push an opponent back. It is a defensive toolkit bolted onto a standard attack string, and it shapes every exchange.
Then come the systems layered on top. Infinite Blasts interrupt an opponent’s attack. Variable Rushes open surprise combos. Lethal Blazes serve as the game’s super combo attacks. Players also pick two support characters they can summon mid-fight.
That is a lot of machinery, and it is worth separating what each piece actually does.
What Infinite Blasts and Lethal Blazes Do
| System | Function |
|---|---|
| Infinite Blast | Interrupts an opponent’s attack |
| Variable Rush | Enables surprise combos |
| Lethal Blaze | Super combo attack |
| Escape Action | Evasive maneuvers and guards |
| Heavy Action | Pushes an opponent back |
| Support characters | Two per player, summoned to assist |
The table reads like a checklist, and that is the point. Examu built a game where every button has a named job, and the support slots add a second layer of decision-making before the match even starts.
Super Sonico Joins the Playable Roster
The roster runs to 32 characters, divided between playable fighters and support characters. That split matters more than the raw number. Super Sonico started as a support character and was later made playable as of the console release, which tells you the categories were not fixed.
The crossover pulls heroines from Nitroplus visual novels and games, plus manga and anime series that Nitroplus writers worked on. That is the whole premise, and it is a narrow one. If you do not know the source material, a chunk of the appeal evaporates.
Al Azif Ex Mortis and the Necronomicon
The original character is where the game gets strange. Al Azif Ex Mortis is a dark palette swap and final boss version of Al Azif, created by Mugen Yoguruma. She is the non-playable final boss.
The lore behind her is dense. Ex Mortis acts as a copy of the Necronomicon, crafted from fragments of the Al Azifs from the infinite universes in which Demonbane failed. At the end of story mode, Ex Mortis is defeated and absorbed by Al Azif, who gains all of Ex Mortis’ memories along with the completion of her soul.
That is a genuinely odd piece of writing for a fighting game boss, and it is more ambitious than the genre usually bothers with.
From Nitro+ Royale to Marvelous
Nitroplus Blasterz did not start here. It originates from the doujin game Nitro+ Royale: Heroines Duel, which is stated as its predecessor. That lineage explains a lot about the final product.
The arcade release came first, on April 30, 2015. The PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions followed on December 10, 2015, in collaboration with Marvelous Entertainment’s Marvelous Inc. Marvelous USA published the game in North America on February 2, 2016. The Windows release arrived on December 8, 2016.
That is a staggered rollout across four platforms, and it means the game never had a single clean moment in the spotlight.
Where the Crossover Limit Shows
Here is the problem with Nitroplus Blasterz, and it is not the fighting engine. Examu knows how to build a fighter. The five-button system, the escape action, the support slots — these are the work of people who understand frame data and neutral game.
The problem is the fence around the roster. A crossover lives or dies on how many people care about the characters in it. Nitroplus has a devoted following, but it is a devoted following, not a mass audience. Thirty-two characters sounds generous until you realize how many of them require homework.
The support character system is the smartest answer to this. It lets the game field more of its roster without demanding that every character carry a full moveset. Super Sonico’s promotion from support to playable on console shows the team was willing to adjust.
But the ceiling is real. Compare this to a crossover built on properties with broader reach and the gap is not in the mechanics. It is in who shows up.
A 7.2 From Six Outlets
The published critical score is 7.2 out of 10, drawn from an IGDB critic aggregate across six outlets. That number is fair, and it is fair for reasons that have little to do with execution.
Nitroplus Blasterz does what it sets out to do. The systems are legible. The roster is large. The story mode bothers to give its final boss a mythology. The Windows port landed about a year and a half after the arcade launch, extending the game’s availability well past its first run.
What holds it at 7.2 rather than higher is the audience question. This is a well-built fighting game for a specific group of people, and it never pretends otherwise. The mechanics are not the limit. The license is.
That is not a failure. It is a boundary, and the game operates comfortably inside it.
Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel is a competent, systems-rich fighter that knows exactly who it is for. The five-button layout, the escape action, the Infinite Blasts, Variable Rushes and Lethal Blazes all do distinct jobs, and the two support slots add real decision-making before a match begins. Al Azif Ex Mortis is a stranger and more interesting final boss than the genre usually produces.
The crossover premise is the ceiling. Thirty-two characters split between playable and support is a lot of roster, but it is a roster that rewards prior knowledge. If you are inside the Nitroplus sphere, this is a generous game. If you are not, the mechanics will carry you and the characters will not.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
