Gunvolt

More in-depth information about Gunvolt is available on the Azure Striker Gunvolt Wiki.

Gunvolt is the star of Inti Creates' side-scrolling platform series Azure Striker Gunvolt and one of the first two Extra Characters introduced to Blaster Master Zero in the Version 1.2 update on May 4, 2017. He was announced alongside the "Destroyer Mode" playthrough style for Jason (made available to all players upon patch release) and Ekoro (who was made available for download/purchase the following month).

For the Nintendo 3DS and Switch release, he was originally made available for free for one month after release, then priced at USD $1.99 afterward. He and Ekoro are bundled free with the Steam release.

Appearances & Synopses

Blaster Master Zero

As with all other Extra characters, no story cutscenes are given to explain Gunvolt's appearance in the Underground, nor his acquisition of SOPHIA III (or SOPHIA Zero, should the player meet the requirements to access Area 9). As well, all in-game character dialogue is disabled, and the Receiver has no effect in the first eight areas.

SOPHIA III's primary palette becomes blue and yellow to match Gunvolt's attire, but its performance is otherwise unchanged. Life Capsules are changed to water bottles, Life Ups are changed to badges, and major item pickup sound effects are changed to natively synthesized versions of Azure Striker Gunvolt franchise item pickup chimes.

Jason's additional subweapons and the Energy Guard are turned into dummy pickups, offering no benefit to Gunvolt but counting towards the item completion rate. They are shaded in greyscale in the same manner as Jason's Life Ups/Energy Guard in Destroyer Mode.

Gameplay Changes

Compared to Jason's Gun, Gunvolt's "Cerberus" dart gun boasts an impressive firing rate with zero projectile drift or dropoff but deals abysmal damage on its own. To deal and avoid damage, Gunvolt must make use of the varied Septimal powers ported over from his own series. The most crucial of these (Flashfield and Prevasion) are usable in both play modes and share an EP bar that replaces the Gun meter; it automatically recharges when either ability hasn't been used for a second or so, and can be further refilled by picking up Ammo, Gun, or SP Capsules.

Still other abilities available only in top-down mode replace the usual sub-weapons and draw from a separate SP meter with a maximum of 3 points. SP is primarily generated by shocking Cerberus-marked enemies with Flashfield, but also recharges automatically at a rate of 3 every 100 seconds (~33.3 seconds per SP). Both EP and SP continue to recharge passively even while Gunvolt is not under player control (e.g. boss introductions and sub-weapon animations). Because the Change Angle button is mapped to his Flashfield ability, Gunvolt is able to lock his aiming direction by holding the Jump button.

On top of these, Gunvolt is immune to fall damage/fall death in side-scrolling mode, can continually Wall Jump by pressing the B button while hugging a non-damaging wall, and (as of the Version 1.4 update) can use the "Call SOPHIA" button to call Sophia III/Zero to his position in most cases. However, Gunvolt takes double damage from all sources in top-down mode.

Cerberus

Your standard gun that has rapid-fire functionality

Cerberus is Gunvolt's all-purpose dart gun, boasting automatic fire while the Shoot button is held (up to 6 shots onscreen in either mode) but terrible damage. Its true purpose is to mark enemies for attack from his Flashfield ability. Up to three marks may be placed (taking the form of a targeting reticle surrounding the enemy), with the newest impact replacing the oldest. No target can be affected by more than one mark at a time.

In side view, Cerberus can break blocks and mark non-armored enemies, but is unable to directly deal any damage to enemies it tags. Collecting the Hyper Shot chip allows the dart gun to mark armored enemies as well, including Skeleton Boss.

In top view, Cerberus functions somewhat like Jason's Auto mode, dealing ~40% of Blaster damage, breaking blocks, and staggering certain advancing enemies (particularly Gurnahide, which Flashfield is ineffective against). Cerberus can be fired while Flashfield is active, but not while activating any of Gunvolt's sub-weapons.

Selecting Cerberus in the Weapon Select screen highlights Gunvolt's dart gun (selecting any other ability highlights Gunvolt himself).

Flashfield

Projects a lightning barrier around Gunvolt | Use this to blast targets that have been locked onto by dart shots

Gunvolt's primary offensive tool, activated by holding the Change Angle button in either mode. Without marks placed on the enemy, it will continually deal weak ticks of damage in a 2-block (top-down)/1-block (side-scrolling) radius around Gunvolt. If one or more marks are present, lightning will arc out from the Flashfield (through solid walls, if necessary) to continually deal boosted damage to the targeted enemy or enemies

In side view, Flashfield may be activated in mid-air to slow Gunvolt's falling speed and destroy blocks all around him, but cannot be activated underwater (echoing an incident in the original Azure Striker Gunvolt where doing so would short out his entire EP bar). Barrier tick damage is ~100% of Blaster Rifle damage (~50% of Normal Shot damage) while lightning tick damage is ~300% of Blaster Rifle damage (~150% of Normal Shot damage). Acquiring Hyper Shot allows both components to damage armored enemies, including Skeleton Boss.

In top view, activating Flashfield with marked enemies nearby will damage them for ~120% of Blaster damage per tick and charge the SP gauge based on the number of active marks (1 SP per ~3 seconds with only one mark active). Marked enemies are also stunned for ~1.5 seconds on taking damage (at the end of this duration, the stunned enemies will become immune to further stuns for 5 seconds, doubled for bosses). The lightning barrier itself breaks blocks and deals ~40% of Blaster damage per tick, but does not stun enemies.

Prevasion

Deplete your EP to automatically evade attacks | Cannot be used while the Flashfield is active

When not using the Flashfield, any enemy/projectile hit or environment trap that would damage Gunvolt instead depletes roughly 30% of the EP bar, cancelling that hit and emitting a shower of feathers. While Gunvolt has enough EP to trigger Prevasion (and he is not using Flashfield), he will leave a trail of after-images behind him as he moves around, and arcs of lighting will appear around his feet whenever he stands on the ground. Despite the limit on Flashfield, Prevasion works fine underwater in side-scrolling mode.

In top-down mode, Prevasion does not activate when Gunvolt falls into a pit or pool, nor if he is caught in the intermittent currents in Area 4.

Dragonsphere

Unleashes a close-range plasma sphere that impacts the enemy

Costing 1 SP, this sub-weapon lays a ball of thunder at Gunvolt's feet that persists for about three seconds, dealing ~1000% of Blaster Damage on initial placement, then periodically dealing ~200% of Blaster damage per tick (for up to 8 ticks) to all enemies passing through it. Dragonspheres can break cracked walls and illuminate dark areas. Gunvolt cannot place another Dragonsphere until the current Dragonsphere has expired.

Galvanic Patch

Stimulates bioelectric current to recover a small amount of Life

Costing 1 SP, this immediately recovers 3 Life for Gunvolt. This subweapon is unavailable in Blaster Battle Mode.

Luxcalibur

Deploys a large electric blade in the direction Gunvolt is facing

Costing 2 SP, this subweapon freezes time for an eyecatch before Gunvolt unleashes a sword 8 blocks long and 4 blocks wide (at the crossguard, tapering towards 1 block wide at the tip) in his facing direction for a massive hit dealing ~5000% of Blaster damage (~12,500% of Cerberus damage). Luxcalibur will break cracked walls if it touches one, and is one of two wall-breaking subweapons in the game (the other being Jason's Remote Blast) which function regardless of whether the crack is facing the player (even when the crack spans two rooms), allowing Gunvolt to rapidly acquire the Maps for Area 5 and Area 7 and Area 5's Life Up.

Voltaic Chains

Deploys electrifying chains that are powered based on the number of targets in sight

Acquired from fellow cameo character Joule on the floating island in the middle of Area 1's starting room (the Wall Climb is needed to reach this island from either direction), this 3 SP subweapon stops time to canvas the foreground with chains, which are then electrified to attack the entire screen for damage proportional to the number of enemies present (starting at ~6000% of Blaster damage, estimated, with only 1 target on-screen). As few as 2 available targets will increase Voltaic Chains' power enough to one-shot the patrolling Mutant Gunners in Area 7, and if used while they are not alerted, any remaining in the room will not raise an alert in response.

Gallery

After-images left by Gunvolt's top-down mode movement, indicating that he has sufficient EP for Prevasion.

Trivia

• Gunvolt and Ekoro previously paired up as cameo characters in Mighty Gunvolt, an arcade platformer using similar 8-bit shaders as Blaster Master Zero released by Inti Creates in 2014 to commemorate/promote Comcept's Mighty No. 9.
• Neither Gunvolt nor Ekoro can destroy blue rocks in Area 4, as they both lack weapons that either have a fire attribute (Jason, Shantae) or dedicated rock-breaking power (Shovel Knight).

External Links

Blaster Master Zero version 1.2 announcement on Inti Creates official site