It's an exciting time to be a Guilty Gear fan. As if the game wasn't fun enough already, Arc System Works has already began to add more fun to it with the launch of Season Pass 2 and its new characters. The first has already arrived: Androgynous yo-yo wielding bounty hunter Bridget! Returning from Guilty Gear X2, Bridget brings her interesting zoning game back to play. Having spent time with the character, let's bring down the full rundown of how Bridget works and where she fits in the current meta.
The character
Bridget comes from Guilty Gear X2. Her story is easily one of the oddest in a cast full of odd stories. You see, Bridget was born as one of two twin boys in a village where superstitions said that twins were bad luck and would bring misfortune. In order to keep Bridget safe, her parents raised Bridget as a girl. Later on, hoping to prove the superstitions wrong, Bridget ventured out of the village to become a bounty hunter and prove she wasn't bad luck to anyone.
Bounty hunting was also a plan to do masculine stuff and try to cement herself as a boy. Shenanigans ensued, and she never quite did get that big score, but she does make quite a few friends along the way, including Dizzy, Ky, and the May Ship Pirates.
In Guilty Gear Strive, Bridget has taken on quite the twist. Her story is about personal happiness, acceptance and identity. It turns out that no level of bounty hunting or masculine endeavors brought any kind of happiness to Bridget. With the help of Goldlewis and Ky, Bridget begins to question what really makes her happy, and part of that is coming to terms that she feels best being a girl and not trying to satisfy anyone else by pretending otherwise.
As part of a trans bisexual relationship, I really like Bridget's story in Guilty Gear Strive. It's heartwarming and shares a lot of the icky feelings that come with coming out and accepting oneself. Sam and I deeply felt Bridget's struggle and we were impressed to see Arc System Works handle that story so well, even for a fighting game.
Yo-yo trick show
If you're not interested in Bridget's story, maybe her playstyle will catch your fancy. She comes back with one of the more interesting zoning and projectile games in Guilty Gear Strive. Bridget uses yo-yos as a weapon in combat. In one projectile move, Bridget will toss a yo-yo out which will affix itself in mid-air. There are four inputs for this move, straight and diagonal, hitting on going out and hitting on coming back in.
Not only can you use this projectile to set up odd combos or keep your opponent's approach and aggression in check, but you can also interact with a placed yo-yo through other moves. One in particular allows you to launch Bridget to wherever the yo-yo is. It allows for unique mobility on both approaching or escaping enemies. It's a lot of fun and you can really frustrate enemies trying desperately to chase Bridget down.
Bridget's Kickstart My Heart also returns and provides one of the best offesive tools in her arsenal. With this move, Bridget slides along the ground using her yo-yo as a roller skate. You can speed it up or slow it down with forward or back inputs after the move input. You can also follow up with a pretty safe break move or a jump attack that allows for fantastic juggling combos. This move is really great as a combo launcher that sets Bridget up to move the opponent across the stage and splat them into the wall for the break with ease. Just don't get caught using it errantly as it can be punished.
Bridget's air command grab, if done low enough to the ground, behaves as though you held the button.
— Nathan Ranney (@RatCasket) August 9, 2022
In this clip I do a ground throw, air throw, held air throw, and low air throw in that order. #GGST_BR pic.twitter.com/tirxdudTTX
I think one of my favorite new additions to Bridget is the Rock the Baby command throw. This is a fantastic mixer into Bridget's strings, allowing you to catch an opponent and bonk them for big damage. Mixing it carefully into your strings can put extra pressure on a blocking opponent. It can also be done on the ground or in the air. Though you can't catch an air opponent with the ground version or a ground opponent with the air version, there's a fuzzy space where if you're close to the ground, an aerial Rock the Baby will catch a grounded foe.
Even more cool is that Bridget's Rock the Baby throw completely jumps over low attacks. You can use it to punish a multitude of sweeps and low moves including Sol's Night Raid Vortex, Ky's Stun Dipper, and I-No's Stroke the Big Tree (albeit, the timing is tight on some of these). All in all, Bridget has a very fun kit that's made to dominate neutral, keep the opponent at distance, and frustrate them as they try to pin her down. She even has a DP with some invulnerability, a projectile super that tracks opponents, a dive kick special, and a combo super, making for a pretty well-balanced kit.
Where does Bridget fit in the meta?
It's coming together... Bit by bit. ☺️ #GuiltyGearStrive pic.twitter.com/uO7SoxkLCO
— TJ Denzer (@JohnnyChugs) August 11, 2022
This is always a tricky question, but I think Bridget is going to be an interesting one to watch. She does a lot of things well, but she's held back by some glaring flaws too. Bridget has some of the lowest health in the game and lacks a truly invulnerable reversal. Her supers are not safe on wake-up and she can even be thrown out of her DP. Moreover, her normals have some of the longest range in the game, but can completely wiff a jumping opponent or go over a crouching opponent doing a sweep, leaving her open to big counters. Simply put, Bridget's lack of defensive options without meter leaves her easily bullied when the pressure's on.
That said, Bridget's kit allows her to dominate the screen for the most part. Her ground-to-aerial mixup game might be second only to I-No and I've already seen folks doing some wackadoo things with her specialized mobility.
I think Bridget is fun to play, but extremely difficult to master. A lot of players looking for an easy level up will likely become frustrated with her quickly and give up to go back to easier characters. That said, I feel that those who really put in the time and practice with Bridget are going to be able to dazzle opponents and frustrate them into some crucial mistakes for which she is uniquely equipped to take advantage.
Sure, I COULD try for a combo. I could also incessantly peck you to death. #GuiltyGearStrive pic.twitter.com/qAxeC9OC3C
— TJ Denzer (@JohnnyChugs) August 12, 2022
Ultimately, Bridget gives us a very interesting kickoff to Guilty Gear Strive Season Pass 2. I've always enjoyed the character and I really like what they've done with her in terms of both story and mechanics. I'm definitely going to keep learning her as I think she offers a very unique counter to strong aerial characters like I-No, Leo, and Ramlethal.
What do you think of her so far? Does my analysis seem accurate or are there tricks I missed about Bridget? Let me know in the Chatty section! Just as well, Bridget is available as a standalone buy or part of Guilty Gear Strive Season Pass 2 now. Check her out!
