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This is a list of various source materials that can be used for citation purposes in lore discussion, essays, wiki pages, or otherwise. I've tried to make backups of materials where I could to make sure links don't die.


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== OFFICIAL MATERIALS ==

Published or otherwise endorsed by Arc System Works.

MOST RELIABLE——

== Japanese GG Strive GG World (In-Game Encyclopedia)
- Specifically the Japanese one. The English one has errors.

== Guilty Gear 10th Memorial Book
- Archive.org - This is only accurate for information up until 2009, which is when it was published. Seemingly all information in it has been consistent with lore preceding and following its publication, and it has some unusual niche lore tidbits that make it very useful to have on hand.

== The Novels
- Neocities Directory - These are Lightning The Argent, Butterfly & Her Gale, and Guilty Gear Begin. Begin has a full EN translation while LtA's and Butterfly's are in-progress. LtA has a full Spanish translation, also.

== The Drama CDs
- Neocities Directory - These are Night of Knives, GGX Drama CD, and GGXX Drama CD Sides Red & Black. Night of Knives has a translation done by Blade and should not be relied on (a new translation is in progress). The GGX Drama CD translation erroneously gives Johnny a last name but is otherwise accurate.

== The Encyclopedias
- Neocities Directory - There are a lot of these. Some of them, like the GG Bible, have lore encyclopedias, timelines, and relationship charts in them. They appear to be as canon as the games they come from.

USUALLY RELIABLE——

== English GG Strive GG World (In-Game Encyclopedia)
- For the most part this GGW localization is accurate, but there are some errors such as the "dragon install" entry having a line about Sin's eye that doesn't exist in the Japanese or Korean GGWs, typos/misspellings, and so on. If you cite an entry from this GGW be sure to cross reference it with the JP text and make a note of lines that don't exist in the original Japanese source text.

== Guilty Gear Codex
- A small book that came with Aksys Games' limited edition release of Xrd Sign. Frequently has errors like with the EN GGW. Cross reference with the 10th Memorial Book to make sure information is accurate.

== GG2Overture Material Collection Short Stories
- Neocities Directory - Eight short stories included in the art book for Overture. They're fine but have some subtle minor details that don't always line up 1:1 with recent lore.

== GG Story Digest Comics
- Official Site (Webview) - The official story summary comics released alongside Strive. The lore information is accurate, but some of the design stuff is mildly inconsistent with other materials. It's only a minor thing.

== WoolieVersus' GG Lore Videos
- YouTube Playlist- Endorsed by ASW themselves. Incredibly well researched and put together. However, Blade helped with the very first video and it has some errors. While these videos can't be cited for other projects, they're still very useful as a research jumping off point or refresher.

DON'T——

== Anything Blade/Gear Project Worked On
- Blade has a tendency to insert headcanons into essays on official lore, edit/tweak transcriptions, and is racist/homophobic. You will see his name often on older lore documents especially. Some of his early works with Ed Chang or ones where he had collaborators can be useful as a refresher. Do not rely on his works for projects and always doublecheck the source. If a document by him is the only available source for something, provide a note that it may be flawed.

== GG Xrd English GGWorld
- This GGW has a bunch of weird typos/mistakes and we haven't thoroughly combed it for a list of other errors. All (most?) entries in this are in the Strive GGW anyway, so reference that one instead.

== Google Translate
- The OCR tool from the mobile app is very good, but the translations aren't. Use DeepL.


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== FAN-MADE MATERIALS ==

Materials collected or transcribed unofficially.

The following documents cannot be used for citations (cite where they got their info from instead), but they are excellent for quick referencing.

== Voice Test & Quote Database
- GuiltyGear.ru - Neocities Mirror - A massive document of in-game or other audio-only files. Romanized Japanese text with an unofficial English translation beside it. Compiled by Blade with a huge list of contributors (including Ed Chang) and sources at the end of the document. Some of the translations are different than what the official localization goes with now but they are still accurate to the provided Japanese transcription.

== Various GG Tip/Hint Pages, GGXX & GGXXAC Dialog Transcriptions
- Archive.org - A Japanese fanpage cited in Blade's Voice Test document. Transcriptions of a bunch of character dialog from Guilty Gear XX and XX Accent Core; tips, hints, and cheat codes for GG1 thru to GGX Advance, Petit, and Petit 2. The character dialog transcriptions are at the bottom of the page under the black text headers with the red subtitles.

== GG1: Missing Link In-Game Transcriptions
- interq.or.jp - Archive Mirror - Transcriptions of some of the in-game dialog from Missing Link by a Japanese fan. A lot of lines are missing, but it lines up with other transcriptions of these dialogs and can be used as for crossreferencing.

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== GAME CANONICITY ==

What's ASW cares about and what they seemingly don't.

NOTE: Arc System Works have not released an official document outlining what is and isn't important to modern Guilty Gear lore. This list is based on which entries seem to have had the most retcons and which have had a permanent mark on the overarching stories themselves. The purpose of this is to provide a reference with which to ensure citations for projects are solid.

IMPORTANT LORE——
- Strive
- Story Digest Comics
- Guilty Gear Begin (light novel)
- Xrd Series (Sign, Revelator, Rev2)
- Vastedge XT (pachislot)
- GG2 Overture (real time action/strategy game)
- GGX: The Butterfly & Her Gale (light novel)
- GGX: Lightning The Argent (light novel)
- GGX
- GG1: Missing Link

WEIRD "MAYBE" AREA——
- The Anthology manga/comics & 4koma volumes
- GG Isuka
- GGXX Series (#Reload, Slash, Accent Core/AC+/AC +R)

The Handheld Games:
- GG Dust Strikers

SEEMINGLY FORGOTTEN——
- GG Xtra (manga)

The Handheld Games:
- GG Petit & Petit 2
- GGX Advance
- GG Judgment

Some of these have lore that's since been overwritten by the lore in recent releases, were not written by Daisuke (GGXX & the handhelds), or aren't referenced in subsequent releases (either in-game or in GGWorld entries). However, the "maybe" and "forgotten" games are still excellent for general character development and some have the potential to become lore relevant in the future if the story references plot points from them. Just be wary relying on them as the only source for a piece of lore.


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== HOW TO GET INTO GUILTY GEAR LORE ==

New to this mess? Start here.

The ultimate Guilty Gear question: "Where do I start with the lore?"

Unfortunately (fortunately?), there are a lot of ways to dive into it and no real "perfect" starting point. Guilty Gear's lore is a chainlink fence made out of Möbius strips; no matter where you start, you're going to miss a detail somewhere else that would have made it make more sense, and that's perfectly fine. Untangling Guilty Gear lore is a massive task, I won't lie, but that's what makes it fun. It makes you work to figure it out, but there's an incredible consistency to it that only a series written by mostly just one guy (Daisuke Ishiwatari) can have, and that makes it a lot easier to follow than it would be otherwise. Very, very, few details change across the series' timeline. Once you learn something, it's unlikely to be retconned later.

I'll lay out a couple different ways to get into this based on the amount of time you may have available.

THE QUICKEST WAY——

From there, I recommend picking a character that interested you and looking up playthroughs (or playing them yourself) of their story/arcade routes or reading their entries on the wiki.

RADGUY RECOMMENDED WAY——

This way is by no means complete and only covers what I, personally, think are the most engaging/fun media to start with and the most likely to get people interested in the greater lore. See the method below this one for a more complete guide.

From there, I recommend picking a character that interests you and looking up playthroughs (or playing them yourself) of their story/arcade routes or reading their entries on the wiki. The easiest game to learn how to play is Strive, while Rev2 or GGXXAC+R are more complex but have the most fun offline modes. +R is my favorite.

THE WHOLE HOG——

This is EVERYTHING in the most chronological lore order possible. I will probably forget things and come back to edit this because there is just so much Guilty Gear. This information is heavily based on a release chronology list compiled by Volcanic Fighter.

Anything marked with "**" is optional/can be skipped without missing much.