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This is the chronological order of all media in Guilty Gear. Some of it is available in English, a lot of it isn't. Yell at me if one of the links here is broken.

This is EVERYTHING in the most chronological lore order possible. When an item's chronological lore date is unknown, it's instead placed based on what the best viewing order would be for someone going through all the GG media from start to finish.

This information is heavily based on a release chronology list compiled by Volcanic Fighter. There is also a thorough timeline of lore events available on the Guilty Gear Wiki.

Items currently missing from this list (will be added when I feel like it):

  • Official Guilty Gear Anthology short stories/comics
  • GG Dust Strikers game script
  • GGX Advance game script
  • GG Petit 1 & 2 game scripts
  • GG Isuka game script

source material lore order //

Last updated: 2025 July 21

Each entry has some commentary about it to help people (you, probably) decide if they wanna deal with it or not. The points are:

From: What game this piece of media released with or what it is
Where: Link to where you can read/watch it
Importance: Who in the lore the media relates to
Skippable?: Whether you should watch or read the media and what you'd be missing out on if you don't
Other Notes: Sometimes I have too much shit to say
Raven's short story from the GG2Overture Material Collection.
From: Guilty Gear 2 Overture Material Collection
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Raven and some setting interest
Skippable?: Raven's one of the antagonists in GG2 and this fleshes him out in a way the game doesn't get a chance to
Other Notes: I hate how I translated the name of this story and I've been too lazy to fix it
OYABIN'S TALE OF PAST AND PRESENT
From: Guilty Gear 2 Overture Material Collection
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Izuna, Nekomata, and some Backyard lore
Skippable?: Only if you don't care about Izuna, but it makes Overture's story more interesting.
ISOTOPE & ISOLATION
From: Guilty Gear 2 Overture
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Sol Badguy, Aria Hale, Asuka R. Kreutz, Gears
Skippable?: No. Buildup to events in Begin, Overture, and later Xrd and Strive
Guilty Gear Begin
From: Standalone novel
Where: Archive.org
Importance: Extremely important to Sol Badguy, Aria Hale, Asuka R. Kreutz, Gears
Skippable?: No. A lot from this book is important to Guilty Gear Xrd and Strive
Other Notes: It's a novella (light novel) and is a quick read
Slayer Side Story: Axl - THE NIGHTINGALE THAT SINGS OF THE NIGHT
From: Guilty Gear XX Drama CD Night of Knives Vol.3
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Axl Low and Slayer
Skippable?: Yes, but it's a good story so I'd recommend it anyway
Order Sol's GGXXAC story mode
From: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
Where: Youtube (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To Order Sol/Sol Badguy, Kliff, Ky Kiske, Justice
Skippable?: No. A lot of events from this get brought up by Ky and Sol in other stories
Other Notes: This is the same story in AC, AC+, and AC+R
Kliff's GGXXAC story mode
From: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
Where: Youtube (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (text transcript)
Importance: To Kliff, Order Sol/Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, Justice
Skippable?: No. A lot of events from this get brought up by Ky and Sol in other stories
Other Notes: This is the same story in AC, AC+, and AC+R
Guilty Gear XX Drama CD Night of Knives
Where: Neocities - Guilty Gear Wiki (mirror)
Importance: To the Assassin's Guild; Zato-One, Millia Rage, Venom, Slayer
Skippable?: No. This is vital lore for the Assassins and is brought up in other stories
Other Notes: There is an older translation of these CDs by Blade that are deeply flawed. Avoid those
Guilty Gear: The Missing Link
Where: Youtube Playlist (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To Sol, Ky, May, Baldhead, Potemkin, Chipp, Zato, Millia, Axl, Kliff
Skippable?: No. Especially not Sol's, Ky's, or Kliff's routes
Other Notes: Only the first part of each route and the end part where Testament shows up are necessary. Officially, this one is usually just "Guilty Gear," but that gets confusing so the subtitle is included. Also sometimes called "Guilty Gear (1998)."
Justice's GGXXAC story
Where: Youtube (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To Justice, Testament, Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, and Asuka R. Kreutz
Skippable?: No.
Other Notes: Retelling of Missing Link's story from Justice's perspective
Guilty Gear X: Lightning The Argent
From: Light novel
Where: N/A
Importance: To Ky Kiske, Bernard, the Crusades
Skippable?: Kind of? Really good Ky and Holy Order stuff in this one. I'd recommend it, if you can read it
Other Notes: This is currently not fully available in English. Work in progress
Guilty Gear X Drama CD Dizzy & Testament side story
Where: Guilty Gear Wiki
Importance: To Testament and Dizzy
Skippable?: Kind of? Testament doesn't get much lore post-Missing Link. Would recommend if you like them
Guilty Gear X Plus
Where: Youtube Playlist (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To Dizzy and Ky Kiske
Skippable?: No. At least for the Dizzy and Ky parts
INTRODUCTION TO METAPHYSICS
From: Guilty Gear 2 Overture Material Collection
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Dr. Paradigm, Gears, some Backyard stuff
Skippable?: Kind of? Builds up some stuff that happens in Overture
Other Notes: It's 90% scifi-fantasy bullshit. Good luck
Guilty Gear Xtra
From: Standalone manga volume
Where: Mangadex
Importance: Not to a single damn person
Skippable?: Yes. Nothing that happens in this matters to anything at all in all of Guilty Gear
Other Notes: There are maybe 10 pages not focused on Tyr and Mizuha that are really cool and the rest of it sucks. Spend your time reading anything else on this list
LETTER
From: Guilty Gear XX Drama CD Black
Where: Guilty Gear Wiki
Importance: To Dizzy, May, the Jellyfish Pirates
Skippable?: Probably not but I haven't read this one in a while lol
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DOLL
From: Guilty Gear XX Drama CD Red
Where: Guilty Gear Wiki
Importance: To Zappa
Skippable?: Only if you don't like Zappa
Other Notes: 👻
Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival
Where: Youtube Playlist (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To the GGXX roster
Skippable?: Yes. Most of what happens in GGXX seems to not matter much in future stories. Could be entertaining extra lore for your fav characters anyway though
Other Notes: Same as the X2 and X2 #Reload stories
Slayer's Side Tales: Robo-Ky
From: Guilty Gear XX Drama CD Night of Knives Vol.1
Where: Dropbox - Neocities (mirror)
Importance: To Robo-Ky, Robo-Ky Mk.II, Slayer, Ky Kiske
Skippable?: Kind of? Events from this get referenced in Xrd and it also reveals that Robo-Ky is likely bisexual
Other Notes: 🍊
Slayer's Side Tales: A.B.A.
From: Guilty Gear XX Drama CD Night of Knives Vol.2
Where: Dropbox - Neocities (mirror)
Importance: To A.B.A, Slayer
Skippable?: I haven't read this one but the side stories are generally not too super important. Would recommend if you're a fan of A.B.A
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
Where: Youtube Playlist (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To the GGXXAC roster
Skippable?: Mostly. As with the XX Midnight Carnival stories, most of these are ultimately irrelevant. Justice, Kliff, and Order Sol's are the 3 most important (they're on this list individually because of that)
Guilty Gear Judgment
From: PSP spin-off game
Where: Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript) - Sol's Route (Youtube) - Ky's Route (Youtube Playlist)
Importance: To Sol, Ky, May, Faust, Potemkin, Chipp, Eddie, Millia, Axl, Testament, Baiken, Johnny, Venom, Anji, Jam, Dizzy, Slayer, Bridget, Zappa, I-No
Skippable?: Yes, but Judgment has a fun wacky factor to it that makes it endearing anyway
Other Notes: It's unknown when Judgment takes place
Guilty Gear X: The Butterfly & Her Gale -
Where: Chapter 1: Dropbox
Importance: To Chipp Zanuff and Erica Bartholomew
Skippable?: Not a clue, I haven't read this one. Erica ends up being pretty important in Strive though
Other Notes: Currently does not have a full English translation
JUSTICE FOR WHO?
From: Guilty Gear 2 Overture Material Collection
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Ky Kiske, Sin Kiske, Dizzy
Skippable?: No. Explains a lot of stuff that happens in Overture and with Sin's origins
TO GREATER HEIGHTS!
From:Guilty Gear 2 Overture Material Collection
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Sin Kiske, Sol Badguy
Skippable?: No. Explains Sin origin stuff and is actually referenced directly by him in Xrd later
UNPARALLELED CONFESSION
From: Guilty Gear 2 Overture Material Collection
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Sol Badguy, Sin Kiske, Dizzy
Skippable?: No. Really important to the events of Overture, Sin's origins, and Sol's and Ky's relationship
THE FIRST ONE
From: Guilty Gear 2 Overture Material Collection
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Valentine, Lucifero, and eventually Jack-O', Elphelt, and Ramlethal Valentine
Skippable?: No. Valentine is the primary antagonist of Overture and this explains her origins as well as builds up the foundation for the other Valentines in Xrd
Guilty Gear 2: Overture
Where: Youtube (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, Sin Kiske, Izuna, Valentine, Dr. Paradigm, Raven, That Man (Asuka R. Kreutz), the "Maiden of the Grove" (Dizzy), the Universal Will, the Backyard, Gears
Skippable?: No. Overture consolidated and expanded on Guilty Gear's lore and setting in a massive way. Much of what's explained in Overture becomes relevant in later stories
Other Notes: Arc System Works had struggles with the Guilty Gear IP during the period of Overture's release, hence its limited cast and weird tiptoeing around previously major characters (like Dizzy).
Guilty Gear Vastedge XT
From: The canon pachislot machine
Where: Archive.org (Xrd Revelator manual)
Importance: To Sol Badguy, Sin Kiske, the Outrage/Junkyard Dog (sword)
Skippable?: Yes. Vastedge sets up some foundations for Xrd, but it's nothing they didn't find a way to explain in Xrd's story
Other Notes: Does not have a full English translation. Summarized in the Xrd manual, however.
Guilty Gear Series Story Digest Comics
From: Official Guilty Gear story recap manga
Where: Arc System Works website
Importance: To most of the cast up to the end of Xrd
Skippable?: Kind of? It's a great refresher for lore. If you skipped over a bunch of stuff on thist list, at least read this
Other Notes: Briefly recaps the stories for Begin, the Crusades, Missing Link, GGX, and Overture. Ends with a Xrd teaser. Does not recap GGXX, GGXXAC, Vastedge, or any of the side media (Judgment, Petit, etc). This manga is short and can be read entirely in one sitting
THE UNSEEN SIGN
From: Arc System Works 25th Anniversary Official Character Collection
Where: Dropbox
Importance: To the main cast of Xrd (especially Sign)
Skippable?: No. This is the prologue to Xrd Sign and sets up the conflict for it
Other Notes: This is a short story and can be read in like 10 minutes
Guilty Gear Xrd Sign
Where: Youtube Playlist (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To just about every major Guilty Gear character, but with a focus on Sol, Ky, Sin, the Valentines, Raven, That Man, Bedman, and the Universal Will
Skippable?: No. Sign is a major part of the ongoing story arc
Other Notes: There was an official English dub for Sign. It's a little rough, but it's fun
Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator
Where: Youtube Playlist (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To just about every major Guilty Gear character, but with a focus on Sol, Ky, Sin, the Valentines, Raven, That Man, Bedman, and the Universal Will
Skippable?: No. Revelator is a major part of the ongoing story arc
Other Notes: Revelator did not get an English dub
Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 After Stories
Where: Youtube Playlist (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To Sol, Ky, Daryl, Zato, Venom, Robo-Ky, Leo
Skippable?: No. These three stories aren't as important as the main Sign and Revelator stories, but they're still important to the characters they're for
Other Notes: Rev 2 did not get an English dub
SPECIAL EPISODE: A Brief Respite
From: Xrd Series Official Artworks
Where: Neocities
Importance: To Sol Badguy/Order Sol, Ky Kiske, and Sin Kiske
Skippable?: Yes, though it gives some Holy Order lore and character development for Sol and Ky
Other Notes: Short story
SPECIAL EPISODE: Breakdown!
From: Xrd Series Official Artworks
Where: N/A
Importance: To Elphelt Valentine and Jam Kuradoberi
Skippable?: I haven't read this one yet
Other Notes: No English translation yet. Short story
SPECIAL EPISODE: The Reminiscent Gale
From: Xrd Series Official Artworks
Where: Tumblr
Importance: To Chipp Zanuff and Answer
Skippable?: Yes, though it explains how Answer ended up working for Chipp and is a pretty interesting read
Other Notes: Short story
Guilty Gear Strive
Where: Youtube Playlist (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To the entire Strive roster but mostly Sol, Ky, Jack-O', I-No, Asuka, Nagoriyuki, Happy Chaos
Skippable?: No. This is a major story
Other Notes: Strive got English, Japanese, and Korean dubs
ANOTHER STORY
From: Guilty Gear Strive
Where: Youtube (video) - Guilty Gear Wiki (transcript)
Importance: To Sin, Ram, Baiken, Faust, Delilah
Skippable?: Kind of..? It's too soon to say
Other Notes: Strive got English, Japanese, and Korean dubs. Takes place during the events of Strive
Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers
From: 8 episode anime
Where: Online somewhere
Importance: To Sol, Ky, Sin, Baiken, Johnny, Unika, Dizzy, Bridget, Ramlethal, Elphelt, Jack-O', Axl, Leo, Vernon, Nerville Hammer
Skippable?: Too soon to say. Right now though nothing that happened in Dual Rulers has changed basically anything in Strive
Other Notes: I don't have anything nice to say to Dual Rulers. The animation is good. I lied. I had one thing to say


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What next? //

When you need MORE Guilty Gear.

There are a lot of things that aren't directly lore that are fun/interesting to browse through. Here are a few of them.

Guilty Gear World
Where: Guilty Gear Wiki
Notes: Transcriptions of glossaries from the games and official books. Some of the officially localized non-Japanese language entries can have a few issues here and there ("The Silver Thunderclap" lol), but they're still pretty interesting and flesh out aspects of Guilty Gear's world. The "Communication" entries in Strive are pretty wild (under the World tab).
The Guilty Gear Masterpost
Where: Neocities
Notes: A complete list of every scan, translation, transcription, and video collected by the Guilty Gear community all in one place. The Translations page and raw manga scans section of the Library seem to be the most popular areas of the Masterpost.
Character Quote Lists
Where: Guilty Gear Wiki
Notes: Lists of spoken in-game dialog for characters in all the GG games. These give some cool personality and interactions that don't always get shown during the stories. The Magnum Wedding and Treasure Hunt lists are both pretty good.
Character Art Galleries
Where: Guilty Gear Wiki
Notes: Collections of galleries of all the art for characters. Some galleries are a little incomplete, but they're pretty fleshed out, for the most part. A lot of the art are from my scans and are a little nicer than some of the older files floating around online.
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Other stuff //

"Don't ask me anything about the game. I've never even played it."

Fan-made materials, such as translations. These may have flaws and should be taken with a little bit of a grain of salt. Neither I or anyone with the GG Wiki have thoroughly reviewed all of these but I trust them enough at a glance to include them here.

GG Missing Link In-Game Transcriptions
Where: interq.or.jp - Wayback Machine (mirror)
Language: Japanese
Notes: 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.
Voice Test & Quote Database
Where: GuiltyGear.ru - Neocities (mirror)
Language: English and romanized Japanese
Notes: 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.
Various GG Tip/Hint Pages, GGXX & GGXXAC Dialog Transcriptions
Where: Wayback Machine
Language: Japanese
Notes: 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 through 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.
GameFAQs Guides Archive
Where: Neocities
Language: English
Notes: An archive of all the GameFAQs text guides for Guilty Gear games from Missing Link up to Xrd Sign. A few of these were written by Ed Chang and are pretty cool. Some other guides are a little silly. They're fun flipping through though.
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