Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax coming to the west this summer

We're huge fans of Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax here in the UK Anime offices - our editor Ross has reviewed the PS Vita version of the game, while editor-in-chief Andy has lost many an hour to the PlayStation 3 version of this Japanese fighting game containing a whole host of characters from Dengeki Bunko light novels and manga that will be familiar to UK fans, featuring franchises from Sword Art Online to Durarara, and a Certain Magical Index to Spice and Wolf.

If you've resisted the temptation to import the game, then the really good news is that you'll be able to play the game on either platform officially in English this year in both North America and Europe, with the Sony PlayStation Blog confirming a western release (in both digital and physical forms, albeit digital-only in Europe) for the game during the summer.

Here's more about the game from Sony themselves:

Developed by Ecole and French Bread in cooperation with ASCII Media Works, this 2D fighting game celebrates the 20th anniversary of Dengeki Bunko with an all-star cast of their popular characters set against Sega-themed worlds. With playable characters such as Asuna from Sword Art Online or Kuroyukihime from Accel World, and support characters like Touma Kamijou from A Certain Magical Index or Izaya Orihara from Durarara!!, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax makes the most unlikely of character matchups a reality.

Fighting Climax features a fighting system that is both easily understood and complex, thus catering to veterans and newcomers alike. Using weak, medium and strong attacks, each of the playable characters have move sets that are similar in execution, yet differ in attack range, power and speed.

Assist characters each have two moves that can either help you chain your combos or add a defensive strike, giving players a large range of flexibility in custom combo creation and play style. Speaking of characters, Akira Yuki from Virtua Fighter and Selvaria Bles from Valkyria Chronicles join the battle as unlockable characters in Versus and Online multiplayer modes, along with their support character counterparts Pai Chan and Alicia Melchiott.

In addition to an original story campaign in Arcade mode where characters are summoned to overthrow the evil Zetsumu, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax features over 60 new vignettes in its Dream Duel mode. Exclusive to the console launch, these original cutscenes are penned under the supervision of Dengeki Bunko’s writers and add further depth to the interactions of this fantasy crossover of characters.