game's fun honestly. it's basically XX reload but with 4 players. a little messy as guilty gear certainly isn't meant for that many people at the same time, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. would be cool to see strive have a mode like this

Are you familiar with GG in particular? How about Fatal Fury 2/Special (specifically, the back/front plane system and it's Countdown Mode) or Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Dramatic Battle Mode/Survival Mode)? If you've ever played Smash or Pocket Fighter, you'll recognize that the lifebars now use a Stock System, rather than rounds, too. Because this game is the Big Galaxy Brain of Fighting Games (tm)!! IT DOES IT ALL (except the Instant Kills, because that's for puthies)!!

First off, you can have up to 4 players at a time; and they can be teamed or free-for-all in just about any configuration except 3v1 (2 characters to a team, max). So while you can play this in a versus mode, you can ALSO play it as a co-op fighting game! The Arcade Mode doesn't have a progression ladder, it's a Survival Mode where you level up your character (they don't get more powerful, they just "Gain Levels") to 99 (and then every 49 thereafter) in order to fight the final boss; however many opponents that takes.

The other odd "standout feature" is the "Turn Around, Dumbass!" Button (tm). This game does not auto-pilot which way your character is facing, and this is indicated by an arrow below your lifebar in case your character is in a confusing state and you can't exactly tell what gear they're in. This lets you do tactical/weird things like using special moves backwards for mobility purposes, or even use any attack as a crossup in the middle of an air-dash/double jump.

TA + P = change front/back layers (this is an attack, and you can hit an unsuspecting character on the opposite layer with this)
TA + K = back attack (IIRC)
TA + S/HS (??) = attack that knocks opponent from your layer to the other layer instead

Oh, and Dramatic Battles! Once your character reaches certain levels, you'll have your battles interrupted by Daredevils!! Except now there will be TWO opponents at once! And if this sounds completely unfair - it's because IT IS!! :D But there are things to help you, such as them having friendly fire against each other; and 90% of winning these is a matter of getting yourself out of the center, and taking advantage of the AI's sloppy/careless offensives that end up hitting their teammates instead, and capitalizing on it. Crouch-Dust
(down + S + HS) is great for controlling the pace when it gets too nutty or you need to work on positioning, and throws are invincible and help reset your composure as well.

Izuka is not for the newcomer, and is even so challenging, many pros haven't seen it's final boss (...and it has one! Don't Give Up!), even the GG devs didn't put it in the AMV they debuted at Evo last week because so few of them know about it!

I doubt it'll ever be sequelled or given netplay, which is sad; but since only twenty of us actually play it, I can understand why. If you have a couch partner, I'd give it a go in both co-op and competitive settings (basically, pick the same or a different team color to determine this).