BlazBlue returns to Nintendo’s handhelds a third time, with BlazBlue -Clonephantasma- for the Nintendo 3DS.

BlazBlue is Arc System Works’s most recent Fighting genre IP, considered to be the spiritual successor to Guilty Gear. The colorful 2D fighter has since spawned a series of graphic novels, manga series, and a twelve episode anime series. Apart from the five titles in the main Fighter series, three  spin-offs have been released between DSiWare, PSN and the 3DS eShop. BlayzBloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale released on DSiWare in 2010 as a multiplayer brawler/beat-em-up, featuring “chibi” versions of select BlazBlue characters. The visual novel Xblaze Code: Embryo was released for the PS3 and PS Vita earlier this year (2013 in Japan), and serves as a prequel to the main saga.

Two BlazBlue titles have been released for the 3DS, with a handheld port of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II, and the Japanese-exclusive chibi beat-em-up BlazBlue -Clonephantasma-. While it came as a surprise to many fans, Clonephantasma was released earlier today on the North American 3DS eShop. The digital spin-off is an “action battle game” where the player must knock enemies off each stage, using each character’s unique abilities based on their fighting-game counterparts. Unlike BlayzBloo, Clonephantasma is strictly single-player, and includes both a Story Mode and score-based Challenge Mode.

BlazBlue -Clonephantasma- can be downloaded via the 3DS eShop for $5.99.

Source: Arc System Works
Image courtesy of Arc System Works