Vanguard Princess R - Cult PC Fighter Reborn on exA-Arcadia

When Vanguard Princess R hit exA-Arcadia cabinets in 2025, it marked one of the most unexpected arcade comebacks in fighting game history. The 2009 PC indie fighter by SUGE9 got the full arcade treatment, completely redesigned by the team behind CHAOS CODE and officially sanctioned through Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs.

This wasn't some lazy port job. On March 28th, 2024, exA-Arcadia filed the legal paperwork with Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs under Article 67-2 (1) of the Copyright Act to bring this cult classic back. That application got approved, paving the way for exA-Arcadia's Team EXA-AM2 and F K DIGITAL to completely revamp the combat system while preserving what made the original special.

Redesigned Combat System

The CHAOS CODE team—the developers behind Chaos Code Nemesis Experiment—took the original's foundation and transformed it into something way more frenetic. Every fight became faster and more fluid, with easy combo chaining through canceling into special or super moves. The support teammate system got refined, letting players tactically extend combos or trap opponents in devastating setups. A new Reflect defensive technique allowed players to parry attacks and create openings, adding another layer to the mind games.

What really made this accessible was the easy special move button that even enabled super moves with simple inputs, though traditional motion inputs remained for players who wanted that classic execution challenge. The combination of accessibility and depth hit that sweet spot that modern fighting games strive for.

Visual Excellence and Story

The game featured superbly animated 2D graphics that held up beautifully, with amazing cinematic cut-in animations for every super move. All 10 playable characters came fully voiced with their own storylines, letting players discover the mysteries behind these magically-imbued girls and the world of Tactical Sorcery. The narrative setup painted a picture of a not-too-distant future where people fought over maintaining or destroying the status quo.

Key visual work by Ryunosuke Abe elevated the presentation, while MEDIAPLANET TOKYO and NASH MUSIC handled the sound design, ensuring the audio matched the visual polish.

Features That Mattered

The game included Story Mode and a Training Mode with CPU tech recovery setup and maximum resources for combo practice—essential for players serious about mastering the mechanics. What really set this apart was the all-new English localization that accurately translated everything with the lore intact, making it accessible to Western fighting game communities.

The technical specs were absolutely nuts: 0.3-frame input lag response, matching the fastest benchmarks in the game industry. For competitive players, that meant zero excuses—if you dropped a combo, that was on you, not the hardware. The game supported both landscape and portrait monitor orientations, giving arcade operators flexibility in how they set up their cabinets.

The Revival That Made Sense

For a game that started as a 2009 PC doujin fighter, getting the full arcade treatment sixteen years later was wild. But it made perfect sense when you considered what exA-Arcadia was building—a platform for bringing modern fighting games to dedicated arcade hardware where that ultra-low latency and competitive environment actually mattered.

Vanguard Princess had always had that cult following, and seeing it get this level of care from the CHAOS CODE team proved that quality fighting game design transcended platform and era. The combination of preserved character designs, completely redesigned combat mechanics, dual language support, and tournament-grade responsiveness created the definitive version of a game that deserved this second life.

For more information, visit the official Vanguard Princess R page.