Under Night In-Birth

Originally, the first Under Night Exe:Late sub-series entry first released in arcade as simply Under Night In-Birth on September 20, 2012 by Sega in Japan. A major revision, subsequently entitled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late (アンダーナイトインヴァースエクセレイト, Andā naito invāsu ekusereito), was released on September 9, 2013. Arc System Works released the game for PlayStation 3 on July 24, 2014.[10] A 2015 release for North America and Europe was later announced.[11] It was released in North American on March 31, 2015, according to GameStop. However, Aksys Games revealed the release date for Exe:Late, they said the game will be released on February 24, 2015. Exe:Late was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows systems on July 12, 2016.

A further update to the game entitled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st][12] was announced on May 15, 2015.[13] Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] was released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan on July 20, 2017,[14] and in North America and Europe on February 9, 2018.[6]

Exe:Late[st] was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows systems on August 20, 2018. Exe:Late[st] was then re-titled to the update below, Exe:Late[cl-r], for those who owned PlayStation 4 and Windows versions. This also occurs for Steam giving the illusion that [cl-r] was released in 2018.[15]

A final revision of the game, entitled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r][16], was released for PlayStation 4 and Switch. It was announced at EVO 2019 for February 20, 2020 release, while Europe released the game on the next day, after it was released in Japan and North America.[17] The PlayStation 4 version has an update for those who owned the version of Exe:Late[st], while the players who purchased the PlayStation 3 version can get a limited discount until April 30, 2020, in Japan and North America, and April 31, 2020, on Europe. Any players who owned Exe:Late[st] to update, contents which were added to Exe:Late[cl-r] update remains paid DLCs.[18] A Microsoft Windows port was released on March 27, 2020. The arcade port of Exe:Late [cl-r] was released on April 15, 2021. The game was also released for Amazon Luna on January 21, 2021.[19]

On September 21, 2021, director Nobuya Narita and composer Raito confirmed on Twitter that the "next" installment of Under Night In-Birth was in development. Narita expressed interest in the announcement of said title coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the original release of the game. It was not explicitly stated whether this referred to a new version of Under Night In-Birth or a wholly new title set within the same universe.[20][21] Eventually during Evolution Championship Series on August 4, 2023, a said sequel title was announced as Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes] and is set to be released on January 25, 2024. It serves as a final chapter of the series.[22] It will feature DLC characters in Season Passes.[23]

The original release of the game (later retitled as Exe:Late) included ten playable characters, with two more being added post-launch before being retitled to Exe:Late. The roster currently has a total of 27 fighters as of Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes] and one of its Season Pass DLC, with two of these being guest characters from other fighting games. Most of these playable characters who are added after the original title originally either non-playable or being referred by most of them in previous entries. The game has Japanese-language voice acting.[25] Some characters who first appeared in Exe:Late to Exe:Late[st] later appeared in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, where they received English voice actors for the first time.[26]

Introduce in Exe:Late sub-series

• Hyde Kido (城戸 灰都(キド ハイド), Kido Haido): The protagonist of the game. A high school student and one of the survivors of a Void attack. He wields the legendary dark-red magical sword Insulator.
• Linne (リンネ, Rinne): An ancient immortal princess of the Night Blade and the current leading organization of the Hollow Night. She was cursed into a Re-Birth alongside her twin brother. They were reincarnated in their current host bodies. Her current one is a child who goes to elementary school, where she befriended a girl named Chiharu (チハル).
• Waldstein (ワレンシュタイン, Warenshutain): A hulking wise half-Void and Linne's guardian. He is a former member of the anti-Void organization Licht Kreis back in the day when he was a human, until his defection to Night Blade during a war between two organizations, after Kuon saved him from becoming a Void Fallen.
• Carmine Prime (カーマイン・プライム, Kāmain Puraimu): A young delinquent man with a violent attitude who both Hyde and Seth refer to as a "crayfish", with Carmine referring to them as "clownfish". He uses a strange red substance in battle which he falsely believes to be his own blood, and thus suffers from placebo wherein he feels weakened should he use his powers for too long.
• Orie Ballardiae (オリエ・バラーディア, Orie Barādia): A leader of her team within Licht Kreis whose parents were killed by an intelligent Void. Alongside a girl named Lex Bartholomew, she was sent undercover to Kanzakai under alias of a student "Orie Harada" ("原田 織依"(ハラダ オリエ), "Harada Orie") where she befriends Hyde.
• Gordeau the Harvester (ハーヴスター・ゴルドー, Hābesutā Gorudō, Harvester Gordeau): A mercenary, a bartender, and one of the co-founders of Amnesia, an organization seeking to dominate the Hollow Night. He quits his job, after a freak incident involving the death of a fellow founder, Roger the Survivor (サーヴイヴー・ロジャー, Sābaibā Rojā, Survivor Roger), who was transformed into a Void Fallen in a same night as Amnesia's war against Demon Society led by Ogre (オーガ, Ōga).
• Merkava (メルカヴァ, Merukava): An amnesiac intelligent flying Void accused of killing Orie's parents. He was once a human seeking to become a Re-Birth. Upon his incomplete transformation into a Void, he not only retains part of his form, but survives in daylight with the cost being that his body often makes him hunger for human flesh. Merkava does not use EXS, but a power known as False. Otherwise known as FLS.
• Vatista (バティスタ, Batisuta): Unit code, 10,067. An ancient "Autonomic Nerve" designed as an anti-Void weapon. She is known to lack common sense among human society and will bewilder those around her for not wearing clothes. She used to have a seventh wing, but it transformed into the sword Insulator. Vatista also uses the power of FLS rather than EXS abilities.
• Seth the Assassin (アサシン・セト, Asashin Seto, Assassin Seth): An assassin of the Night Blade. He met Linne when she was under the alias of a young woman, Chitose (チトセ). Seth wields a pair of dark-blue magical daggers Eliminator he received from a secret contractor and organization member.
• Yuzuriha (ユズリハ): A not so smart female samurai hailed from the clan who founded the fighting style Dual Moon Blade Swordsmanship, created their sacred katana Iris Blade: Kamiji-no-Homare, and used to work for Night Blade. After an bloodshed war between Night Blade and Litch Kreis, Yuzuriha's clan defected their former organization, and plans use their ability to bring peace through generations, with Yuzuriha is their latest heir. Yuzuriha also has a liking to rice crackers.
• Hilda the Paradox (パラドックス・ヒルダ, Paradokkusu Hiruda, Paradox Hilda): The antagonist of Exe:Late sub-series, leader and one of the co-founders of Amnesia who seeks to become a Re-Birth. She fuses the power of darkness and light. Hilda is known to be an airhead sometimes, along with being a little insane.
• Bloody Chaos (ブラッディ・ケイアス, Buraddi Keiasu): Real name Kei Asuma (明日真 景(アスマ ケイ), Asuma Kei). Amnesia's chief strategist, who can project and manifest the object he obtained. He is accompanied by Azhi Dahaka (アジ・ダハーカ, Azi Dahāka), a monstrous lizard summoned from the Book of Chaos Code stolen from the Licht Kreis library shortly before joining Amnesia at a same night. He is Seth's contractor, and the one who found the daggers Eliminators from an unknown source.
• Nanase (ナナセ): A middle school student who is attacked by a Void and turned into an In-Birth. Not understanding how one becomes an In-Birth, she mistakenly believes Hyde to be responsible for her transformation.
• Byakuya (ビャクヤ): A middle school student accompanied by his "sister", Tsukuyomi (ツクヨミ). In truth, the real Tsukuyomi died in the accident where Byakuya lost his sanity due to his sister complex and became an In-Birth with the powers resembling that of a void. Byakuya eventually meets Strix (ストリックス, Sutorikkusu), a former member of a defunct Demon Society whom he first thought her to be his sister's reincarnation, and currently acts as her replacement.
• Phonon the Chermeti (シュメティ・フォノン, Shumeti Fonon, Chermeti Phonon)): Real name Yoshiko (良子(ヨシコ)). Nanase's best friend with a chūnibyō personality. A former member of an In-Birth school club EXS Force Guardians, or EFG for short. After receiving the EXS ability and be trained at EFG, left the club and becoming vigilante.
• Mika Returna (ミカ・リターナ, Mika Ritāna): A member of Licht Kreis and a member of Orie's team. She is often very reckless, stubborn and hyperactive to the point she is often punished by those above her by rank as if they are her parents. She is known to have temper tantrums as if she were a toddler. Despite her petite frame, she uses gauntlets almost bigger than her called, Pachelbell Cannon and her EXS abilities are called Diesel.
• Gaien Enkidou (円鬼堂 凱庵(エンキドゥ ガイエン), Enkidō Gaien): A martial artist who simply prefers to go by the re-written last name Enkidu (エンキドゥ). He is bitten by a Void and being granted with a small amount of EXS, with the pair of large shackles on his wrist act as limiters to unleash his full EXS potential in unsealed state for a limited time. He seeks strong opponents to fight to the death. He start out as a member of Amnesia during Exe:Late prior to resign from it at the end of said first entry.
• Miyashiro Erika Wagner (宮代(ミヤシロ)・エリカ・ワーグナー, Miyashiro Erika Wāgunā): One of the members for Licht Kreis. She is Orie's one sided rival and was sent to school in Japan due to her reckless and albeit, questionable methods on the job, and is the one responsible for putting Roger out of misery, when he somehow transformed as a Void Fallen during a freak incident. Wagner uses the power of fire, which also allows her to summon both sword and shield.
• Londrekia Light (ロンドレキア・ライト, Rondorekia Raito): Wagner's self-proclaimed rival and a member of Ritter Schild, a male only branch organization of Licht Kreis from the result of Waldstein's defection to the Night Blade. He fights with a baton and the power of ice.

Introduced in II [Sys:Celes]

• Kuon the Aion (アイオン・クオン, Aion Kuon, Aeon Kuon): The overreaching antagonist of the series and Linne's twin brother. He was once a noble leader of Night Blade and original wielder of the Insulator before Hyde, prior to his transformation as a Re-Birth progressively turns him evil and changes his physiology into that of dark elf with a Void-like power upon his reincarnations in his host bodies. Currently he battles with eight flying blades resembling Insulator. His true plan is eventually revealed in [Sys:Celes] to destroy the Earth.
• Kaguya Seikaguu (カグヤ・セイカイグー): A dual gun wielding 6th Executor exorcist of Orie’s Litch Kreis team alongside Mika, with a rich family background.
• Tsurugi (ツルギ): A red-haired vice leader of vigilante school group EFG, and is a close friend of Hyde at a same school where EFG is based at. He wields a shield which represents his will to protect and serve those who are close to him.

Guest Characters:

• Sion Eltnum Altasia (シオン＝エルトナム＝アトラシア) from the fighting game series for Tsukihime franchise, Melty Blood. She is referred to as Eltnum (エルトナム) within the game's context. Eltnum is one of the main characters, who had a supporting role in the main story. She is often making remarks on all the fighters as if they are novices, while often showing she is self aware of the fact she is a character from the past games inside the current game she has appeared. Even going as far as to mention having appearances in arcades. Specifically, on the Sega Naomi hardware, and a now Team Arcana's defunct parent company, Examu.
• Akatsuki (アカツキ) from Subtle Style’s fighting game series Akatsuki Shisei Ichigō/Blitzkampf, and its sequel EN-Eins Perfektewelt, who served as the titular protagonist of the former game. He has little to no role to the main story. Unlike Eltnum, Akatsuki is in no way self aware and only looking for a way to get back to his duties.