Faust (Guilty Gear)

Faust (ファウスト) is a fictional character in Arc System Works's Guilty Gear video game series. He first appeared in the 1998 video game Guilty Gear as Dr. Baldhead (Dr.ボルドヘッド). In the series, he is a doctor who becomes a murderer after the death of a girl in one of his surgeries. After killing scores of people and being imprisoned, Faust is given a second chance after the first tournament. He decides to commit suicide, but he learns the girl's death was actually caused by a third party. Donning a bag on his head and taking his oversized scalpel, Faust seeks out the truth about the girl's death while dedicating himself to saving lives again.

His unpaired appearance and personality has led to different commentaries by video game reviewers; while a reviewer described him as "iconic", another critic called Faust "goofy". Faust was also noted to be a good fighting game character while his moves received both praise and criticism.

Appearances
Faust was introduced in the series' first and homonymous installment of Guilty Gear, where he is a renowned physician. His medical prowess and healing power was the envy of other physicians, who cause the death of a girl who is under his medical treatments. Faust blames himself and, consumed by guilt, becomes insane and turns himself into a serial killer named Dr. Baldhead. After killing million of people, he is arrested. However, he is allowed to enter in a tournament to kill more people unknowingly for Justice's resurrection. After it, he decides to atone for his crimes by committing suicide but he receives a visit from the ghost of the dead girl who tells him that her death is not his fault. Then, he abandons his Baldhead persona, assumes his real name, puts paper bag on his head, and dedicates himself to saving as many lives as he can while he tries to find out the truth about the girl's death.

In Guilty Gear X (2000), while Faust is trying to help people and fulfilling his duties as a doctor, he meets with Dizzy and persuades her to abandon her live in forest to prevent further attacks on her. In another possible ending, he heals Zato-1 from his illness, and leaves him under the care of his right hand Venom. In Guilty Gear X2 (2002), he wants to pursue I-No since he knows she could cause people harm. This game features three possible endings for Faust: he finds I-No but she confronts him with his past, and he admits that he still enjoys causing pain, yet vows to continue in his duty as a doctor; he meets Zappa, a man with spirits in his body, and he does not know how to help him; and in a fighting alongside Venom against several Robo-Kys, he discovers that the Assassin's Guild participated in the death of the young girl he thought he killed. In Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus (2008), Faust's storyline revolves around his attempt to find a cure for Zappa's condition. Depending on the player's decision, he can discover a cure and perform a surgery on Zappa.

Faust was announced as a playable character in the upcoming Guilty Gear Xrd.

He is also a playable character in the spin-off games Guilty Gear Petit 2 (2002), Isuka (2004), Dust Strikers (2006), and Judgment (2006).

Reception
In a 2013 poll conducted by Arc System Works, Faust was voted as the 12th most popular character from the series. Faust has been commonly noted by reviewers as a standout character in the series due to his appearance and unconventional in-game behavior. GamesRadar described him as "a spear equipped monkey kung-fu warrior replete with a paper bag on his head", and also included Faust in their list of "gaming's maddest mad doctors", as well "gaming's masked maniacs", where they remarked "his moves took on a more comedic tone" after renouncing his Baldhead persona. IGN compared him directly to Soul series character Voldo, adding he "has enough humorous patterns to keep you entertained for days." Game Chronicles reviewer Mark Smith shared the sentiments, praising the representation of Faust's personality in his moveset. The same moveset was described as "full of wild lunges and sudden extensions" by The Escapist on it article about "masters of drunken combat". However, the same didn't happen in NowGamer review, where he was criticized due to his "fool attacks".

Johnny Liu from Game Revolution cited Faust as his favorite character of the series, and declared he "really personifies the quirkiness" of Guilty Gear X2. Pocket Gamer described him as "one of the best creations in 2D scrap-'em-ups history." In 2010, WeDoTech.net ranked him the best fighting video game character of all time, stating that Faust is "[i]conic, funny and possessing of one of the meanest weapons in the business", and noting "his bizarre moves that without doubt make him the single best fighting character in any video game." In 2013, he was ranked at forty-second place on Complex's list of "The 50 Most Dominant Fighting Game Characters", with the writer Elton Jones describing him as "a beast on the battlefield." In addition, UGO Networks ranked his finish move "Instant Kill" as the 36th "Most Gruesome Finishing Move" in video game's history, while Complex elected it the third coolest fighting game combo. On other hand, he was mentioned by 1UP.com as one of Guilty Gear's "goofy characters" along with I-No and Millia.