It boggles my mind how someone would make ESC key work like 'OMG EXIT NOW!11' button these days. Especially since in most cases the key works as 'back' button in menus navigated by keyboard. Is there any way to stop game from exiting on hitting ESC?

I have no clue whatsoever, since in my copy of the game the Escape key does absolutely *nothing*... if I want to exit the game, I whether press F12 or resort to Alt+F4. Unless, that is, you're talking about Guilty Gear Isuka, while I'm talking abut Guily Gear XX/X2 #Reload.

The button used to cancel selections and exit menus is whatever button you mapped "Triangle" to (via the config executable/exe, which can be found in the same folder you installed the game or in Start > All Programs > GOG.com > Guilty Gear X2 Reload).

Yeah, should have mentioned that I was talking about Isuka.

Since I do now have Isuka as well (bought it last week), all I can say is that the ESC key works as the F12 one on XX #Reload. I don't think there's any way around it, both games are straight up ports of their respective PlayStation 2 counterparts, regarding the way they work, and it would seem either Isuka's ESC and XX #Reload's F12 work as a power off button, as it is the only way to "quit" the game on the console. Obviously, pressing the power button in any circumstance will quit the game entirely, so that's why the games behave the way they do whenever you press those buttons mapped to the console's power switch.