From Arcade to Console - The Not So Epic Journey of Virtua Fighter
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2022
- A look at the home console versions we received of AM2's fighting masterpiece, Virtua Fighter.
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Opening "Sega" jingle is from Astal for the Sega Saturn.
Ending Music during the credits is from Batman for the Sega Genesis.
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By: Jan Neves
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Intro by Evan S.
portfolio.tsestudios.com/
Episode Notes:
1. Saturn and 32X footage from real hardware. Most arcade footage from MAME or the Astro City Mini.
2. There are a few other Virtua Fighter games out there, but they aren't arcade ports. Virtua Fighter Animation is a Game Gear title based on the anime. There was even an R-Zone version, that was absolutely awful.
3. The PS2 version of VF4 was not arcade perfect. The Naomi 2 pushed more polygons and effects and looks noticeably superior.
4. A new Fighters Megamix would be an excellent opportunity for Sega to redo all these games into one huge collection. - เกม
Does anyone else find a real charm in the low poly 32x models? I find them really compelling! It's impressive how it does such a good job with so little.
History has been kind to the 32x and it's 3D. It was so underpowered they had to squeeze out the most basic polys and not jump the shark. Aged incredibly well ironically.
I like that style. It reminds me of the blocky Final Fantasy 7 overworld character models.
Well originally they made a port for the Genesis with the SVP chip in the cartridge but they decided to can that in favor of the 32x version. So if that ROM ever surfaces somehow you'll be extra charmed because the SVP version made the 32x version look amazing by comparison, allegedly
@@kjhenry100The whole tower of power combined actually has a fair bit of raw power but had to have been a nightmare to develop for to get the most out of it
I have a nice story about Sega of America. I bought the Saturn when it first came out. Some time later, Virtua Fighter Remix came out and those who already had a Saturn were eligible for a free copy. So I called SoA and they asked for a receipt, which I no longer had. So at first they SoA said I was SoL.. but they just mailed it to me anyways! By that time I think I had already been spoiled by the VF2 port which came the same year.. but VF1 Remix was still a huge step up from the first VF1 port
Uh huh nice story bro 🥱
If the Saturn launched with Remix in late 95 (with a more polished Daytona port also) Sega may still be in the console business...
@@eponymous7910 I don't believe that having Remix and a more polished Daytona would have mattered. Sony's name, along with a much larger library of 1st and 3rd party titles, would have doomed Sega, no matter what they had put out.
@@eponymous7910 better yet. Have the saturn release at late 95 when virtua cop, Sega rally and virtua fighter 2 got released. Those games looked amazing
@@eponymous7910 That would make for a stronger USA release... but can one say that was in SoJ interests? The only time they understood the worldwide market was important was when they struggled with the Dreamcast to survive as a company. And even after that they regressed in that understanding.
Virtua fighter deserved to be bigger outside of Japan. It's insanely deep, despite being so simple. It is also by a huge margin the most well balanced fighting game, be it 2D or 3D.
I always kind of liked Tekken more (the characters are more fun and memorable and the CGI endings were fun) but I gotta say Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution on PS2 was a great game and actually one of my favorite fighting games on the PS2. Really made me have a lot of respect for the series, more than I originally had.
So true had the first one and loved it so... seemed hard at first.. but been a fan of the franchise ever since.
I'm think Virtua Fighter was left behind so soon when another amazing 3D games appeared at scene (Soul Edge, Dead or Alive and of course, Tekken).
For sure. It's really good, but too difficult for me. I tried often to learn it, but never could with its hard button combinations. Howeverwhen I see, or saw a strong player online, or whatever, I could really be amazed by that
@@Gatorade69 Agreed
I love this series since 1995.Not many people know that it was actually the first 3D fighting game, I first saw it in the arcades around Christmas time of 1993.
The biggest impact that Virtua Fighter had was on the floor beneath the arcade cabinet. Those machines were HEAVY!
Interesting that Virtua Fighter Remix got rid of the dithered shadows of the original Saturn port in exchange for solid shadows. If you look closely the shadows in the original are very high resolution. They probably reduced the resolution of Remix and thus the shadows looked like ass dithered.
I had this for the 32X. One of five games I had for the add-on. I enjoyed it, even as a kid who didn’t like losing. Had VF2 on the Saturn which was a big improvement, obviously, but I still look back on the 32X port of the original with fondness. Even as an adult who’s resigned to losing 😧
When i played VF in 94 i was so impressed with the game. Seeing Kage high dive head first on to the opponent was the coolest thing i had ever seen.
Sega has so many of the most impressive IPs that exist. It's almost like they can't handle them or they are too humble about how great they actually are. They have so many that could be turned into massive series that come out every two years. I mean Phantasy Star alone should have been able to constantly remain as a final fantasy competitor. It's wild how underwhelming they handle themselves. It's sad
What are you talking about ? I thought the only IPs Sega has are Sonic and Yakuza.
@@Gatorade69
Be fair - Sega also owns the Bayonetta IP, and gives Platinum permission to create sequels...mostly because Nintendo needed another AAA action franchise, and paid for those sequels. Not because Sega themselves understood what they had or gives a single damn.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633 Oh I didn't know that.
I too wish that Sega would utilize some of their other IPs. With the success of Streets of Rage 4 maybe they should look into a Golden Axe revival. I hate how they have all these IPs they just sit on. I know it was made by Treasure but doesn't Sega also own Gunstar Heroes too ?
@@Gatorade69
Most of Treasure's IPs aren't owned by Treasure themselves.
So yeah, Sega could do something with it, but they'd be insane to even try unless they were sure they could match that level of quality.
Judging from their recent track record with something as simple as MonkeyBall, I wouldn't hold my breath. (Seriously, how do they manage to screw up MonkeyBall?)
Sad Indeed - Sega was such a powerhouse in the 80’s and early 90’s. I couldn’t wait to get to the arcade as a kid - Sega games stood head and shoulders above whatever was out there at the time.
Phantasy Star, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Virtua Fighter, Daytona, even Sonic should have ongoing sequels. It’s amazing that those who run Sega today are so clueless on what they are sitting on.
I remember buying the Sega Genesis new when it came out, and missing out on the 32X, Sega CD, and the Saturn, because everything was expensive. I purchased the 3DO, N64, PS1, and the Dreamcast. 1992 - 1998. But thanks to your Channel, I recently repurchased a Model 1 Sega Genesis with the 32X with a good variety of Games! Virtua Fighter being one of them. And I plan on getting a Japanese Sega Saturn soon. I’ve learned a ton about the Sega Systems and Games on your Channel. Great work! I love the Nostalgia of these games now. 👍
Why a Japanese version of the Saturn?
@@solefreak2 Because it will help me to learn how to read and speak Japanese.
@Bulgarian Innocent Yeah. The 3DO was expensive! LoL. I wish I still had it.
I'll always remember this game for it's soundtrack. I can still listed to it from beginning to end almost 30 years later!!
My stepfather absolutely despises Video Games, yet the one & only video game he has ever truly liked is Virtua Fighter. As a kid it's the only one I have ever seen him actually play in the Arcade when my parents would take me as a kid. He absolutely loved that game for some reason. Just goes to show how impressive it was at the time.
Again, well done and well said Sega Lord X! I still enjoy playing Virtua Fighter on my 32X today and back in the day when I had my Saturn, I used to own Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter Remix along with the amazing Virtua Fighter 2. Sadly, I did not appreciate VF Remix as much as I should have. A Virtua Fighter collection of games 1 - 4 would be amazing! Sega Lord X has such a great grasp on what loyal Sega fans want, Sega should hire him as a consultant and ask him what games and compilations they should release on modern consoles and PCs. Seriously, does Sega just not want to make money? Keep up the great work Sega Lord X. BTW I also think it is criminal we never got a modern re-release of Fighters Megamix.
I'm still chuffed that the 32x port of Virtua Fighter had a widescreen option in 1995!
I really hope that the recent Virtua Fighter 5 game comes to Steam.
Anyway, I am going to check the 10th Anniversary of it cause I had just discovered it through this channel. Thank you very much :)
This was yet another excellent video, and as you mentioned, the Astro city Mini Virtua Fighter port suffers from slowdown during replays in 720p TV out mode. Sega also removed object based collision detection which was present in the actual arcade version. In the Astro City Mini port, This causes Akira’s bandana to go through his body, or Pai’s pigtails to clip through her player model. There are a few more examples of clipping that aren’t in the arcade version. Putting my Astro City Mini next to the actual Virtua Fighter arcade machine at the local Nissan dealership confirmed this issue.
Despite that, the Astro City Mini version is the best port of the original Virtua Fighter. The main issue there is that it’s on a device that’s so niche that it doesn’t make sense to only release this largely superb port there. On more capable hardware the collision detection and replay slowdown at 720p wouldn’t be a problem at all. Sega should basically do what Namco did with Tekken 5 on the PS2 when they added arcade perfect ports of Tekken 1-3 to the Tekken history menu. StarBlade served as a playable loading screen, but it also included the full game as an unlockable bonus feature.
I absolutely loved Starblade, and I'll tell you why- because it was an "Experience!"
The moment you sat down in that arcade cabinet and let those booming stereo speakers from the rear of your head simply absorbe your whole body. That was before you even began to play the game on that huge curved screen. Holding in your hands that unique flight controller. You really felt like you where in a science fiction movie like Star Wars or The Last Starfighter.
You wouldn't happen to know the best home version of Starblade would you? I tried running it through MAME but could never get it to work for some reason. I absolutely loved that game and made me feel like I was in that film The Last Starfighter.
@@goonerlee unfortunately I couldn't get it to work on MAME either. The best and only way I ever found to play it was on the Mega-CD (if you're American I'm not sure what you called that? The Sega-CD? Basically the Mega-CD was the add on for what we called the Megadrive, your Sega Genesis). But it wasn't anywhere near arcade perfect. I've just googled it and apparently there was a version available for the PS1 called Starblade Alpha. Now that I'm thinking about it more maybe that WAS the version I played and not the Mega-CD release? Either way it wasn't a patch on the arcade. Until we can run it on the MAME hardware we have it might be better left in our memory?
@@joshoshea3194 I've just been looking at the PS1 version through the Duckstation emulator and I think the problem here is the game uses FMV for the backgrounds so on PS1 it looks a bit blurry and rubbish and this is probably why it's hard to run on MAME as well. I also found out that Tekken 5 has the game as an unlockable extra but I haven't had a chance to try that out but I'm guessing the same problem will exist. What a shame.
Just thought you might like to know. I just tried the version through Tekken 5 on the PCSX2 emulator and it's perfect. Looks and runs just like the arcade as far as I can see. Result!
@@goonerlee wow that is pretty cool thank you 👍
There were 2 PC ports of Virtua Fighter; the initial one was called Virtua Fighter Remix (as per the Saturn) and was exclusive to the Nvidia NV1 graphics card (which, like the Saturn, rendered quads). The NV1 version also allowed gouraud shading, for a smoother look.
The latter, main port, was called Virtua Fighter PC and, whilst looking a little less fancy, allowed you to team the graphics and switch between textured, dithered and flat shaded fighters.
I'll be looking at both versions at some point, as I have grand plans to cover every Sega arcade to PC port!
It's incredible how even today nobody has reached the smoothness of Virtua Fighter moves 😘
Im a new to virtua fighter through 5 and even i gotta agree. Some of the smoothest feeling characters and fighting styles in the genre ive experienced
tekken is pretty smooth but kinda floaty at times
Thanks for the videos
Glad you like them!
Virtua Fighter came out when I was in 8th grade. Being a young martial artist I immediately appreciated the realism and thought it was a breath of fresh air for the fighting game genre. I remember going to the arcade with my buddy and playing against some kid who was a couple years older than me. I was playing as Jackie and I beat him in an intense fight. He turned to me and shook my hand. Getting any kind of respect from an older kid back then was memorable.
I played VF for the Saturn many years ago, my friends and i had a right good time with it.
I have VF for the 32X i play on my Phone via Emulation, and for a fighting game on the go it's pretty good.
Cheers for making these videos 👍
Agreed. VF for the 32x has aged gracefully...if you're desperate to play Virtua Fighter in any form, and don't care how horrible it looks.
It even has widescreen support.
How do you play on your phone?
I never had a Sega Saturn growing up so Virtua Fighter on 32X was my only way to play it. It's not the prettiest version but for 13 year old me it was so exciting having this game be playable at home. I love playing this on 32x
If Sega had a showing for VF like they did VF2, I could see things going entirely different in Sega's timeline. I remember my friends down the street got a Saturn and VF2 and the whole damned neighborhood came over every other day.
Yeah why the hell wasn't it right next to the PS1 kiosk running Toshinden in late 95? That alone. Sega were so ridiculous back then.
Virtual Fighter even if it was arcade perfect would not have sold more Saturns in US. Back then I initially like VF but then I saw Toshindon and I was done with it and I got a playstation.
@@markus1a1 yeah I remember those ads well. Hell, my folks got me a PS and Toshinden and I never even asked for a new game console.
@@markus1a1 Remember, Sega Japan forced Sega US to ditch Eternal Champions (which was popular in the west) to artificially push VF. I have always hated them for that ever since, VF had just never made the splash over in the west, even VF5 on PS5 has honestly just done "good" but it's not a major title still all these years after the fact.
Sega could have had a 3D and 2D fighter franchise cornering the market but no, they wanted no competition for VF despite already having competition with Sony's output.
Idiots.
There was also a PC port as well, for Windows 95. The PC port was actually a port of Virtua Fighter Remix for the PC, but has the option to use the flat shaded models. It's actually a good port. there's also a VF2 port of the Saturn game for Windows 95 as well.
played this a lot,on my old PC with S3 virge video cart.
Thank you for this! I was obsessed with Virtua Fighter as a kid, it was always the coolest cabinet in the arcades, and then when it came home to 32X, it blew my mind that my favorite, most "technologically advanced" looking arcade game could even exist in my own bedroom.
Summer is pretty much over and we have this autumny feel outside. It kinda gives you a sad feeling. Summer over here is like 6-8 weeks max then its cold and darkness for another 8-10 months. SLX and his interesting facts and anecdotes really puts a smile on my face and also kinda gives me that feeling of "ahhh.. things aint so bad"
Coffee cup in hand, wool socks and sweaters on and just embrace that mornin nip in the air.
Cheers from Sweden!
Keep up the good work
Virtual Fighter was the game that finally made me realize polygons were the future. I remember the moment that clicked, standing in the arcade watching the attract mode. :)
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution is my favorite VF. I can play it all day long and never get tired of it. Best 3D fighter ever! I wish they Would of ported it to all consoles and the PC. Could have had a nearly arcade perfect port back then.
Jim Bagley is working on a super impressive port of Virtua Fighter to the GBA, there's footage of it on TH-cam.
There's also an arcade release of Virtua Fighter Remix as well.
I’ve got the Remix ST-V cart, it seemed like a cheaper way to be able to play Virtua Fighter on my JAMMA cab than buying a full VF1 board stack! 😅
@@dreamcastfan You can also get Virtua Fighter Kids for it too!
I remember first seeing this in the arcade when I was visiting my grandma in Cleveland. It was unbelievable
Wow! I loved that analysis in the first couple minutes of the video. I love learning about gaming history, and that's part of the reason why I love your channel so much. You talk about games and consoles that are often overlooked! And you have real, first-hand experience with a lot of those games and consoles.
I'd definitely love to hear your take on things related to the history of gaming, market trends in gaming, etcetc.
And, well, I'd love to watch whatever the heck you feel like releasing too, clearly!
Thanks for the great and consistent (and consistently great!) content!
The reason why VF never got any ports to modern consoles I believe is to spite Yu Suzuki. It's clear to me that there's people internally within Sega who want his legacy erased. Same reason as to why Sega won't properly fund and develop Shenmue 4. He's getting the same treatment Gunpei Yokoi did after he released the Virtual Boy
That could be true too but Virtua Fighter one is made of spaghetti code. I’m sure it’s a headache and a half. Would make for a good cover story tho.
Not only Yu Suzuki's legacy.
Look what they done to franchises from different teams like Panzer Dragoon,Sakura Wars and Shinobi after the PS2/Xbox era until a couple of years ago.
@@carlosaugustodinizgarcia3526
Shinobi got a new game on 3DS, and it even reviewed well, which was a surprise after the GBA abomination. Plus Shinobi III was remastered for 3d.
You can't really include it in the list of franchises they've neglected.
Hmm strange you suggest this when they did Yu Suzukis dreamworks on the dreamcast which was a book and a game disc celebrating his work.
@@brendanroberts1310
He hadn't left Sega yet.
And Sega has a history of holding pathetic grudges.
It's what kept them from remaining a serious contender to Nintendo and Sony.
Virtua Fighter 2 on the Saturn was a friggin marvel at the time. And yeah, we played the heck out of even the 1st VF on the Saturn.
I wish they'd make a disc for consoles with the Astro City Mini's games.
Nobody ever talks about the VF2 port for the Genesis. No polygons, but it looked good and played smoothly.
If I was a parent in a Genesis owning family in the 90s and Virtua Fighter was one of my kids and I’s favorite arcade games, I would’ve, in light of the whole “It’s Out There” fiasco, picked PlayStation as our next console instead of the Saturn, but ALSO got a 32X with its version of Virtua Fighter, so we could still enjoy THAT Sega arcade game at home! Knowing Sega also released games for the PC as a band aid for their not-so-great Saturn sales, that’s the approach I would’ve taken to getting Sega Rally, Daytona and Panzer Dragoon!
Hey Sega Lord x just want to say I've been a fan for a long time since you've been around You one of my favorite content creators I love all of your work it's also filled with passion virtua fighter was one of my favorite games back in the day all day I love the franchise and it's a bummer it's not what it used to be I started with virtua fighter one in the arcade , two and three , classic classic games
Given how Sonic Origins came out, I wouldn't be that enthusiastic about them making a good quality compilation, no questionnable DLC required.
I'd accept a bare bones compilation with absurd DLC on Switch, because right now, the closest thing we've gotten to portable Virtua Fighter is 3 characters in Dead or Alive 5 for Vita.
I still remember when I first saw Virtua Fighter at the Mall's arcade, it was mind blowing!
Virtua Fighter just had headwinds trying to gain an audience out of Japan initially; working at an arcade in late 1994 and into 1995 we had a Virtua Fighter cabinet and on occasion it would get a player but it was always out of curiosity and usually one or two tries before moving onto something else. I don't know that I ever observed a two-player match while working there. The swarm of people waiting in line to play and/or just watch was around Killer Instinct and to a lesser degree MK3, while Street Fighter 2 and its' variants had pretty much run their course by then and no longer attracted much attention. 3D fighters didn't get much fanfare in the arcade outside of Japan until Tekken 2 showed up when that game took all the interest away from the aforementioned 2D fighters for a while. I'm not sure that Virtua Fighter really got decent momentum outside of Japan until VF4 on the PS2, being a show-piece game on a heavily circulated platform. I still have VF4: Evolution and there are very few PS2 games that are visually more impressive. Saturn was selling poorly in support of Virtua Fighter 2 and for the Dreamcast well Soul Caliber pretty much stole any thunder from Virtua Fighter 3. I'd definitely be interested in a Virtua Fighter re-release for Steam to go along with my other fighting games; any or all of them.
VF got off to a rough start because it was typically the most expensive game at the arcade, usually a dollar or 2-4 credits while Tekken/Street Fighter/NeoGeo were much cheaper. Then the huge mismanagement of Saturn that dragged down the Dreamcast, and the quick and dirty outsourced port of VF3 because Japan will eat it up either way, while DC Soulcalibur was one of the best looking video games in the world for a brief time. Sega as a business has been discussed to hell and back, VF could have been much more popular than it currently is, with a more supportive company behind it
Im from Poland.First played VF2 on summer 1997,it was mindblowing.
@@adam1984pl It was a very good evolution from VF1; not only the obvious jump in graphics but the developers also did good work to put more lively personalities on the characters, something that I thought was an area which was lacking and needed improvement from the first game.
@@gc3k Another advantage for Tekken is that a had a more entry-level flow in the fighting engine (most of the characters) that made it more welcoming to new players, which in turn attracts further players interested in seeing what the crowding of the arcade cabinet is about. I liked both series of games during that time period but in the arcade I primarily spent my tokens playing Tekken, especially Tekken 3 when it came out. VF2 I mainly played on the Saturn as I would rarely find a machine in arcades in my area; Mall of America's arcade had one but that was an inconvenience to go there and they were also a bad deal with their only three tokens for a dollar exchange.
It's tough to say if accessibility (gameplay) or availability (either bad ports or no arcade or home versions at all in the West) hurt Virtua Fighter more, though I'd say they're both the main reasons it never caught on in the West. VF4 on PS2 was a success, with a Greatest Hits port of VF4 Evolution, but only the 360 version of VF5 (vanilla) had online play, until Ultimate Showdown 15 years after 5's debut. There wasn't much opportunity for people to even judge its gameplay accessibility
I was there first time round playing this arcade classic during college days. Unforgettable memories with friends long gone now.
7:46
“Impressive!”
Lord of Sega is back
I play today in my Sega Saturn Virtua Fighter 1. Great game
I wish I could go back in time and experience everything all over again.
VF4 is such a good game, it's a crime that is forgotten. If it was on dreamcast I bet we would be all talking about it.
I used sneak into my older brothers room to play virtua fighter 2 and the first time I saw him play it in his Saturn I was left with out words
I had Virtua Fighter PC for my Packard bell and it was awesome. The extra textures were really nice and you could choose to have the old textures as well.
Dural's stage music in VF1 is one hell of a boss track...which was the character select screen as well. Damn way to select your fighter! \m/
Oh man watching this I'm imediatly taken back to the first time I played Virtua fighter in the Arcade and the day I got my Saturn home, Damn.
I really don't get why companies don't release their old arcade games like these. There are open source versions of MAME and other emulators that are legal to use in retail products. They wouldn't have to do much more than make a menu for choosing the games.
Open Source licenses don't exactly make it legal to rerelease an instance of the community emulator for profit. Capcom got in trouble for this with their Capcom logo arcade stick including an open source version of FinalBurn Alpha. Most companies when they do rereleases of older games hire out subcontractors to build an emulator from scratch to avoid the legal trouble. So, there is definitely a nontrivial development effort involved.
@@stephenbeeson4570 It's complicated, definitely. The emulator has to be released under the right licenses for it to be possible, legally, for sure.
Sega needs to release an arcade compilation with Scud Race, Daytona 2, VF3 and VF4. I wanted to play the arcade versions forever but never saw any machines. Only played badly emulated versions but would be nice to have an official release.
Love the content on this channel !!
This was smooth. I like your side by sides, presentation, and enthusiasm. Really nice work! I miss the days where the best hardware was in the arcades...
Virtua Fighter arcade was mind-blowing...
The music from VF1 hits me hard with nostalgia. Love it.
Awesome take on the virtua Fighter series! Awesome episode SLX!
SLX, you are one of my favorite channels on TH-cam these days. I absolutely love all things 90's SEGA, particularly the Saturn.
I always have a love-hate relationship with this game but always appreciate the history behind it
My dream is not to see VF6 but to play the arcade-perfect VF1 on any of modern systems.
Totally agree! why these have not been re - released is beyond me, some of my all time favourite fighting games.
So many good memories with VF 1 and 2 with my dad. God bless him. He passed away a couple years ago.
As a HUGE Virtua Fighter fan I 100% AGREE!! Not getting any Sega Ages releases or a Virtua Fighter collection is unacceptable IMO.
FACTS, Sega should invest more with this IP, this is the father of all 3D fighter games and influence every game we have now.
A legacy colección with all 1 thru 4 arcade perfect would be insane and a love letter.
Also would encourage to do tournaments or E sports for VF exclusively.
Please Sega, listen your fans and no just for Sonic.
And Yakuza + Persona.
Valid. Arcade perfect collections of this game would be appreciated. 1 through 5 for all current consoles. Even 1-4 on the Switch would be good. VF has a steep history and in depth fighting experience you can't get anywhere else
My jaw dropped when the Pandemonium dedicated Saturn channel affirmed and confirmed that Virtua Fighter Remix was ready on the Saturn`s launch day.
It's amazing how I dislike the original VF on Saturn but actually find the 32X version amazing, a much weaker hardware doing more justice to the original game, rush or no rush, their despair brought their demise in the upcoming years.
Yup. Sega had VF Remix basically ready for launch but Sega being Sega they went with poor judgment.
Sega has to be the most cannibalistic of it's own franchises of any developer/publishers. They killed off so many incredible franchises that were huge at one time. Shining Force, Thunder Force, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racers, Outrun, Daytona, Alex Kidd, Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, Phantasy Star Online etc. So many IPs that went to waste.
This series is so underrated. It deserves better.
There is a weird visually surprising Java version of the OG Virtua fighter. Graphics were comparable to the Saturn game. Could run it on an old Sony Ericsson Cybershot phone I had at the time. Playing with a number pad was kinda tough, but having a 3D polygon fighter on a phone in the mid 2000s was pretty impressive, if not exactly a fun time :D
I think there was a more playable version on the Sharp phones in Japan. They had a very good port of Ridge Racer too.
I know people like to crap on phone games, but a lot of developers have made magic back in those days with a lot of limitations and even today. It’s a super interesting rabbit hole.
Yay more SegaLord! I'd watch a video of you doing dishes man! Your content is so great!
An excellent video. I’ve been dreaming of an arcade perfect port of VF3 and 4 forever now!
I remember the first time I saw Virtua Fighter. At the time, I knew it was a title on the then-brand new Sega Saturn, but my first experience with it was seeing the arcade cabinet in my local shopping mall's video arcade. Sure, the characters were blocky, the color palette bright and low-count, and the gameplay looked a bit stiff. But, do you know what else was in that same arcade on that same day? Starblade. Cybersled. Time Crisis 1. Virtua Fighter slotted in very nicely, and I always look back on it as a product of its time. I feel we didn't lose too much in the Saturn version.
As an aside, I don't even mind the sluggishness of the Sega Genesis version of VF2, but seeing as I also own the Saturn version of VF2, there's really no reason whatsoever for me to go back to it these days.
Hard to believe this didn't get a release on the dreamcast
I wish they made virtua fighting and sega arcade game compilations for the dreamcast.
It would have been suicidal to release this on Dreamcast; the 90's weren't kind to flat shading. Even Square's Tobal No 1 was dismissed as being little more than a bonus for the demo disc it came with.
When i was a kid, I had regular virtua fighter. Today, I have remix, that i picked up about 4 years ago, when I got a "new" Saturn. I was thinking about getting a copy of vanilla virtua fighter, but after seeing this video, I think I'm fine with Remix. lol. Honestly, when I'm in a mood for VF, I go for either Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, or The 10th anniversary. Can't wait for VF6.
As of today, I hadn't actually played 10th An in about a couple years, but if I'm not mistaken, only the side-stepping attacks were removed. But it still plays great. Whenever I'm in a mood for VF4, I'll either play it, or evolution. Truth be told, I don't remember the last time i touched VF2 and 3tb.
The skins for virtua fighter 5: Ultimate showdown are inspired recreations, since every character in the game has those skins, but since all the characters have drastically different heights and sizes from before, among other things, the skins aren't pulled from the arcade version, but have been re-created in the style of the original. It's great. I wish Tekken would do something similar, but since Tekken had textures, maybe something like that wouldn't age too well or look all that nice (judging from the mods anyway).
Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned needs to be ported on to today's consoles and gaming PCs.
Sega should released a Virtua Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection with All versions of VF for the PS5.
"unbelievably depressing" that pretty much sums up being a Sega fan who cares about more than Sonic and Yakuza
I love Virtua Fighter Remix, it had great improvements over the previous one and here in Brazil it came included in the Sega Saturn box!
Well turns out the VF5 rerelease has been a much larger than anticipated success and the team behind it has pretty much conifrmed that they will absolutely be doing more, just it'll take time so the future is definitely bright.
It's honestly extremely funny, in retrospective, just how much respect Battle Arena Toshinden used to demand because of its impressive graphics on the PS1 version. A very big contrast to how the game has been seen after the dust has settled, nostalgia aside, as probably one of the worst playing fighting games of the era. Definitely an early example of people taking graphics over gameplay. But hey, it was early 3D days, relatively unexplored territory for gaming at the time, and some games had to walk and stumble so the later ones could run.
I think people were starved for fighters early in that generation. The first Street Fighter game we got in that gen was SF:The Movie, which was always a little off.
Battle Arena Toshinden showed up sporting a similar control scheme to Street Fighter 2 (half circle motions, forward/down/forward etc) but it was in 3D, it even has its own take on Ryu and Ken, but this time with swords... it was easy to get into and pretty fun.
Bro my mate brought Battle Arena Toshinden, I stuck it in the playstation, all excited. Within half an hour I was pissing myself laughing. It was absolutely terrible. I spent every fight flying off the edge of the ring on purpose, it was more fun than trying to play that puttence.
It can never be stated enough: Battle Arena Toshinden is terrible and always has been. PSX fans were far better off with Tekken and Zero Divide. But the kids wanted their eye candy.
Whatever. Vanilla Ice sold more records than Nirvana. There’s zero accounting for taste.
Then Soul Blade and Tekken came to the OG Playstation and the Battle Arena: Toshinden series was quickly forgotten about..
Awesome video man! I agree, a Virtua Fighter collection would be amazing on current gen consoles.
If VF6 comes out I'd like to see VF3 arcade perfect as a pre-order bonus since we never got to play it at home.
I remember the time when Virtua Fighter was released in the arcades. That game was truly brilliant in it's time before Tekken was born. This game was however very poorly ported to home consoles
It really shows how much graphics played at the beginning of the 3D phase. Toshinden was rated so much higher, but that game so so shallow and clunky. Virtua Fighter really was a lot deeper, counter based game. Perfect for how I always played fighting games. Baiting the opponent and countering is the way in VF. So easy to shut down button mashers. That actually might have hurt it gain popularity when you have games like Tekken that seemed to favored players who mounted non-stop offensive and less countering. They also had a few easy to pick up characters for button mashers like Law, Eddie Gordo, Hwrang but then deep characters like Kazuya, Paul, Jin. There are no easy to pick up characters in VF. You have to know more or less, what you are doing.
true - but I wanted to play toshindon and not virtua fighter and I think that was the problem with VF.
Yeah, apart from the graphics(which for 1993 looked great), VF felt realistic(apart from the moon jumping. It was a nice change of pace from the Street Fighters and Mortal Kombats
For the most part Playstation 3d offerings played better as well as having better graphics, leading to a larger player base and making the better 3d Saturn titles (Panzer Dragoon, VF2, House of the Dead etc) underrated.
@PistNRods: Anyone that tries to argue which fighting game is "deeper" or "easier" than the other, is a fucking idiot. Any fighting game takes skill to get goid at, and button mashing always get you nowhere no matter which game it is.
A VF collection with ray tracing at 4k HDR would be amazing.
Considering VF is my favourite fighting series of all time, I really enjoyed this. Cheers.
I remember getting for the 32x and loving it. The PS1 was a couple years purchase away so I thought this looked amazing.
Soooo many amazing sega games have never been ported…this is just one of them.
I read an interview of somebody from Sega of America who said that Sega Japan was mad at them because they add stuff to VF on 32X.
They'll probably do a 30th anniversary collection next year. Same with tekken year after
Your videos are must watch
I’d like to see you cover the later Virtua Fighter games too.
I love the Virtua fighter Remix!
great video Sega Lord X!
play on my Sega Saturn!
😉
Didn't know any different when the Saturn version released so thought it was great at the time.
Not to mention I was playing this when my mates were still on Amiga, Megadrive and Snes.
I remember playing the hell out of Virtual Fighter in Laughlin NV since I was 11 in 1993 and couldnt exactly hang out in the casinos
Couple years later they used this game on that Chevy chase Disney movie ‘man of the house’
It still shocks me in the 6 months between the Japanese and North American release that Sega made no improvements to the Saturn port of Virtua Fighter, they didn't even try to fix the bugs while the 32x port even had a widescreen mode, I would maybe understand if Sega was only going to release Virtua Fighter Remix in the West but they did release the same buggy version, why? I wish Sega would get a team together and do arcade perfect ports of Virtua Fighter 1 and 2 on Dreamcast and redo Virtua Fighter 3 because it should be arcade perfect and try and push the Dreamcast to the limit and port Virtua Fighter 4! Sega really needs to work on the ultimate 3D fighter collection!
Sega has a treasure trove of arcade games that never seen had an arcade perfect port let alone a console release period. It would be awesome to have arcade perfect ports especially some that have been locked up for decades and never had a console released on current consoles.
At the time, I sent in for the free VF Remix and played it a whole lot. It helped fill the gap until VF2 was released for the Saturn. VF Remix was really fantastic and it played just like the original, which played perfect.
Virtua Fighter is the reason we 3D fighters in the first place.