That Dark Edge game looks like the most interesting way to use Super Scaler technology. I mean, while SNK were just zooming in 2D-screen, this thing looks like Tekken+Space Harrier.
Gauging scaling sprite distance is an absolute nightmare in 2.5D- especially when your view shifts from one side of the screen to the other with little warning.
@@noop9k Suikoden and Golden Sun are somewhat similar but used (I think?) mode 7. Still would've been interesting to see this updated for a bigger name Sega game
@@solblackguy There is no mode 7 outside SNES. Sega Saturn has capabilities similar to mode 7 and these are used to augment its 3D deficiences. Everything else is completely different. Mode 7 never could scale sprites. Sega CD could though. And almost everything that came after could too. GBA does sprite scaling too. People often call it “portable SNES” while it is actually completely different. Golden Sun had impressive effects indeed. But beyond graphics was so bland and forgettable..
"Last Bronx" will always have a special place in my heart. Not only is it a weapon-based fighting game that takes place in modern times (which is rare) but it also has one of my favourite intro cinematics ever put into a fighting game.
Virtua Fighter 3 in 1996 with Scud Race, was the biggest leap in graphics I've ever saw, one of the few times you could see what game in the future would be, it was bonkers.
Not a big surprise considering that the video chip alone was comparable to something that only high end graphics workstations had at the time. When I've seen a Scud Race machine in local cinema in 2006 it didn't look dated even. And VF3 was mind-blowing when I got to play it just a few months after release. VF2 wasn't bad either with those animations.
@@shadowflash705 Indeed, Scud Race looks amazing even to this day. The Model 3 was very powerful so most games still look good, but Scud Race looks the best of the lot. It was the very first game made for the Model 3 so maybe it got an extra bit of attention that the rest of the games didn't have. To me, the Model 3 is the best arcade hardware ever. Nothing ever came close to what Sega and Lockheed Martin achieved with it.
I remember saying 'I can't imagine fighting game graphics will ever look better than this, it's so realistic" which was a dumb thing to say, but at the time it was like 'holy crap nothing else looks like this'.
@@creedolala6918 This ^ It happened way too much often haha, it would be fun to make a list of giant leaps in gaming, like the first time clothes were realistic with real time deformation, i think Virtua Fighter 2 was the first game to feature this, etc
@@creedolala6918 yeah, what you said didn't age well like you see, if you watch the ps5 games trailer then you'll probably get confused if it is recorded or not
I feel like everytime you make a video like this we get news about that topic almost immediately. So I wouldn't be surprised if Ultimate Showdown was revealed next week lol.
Only if you are under 40 years old. Otherwise you would remember Golden Axe, Shinobi, Alex Kid, Story of Thor, Ecoo, Panzer Dragoon, Nights into Dreams and many more Games without second Parts like Soleil, Burning Ranger etc.; But the first mentioned games deserve a come back.
@@stevenr224 I'd argue even people under 40 years old would be aware of some titles via emulation/re-ports/the SEGA crossover titles. In all honesty, if SEGA didn't go out of their way to hide most of them from the public eye, they'd have way more to talk about these days than Sonic and a couple of other lucky ones like Yakuza.
True and sad. It could be easy for Sega to be a strong company, as a 3rd anyway. But they can’t even reach that because of so many bad (or no) ideas. Let’s say they themself would use the roms and make an emulator on the PS4/5, Xbox and specially Switch for all possible consoles and each game 1€- 15€., they would make soooo much money without really having to invest or do anything. All is out there in the internet and legally they can use it.
I remember Holoseum being in the arcade at CASTLES and COASTERS in Phoenix Arizona. It was the game in the middle of the arcade, that no one ever played.
@@MattMcMuscles Yeah, it was released only in Japan. It's definitely mediocre, but it's an interesting footnote just for the fact that Yu Suzuki was involved just before VF.
I just wanna take a moment and say the PS2 main menu of Virtua Fighter 4 is one of the most aesthetically pleasing things I've ever seen in any video game
Yeah, I really wish they would make another one, or at least port them to PC properly. I mean, you can play VF5 in one of the Yakuza games, so they've already got the port finished. They just wont release it as a stand alone game for some reason.
I still love that Sega won’t exactly let VF 5 Final Showdown die, as if you purchase Yakuza 6, Like a Dragon, or Judgment this game is entirely playable
I wish we got another Last Bronx. It's basically Soul Caliber in modern day Tokyo. The opening intro slaps so hard and I loved the ending movies for Yasuke and Joe. But the game really had a good foundation for the lore. There's an evil organization (REDRUM), there's a cool street gang fighting it (Soul Crew), and every character has history with another character. The main villain ends up being the brother of a rogue paintball martial arts crew called G-Troop. So stupid but I love it!
Sega can't seem to catch a break lol Great to see this series back! If you don't mind another take on Sega, I think Sakura Wars might make a good episode, with the odd way it was conceived(Red Company provided 'game idea' for Sega, operating in a similar fashion of a certain Mighty company...), its dormancy after the commercial failure of the last 2 games on PS2 and DS, Red founder's scandal with AKB48 member that sent Sega further adrift away from the franchise until Sega acquired the entirety of series rights by (IIRC) 2016 (because RED is now owned by Oizumi, a pachinko company and Sega*Sammy*'s main rival) and, instead of original devs, made Sonic Team alumnis(such as the director of...Sonic 06, as a combat director for this genre shift from SRPG to Dynasty Warriors style hack n' slash, which didn't really hit the mark due to the clunky camera, the lack of ability to lock on to an enemy which didn't help with the amount of aerial enemies in the game, the lack of QoL features such as manual save and dialogue log, all of which weren't patched until the game was 1 month away from international release, which didn't bode well with Asian fans) and, honestly speaking, any artists Sega had on their contact list(Kubo Tite, that Girls und Panzer guy, etc.) to make a soft reboot, and DelightWorks(of FGO fame) for a mobile game, neither providing enough profit with the latter shutting down at the end of next month. There is a dedicated fanbase, both in Japan(where they've been on a petition campaign to make Sega rerelease the series on multiplat) and even in the West(such as Sakura Wars Fan Revue Discord, surprising for a game that barely had Western presence) who've translated the 1st game on Saturn, one of the Dreamcast spinoff, and been archiving the mobile game(#SaveTheDorks), and they might even help you out on the subject. I'll be happy to see how it turns out!
Detective Matt, I request a review of the mysterious case of Red Earth's disappearance. There were only 6 games ever made for Capcom's beautiful yet complex CP System III Arcade Board; Red Earth, Street Fighter III, 2nd Impact, Third Strike, JoJo's Venture, and Heritage for the Future. All of those games in one way or another have made the translation to home console ports EXCEPT for Red Earth. Capcom has made references to it in their other games like Pocket Fighter and SFV, but unless you emulate it or get lucky and happen to find one of the rare arcade cabinets, there is virtually no way to play it in modern day. I wanna know why. UPDATE: Red Earth is now included in Capcom Fighting Collection for PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and PC. It finally made its way home. Case closed.
I miss back when Sega was a technological pioneer. Seeing Virtua Fighter 2 was amazing for me. It was even pretty good on the Saturn, for the three of us that remember. I wouldn't mind playing VF 4 or 5 to see what changes they made.
I remember buying a Dreamcast exclusively for Soul Calibur. I wanted to buy other fighting games on the Dreamcast but besides SC they seemed all underwhelming so never got them. Thank you for this video!
Not gonna lie Dark Edge looked kinda dope. Not sure how it played but just the visual effect of the sprites going around each other and the framing with the background ar looked really nice to me.
I remember playing Sonic The Fighters at an arcade during a trip in Japan. I was a kid back then, but I loved Sonic. And this game was one hell of a timekiller
Fighting games are making a comeback due to the enormous growth in esports interest over the past 5+ years. Fighters are notoriously hard to get in to and some are not as interesting to watch, but the company to figure out one that unites hardcore fans with Twitch viewers and throws on a good seasonal battle-pass system for cosmetics will have big cash on their hands.
Yes Virginia, there was a time when Virtua Fighter was bigger than Tekken in Japan. Even had a better anime too because the changes to the characters were actually helpful[though it was before Sexy Sarah and Badass Akira we all know and love in VF4]. But the tides would change, especially due to SEGA’s stupidity and lack of VF after VF5FS. Plus Tekken’s greater presence almost everywhere.
Now, since you did Sega, how about doing atlus and it's weird fighting game habits, both making in house and what ones they published elsewhere? Or just that second one for all games atlus published in the west in general, since there were some interesting choices.
So interesting thing about Holosseum that wasn't brought up, it was a conversion kit for Time Traveller cabs, in case the laserdisc player broke down. From what I remember hearing, it had a fairly short development cycle.
It is so depressing to even ask that question. Yes, I remember. Yes, I love them. Yes, no one else seems to. Also, it might be worth mentioning all the stealth ports of AM2 games through the Yakuza series. VF2, Fighting Vipers and VF5 Final Showdown have all been made playable through various entries.
When I first played/saw footage of Sonic Fighters, I honestly thought it was too bizarre to be a real SEGA game but.... hey man it was the 90s!!! Super rad game to play with some friends and some beers actually haha, anyway great video as always Matt, love the Flophouse files!
I remember the first time I played Last Bronx. It was at an old Nathan's in The Bronx (I know), and I was hooked. When I got the PC port, it was one of the first PC games I bought for myself. I'm sad that Last Bronx didn't get more love, because it was such an intense game with solid characters and great fights.
@@MattMcMuscles I guess thats fair. I played the game as a kid and I don't even remember if it had multiplayer. I just remember the cool robots. XD I should do some more research on it and see what happened to it.
i actually used to enjoy these more than the tekken series. and no just because it has 3 buttons being punch kick and block doesnt mean its less complex. "there is incredible elegance to be found in games designed around a few simple mechanics" happy to hear rumours claiming its coming back and it was nice to have this available within the yakuza games lol
While Sega didn't directly make it, they did at least publish the Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax games. They even have Virtua Fighter and Valkyria Chronicles characters shoved into it, along with references to Sonic, NiGHTS, etc. Still waiting on Fighters Megamix 2.
Sega now owns Power Instinct via Atlus. So if they ever go all out again in the fighting game department, they have plenty of games to work with. Virtua Fighter 5US looks to be a good start.
Love how when mentioning Dead or Alive using the Model 2 hardware and VF2 source code (Saturn version also used the Saturn VF2 source code), decided to show the PS1 version which used an inhouse engine based as they weren't licenced to use it for obvious reasons, and this inhouse engine was based on Tekken 3 from observation (don't know if they managed to get any of the actual code, but DOA++ the arcade version of the PS1 port is running on hardware identical to the Tekken 3 arcade board).
I've played a few rare or almost forgotten. Fighting games on the PS4 thanks to Arcade Archives and currently have PSnow. So I might check out Fighting Vipers later on down the line. I also have the Sega genesis collection with virtua fighter 2 on it.
@@chanhjohnnguyen1867 idk if I would call that wise when the series has been out on PS4 for so long, it’s more just a natural thing. Wise would’ve been having it out for those systems years ago imo
The Yakuza Team: So we been putting VF games in are games for awhile. Sega: Yeah? The Yakuza Team: Can we just make a new ga- Sega: NO! The Yakuza Team: We will give it to PlayStation for free Sege: Sorry I mean yes!
Because Jotaro isn't the only character who has the rebel japanese student look with a broken cap and long jacket. It's a common trope in japanese character design. Not everything is a JoJo reference.
VF being reduced to DOA guest characters and a Yakuza game within a game felt like it was overdue for a comeback. Lets hope this Ultimate Showdown actually materializes and brings some popularity back to the franchise.
I'll never stop being amazed of how many games Sega was able to develop and/or publish in the 90's, seriously they not only released like 3 or 4 times the number of games on the Genesis, Game Gear and Saturn Nintendo released on the SNES, GB and N64, but they also made super advanced games for arcades and stuff for the Sega CD and 32X, obviously for better or for worse since a lot of their games, especially from Sega of America, were half assed
I'm seeing a bunch of people in the comments bring it up as a joke but the Yakuza series has likely played a small part in putting Virtual Fighter back into gamers' collective consciousness. It's been a side game in a lot of the more recent titles in the series after all. Maybe Sega wants to test the waters off of the back of that success? Time will tell.
I had Last Bronx on my Saturn, and i played the shit out of it! ...i mean i wasn't good at fighting games but i just wanted anything that even looked anime at the time! And as rubbish as Sonic the Fighters was, i do adore the character animations in it.
VF was really deep, almost any advanced stuff you hear about in tekken, they had it or even invented it. Rapid movement tech, option select defensive techniques, modified crouch attacks, fuzzy guard, weight-specific optimized combos, modifying combo enders for better oki pressure... players back then were studying frame data like crazy. But the simple controls and varied stages made it fun even for scrubs, there was a nice steady learning curve. They put extra work into little realistic touches that you don't see in other games, even decades later... some blocked spin kick would stop abruptly instead of passing through their raised arm. Almost every throw had a custom animation against the sumo character since he was too fat to pick up. You could do a reversal against a specific class of move (say a sidekick) and the animation would change depending on which foot was forward. many combos only worked in open stance or closed stance. I think their downfall was a lack of flash or interesting character design. "this is Brad, he does Muay Thai. he's a white dude with pointy sideburns".. "cool, this is Sagat, he also does Muay Thai. he's 7 feet tall with one eye and got this giant burn scar from Ryu's dragon punch"
I remember Last Bronx! Awesome game! Also, the demo of this game somehow killed video drivers on my super old pc, and left it with lowest resolution and 16 FUCKING COLORS. Good times.
You missed a game matt- Sega made a little known 2D fighting game called 'Burning rival' in 1992. It had some pretty fluid animation for the time , but it wasnt very good.
It was Sega's early answer to Street Fighter II. The game was going to be ported to the Sega Genesis by Sega in NA if Capcom choose not to give them a version of SFII as it was going to take advantage of the upcoming Sega Genesis 6-button controller. Eventually Capcom did and Burning Rival never made it to home turf or even outside of Japan.
Also in Japan, Fighting Vipers and Megamix had a special extra character: Pepsi Man!
🎶Pepsi Maaan!🎶
Omg!!!
Pepsi Man was in Megamix?
6:50 Is Jotaro here also a special character?
@@supermariohack3218 That's a regular character in Fighting Vipers, Bahn. he does look like a Jojo character, though.
That Dark Edge game looks like the most interesting way to use Super Scaler technology. I mean, while SNK were just zooming in 2D-screen, this thing looks like Tekken+Space Harrier.
Gauging scaling sprite distance is an absolute nightmare in 2.5D- especially when your view shifts from one side of the screen to the other with little warning.
@@patrickhewitt7899 Still an interesting engine. Probably would've worked better for a Phantasy Star or Space Harrier game
@@solblackguy JRPGs did that a few times. Worked more or less well for budget titles. Maybe sometimes better than early 3D.
@@noop9k Suikoden and Golden Sun are somewhat similar but used (I think?) mode 7. Still would've been interesting to see this updated for a bigger name Sega game
@@solblackguy There is no mode 7 outside SNES. Sega Saturn has capabilities similar to mode 7 and these are used to augment its 3D deficiences. Everything else is completely different.
Mode 7 never could scale sprites. Sega CD could though. And almost everything that came after could too.
GBA does sprite scaling too. People often call it “portable SNES” while it is actually completely different.
Golden Sun had impressive effects indeed. But beyond graphics was so bland and forgettable..
Flophouse Files is one of my favorite series. Glad to see this back again!
Too right!
We need more of the Floppy Goodness
"Last Bronx" will always have a special place in my heart. Not only is it a weapon-based fighting game that takes place in modern times (which is rare) but it also has one of my favourite intro cinematics ever put into a fighting game.
Virtua Fighter 3 in 1996 with Scud Race, was the biggest leap in graphics I've ever saw, one of the few times you could see what game in the future would be, it was bonkers.
Not a big surprise considering that the video chip alone was comparable to something that only high end graphics workstations had at the time. When I've seen a Scud Race machine in local cinema in 2006 it didn't look dated even. And VF3 was mind-blowing when I got to play it just a few months after release. VF2 wasn't bad either with those animations.
@@shadowflash705 Indeed, Scud Race looks amazing even to this day.
The Model 3 was very powerful so most games still look good, but Scud Race looks the best of the lot.
It was the very first game made for the Model 3 so maybe it got an extra bit of attention that the rest of the games didn't have.
To me, the Model 3 is the best arcade hardware ever. Nothing ever came close to what Sega and Lockheed Martin achieved with it.
I remember saying 'I can't imagine fighting game graphics will ever look better than this, it's so realistic" which was a dumb thing to say, but at the time it was like 'holy crap nothing else looks like this'.
@@creedolala6918 This ^ It happened way too much often haha, it would be fun to make a list of giant leaps in gaming, like the first time clothes were realistic with real time deformation, i think Virtua Fighter 2 was the first game to feature this, etc
@@creedolala6918 yeah, what you said didn't age well like you see, if you watch the ps5 games trailer then you'll probably get confused if it is recorded or not
I feel like everytime you make a video like this we get news about that topic almost immediately. So I wouldn't be surprised if Ultimate Showdown was revealed next week lol.
And then it was
This is pretty funny
Sega: "I guess people just don't want fighting games with our characters."
Sonic Smackdown:
sonic battle: ahem
Eh, Sonic Battle was a whopping eighteen years ago though.
Only if you are under 40 years old. Otherwise you would remember Golden Axe, Shinobi, Alex Kid, Story of Thor, Ecoo, Panzer Dragoon, Nights into Dreams and many more Games without second Parts like Soleil, Burning Ranger etc.; But the first mentioned games deserve a come back.
@@stevenr224 I'd argue even people under 40 years old would be aware of some titles via emulation/re-ports/the SEGA crossover titles.
In all honesty, if SEGA didn't go out of their way to hide most of them from the public eye, they'd have way more to talk about these days than Sonic and a couple of other lucky ones like Yakuza.
True and sad. It could be easy for Sega to be a strong company, as a 3rd anyway. But they can’t even reach that because of so many bad (or no) ideas. Let’s say they themself would use the roms and make an emulator on the PS4/5, Xbox and specially Switch for all possible consoles and each game 1€- 15€., they would make soooo much money without really having to invest or do anything. All is out there in the internet and legally they can use it.
I remember Holoseum being in the arcade at CASTLES and COASTERS in Phoenix Arizona. It was the game in the middle of the arcade, that no one ever played.
That was in castles and coasters? I don't remember that arcade cabinet around the early 00s or a few years ago.
I remember it too. It was on the second level, upstairs.
There is also Burning Rival for the System 32 by Yu Suzuki himself which predates the release of Virtua Fighter.
Yeah, but I believe that never left Japan, right?
@@MattMcMuscles Yeah, it was released only in Japan. It's definitely mediocre, but it's an interesting footnote just for the fact that Yu Suzuki was involved just before VF.
I just wanna take a moment and say the PS2 main menu of Virtua Fighter 4 is one of the most aesthetically pleasing things I've ever seen in any video game
God, I miss Virtua Fighter. VF4 Evolution was my introduction to fighting games and how much I love them.
Yeah, I really wish they would make another one, or at least port them to PC properly. I mean, you can play VF5 in one of the Yakuza games, so they've already got the port finished. They just wont release it as a stand alone game for some reason.
@@LightLeo111 Yakuza 7 and Judgment have V and 2, I believe Kiwami 2 only has VF2
I think Fighting Vipers is on Kiwami 2 if you want to try it lol
Virtua fighter was my first fighting game, it will always be #1 in my heart.
I still love that Sega won’t exactly let VF 5 Final Showdown die, as if you purchase Yakuza 6, Like a Dragon, or Judgment this game is entirely playable
I wish we got another Last Bronx. It's basically Soul Caliber in modern day Tokyo. The opening intro slaps so hard and I loved the ending movies for Yasuke and Joe.
But the game really had a good foundation for the lore. There's an evil organization (REDRUM), there's a cool street gang fighting it (Soul Crew), and every character has history with another character. The main villain ends up being the brother of a rogue paintball martial arts crew called G-Troop. So stupid but I love it!
Too young to have played Virtual Fighter but old enough to know about it.
Wish you could've mentioned the shockingly good VF4 Evo singleplayer.
In it, you play a fighting gamer playing VF4 in arcades of Japanese.
My biggest takeaway from this is that somebody _unironically_ thought naming something "Dark Edge" was a good idea.
It SO was though!
it was me, I thought it was a good idea
I mean... We did get 'Soul Edge' years later. 😅
The 90s were a weird time.
It was the 90s. Things were different back then
Sega can't seem to catch a break lol
Great to see this series back! If you don't mind another take on Sega, I think Sakura Wars might make a good episode, with the odd way it was conceived(Red Company provided 'game idea' for Sega, operating in a similar fashion of a certain Mighty company...), its dormancy after the commercial failure of the last 2 games on PS2 and DS, Red founder's scandal with AKB48 member that sent Sega further adrift away from the franchise until Sega acquired the entirety of series rights by (IIRC) 2016 (because RED is now owned by Oizumi, a pachinko company and Sega*Sammy*'s main rival) and, instead of original devs, made Sonic Team alumnis(such as the director of...Sonic 06, as a combat director for this genre shift from SRPG to Dynasty Warriors style hack n' slash, which didn't really hit the mark due to the clunky camera, the lack of ability to lock on to an enemy which didn't help with the amount of aerial enemies in the game, the lack of QoL features such as manual save and dialogue log, all of which weren't patched until the game was 1 month away from international release, which didn't bode well with Asian fans) and, honestly speaking, any artists Sega had on their contact list(Kubo Tite, that Girls und Panzer guy, etc.) to make a soft reboot, and DelightWorks(of FGO fame) for a mobile game, neither providing enough profit with the latter shutting down at the end of next month.
There is a dedicated fanbase, both in Japan(where they've been on a petition campaign to make Sega rerelease the series on multiplat) and even in the West(such as Sakura Wars Fan Revue Discord, surprising for a game that barely had Western presence) who've translated the 1st game on Saturn, one of the Dreamcast spinoff, and been archiving the mobile game(#SaveTheDorks), and they might even help you out on the subject. I'll be happy to see how it turns out!
Seconded
Memories of playing Soulcalibur at a friend's house are burning inside my brain.
You know who'd be happy to see Virtua Fighter back?
MrGstar321
I love that you used the 3rd strike theme at the end
It’s like there’s hope COS WE FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE
Still remember my jaw dropping when I saw Virtua Fighter 2 at an arcade when I was a kid. Such a good looking game for the time.
Fighters Megamix: By the time you fight an actual ham, you'll be so used to the insanity of this game it'll barely even register.
Just came back to say looks like VF5 is getting a remaster coming June 1st. Looks like digital only and on PS4.
"Remember when Sega made fighting games?"
Hell yeah dude
yessss
Detective Matt, I request a review of the mysterious case of Red Earth's disappearance. There were only 6 games ever made for Capcom's beautiful yet complex CP System III Arcade Board; Red Earth, Street Fighter III, 2nd Impact, Third Strike, JoJo's Venture, and Heritage for the Future. All of those games in one way or another have made the translation to home console ports EXCEPT for Red Earth. Capcom has made references to it in their other games like Pocket Fighter and SFV, but unless you emulate it or get lucky and happen to find one of the rare arcade cabinets, there is virtually no way to play it in modern day. I wanna know why.
UPDATE: Red Earth is now included in Capcom Fighting Collection for PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and PC. It finally made its way home. Case closed.
MMc is legit one of the best gaming channels of YT. No cap
VF and DOA having strong similarities is the reason why I think SEGA vs Koei Tecmo would be a great idea.
I miss back when Sega was a technological pioneer. Seeing Virtua Fighter 2 was amazing for me. It was even pretty good on the Saturn, for the three of us that remember. I wouldn't mind playing VF 4 or 5 to see what changes they made.
Konami’s bizarre fighting game history would be an interesting case to look at.
I remember buying a Dreamcast exclusively for Soul Calibur. I wanted to buy other fighting games on the Dreamcast but besides SC they seemed all underwhelming so never got them. Thank you for this video!
I always love when you cover fighting games series. This was just as good as your Toshinden video!
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown remake was recently announced to be released on June 1st.
Not gonna lie Dark Edge looked kinda dope. Not sure how it played but just the visual effect of the sprites going around each other and the framing with the background ar looked really nice to me.
Ahh VF4... The first fighting game in the arcade I ever saw accept dollar bills, because it was so damn expensive to play.
Virtua Fighter 2 was so great when it came out. I totally blew me.
I remember playing Sonic The Fighters at an arcade during a trip in Japan. I was a kid back then, but I loved Sonic. And this game was one hell of a timekiller
Love all the content but these are my favs, love that you dig up all these funky old fighting games!
I don't care what people day about DOA, I regret nothing.
The pre -virtua fighter arcade games must be so obscure as this is the first time i've heard about them.
I remember Virtua Fighter, I used to play it.
Also it's been a while since the last Flophouse Files video, hope to see more in the future.
Fighting games are making a comeback due to the enormous growth in esports interest over the past 5+ years. Fighters are notoriously hard to get in to and some are not as interesting to watch, but the company to figure out one that unites hardcore fans with Twitch viewers and throws on a good seasonal battle-pass system for cosmetics will have big cash on their hands.
Virtua Fighter? You mean that minigame from Yakuza? :P
Yes Virginia, there was a time when Virtua Fighter was bigger than Tekken in Japan. Even had a better anime too because the changes to the characters were actually helpful[though it was before Sexy Sarah and Badass Akira we all know and love in VF4].
But the tides would change, especially due to SEGA’s stupidity and lack of VF after VF5FS. Plus Tekken’s greater presence almost everywhere.
There was apparently another Sega 3D fighter called "Toy Fighter". Yea, I just heard of it too. It was exclusive to arcades and never had a home port.
Yes!! I just rewatched all the Flophouse Files the other day. 🙏🏽
Sooo... thanks Sega for my Tekkens and Dead or Alives?
Now, since you did Sega, how about doing atlus and it's weird fighting game habits, both making in house and what ones they published elsewhere? Or just that second one for all games atlus published in the west in general, since there were some interesting choices.
So interesting thing about Holosseum that wasn't brought up, it was a conversion kit for Time Traveller cabs, in case the laserdisc player broke down. From what I remember hearing, it had a fairly short development cycle.
What Happened and Flopfiles are the best content on this channel. So happy whenever I see a new episode posted
We need more flophouse files! I love this series!
when the world needed him (flophouse files) most, he reappeared
Alt title: "Sega Fighting Games: Wah Happun??"
It is so depressing to even ask that question. Yes, I remember. Yes, I love them. Yes, no one else seems to.
Also, it might be worth mentioning all the stealth ports of AM2 games through the Yakuza series. VF2, Fighting Vipers and VF5 Final Showdown have all been made playable through various entries.
Oh damn, Flophouse Files back
When I first played/saw footage of Sonic Fighters, I honestly thought it was too bizarre to be a real SEGA game but.... hey man it was the 90s!!! Super rad game to play with some friends and some beers actually haha, anyway great video as always Matt, love the Flophouse files!
I remember the first time I played Last Bronx. It was at an old Nathan's in The Bronx (I know), and I was hooked. When I got the PC port, it was one of the first PC games I bought for myself. I'm sad that Last Bronx didn't get more love, because it was such an intense game with solid characters and great fights.
Blessed this dropped just in time for my 30min lunch. Thank matt keep rocking on.
I was ADDICTED to Fighting Vipers back in the day. The fact it’s been consigned to the same dumpster as Eternal Champions is sucha bummer.
I remember playing Fighters Megamix in my childhood. One of my favorites
I love this channel, it deserves at least a milli subs
Campaigning for Holosseum and Dark Edge to come to modern systems with VR support.
If you're able to find an Astro City Mini, Dark Edge did make that. It's awesome
Virtua Fighter 4 was my childhood.
How about a video on the mysterious creator of the kirby games involving the Dark Matter villain. he might have disappeared or even never existed.
Lost in the dark matter of the universe
The only thing that was keeping Sega alive to this day is Phantasy Star Online 2
Kinda wish Virtual On wasn't just a footnote. I loved that game and its Giant Robot Vs Giant Robot fighting action!
"fighting" is a very strong term to describe it. I don't think it fits in that mold at all.
@@MattMcMuscles I guess thats fair. I played the game as a kid and I don't even remember if it had multiplayer. I just remember the cool robots. XD I should do some more research on it and see what happened to it.
I love the way you say accoutrements when talking about the fan-service in DOA. That's the kind of narration I subscribe for.
Definitely my favorite series by you Matt, love seeing a new one in the feed.
Feel like i learn something new about Sega everyday.
It's a pity Last Bronx and VF didn't take off coz i liked both of them quite a lot.
For all matter and purpose, Virtua Fighters was the first Shenmue game
"Hey, Lois! Remember the time Sega made fighting games?"
A fresh Flophouse Files for my feed? Freaking fantastic.
i actually used to enjoy these more than the tekken series. and no just because it has 3 buttons being punch kick and block doesnt mean its less complex. "there is incredible elegance to be found in games designed around a few simple mechanics"
happy to hear rumours claiming its coming back and it was nice to have this available within the yakuza games lol
No mention of VF characters guest appearing in DOA5? Because that makes DOA origin story with VF engine comes full circle.
While Sega didn't directly make it, they did at least publish the Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax games. They even have Virtua Fighter and Valkyria Chronicles characters shoved into it, along with references to Sonic, NiGHTS, etc.
Still waiting on Fighters Megamix 2.
Yes, I remember when they made fighting games. I still think about golden axe the duel to this day
Sega now owns Power Instinct via Atlus. So if they ever go all out again in the fighting game department, they have plenty of games to work with. Virtua Fighter 5US looks to be a good start.
Love how when mentioning Dead or Alive using the Model 2 hardware and VF2 source code (Saturn version also used the Saturn VF2 source code), decided to show the PS1 version which used an inhouse engine based as they weren't licenced to use it for obvious reasons, and this inhouse engine was based on Tekken 3 from observation (don't know if they managed to get any of the actual code, but DOA++ the arcade version of the PS1 port is running on hardware identical to the Tekken 3 arcade board).
I've played a few rare or almost forgotten. Fighting games on the PS4 thanks to Arcade Archives and currently have PSnow. So I might check out Fighting Vipers later on down the line. I also have the Sega genesis collection with virtua fighter 2 on it.
Incredible video! I had a fanboy moment when you started playing Wild Vision in the background!
Technically Sega has recently re-released Virtua Fighter games other than VF2 Genesis. They're just hidden away in the Yakuza series.
Remember when sega did something wise. No, I honestly just can't remember that long ago
Man, as one of the kids that grew up with a genesis in a neighborhood full of SNESs.... the truth hurts.
Bring yakuza to Xbox and pc?
@@chanhjohnnguyen1867 idk if I would call that wise when the series has been out on PS4 for so long, it’s more just a natural thing. Wise would’ve been having it out for those systems years ago imo
Oh my Fucking God. I remember Holosseum. Or more pacifically, I remember that weird arcade cabinet that was just white box with a black hole in it.
I wanna see a DC vs. Sega crossover fighting game (especially in the hopes of seeing the Flash fight against Sonic the Hedgehog).
The Yakuza Team: So we been putting VF games in are games for awhile.
Sega: Yeah?
The Yakuza Team: Can we just make a new ga-
Sega: NO!
The Yakuza Team: We will give it to PlayStation for free
Sege: Sorry I mean yes!
Finally Flophpuse Files For Fans!!!
It's crazy that Sega never got sued over that one Fighting Vipers character literally just being Jotaro
They didn't get sued for using Godzilla, Batman, Spider-Man, Rambo, *and* The Terminator as bosses in Revenge of Shinobi.
Half of the SF roster is a ripoff of Fist of Northstar character too
Because Jotaro isn't the only character who has the rebel japanese student look with a broken cap and long jacket. It's a common trope in japanese character design.
Not everything is a JoJo reference.
@@Serkel Actually.......
Who Bahn? Lol
awesome that this series is back.
VF being reduced to DOA guest characters and a Yakuza game within a game felt like it was overdue for a comeback. Lets hope this Ultimate Showdown actually materializes and brings some popularity back to the franchise.
I'll never stop being amazed of how many games Sega was able to develop and/or publish in the 90's, seriously they not only released like 3 or 4 times the number of games on the Genesis, Game Gear and Saturn Nintendo released on the SNES, GB and N64, but they also made super advanced games for arcades and stuff for the Sega CD and 32X, obviously for better or for worse since a lot of their games, especially from Sega of America, were half assed
Lmao I read "Last Brony" when the Last Bronx title came up at 10:07 and was like wtf is this!? 😭
I'm seeing a bunch of people in the comments bring it up as a joke but the Yakuza series has likely played a small part in putting Virtual Fighter back into gamers' collective consciousness. It's been a side game in a lot of the more recent titles in the series after all. Maybe Sega wants to test the waters off of the back of that success? Time will tell.
I had Last Bronx on my Saturn, and i played the shit out of it! ...i mean i wasn't good at fighting games but i just wanted anything that even looked anime at the time! And as rubbish as Sonic the Fighters was, i do adore the character animations in it.
VF was really deep, almost any advanced stuff you hear about in tekken, they had it or even invented it. Rapid movement tech, option select defensive techniques, modified crouch attacks, fuzzy guard, weight-specific optimized combos, modifying combo enders for better oki pressure... players back then were studying frame data like crazy. But the simple controls and varied stages made it fun even for scrubs, there was a nice steady learning curve.
They put extra work into little realistic touches that you don't see in other games, even decades later... some blocked spin kick would stop abruptly instead of passing through their raised arm. Almost every throw had a custom animation against the sumo character since he was too fat to pick up. You could do a reversal against a specific class of move (say a sidekick) and the animation would change depending on which foot was forward. many combos only worked in open stance or closed stance.
I think their downfall was a lack of flash or interesting character design. "this is Brad, he does Muay Thai. he's a white dude with pointy sideburns".. "cool, this is Sagat, he also does Muay Thai. he's 7 feet tall with one eye and got this giant burn scar from Ryu's dragon punch"
Thank you for using the VF anime theme and T2 character select theme
I remember Last Bronx! Awesome game!
Also, the demo of this game somehow killed video drivers on my super old pc, and left it with lowest resolution and 16 FUCKING COLORS. Good times.
You missed a game matt- Sega made a little known 2D fighting game called 'Burning rival' in 1992. It had some pretty fluid animation for the time , but it wasnt very good.
It was Sega's early answer to Street Fighter II. The game was going to be ported to the Sega Genesis by Sega in NA if Capcom choose not to give them a version of SFII as it was going to take advantage of the upcoming Sega Genesis 6-button controller. Eventually Capcom did and Burning Rival never made it to home turf or even outside of Japan.
What, no love for the vf anime fighter on the gamegear? Also, virtua fighter kids... existed. I liked it...
As a Virtua Fighter fan I've not even watched the video yet but I'm already salty. WHERE IS MY NEW GAME, DAMMIT?!
Dude , you missed out the Last Bronx vcinema movie!
11:42 Jin Kazama's Theme still rocks! Love when that beat drops!