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Specs Release Dates Codes Now Available Reviews Snapshots

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Virtua Fighter 2 - Sega

Lowdown:

If you have ever played this game in arcade, you won't be disappointed. It is one of the best home games of all time, and with graphics this good, you can impress all of your friends.

To start, I'd like to say that I had a couple of doubts about the Saturn to begin with, but after I'd played this game for a mere few minutes, all of my views changed. It rivals even its arcade predecessor in overall graphic quality and resolution, and its control is absolutley flawless.

For all of you who haven't heard of or can't remember Virtua Fighter, it was the first 3-D polygon fighting game, and it featured realistic martial arts movements and very smooth animation. It featured 9 characters (one hidden), and they each had their own unique set of moves. It was played by almost everyone (well...anyone who could stay away from MK2), and they couldn't wait for a sequel.

Then, Virtua Fighter came out for the home on the new Sega Saturn, and people were treated to the arcade game in their own living rooms. But, it didn't have the wow factor that was apparent in the arcade game, instead it featured very glitchy graphics, smaller characters, and larger polygons. Critics everywhere were making their decisions on the system's power from only the first generation games, but then just 7 months later all of their predictions were thrown out the window.

The incredible Virtua Fighter 2 was released for the Saturn. It features a total of eleven characters, and the incredibly high resolution of 708x480. The graphics are so amazingly far from the original Virtua Fighter that you'd think you were playing it on a different system.It even surpasses the almighty Tohshinden for the Playstation in overall graphics and animation. The amount of options is even outstanding, with five modes of play and the option to play version 2.0 or even the new 2.1 that has just been released in Japanese arcades. Also, after you beat the game, you are treated to a batch of other treats: ring size, stage select, etc.

The only downside to the great Virtua Fighter 2 is its sound. For a strange reason, the voices may seem a bit muffled with th music up high. But, luckily you can turn the music level down and the voices have more power. Also, the backgrounds aren't in 3-D but instead, 2-D parallaxing. This effect isn't bad, but it might appear strange at first if you were an arcade fanatic. All in all, this was a great transation that I didn't think the Saturn was capable of producing.

I have regained almost all of my respect for Sega's Saturn after the three great arcade games, Virtua Cop, Sega Rally, and Virtua Fighter 2 have been released almost arcade perfect. Virtua Fighter 2 was probably the hardest of those games to translate mainly because of its high polygon count, and resolution. But the Satun came through and made a terrific translation of the arcade favorite.

Graphics: 10

• + The high resolution was kept and is actually higher than the standard NTSC television.
• + The textured fighters were all translated faithfully.
• + Probably THE best graphics ever seen on a home system.
• +/- Backgrounds leave something to be desired, although the paralax scrolling is unique.

• + The added choice of listening to the original VF2 music or Remixed music was a nice touch.
• + The music really adds to the theme, and you can even change the volume from the options menu.
• - Voices are very muffled, but they are all there.

• + True martial arts moves from a variety of different cultures. (Including the "Drunken style":)
• + The smooth fighters add to the realism and with over 700 moves, you can learn a lot.
• - Not everyone likes the "realistic" type of fighting, and might follow the herd over to Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter 2.

• + With all the different modes of play including Team Battle mode, and Ranking Mode, you have a lot to do.
• + Over 700 moves is enough to make you cry.
• + I have to go and play it, bye!