411 Games Retro Review: Virtua Fighter 2 (SAT)
Posted by Steve McHugh on 07.21.2006
It was awesome 10 years ago but how will it fair today?
Hello and welcome to a new and, hopefully, regular (as in weekly) Retro Review that I'll be doing. The plan is to go through various old consoles and review the games to see how they stand up. What with most old games being looked at through rose tinted glasses I figured I would actually see if any of them were as good as I remember.
I'm going to be starting with the Sega Saturn and will be going through a variety of different games to see which ones you should still go find and play and which ones to avoid like a rabid dog.
Now I was a big fan of the Saturn back in its day and since it has been nearly ten years to the day since I was brought one for my 17th birthday I figured this was the best time to go and look back. So I went on line and bought a machine with 16 games for $40. That should give you a clue to how cheap the Saturn has become.
In case you don't know, the Sega Saturn was a 32 bit console that went up against the N64 and PS1 and it didn't do very well. There are a whole mass of reasons why it didn't do very well some of which were: Sega of America releasing the machine 4 months before any games were ready and at a higher price then PS1. Sega not releasing the 2nd and 3rd part of the massive Shining Force 3 outside of Japan along with other huge games such as Radiant Silvergun or X-men Vs Street Fighter.
There were other problems with the hardware which was complained about as being overly complex for developers. When used to its full potential the machine was capable of amazing visuals but most didn't bother. Even though many games for the Saturn were vastly superior to the PS1 counter parts Res Evil, Tomb Raider and all 2D fighting games (there were a few) the easier to program PS1 sold many more machines.
If there are any games anyone wants reviewed then please drop me a line and I'll try to find a copy to review. Now there are a few rules to these reviews.
1. Nothing in Japanese. I will be reviewing UK and US games only. This is mostly because my Japanese vocabulary is limited to ten words. Two of which are Usagi and Yojimbo, neither of which are overly used in video games.
2. Nothing over the current price of a game. Yes I know Radiant Silvergun is awesome but I'm not about to spend $100 on it to tell everyone that. Firstly if you don't already know it's great then tough but also because my wife would actually divorce me.
3. The reviews will be done in a similar style to how reviews are currently done but I will be looking at how the game has aged so everything will be rated on how it compares to today's market. Now I know that graphics and sound in old games don't always age well so I will be cutting those sections into 2 parts. How it was seen back then and how it is now.
4. At the end of each review I will say if it's worth buying a machine for, if it's worth buying if you have the machine already or if it's not worth anything.
5. Once I've done enough Saturn games I'll be going on to something else. I just haven't decided what yet.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way its time for my first retro review: Virtua Fighter 2. Now I've got to say that I think Virtua Fighter is the finest 3D fighting series ever. Tekken and DOA are both good but not in the same league. The only game that comes close is Soul Caliber and that wasn't available back then.
In case you don't know what Virtua Fighter is, and where have you been if that's the case, it's pretty much the same concept as all one on one fighting games ever. You pick a fighter and your aim is to beat all the opponents in your way until you get to fight and defeat the boss and therefore finish your story for that character. It's a very simple premise that's spawned seemingly hundreds of games. The big difference with Virtua Fighter over, say, Tekken is that all of the moves in this game are based on real life martial-arts moves. That does two things. Firstly it gives the game the ‘wow you can really do that' factor but secondly it removes the flashy special moves that other games have that are physically impossible. This basically proves to be the games curse and blessing. Virtua Fighter is the fighter for the hardcore, its hard to master and if you don't master it you will get punished mercilessly whilst trying to get anywhere through the game. And woe betides you if you try to play against someone who knows the game well. I've seen people decimate opponents in seconds but that sort of ability takes a long time.
This version is actually 2 in 1 as it has version 2.1 that you can select in the options. It's not hugely different but it did address a few things such as not being able to back step so quickly. The game was originally released in 1995 to pretty much universal critical acclaim. So let's see if it's still as good as it used to be.
Graphics Then
When this was released the game amazed people graphically. Not just because it did look fantastic but because the Saturn was known to not be very good at 3D yet here was a game running at 60fps with no slowdown. It's still an impressive achievement to this day and the game still looks fantastic. The fighters are detailed and move fluidly which makes fights a very fast paced affair.
There are a few problems, the backgrounds are just static which you really can't complain about for the most part but I had to pick something.
9/10
Graphics Now
Well the game still looks awesome and each move still looks like it could certainly hurt you, which is a good thing in a fighter. The main problem is that most of the fighters now look very blocky. Sarah in particular is quite scary looking.
Also there's very little in the way of lighting or shadows on the fighters to make them look more lifelike. The Saturn could do many things but performing miracles was not one of them.
7/10
Gameplay
Well gameplay wise this game kicks all sorts of ass. You pick one of 10 characters and make your way through the game. Each character plays very differently and you quickly pick a few to master. Then after you've mastered a few you try Akira. Akira was the hardcore's hardcore pick. It takes forever to master him as his style lent for counters and a much slower pace of play then, say, Jackie.
When this happens you will die. Accept it.
To make life easier there are a total of 3 buttons to use and the D pad. A blocked, B was punch and C was kick. But within that simple framework dozens of moves could be performed for each character.
Also the game has a variety of different modes. Arcade (which is self explanatory), VS (Again obvious), Expert (I'll explain in a minute), Ranking (you play as normal but you get ranked at the end), Team Battle (you pick up to 5 characters and play 5 on 5) and watch (yep you guessed it you watched a match).
There's no practice option because the practice is basically you getting your ass kicked until you figure out what to do. This game is hard. You will not get through to the boss on one continue on your fist go on normal. In fact you may not on easy. But one day you will make it through easily on normal and then try hard. You'll do ok but still more training is required. Once you've done all that you should try Expert mode. This is basically a super-hard mode where if you keep performing the same move the computer will figure it out and destroy you for it. You will need to be very familiar with a character to get anywhere in Expert mode.
All of the characters are pretty fairly represented. In the right hands Akira is a nightmare to beat but the same can be said with any character. Except Kane. Kane is evil. Anyone can do well with him because his move set allows moves that are easy to execute but do massive amounts of damage. Like the multiple punch, get hit once and you're screwed. That's the main downfall of the game; the fact the one guy is annoying when used by people who just smash all the buttons.
9/10
Sound Then
All the voices in the game were nice and never got annoying despite having to hear the same few sound bites over and over again. The in game music was also very nice to listen to. Each track suits the game well and you'll actually forget there's any music at all when you get into the game.
8/10
Sound Now
I've got to say that my opinion hasn't really changed it still sounds good.
8/10
Lasting Appeal
When I first bought this game I played it for weeks on end. It's all consuming. There's so much stuff to do in the game that it'll take weeks if not months to master all the characters, take them through Expert mode and get a good rank. Then you've got VS which, if you have friends, can last forever. I normally get bored of fighting games pretty quickly but I've never gotten bored with Virtua Fighter 2.
10/10
Fun Factor
This is a hard category to rate. It's a massive amount fun to play but occasionally it does feel a little bit like work, especially when you don't seem to be getting anywhere. Then things click and you start having fun again. The more you put into the game the more you'll be rewarded. Vs mode is always fun… unless you keep getting your ass kicked.
9/10
Is it worth buying?
Well this was and still is a great game. It plays beautifully, it'll last you ages and should be experienced for what was then a massive technical achievement.
However is it worth buying the machine for? No probably not. You can get Virtua Fighter 4 Evo for about $20 these days and that's by far a superior game, not just in graphics but also in just how long it can last you (what with quest mode).
But if you already have a Saturn or you're planning on getting one as they're so cheap then this is definitely a game you want to pick up (it'll cost you around $3).
