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Virtua Fighter is a 1993 beat 'em up arcade game developed by the Sega studio AM2, headed by Yu Suzuki. It was the first in a series of similar games and has been ported to some home video game consoles.
Overview
The Virtua label indicates that the on-screen action takes place in 3D; Virtua Fighter was the first game of this genre to do so. The images were created using wireframes and flat-shaded polygons. Beyond 3D it retained the staple of multiple characters, each with their own distinctive 'moves.' Highly regarded as having the most in-depth fighting engine the world has ever known using real world fighting techniques.
Sequels
The brainchild of AM2's Yu Suzuki, Virtua Fighter was released in 1993 as an arcade game using hardware jointly developed by Lockheed Martin and Sega. New versions of the game accompained each new iteration of the base hardware (Model 1, Model 2 and Model 3). "Virtua Fighter 2" was released in 1994 and "Virtua Fighter 3" in 1996 with "Virtua Fighter 3tb" in 1997 adding tournament battles featuring more than two characters (not simultaneously). "Virtua Fighter 4" was released on the NAOMI hardware in 2001. The game is consistently popular in its home arcade market.
In true Sega fashion, their "Virtua" prefix was used on a variety of other products such as Virtua Racing and Virtua Tennis. The missing 'l' was used for the robot fighting game Virtual On, probably because the storyline centered around virtual reality ('VR').
Video Game Console Versions
The transition of Virtua Fighter to the home console was initially difficult due to the comparative weakness of early Sega consoles, but VF1 featured on the 32X and the Sega Saturn in 1995. Despite being the more powerful system, Saturn version suffered due to poor graphics and jerky game-play—there was even a free upgrade ("Virtua Fighter Remix") to deal with the problems. Sega released Virtua Fighter 2 on the Saturn for Christmas 1995 and a super-deformed version called "Virtua Fighter Kids." Also released for the Saturn and related to Virtua Fighter were "Fighter's Megamix" (1996) and the curious "Virtua Fighter Portrait Series" (1996).
Sega's 8-bit console Master System and the 16-bit Sega Genesis were not capable of displaying three-dimensional graphics. To be still able to profit from the franchise's success, Sega created two-dimensional ports for those systems in 1996. The Genesis got a 2D-version of Virtua Fighter's successor Virtua Fighter 2, which featured graphics that somewhat resembled the original 3D game. The Sega Master System conversion did not have much in common with the original, used very simplified graphics and was consequently called "Virtua Fighter Animation".
The only port of "Virtua Fighter 3" was for the Dreamcast by Genki with "Virtua Fighter 3tb" in 1998. Following Sega's retreat from the hardware market in mid-2001, "Virtua Fighter 4" was ported by Sega to the Sony PlayStation 2 in 2002. This was followed by "Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution", a refinement that added two new characters as well as a host of game balancing tweaks, in 2003. Virtua Fighter 5 has been announced, but little is known about it as of yet.
The Dreamcast game Shenmue, also developed by AM2/Yu Suzuki, was called "Virtua Fighter RPG" in the early stages of development and features a Virtua Fighter-like fighting system and in-game Virtua Fighter memorabilia. Yu Suzuki has said numerous times that he used Akira as the main influence in the main character Ryo Hazuki.
See also
External links
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