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Virtua Fighter is a
beat 'em up
video game developed by the
Sega studio
AM2, headed by
Yu Suzuki. It was first an
arcade game, but has now been ported to some home
video game consoles. It was the first in a series of similar games.
Overview
The Virtua label indicates the on screen action takes place in
3D, 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.'
Sequels
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, for some unknown reason the missing 'l' was used for
"Virtual On", a game which placed the player in an oversized robot
battling foe.
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, the
Megadrive, and the Megadrive's
American counterpart, the
Genesis. The game was first ported to the
Sega Saturn in
1995, but 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). 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.
Basic (VF1) Characters
- Akira Yuki, a 25-year-old
kung fu teacher from
Japan
- Pai Chan, an 18-year-old
martial arts
movie star from
Hong Kong
- Lau Chan, Pai's father, a 53-year-old
cook from
China
- Wolf Hawkfield, a 27-year-old
professional wrestler from
Canada
- Jeffry McWild, a 36-year-old
Rastafarian
fisherman from
Australia
- Kagemaru ("Kage") Hagakure, a 22-year-old
ninja from Japan
- Sarah Bryant, a 20-year-old
college
student from
San Francisco, CA
- Jacky Bryant, Sarah's older brother, a 23-year-old
race car driver also from San Francisco.
- Dural, an
android-like creature. Duran is the game's "boss" character. She is
also, somewhat inexplicably, Kage's mother. Plot and characterization is
not the focus of the series!
Added in VF2
- Shun Di, an 82-year-old
herbal doctor from China
- Lion Rafale, a 15-year-old
rocker from
France
Added in VF3
- Aoi Umenokouji, a 17-year-old
princess from Japan
- Taka-Arashi, a 35 year old
sumo wrestler from
Japan
Added in VF4
- Lei-Fei, a 21-year-old
monk from China
- Vanessa Lewis, a 26-year-old
security officer from
Atlanta, GA
- Note that Taka-Arashi was removed, the only character in the series
to ever be "retired".
Added in VF4 Evo
- Brad Burns, a 26-year-old kick boxer from
Italy
- Goh Hinogami, age unknown, an assassin from
Japan
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