Virtua Fighter Review (Sega 32X, 1995)

Chances are if you’re reading this review then you already know about most of the mistakes Sega made when transitioning to 32-bit hardware. The 32X add-on for the Genesis was an overall terrible idea and confused their fanbase because the Saturn console was looming on the horizon. Unfortunately with this new system Sega didn’t account for the focus on 3D graphics and implemented chips at the last minute in order to remain competitive against the upcoming Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64. A little known fact is that despite their insistence on two dimensional gameplay Sega was actually one of the developers that popularized polygonal titles with their release of the arcade hit Virtua Fighter. This was an instant hit and became one of the big new fighting games that everyone was talking about. Sega realized they needed to release this with the Sega Saturn in order to gain momentum against the competition and this was a very successful port despite the hardware not selling particularly well. In an interesting move they ported the game over to the failed 32X Genesis add-on and it released a few months later. I missed out on all ports of the original game but eventually became a fan of the franchise. This 32X version stands up remarkably well next to the Sega Saturn version, but unfortunately neither are a particularly good game.

Story has never been a focus for most fighting games. Usually there’s some shoehorned tournament and each character has their own backstory. Here we’re given virtually no details. The character select screen reveals their jobs, talents, age, and blood types (why this is a thing I will never understand) and then we’re off to battle. You have eight different characters to choose from and they come from around the globe all the way from Canada to Japan. The line-up is fair, and the characters are fairly grounded in reality which is a nice change after Mortal Kombat jumped the shark. What’s cool is the fact that each fighter has their own signature style. These martial arts are all based on real fighting techniques from all around the world. Hey, any game that actually references the fighting style Pankration is cool in my book. As I mentioned earlier Virtua Fighter is one of the earliest fully 3D fighting games. Gameplay is generally limited to a two dimensional plain ala most fighting games, but you and your opponent can roll to the side in order to dodge attacks. It’s really cool, and back at the time of its release showed just how much the genre benefited from the jump in graphics. I can’t imagine how much of a game changer this must have been at release.

Virtua Fighter isn’t your typical fighting game. With the jump to 3D graphics Sega decided to take more of a realistic route here. This means that fighters won’t throw fireballs, nor can they warp across the screen. The focus instead is on real world martial arts, and so you’re instead given a move list with real world grapples, holds and other attacks. Virtua Fighter is so realistic that the game itself has over seven hundred different attacks across the cast. That’s absolutely insane for a fighting game released in the mid 90s. With that said there’s a big learning curve here. You can simply button mash your way through the arcade mode even on the higher difficulty levels, but the fighting engine is so deep here that if you play against a more experienced player they will destroy you. There’s a good reason why the Virtua Fighter series is held in such high esteem in the competition circuit. The learning curve is really high for competitive play, and that’s what I love about it. You won’t get better by completing the arcade mode, but practicing all the move against friends you would find the strangest counters. It’s best in the arcade, but this 32X version wasn’t bad by any means because Sega was able to squeeze all of the special moves into the cartridge. Additionally this release has all of the game modes and options that were included in the Saturn version. That’s mighty impressive if you ask me; even the end of match character screams are present.

As the first 3D fighting game Virtua Fighter is not without some hitches. For starters the action is slower paced than your typical Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Normally this isn’t something I would mind, but jumping is very awkward here. The action must be on Mars or something because your characters fall very slowly which makes for some very awkward gameplay. The whole thing feels a little stiff, and the characters generally walk like their trudging through wast-deep molasses. Just about every attack too feels like it’s going in slow motion. It’s so bad that I would say it actually feels like it’s running at half speed. This isn’t a problem that’s specific to the 32X version; the original Virtua Fighter is just a slow moving game. It takes some getting used to, but the technical nature of the gameplay benefits from it. You have more time to counter attacks, and certain special moves work better at it than others. The slow speed lowers the learning curve slightly, but memorizing all of the move inputs and recognizing situations where they are most useful will still take a lot of time to master. Still, an option to turn of the speed would have been welcome.

By modern standards Virtua Fighter on the 32X looks pretty abysmal. Characters are blocky and the models are all composed of a very primitive number of polygons. Furthermore backgrounds are static images, and the arenas are flat and generally lack textures or any sort of detail. This just so happens to be one of the very best looking titles on the platform though, and there’s a certain retro charm to it. The framerate isn’t quite as smooth as I would prefer it to be, but it holds steady which is a major plus. From screenshots this version actually compares very favorably to the Saturn edition. It’s missing polygons, backgrounds details, and several frames of animation but it’s surprisingly functional even with these omissions. Normally missing frames would be the kiss of death for a fighting game, but the development team did an incredible job at maintaining the pace and the ‘tells’ you’ll find in the original version. I found myself able to seamlessly go between this and the Saturn release which is a high praise for a 32X game. Unfortunately the soundtrack doesn’t fare as well. Obviously the cartridge format is limited in this department and it isn’t particularly comparable to the redbook tunes the CD release has. Each theme is recognizable and though the voice samples are muffled it’s impressive that they were able to fit them in.