Fighting Vipers/Development

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Fighting Vipers development
Missed release date(s):

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Fighting Vipers was envisoned as a 3D fighting game sharing the core technology to Virtua Fighter, but tailored for a different (and likely younger) audience with its use of Western theming[1]. It was decided early on that the game was to portray intense and more exaggerated combat than Virtua Fighter, but rather than go down the violent route of Mortal Kombat, the characters would wear armour which would fall off as the fight went on[1]. A working title of the game was Armored Fighter[2].

Following an initial location test in August 1995[3], The game made its public debut on the show floor of the Amusement Machine Show 1995, albeit in an unfinished state[4]. In this build, only six of the eight characters were playable; "3-Man" (Sanman), "Dominique" (Jane), Bahn, Grace, Raxel and Picky, with Honey and Tokio being excluded (along with the expected boss and secret characters)[4]. Honey was deliberately held back as the last character to be revealed[3].

The Sega Saturn port was announced shortly before the arcade ROM mastering was complete,[5] with at least one developer, programmer Susumu Morii, finding out it was being made through magazines instead of an announcement directly to employees.[5] 2 sickness-related setbacks the team faced during development was that their main programmer, Tetsuya Sugimoto. was hospitalized for a month, and later there was an outbreak of Rubella within AM2.[5] A version of this port for the Sega Titan Video, was suggested by Susumu Morii, due to its similar hardware to Saturn, but did not materialize.[5]

Location testing

Location tests
Venue Start date End date Comments
1995-08[3] 1995-08[3]


Timelines






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1996-01-23: ATEI 1996






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1996-05-16: E3 1996


1996-09-08: ECTS Autumn 1996




1996-08-18: Final build date (CD-ROM(JP))


1996-08-30: JP release


1996-10-29: US release


1996-10-31: UK release


1996-11-07: EU release, DE release

References


Fighting Vipers

Fighting Vipers Title.png

Main page | Comparisons | Achievements | Credits | Hidden content | Development | Magazine articles | Video coverage | Reception | Promotional material | Merchandise | Technical information | Bootlegs


Books: Fighting Vipers Technical Manual (1996) | Fighting Vipers 4 Koma Gag Battle (1996) | Fighting Vipers: Crimson Angel (1996) | Fighting Vipers: My Sweet Honey (1996) | Fighting Vipers Perfect Guide (1997)
Music: Fighting Vipers Original Soundtrack (1996) | Fighting Vipers Sega Saturn Original Soundtrack (1996)
Videos: Sega Official Video Library Vol. 1: Fighting Vipers (199x)

Sega Saturn
Prototypes: 1996-07-05 | 09-06