Fighters Megamix (ファイターズメガミックス) is a 1996 fighting game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. Several characters from various Sega games make up the cast, including the complete cast of Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers, plus others from prior AM2 games, both fighting and otherwise, in a similar manner to SNK's The King of Fighters series.
Fighters Megamix is a hybrid fighting game combining the fighting styles of Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers (although leans more towards the latter). All moves from the two games are retained, plus a new "dodge" action, allowing players to sidestep and avoid an attack (while also opening up an opportunity to counter). Furthermore, roughly 50%[8] of techniques from the recently released Virtua Fighter 3 are included for the Virtua Fighter cast, and new Megamix-specific techniques for the Fighting Vipers fighters.
Players can choose between a Virtua Fighter "VF" mode and a Fighting Vipers "FV" mode, which tailors the experience to the style of either game. Characters have also been balanced, meaning strategies from Virtua Fighter 2, 3 or Fighting Vipers may not necessarily work in Megamix. Some moves are "hidden" and are not listed in the game - they often involve using the walls of an arena to cause damage.
Stages are lifted from the preceeding games, meaning both open-ended arenas from Virtua Fighter (sans the concept of "ring-outs"), and the "cages" from Fighting Vipers are included. Megamix generally improves on previous Saturn outings of these stages - Tokio's stage for example features the plane taking off which was missing in the Saturn port of Fighting Vipers. Wolf's stage from Virtua Fighter 2 reintroduces the cage omitted from the Saturn port, bringing it closer to the edges of the arena so it can act like those seen in Fighting Vipers.
Accessing the disc's contents from a PC and decompressing a LZH file reveals some extra bonus artwork, similar to some other Sega-published games.
Characters
At the start, only the characters from Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers are available; extra fighters can be unlocked by completing different courses (1-player mode, series of seven bouts), many of which are based on other Sega games.
Bean's alternative costume is one which resembles Bin, one of two playable characters from the arcade game Dynamite Dux (which in turn inspired Bean's design).
From Rent-A-Hero. Unlocked by completing F-course.
When damaged, Rent-A-Hero loses his armour to reveal either a Virtua Fighter or Fighting Vipers T-Shirt, depending on the selected gameplay mode.
Deku
An original character specific to Megamix. Unlocked by completing G-course.
Siba
Unlocked by completing H-course.
Siba is based on a scrapped character from the original Virtua Fighter (also known as "Majido" and Akira, as not all arcade cabinets were updated to reflect the change in cast), sharing a similar character model but with an entirely different set of moves (involving a sword). Siba's stage is a cut-down version of the desert stage from Virtua Fighter 3.
Hornet
From Daytona USA. Unlocked by completing I-course.
Others
School girl Honey: Unlocked by completing A-course. Select Honey and press or .
Mr Meat/Niku: Original Character. Unlocked by starting the game at least 29 times. Select Kumachan and press .
AM2 Palm Tree: The emblem of the AM2 logo. Unlocked by playing the game for at least 84 hours. Select Kumachan and press .
1P mode courses
Unlike Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers, the single player mode of Fighters Megamix is about clearing "courses"; nine sets of seven opponents, which when beaten unlocks new features. These are denoted by letters; initially only courses A, B, C, D are available, which when completed adds E, F and G, then H, and finally I. The seventh "final" opponent in each course is an unlockable character, and is kept a mystery until the course is beaten.
While the rules don't change between courses, each has its own credits music and three "portraits", which can be viewed again later.
Course A: Novice Trial
Course B: Virtua Fighter
Course C: Vipers
Course D: Girls
Course E: Muscle
Course F: Smart Guys
Course G: Dirty Fighters
Course H: Bosses
Course I: Secrets
History
Development
Fighters Megamix was first announced at the Sega Saturn Senryaku Happyoukai conference on the 8th November 1996. It was initially conceived as a "festive" game for supporters of the Sega Saturn (similar to NiGHTS into Dreams the preceeding year), at one point being known as Fighting Festival[8].
Much like Fighting Vipers, Sega of America demanded that certain aspects of the game were changed for a US audience. The PAL version retains all the content from the Japanese game[9].
Release
In North America Fighters Megamix was made available to rent at Blockbuster stores from May 2nd 1997, eleven days before its full retail release[3].
Legacy
Unlike most other fighting games by Sega AM2, Fighters Megamix had no arcade release. However a watered down version was released for the Game.com in 1998.