Virtua Fighter (バーチャファイター) is a fighting game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Sega Model 1 arcade hardware in 1993. It is the first game in the Virtua Fighter series. It is often cited as being the first fully 3D fighting game released to the general public, and is a basis for almost all subsequent games in the genre.
It was an influential game in the development of 3D polygon graphics, popularizing it among a wider audience (along with Virtua Racing), demonstrating 3D human character models effectively, with realistic movement and physics, creating the basic template for 3D fighting games (such as Tekken, Soul and Dead or Alive), and playing a key role in the development of early fifth-generation consoles (the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation). It was followed by a 1994 sequel, Virtua Fighter 2.
While much of the first Virtua Fighter's story would be retroactively filled in by newer games and merchandise, the basic premise of the first game is that martial artist Akira Yuki, specialising in the forgotten art form of "Hakkyoku-ken" enters the World Fighting Tournament, in an attempt to be recognised as the greatest fighter in the world.
Gameplay
Virtua Fighter is a versus fighting game, pitting two of nine characters against each other in a three-dimensional arena to fight until one is "knocked out". Unlike other games in the genre at the time (such as Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat), Virtua Fighter relies only on a control stick and three buttons, "Defense" (guard), "Punch" and "Kick" . Simple button combinations will trigger special attacks, and the large number of moves leads to a relatively complex fighting game.
Movements in Virtua Fighter are seen as more realistic than many of its popular 2D rivals from the likes of Capcom or SNK. Virtua Fighter opts for a slower-pace with fighting styles modeled on those seen in the real world. Virtua Fighter also involves "ring outs", where if a player either walks or is knocked out of the ring, he or she is instantly disqualified.
Also unique to Virtua Fighter upon release, some characters receive "damage" if hit in certain areas and will lose part of their clothing (for example, hats).
Virtua Fighter contains eight characters each employing a different fighting style. A ninth character, Dural, is not readily available to players.
As well as detailing their careers and hobbies, Virtua Fighter also lists the character's blood type, which in Japanese culture can determine one's personality.
Akira Yuki
Akira is a 25-year-old kung-fu teacher with blood type O. Akira is largely considered the "star" of Virtua Fighter, featuring predominantly on cover art.
Pai Chan
Pai is an 18-year-old "action star" whose hobbies include dancing. She has blood type O.
Lau Chan
Lau, father of Pai, is a 53-year-old Chinese cook. He has blood type B and enjoys Chinese poetry.
During development, Lau was known as both "Lee" and "Tao".
Wolf Hawkfield
Wolf is a 27-year-old Canadian wrestler who enjoys karaoke. He has blood type O.
Jeffry Mcwild
Jeffry is a 36-year-old fisherman from Australia who enjoys reggae music. He has blood type A.
Curiously, Jeffry's prototype name was Dural, a name re-assigned to the final character of the game. He was also briefly known as "Willy".
Kagemaru
Kagemaru (or just Kage) is a 21-year-old ninja who plays mahjong for a hobby. He has blood type B.
Kage was originally known as Yagyu during development.
Sarah Bryant
Sarah is a 20-year-old female college student from the United States. She enjoys sky diving and has blood type AB.
In earlier versions of the game, Sarah's name was spelt without the "h" (i.e. "Sara").
Jacky Bryant
Jacky, older brother of Sarah is a 22-year-old male from the United States. He is a Indy car racer by trade and of blood type A.
Originally Jacky's name was spelt with an "ie" (Jackie). This was changed for the final version.
Dural
Dural is the last fighter, being an amalgamation of all the other Virtua Fighter fighters.
Moves
Note: Assumes the player is standing, facing right. If facing left, and should be reversed.
Name
Command
Akira Yuki
Pai Chan
Lau Chan
Wolf Hawkfield
Running Clothesline
P
Dashing Shoulder
P
Knee
K
Uppercut
P
Backfall
BL P
Body Slam
P
Crucifix Piledriver
PK
Twirl & Hurl
P
Double Arm Suplex
PK BL
German Suplex
BL P
Single Punch Roundhouse
PK
Running Punches
PPP
Knee Uppercut
KP
Jeffry Mcwild
Kagemaru
Sarah Bryant
Jacky Bryant
Dural
History
Development
Virtua Fighter follows in the footsteps of previous Sega arcade games from the early 1990s. Much like 1992's Virtua Racing is credited for revolutionising the racing genre, Virtua Fighter is an important milestone in fighting games, being the first to render the action with 3D polygons.
Polygons are rendered in Virtua Fighter as quadrilaterals rather than triangles (which became the standard), technology which would later be used with the Sega Saturn. Due to the limitations of the Model 1 hardware, images are created using flat-shaded quads - most future games would use textured polygons made up of easier-to-process triangles. Backgrounds are largely static, and the ground surrounding the play area is open and empty, in order to maintain a constant framerate of 30 frames per second.
Akira Yuki is a particularly notable character in Virtua Fighter as he was a last-minute addition to the game (so much so that early cabinets do not feature him in the artwork at all). He replaced a character known as "Siba", a Middle-Eastern fighter who was axed from the game altogether for unknown reasons. Siba would eventually become an unlockable character in Fighters Megamix and join the regular cast of characters in Virtua Fighter 3.
During development the game was known as Virtua Fighters, the "s" being dropped before release.
In the original Model 1 arcade version, each 3D character in the game is rendered with around 2000 polygons, while the ground uses more than 220 polygons.[5] Akira is rendered with 2300 polygons, while Dural uses 2600 polygons. The game thus renders at least 5420 polygons per frame, pushing at least 162,600 polygons/sec at 30 frames/sec.
Since the Saturn is capable of texture mapping and Gouraud shading, the number of polygons needed for the Saturn version is less. As a result, the Saturn version renders each character with 550 polygons, while the ground is rendered using 220 polygons, adding up to 1,300 polygons per frame for the Saturn version.[5] The Saturn version thus renders 39,000 polygons/sec at 30 frames/sec.
It can be seen as an evolution of Sega's 1992 three-dimensional fighter, Dark Edge, which attempts to create three dimensional gameplay by manipulating sprites/textures with the Sega System 32, but it was significantly less popular. Distinctive Software's niche home computer 4D Sports Boxing, released in 1991/1992, was another attempt at a three-dimensional combat game, but was strictly a boxing game, only used 3D polygons for the fighters (who barely resembled humans) rather than the environments, and lacked much of the freedoms enjoyed by Virtua Fighter's gameplay. In comparison, Virtua Fighter was fully 3D (using 3D polygons for both the fighters and environments), the 3D fighters resembled humans (using polygons for individual limbs, fingers, eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hair), and it had a character physics engine, free-flowing camera system and realistic martial arts simulation gameplay.
3D graphics in games were very primitive. You could only make models from triangles, which didn't even have textures. ... There wasn't the opportunity to make graphics that were really beautiful, and because of that I decided to spend all my efforts to make character movements correct and realistic. Yes, Street Fighter had nice sprites, but we had the advantage of very smooth movements
The 32X version was meant to debut alongside the cancelled Sega Neptune project[7].
Impact
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Its blocky, plainly detailed polygon fighters were revolutionary in 1993 and were responsible for the game's distinctive look. According to GameSpot, Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing were smash hits with arcade gaming audiences, and their popularity marked the beginning of video games rendered with 3D graphics, introducing it to the masses.[8] In 1995, Next Generation magazine referred to Virtua Fighter as "the most significant game of the 1990s" and stated it "is the biggest game in Japan since Super Mario World".[9]
Up until that time, fighting games (such as Capcom's Street Fighter series) were designed and rendered on sprite-based 2D graphics hardware—both the character animation and background scenery were composed of 2D sprites and tilemaps, which when using multiple layers produced a parallax scrolling effect as the screen moved to follow the characters. Virtua Fighter dispensed with the 2D graphics, replacing them with flat-shaded triangles rendered in real-time, using the Sega Model 1's 3D rendering hardware, allowing for effects and technologies that were impossible in sprite-based fighters, such as characters that could move left and right rather than just backwards and forwards, and a dynamic camera that could zoom, pan, and swoop dramatically around the arena. It was also the first game to implement polygonal 3D human characters in a useful way, introducing a 3D physics engine where, according to 1UP, when "a character was hit in the head, they fell backwards as would realistically happen," and if "they were hit with a spin kick, they would spin away before hitting the ground," portrayed "in a realistic manner (where players could feel the impact when a character hit the ground and the character did not automatically bounce back up)".[10] The game had a more realistic take on the genre, attempting to represent actual martial arts disciplines, making it more of a fighting simulation.[9]
Virtua Fighter's graphics, however, eventually became obsolete due to rapid advances in polygon technology that allowed for rounder, more detailed, textured, higher-polygon-count character models, as seen in Virtua Fighter 2. Nevertheless, Virtua Fighter forever revolutionized the fighting game genre, introducing a more realistic style of gameplay to the genre with its move to 3D.[11] In addition, it also laid the groundwork for 3D action-adventure game suchs as Shenmue, Virtua Quest,[10] and Tomb Raider.[12]
The arcade game was critically acclaimed. Following its North American debut at the 1993 American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) show, the October 1993 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly hailed Virtua Fighter as a demonstration of "just how far video games have come in the last eight years." They expressed "amazement at the graphics" as "an incredible display of technological wizardry" and described the animation as "fluid and lifelike" while praising the gameplay "as equally impressive." EGM made particular note of how the camera moves along different axes depending on the fighters' location, the use of multiple viewpoints in the instant replay, the high quality of the gameplay, and the smoothness of the animation. They also noted how the "playing fields change with every match," the "very beautiful" backgrounds, and the "instant replay of the KO" after a bout where "you get to see the action in multiple viewpoints" while rotating the camera "around the ring," which they described as "a gimmick" that "looks damn cool anyway!" They stated that it "boasts some of the most advanced hardware ever seen in a video game," runs "faster" with "smoother animations than any" other "virtual-type" (3D) "arcade game in existence," and "would have been considered an impossibility just a few years ago!" They concluded it "gives us a good taste of things to come in the future."[13]
The January 1994 issue of Electronic Games described it as "a glimpse of where future development may be headed" and stated that it "took Sega's award winning polygon graphics into a new arena, with full rotation, overhead angles and instant replays." They concluded that it is "Truly impressive."[14] In 1995, Next Generation magazine stated it "epitomizes Suzuki's skill of finding the perfect blend of state-of-the-art technology with solid gameplay", concluding it to be "fast", "beautiful" and "probably art."[15]
The Saturn port was also critically acclaimed. In Japan, Sega Saturn Tsūshin (extra issue of Famitsu, not to be confused with Tech Saturn) scored the Sega Saturn version of the game a 38 out of 40. Weekly Famitsu reviewed the same version in the issue 311 (p. 37), with its panel of four reviewers each giving it a score of 9 out of 10, adding up to 36 out of 40 overall. This made it one of the magazine's four highest-rated games of 1994, along with Final Fantasy VI, Ridge Racer and Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem.[16]
Electronic Gaming Monthly's panel of four reviewers gave it scores of 8, 8.5, 8 and 7 out of 10, adding up to 31.5 out of 40 overall.[17]
Legacy
Virtua Fighter was a phenomenal success for Sega, particularly in Japan which was already consumed by arcade game fighting culture. After a slow start, it became one of Japan's highest-grossing arcade games of all time.[18] Its success has guaranteed future entries in the franchise ever since, and is amongst Sega AM2's most recognisable products. However, the timing of its arcade release caused problems - it could not be brought to the then-less powerful home consoles of 1993, and to this day, no accurate home conversions of Virtua Fighter (in its original form) exist.
Across the world (starting in late 1994), Virtua Fighter was made a launch title for the Sega Saturn console. This version is considered to have been rushed to market, shipping with several gameplay issues such as five-second load times between fights and lower polygon graphics (although the disc comes paired with a remixed arrange music based off the arcade soundtrack). The problems were largely forgiven in Japan (and in fact, much of the Saturn's success in that region originated from this game), but the late 1995 release in western territories, saw Virtua Fighter be compared unfavourably to other early Saturn/PlayStation fighting games, such as Battle Arena Toshinden Remix.
In response, Sega produced Virtua Fighter Remix in 1995, which addresses some of the concerns and textures the 3D models. Virtua Fighter Remix is now the de facto version of Virtua Fighter, and was the basis for a PC port.
A version was released for the Sega 32X, which in Japan debuted after the Saturn version (but before the Saturn version in other territories). It suffers from even lower polygon counts than the Saturn version and various other cutbacks, but is otherwise relatively faithful to the original, subsequently being cited as one of the better games for the system. It is also the only 32X game with support for 16:9 widescreen displays. Both home versions of the game added a "Round-Robin" tournament mode. Ports for mobile phones also exist.
Virtua Fighter was followed by Virtua Fighter 2 in 1994, which sports significantly improved visuals and two new characters. AM2's Seiichi Ishii would also leave following his work on this game to create Tekken for Namco, seen as an important competitor to Virtua Fighter during the 1990s.
Special Thanks:Joe Miller, Steve Payne, Joyce Takakura, All Magazines, Chrissie Huneke-Kremer, Diana Bertollt, John Kully, Clint Dyer, Eric Smith, Lorene Goble, Jennifer Titchener, Sandy Tallerico, Graciela Arrue
Assistant (Tester) Leads: Stephen Bourdet, Lloyd Kinoshita, Mike Borg, Nicole Tatum
Testers: Rob Prideaux, Joshua Johnson, Ron Allen, Ty Johnson, Mark Fabela, Sako Bezdjian, Raul Orozco, Cesar Lemus, Jay Vo, Scott Hawkins, Kemrexx George, David Paniagua, Richard Cummings, Kim Rogers, Seth Carbon, Rayman Suansing, Joel Breton, Louis Dribbin, Joseph M. Damon, Sean Davin, Stephen C. Wong, Rick Greer, Randy Smaha, Steve Thompson, Anthony Borba, Mike Benton, Eric Molina, Jeffrey L. Loney, Jeff Sanders, Joe Cecchin, Steve Smith