Virtua Fighter 2 (Mega Drive)

For the 3D fighter of which this game is based on, see Virtua Fighter 2.

n/a

NTSC-J/PAL NTSC-U
Virtua Fighter 2
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console, iOS, Steam, RealOne Arcade, Nintendo Switch Online
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Gai Brain, Data East, Success, Cube M2
Sound driver: SMPS Z80
Peripherals supported: Six Button Control Pad
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1996-11-21 1845 EU 1997-01 1845-50 PT 1996 MDJSE0393 UK 1996-11-29 £44.9944.99 1845-50 GR 199x AU 199x BR 1996-12 052010 KR 1996 GM96002JG AS 1996 1845-40 JP ▼ 2007-03-20 600pts600 US ▼ 2007-04-16 800pts800 EU ▼ 2007-05-04 800pts800 AU ▼ 2007-05 800pts800 US ▼ 2003-02-20 US ▼ 2010-10-26 $2.992.99 71115 EU ▼ 2010-10-26 €2.492.49 71115 DE ▼ 2010-10-26 €2.492.49 71115 UK ▼ 2010-10-26 £1.991.99 71115 AU ▼ 2010-10-26 $3.493.49 71115 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 71115 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 71115 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 71115 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 71115 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 71115 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 71115 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 71115 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 71115 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 71115 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 71115 JP ▼ 2011-01-21 ¥219 (230)230i 9+ US ▼ 2011-01-20 $1.991.99 9+ EU ▼ 2011-01-20 €1.591.59 9+ UK ▼ 2011-01-20 £1.491.49 9+ AU ▼ 2011 $1.991.99 JP ▼ 2022-12-16 US ▼ 2022-12-15 EU ▼ 2022-12-16 UK ▼ 2022-12-16 AU ▼ 2022-12-16
ELSPA Tectoy

Virtua Fighter 2 (バーチャファイター２) for the Sega Mega Drive is a fighting game developed by Sega released in North America and Europe in 1996.

Its true name is debatable. Though all box art simply calls it Virtua Fighter 2, the North American title screen calls it Virtua Fighter 2 Genesis and the European (and Japanese - the ROM is identical for all regions) call it Virtua Fighter 2 Mega Drive.

Gameplay

Virtua Fighter 2 is a vastly watered down version of Virtua Fighter 2, a game originally released for Sega Model 2A CRX arcade hardware in 1995 (and subsequently ported to the Sega Saturn. Unlike any other version of Virtua Fighter 2, this on the Mega Drive is rendered entirely in 2D, with more traditional hand-drawn sprites replacing the motion-captured 3D models of the arcade game.

While the core concepts of Virtua Fighter 2 are retained in this Mega Drive variant, the game is significantly slower than its 3D counterparts, and is supported by simpler graphics and sound. Newcomers Lion and Shun are not present in this Mega Drive version, limiting the cast to that of the original Virtua Fighter. Many voice samples are also missing.

While players only ever have control over two axes at any one point in the arcade Virtua Fighter 2, moves and collisions will cause the fighting angle of the arena to change, giving gameplay a pseudo 3D feel. Here no such system is in place, and while rendering techniques help to give the floor an illusion of depth, players never move in or out of the screen under any circumstances. A side effect to this system means that only one "side" of an arena's background needed to be drawn, and so the perspective problems witnessed in the Saturn and PC versions are not an issue here.

Many of the arcade game's moves have been axed, however roughly 700 remain (putting it on a par with the original Virtua Fighter). Several stages do not exist either; with Lau, Pai, Wolf and Jacky's stage being palette swaps of Kage, Akira, Sarah and Jeffry, respectively. Of these four, only Lau has his own music track.

Versions

This version of the game has, through emulation, been rereleased more frequently than the "real" Virtua Fighter 2. It was included as part of 2006's Sega Mega Drive Collection, released on the Wii Virtual Console service in 2007, released later on Steam and iOS devices, and included with the Mega Drive Mini in many regions. The iOS version was removed from sale on iTunes in 2015.

Version history

Main article: Virtua Fighter 2 (Mega Drive)/Changelog.

System	Version	Size	Date	Comment	Ref	Icon
	0000020000000000000000000000002.0.0	7.2MB	201212042012-12-04
	0000010000000000000000000000001.0.0	6.3MB	201101202011-01-20

Production credits

• Executive Producers: Minoru Kanari, Toshihisa Ugata, Masato Noguchi
• Producer: Junichi Tsuchiya
• Director & Planner: Hideki Anbo
• Programmers: Tomohiro Ishigai, Hiroaki Koiso, Kouji Otsuka
• Graphic Director: Masanori Oe
• Character Graphic Designers: Shinichi Matsuoka, Tomomi Yano, Shungo Yamasaki, Takeshi Takahashi, Ken Shimizu, Hajime Okano, Hidehiko Tsukamoto, Naosuke Ishizuka, Tomoyuki Fumotogawa, Yusuke Komatsu, Rie Nakao, Satoshi Nakai, Kouichirou Kobayashi, Kouichi Kiga
• Scroll Graphic Designers: Takuya Saito, Atsushi Tsuyuki, Junko Kawaura, Motoi Nakamura
• Sound Director: Shogo Sakai
• Sound Designer: Hitoshi Ohori, Tomohiro Endo
• Special Thanks: AM R&D Dept. #2, Hiroshi Asou, Ryoichi Hasegawa, Noboru Machida, Yoshihiro Suzuki, Acura Otani, Akihisa Suwa, Takato Yoshinari, Takashi Egawano, Yasushi Sugiyama, Katsuji Aoyama, Yoshitaka Maki, Yoshiaki Kashima, Masaru Setsumaru, Masaharu Nakayama, Wataru Oguri, Hiroyuki Tsutsumi, Akira Oda

Source:

In-game credits

Digital manuals

• 

  Steam manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini US manual.pdf

• 

  Mega Drive Mini EU manual.pdf

Magazine articles

Main article: Virtua Fighter 2 (Mega Drive)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Ultra Game Players (US) #93: "January 1997" (199x-xx-xx)

Print advert in Hobby Consolas (ES) #63: "Diciembre 1996" (199x-xx-xx)

Sega the game is never Over in Level (TR) #1: "1/1997" (1997-xx-xx)

Print advert in Gameshow (TR) #27: "Haziran 1997" (1997-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 Computer & Video Games (UK) PAL 50 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 2 (RU) 70 GamesMaster (UK) PAL 73 Hobby Consolas (ES) 86 Joypad (FR) PAL 72 Mega Force (FR) PAL 80 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 77 Player One (FR) PAL 45 Sega Power (UK) PAL 79 Sega Power (GR) 90 Super Power (FI) NTSC 49 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 78

	69
Based on 13 reviews

Virtua Fighter 2 (Mega Drive)

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart PCB

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart PCB

Mega Drive, PT
Manual

Mega Drive, GR
Cover

Mega Drive, CZ (Datart)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, KR (rerelease)
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, Asia
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 937380f3 MD5 61b922208e0518a2e127939d374a43cb SHA-1 c283bf31b646489c2341f8325c52fb8b788a3702	4MB	1996-10	Cartridge (US/EU)
✔	CRC32 a95d0949 MD5 ad3fb9946f0bf18c73413d0e4d57ddbf SHA-1 dff095c9c252bf4af5aae52b83bc3c9d243176b7	4MB	1996-10	Cartridge (KR)
?	CRC32 c5ee3974 MD5 22e5fc66e56aca303c0bb3708026d130 SHA-1 8d9e1739a40cf64adf0b96918028bac9368b2d89	4MB	1996-08-19	CD-R disc				Page
?	CRC32 6a0f3a7b MD5 f61843c457cd2cb8b8ec8158c0264312 SHA-1 b08e11a477694f50bed2e89ee3269f557b041ab1	4MB	1996-08-30	CD-R disc				Page
?	CRC32 fa5bad91 MD5 95dd47fc67df25d665ba5e48133d6146 SHA-1 b6ae0d56d9fd41df5a577b36fc3717d7399b80fc	4MB	1996-09-13	CD-R disc				Page
?	CRC32 af516dad MD5 d5888a5762d21f4c7b2fafb840aad86d SHA-1 740190e416965ab4b63e82a9a4806178d3463fa9	4MB	1996-09-20	CD-R disc				Page
?	CRC32 95ab6ab6 MD5 04d9a61224da48a015a760ba4309294a SHA-1 4375b574ab6c3aa41576a91f5a263196f6ec8fc1	4MB	1996-09-27	CD-R disc				Page

External links

• Sega of America webpage: Mega Drive
• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, UK, AU
• Virtua Fighter 2 on iTunes: JP, US, UK (offline)
• Virtua Fighter 2 on Steam