Story time, I guess. This is the fourth and final disc of the Sega Saturn games I owned back then (well had five but Sonic 3D Blast did not work). This one was probably played the most out of every game we owned for the console just because of my admiration for fighting games, which was introduced by Mortal Kombat on Arcade in a small grocery store. We played this game so much and always found ways to keep it going until our Saturn was ruined and left by the apartments when we moved to a new state. Today, through emulation and by a Xbox 360 version which upscales the graphics of the original arcade, game can be enjoyed by gamers and nostalgic fans. 

It’s a shame I never played the first one but maybe another time if I could be able to. Anyways, for this game though, I’ll be playing with a bit of the Saturn disc I still own and emulation to get the most thorough review I can make out of it. This is Virtua Fighter 2 for Sega Saturn

Story : 9

The story from the manual states, the final tournament, which was Virtua Fighter 1, Lau Chan won and became champion. Fighters gained rivalries and friendships throughout the tournament and will want to improve themselves so they won’t be defeated again. As they go take on different paths, a year has passed before they get another invitation for a new tournament on the horizon. Some are suspicious of the event, while others want to rekindle the rivalries of last year’s tournament. Few have agendas on their own (read the manual for a full on scope) and others want to win and become the best fighter in the world. 

The story is pretty interesting as reading in the manual it states each player’s motivation for entering the tournament in the story segment page. To me that’s pretty uncommon since most info are usually in player bios and not in the story segment itself. To me it gives off a more realistic feel to the story and how connected each fighter is to the tournament and last year’s. I’m really impressed with how Sega handled the plot of the game. What was a bummer though is that there is no ending or anything for the characters, you just get an end credit scene and a game over… overall hopefully if I get to the sequel I can see how the story unravels. 

Overall it’s a 9 out of 10. Story of the game is pretty good but the lack of endgame storylines makes it rather anticlimactic. 

Graphics : 9.5

There’s a lot to explain with the graphics so hold on. When starting the game you get treated with a dull title screen with a start button flashing. Wait for a few seconds and you get treated with a an fmv intro showcasing half the characters and a few of their moves against a human shaped 3D vector grid. What caught my eye is how much the graphics improved over the previous title as the intro shows how the characters looked in Virtua Fighter and how they look currently in the game. That’s a massive difference between a year of release between the two games and Sega AM2 developers did a great job with the designs. Not only the characters aren’t polygonal looking, they have a more refined human shape, the apparel of some characters are removable during movement or fights. Some apparel even shape up and look like objects of their own instead of being designed on the character, if you know what I mean. The second intro is more so a showcase of the character models and fighting between one another. It’s a great spectacle and shows how the game works between one fighter to another. Then the third intro appears to show off the rest of the cast from the previous title and their upgraded models to this game. If this isn’t an attract mode to show the appeal of this game, then I don’t know what is to be honest. 

Aside from the models, the frame rate is so smooth and well done. A near constant 60 frames per second is wild for a Sega Saturn title when their previous games (Daytona USA for example) had such bad frame rate and choppy graphics. The graphics are smooth and the moves are almost seem less to the movement. Honestly this game shows the power that the Sega Saturn can give when it had limited capabilities for 3D games. 

The stages themselves are beautiful also. Fighting on a 3D platform with some magic 2D backgrounds that pop out like they’re 3D. One huge difference I’ve seen if one stage where they had to completely redesign since in the arcade they’re going down a river, as the port they’re near a river on a stationed platform. Other than that the stages are remarkable. 

As for the fighters, almost little to no pixelation is present, other than the character select pics. Sega done well to keep this game as close to the arcade as they can and they have my respect for what they done. Truly one of the most beautiful games I’ve played for the Saturn. Though one lost nitpick, it’s interlaced. For a crt tv or casual gaming it’s not noticeable but when you’re trying your best to look at graphics, you’ll see the interlace visuals. 

Overall a near perfect 9.5 out of 10. Interlaced is a minor downside. 

Sound: 9

The sound of the game is so remarkable. It’s one of those games when you hear the soundtrack you can point out a few songs and instantly consider them as classics. It has a high energy rock feel to it and CD quality makes it way more superior to the arcade. What makes this even better is when going to the settings you have an option to play classic or remixed. That’s pretty cool when you think about it, as it gives you a new experience to listen to these bangers during gameplay or whenever you want to. 

Voice models do have a bit of a sound compression though I feel like it’s a necessity for the game to play as how it is in the graphics department. The announcer sounds pretty good and I haven’t heard any static or high pitched sounds from the game. 

The sound is a 9 out of 10. Good bangers, voice samples minor complaint, but overall really good. 

Depth : 9

The game gives you an option of ten fighters to play as, as eight are returning characters from the previous game and two new characters make an appearance. Each character has their own sets of moves and combos to chain to beat the opponent. In order to win, you must deplete the opponent’s health to zero, have more health than the opponent when the time is at zero, or knock them out of the platform. Yes you read that right, knock them out. The game features a 3D square platform to fight on and it’s not infinite. You can push your opponent out to force a ring out and get a win out of it, but be careful not to fall yourself. 

The game only has three buttons. A kick, punch and block button. Easy right? It may be easy but learning their moves is what gives it a more difficult trajectory. The game is like a rock paper scissors esque format where you need to have more of a tactical approach to fight opponents. Will you punch/kick high or low? Block high or low or jump? The game is easy to learn but playing with higher difficulty or against good players you need to have some type of strategy formulating during the fight. 

Game modes consist of a classic arcade mode, a ranked mode to post your best time, expert mode which at first I thought it meant like a higher difficulty mode until I read the manual. Expert mode is basically more so like arcade but the computer learns your moves and tactics so it can give you a harder time to fight against the cpu. It’s a neat mode if trying to better yourself. 

This mode is the one I played the most. Team battle mode lets you choose up to five different characters with some neat options like health regeneration and such. Each fighter goes a 1v1 2 round (or how many rounds you set) and the winner advances to face the next opponent on the team. This gave some good replay value when playing against siblings or a high difficulty cpu. 

Watch mode is basically two cpu fighters duking it out for two rounds and to me it’s a nice option when I want to see how some characters fight and learn some moves that I want to figure out myself. 

For a fighting game, Sega gave some good extras on it and I feel like team battle mode is what made the value of the game more worthy. It’s a 9 out of 10 for the easy mechanics but hard to master, the game modes and interesting gameplay. 

Addictive : 9

Like I stated earlier, team battle mode is one of the most addicting modes for me. Learning each character has their merits, with their own fighting style and such. The game modes offer some flexibility. Fighting against people can be very entertaining or frustrating depending on how good they are but there’s not much to say on this section. It’s a great game for its time but these days it’s more so once or twice a gameplay a month. That’s not bad at all. 

9 out of 10 on addictive. 

Difficulty : 7

The difficulty of the game isn’t that bad. It’s pretty manageable to fight against the opponents, and like I stated earlier, it’s more tactical. You have to find ways to open up the opponent in later stages, though at times they don’t do nothing but stand around. Some attacks hit harder than others and combos are there, but not necessary to an extent. There is nothing to say here as it’s more so like other fighting games. 

It’s a 7 out 10. 

Overall the game is a great port of the original arcade and how Sega made a huge effort to make the game more attractive than the previous title. This game I played so much with my siblings before the demise of the Saturn in the household and this game was just fun to play for hours on end. This was truly a gem you need to play if you want something more than the arcade experience. I still play it once in a while whenever I feel like going through nostalgia and with this here is my rating 

My rating : 9.5/10

Review rating : 8.75/10