Virtua Fighter 2 (1995)
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Virtua Fighter 2 Review
Virtua Fighter 2 is a 1995 fighting video game by Sega. It’s one of the most purely entertaining fighting games that I’ve played.
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“I’m just getting started“
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First of all, I have to clarify a few things. This game is the most famous in its Sega Saturn format and I get that because it’s genuinely impressive how they managed to make a 3D game in its feel as early as 1995, but I haven’t played that version mostly because I’m familiar with the Sega Genesis version more and I personally prefer 2D. Both are to me more similar than usually said, but I will talk about the Genesis version of course.
The game has very little plot and the dialogue is laughably cheesy, but its gameplay is terrific as you have the versus two player competitive mode which is of course awesome, but the one player mode is terrific as well and actually not as easy to win as expected.
I wanted to win the entire tournament with each and every character and I eventually managed to do it, but it was hard while playing with some of those weaker fighters. I loved the 1 on 1 style as it suits me best plus the fighting moves are mostly excellent and their variety is solid and the execution is quite strong.
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But the differences between the fighters are too disparate in my opinion with some being so obviously weaker that they were a joke to be honest. Pai Chan in particular is ridiculously weak and inferior to others, not only when I play him, but also as an AI. Sarah Bryant also is weak with a terrible leg kick which just doesn’t work. Lau Chan is pretty much the same and mostly rather disposable.
Wolf Hawkfield is great as an AI, but when I played him he was quite bad. Akira Yuki I did not learn how to use myself, but the computer so obviously did as he’s the most dynamic, awesome fighter of the bunch with many killer moves. Jeffry McWild is pretty solid in both areas and Jacky Bryant has by far the best leg kick of the bunch.
Kage-Maru is easily my favorite fighter. He’s not so strong when the computer plays him, but he’s my best choice to play as he’s got the best kicks and the fastest moves for sure. As for Dural, he is present in the final end stage which was a surprise and I liked that surprise, but apart from an interesting slowed down gameplay, he’s otherwise not as great as the best fighters are, though his ability to copy all the fighters’ moves was very interesting to witness.
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Virtua Fighter 2 is a solid game which could have been much better had it had more characters/fighters to choose from as this number is very small in my book. That made the game very easy and quick to beat and it did not leave much room for replaying.
I also did not find it diverse enough as the game needed more moves and more options when fighting. But overall, it’s hugely entertaining to play with the graphics being excellent for its time. Despite the uninspired backgrounds, the game otherwise looks splendid and very polished for its period and it plays remarkably well even today. The same goes for the sound effects.
Virtua Fighter 2 is overly short with not enough variety to it, but it’s still a very entertaining game to play with some very interesting fighters, well thought out moves and particularly strong sound and graphics. It needed more options in its gameplay, but it’s very effective in what it has to offer.
