Fighters Megamix (AM2 - Sega Saturn - 1996)

"Fighters Megamix (ファイターズ メガミックス) is a 1996 fighting game developed by Sega AM2 for the Sega Saturn. It is a crossover between Sega's 3D arcade fighting games Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers, with unlockable characters from several other AM2 games such as Virtua Cop 2 and Daytona USA. It allows gamers to play as the bosses of both Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers without codes.

Intended as an introduction to Virtua Fighter 3 (which was announced but never released for the Saturn), Fighters Megamix utilized the concept originally used by The King of Fighters, whereby characters and styles from different games were mixed together. The open ended rings from Virtua Fighter are present (but with no ring-out), and also the closed cages from Fighting Vipers. Virtua Fighter characters have new moves taken from Virtua Fighter 3, including the dodge move, which allows characters to sidestep, avoiding a dangerous blow and opening at the same time room for a counter. Upon release it was hailed as one of the Saturn's best games, with critics deeming its crossover mechanics a complete success, and met with strong sales.

Unlike most of AM2's games of the era, Fighters Megamix did not have an arcade release. In 1998 an adaptation for the Game.com was released by Tiger Electronics.

Gameplay
Fighters Megamix includes a training mode, a survival mode, a two-player vs. mode, a team battle mode, and a one-player mode split into nine tracks:

Novice Trial (beginners)
Virtua Fighter (all characters from Virtua Fighter)
Fighting Vipers (all characters from Fighting Vipers)
Girls (female characters)
Muscle (strong characters)
Smart guys (tactical fighters)
Dirty fighters (sneaky fighters)
Bosses (hidden characters played last)
Secrets (the rest of the bonus characters not fought in bosses)
Each track consists of six fights against currently available characters followed by a final battle against a hidden character. Once the first four tracks are completed, the next three become unlocked. After beating those, the next track (bosses) becomes unlocked, and then the final (bonus).

The player has the option of switching play type between Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter, which causes the characters to fight in either the walled arenas of the former or the open arenas of the latter and use the basic fighting style of the corresponding game. The default is Fighting Vipers.

The default cast of characters consists of the entire cast from Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers, as well as Kuma-Chan, a bear mascot in a hat that has no points of articulation. The Virtua Fighter 2 characters have some (but not all) of their new moves from Virtua Fighter 3 added. The announcer is also the same as in Virtua Fighter 3. The Fighting Vipers characters still have their armor from that game, and the Virtua Fighter 2 characters accordingly have new moves for breaking armor.

Development
Asked what the impetus for the game was, AM2 stated, 'Towards the end of the year we always think about having a festive game for all the users who support the Sega Saturn.' The Fighters Megamix project was kept secret, with the game not being announced until a November 6, 1996 press conference - less than two months before its initial release.[2]

AM2 described Fighters Megamix as a fairly easy game to create. Though getting all the moves from Virtua Fighter 2 to fit onto a single disc had required the team to spend months developing new compression techniques, later advances in compression technology made fitting Fighters Megamix's much larger selection of moves a relatively simple task.

As a promotional effort, DJs Commander Tom and DJ MARS created a dance club mix from the music in Fighters Megamix. The song, titled 'Fighters', was released as a single on July 25, 1997."

game info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighter...

0:00 Pre-Stream Jams (Virtua Fighter Kids)
7:20 Intro / Menus
12:40 Training Mode w/Pai
23:35 Course A - Novice Trial w/Pai
57:25 Training Mode w/Sarah
1:07:50 Course B - Virtua Fighters w/Sarah
1:28:35 Training Mode w/Candy
1:43:10 Course C - Vipers w/Candy
1:59:35 Course D - Girls w/Rent-A-Hero
2:24:40 Training Mode w/Jane
2:26:50 Course E - Muscle w/Jane
2:54:20 Training Mode w/Grace
3:03:15 Course F - Smart Guys w/Grace
3:34:40 Course G - Dirty Fighters w/Janet
3:58:15 Course H - Bosses w/Candy Alt Outfit 1
4:36:40 Course I - Secrets w/Candy Alt Outfit 2
4:57:30 Survival Mode w/Hornet
5:02:10 Team Battle Mode
5:35:00 Portraits
5:44:45 Mini-Game

view via Sega Saturn Plays:    • Fighters Megamix (AM2 - Sega Saturn - 1996)  

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