Virtua Fighter 2 (Genesis) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthough of Sega's 1996 versus-fighting game for the Sega Genesis, Virtua Fighter 2.

This video shows two different playthroughs. The first is with Jacky Bryant, and the second, beginning at 11:42, is with Dural (accessible by repeatedly hitting left and right on Akira's portrait on the character select screen).

Virtua Fighter 2 was a surprising, (very) late generation release on the Genesis. The 32X saw an excellent quality port of the original Virtua Fighter, but how does a game as complex as its sequel fare on the base Genesis hardware?

The answer isn't quite as straightforward as you might expect, as it's not quite the same game as you'll find on any other platform. As with Virtua Fighter Animation, the constraints of the hardware mean that the game is no longer a 3D fighter, and that all of the characters are made up of sprites rather than polygons. Of course this does change the way the game feels, but even though the animation is much choppier and the timings are fairly different, most of the moves and combos from the arcade are still work here, and the controls are solid. I am curious about the roster, though: it includes the whole line-up from Virtua Fighter, but it excludes the two characters (Lion and Shun Di) newly introduced in the sequel. I'm sure cartridge space was a factor, but it's weird that they cut out the two VF2-specific characters in an adaptation of VF2. But for all of the concessions made here, relatively speaking, Virtua Fighter 2 plays well.

The graphics and sound have obviously taken a massive hit - the game vaguely resembles the arcade and Saturn versions, but the heavily compressed backdrops, low color depth and detail, and the lack of animation frames does make it look a bit rough, especially compared to the likes of Street Fighter II Champion Edition, Mortal Kombat II, or Eternal Champions. The same goes for the sound. The music, sound effects, and many of the voices are still here, but the tunes are a bit tinny, and the digitized sample quality makes the game a poster-child for the distorted, garbled voices that so many games were well-known for having on the Genesis.

It's not the best fighter on the Genesis, but it is an interesting artifact from the tail-end of Sega's first-party support for the system, and a cool bit of history to include with the Genesis Mini. As long as you aren't imagining it to be something miraculous, Virtua Fighter 2 on the Genesis is a flawed but fun little game.

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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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