“Virtua Fighter 2” and “Fighting Vipers” are two great titles that every fighting game fan should buy.
Sega recently re-released the two games for download on the PS3 via Sony’s Playstation Network and the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live for the outstandingly low price of five dollars or its Microsoft Points equivalent.
I’m lumping both of these games together into a single review because the two games have a great deal in common. They were both early 3-D one-on-one fighting games released in the mid 1990s. They were both created by AM2, the development team responsible for almost every great arcade game Sega ever made, including “After Burner,” “Outrun,” “Virtua Cop” and countless others. Both games were also incredibly fun.
AM2’s focus on good gameplay and excellent controls are the hallmarks of their games, and “Virtua Fighter 2” and “Fighting Vipers” are both showcases for those qualities. Both games have stood the test of time and are as fun to play now as they were when they were first released back in 1994 and 1995, respectively.
“Virtua Fighter 2” is the more technical of the two fighting games, putting more emphasis on learning move combinations, proper blocking and counter punching. It comes off as a more realistic fighting game with special attention devoted to the actual fighting moves and techniques of several real-life martial arts. The game still has its unrealistic aspects, most notably its floaty jumping mechanics, but overall the game is a nice change of pace from other, sillier, fighting games.
“Fighting Vipers” is a much goofier fighting game with its own unique armor system. All of the fighters in the game wear armor. If a character takes too many hits from certain types of attacks, their armor can be destroyed mid-fight, causing them to take more damage from subsequent hits. It isn’t nearly as technical or deep a game as “Virtua Fighter 2,” but it more than makes up for it with style and fun gameplay.
Each game appears graphically identical to it’s nearly twenty-year-old arcade counterpart. They are sharp, clean and serve their purpose well, even if they cannot compare to today’s releases.
Sega has also gone the extra mile to improve these two games over their original releases by including online play. Both games have been modernized with the standard online versus mode for head-to-head matches as well as an online room mode that lets up to six players participate in a tournament-style competition.
“Virtua Fighter 2” and “Fighting Vipers” are both excellent fighting games that any enthusiast should consider purchasing, and their low price should encourage even the most frugal of players to buy one or both games.
