Virtua Fighter 2 #BestOfSaturnGold

Virtua Fighter 2 — perennially on Saturn Top 5 all-time lists, this superb arcade conversion hit in late 1995 and helped redefine what the Saturn was capable of.

Very aware that the original Virtua Fighter Saturn conversion was plagued by glitching and was visually outclassed by the PlayStation’s Tohshinden, AM2 set about to reassert themselves as a premier coding team, and boy did they deliver. Smooth, texture-mapped polygons, blazing 60 fps framerate, all running in the Saturn’s high resolution mode, the game was like a multi-fold generational leap when it landed a mere year after the first game.

Whereas the game was reasonably well respected in the West, it still lagged franchises like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct. Nevertheless, the game was exceptionally well reviewed and gave Saturn fans a reason to brag. In Japan, the game was an absolute mega-hit, helping the Saturn maintain its sales advantage over all comers and going on to become one of the system’s all-time best-selling games. Virtua fever was running hot in Japan!

Featuring all the original Virtua Fighters as well as Shun Di and Leon, the game centers around real martial arts and is exceptionally well balanced. Punches, kicks, throws, guards, and all manner of both common and esoteric moves can be strung together by expert gamers to create truly epic matches.

Both arcade original and special Saturn rearranged music sounds spectacular in Red Book audio, and both the original conversion and the slightly tweaked version 2.1 are included.

The game is a Saturn landmark and would go on to be included in the Western “3 Free” promotion that ran later in the Saturn’s retail lifetime. Truly, one of the system’s very best.

	Peter Malek
		A Saturn fan since the beginning, Peter plays Saturn almost exclusively. For Peter, Saturn represents a moment in time where 2D games were at their best, 3D was just rising, and fascinating gaming 'firsts' were commonplace.  There are very few Saturn games that Peter cannot find some enjoyment in!