In this edition:

• There’s a demo of Virtua Fighter Kids that lets you play a limited subset of the game. I patched out the limits.
• The demo is based on a build from a month before the final one, and is different in some noticeable ways.
• There are some even older builds available that have more interesting differences, including re-used screens from Virtua Fighter 2 .

Get the patch from SegaXtreme !

Intro

Virtua Fighter Kids is kind of a weird game… why are they kids? Why are they fighting? Why is Shun Di a kid-sized old man? And Java Tea Original Virtua Fighter Kids is a weird demo disc. Why is a tea brand sponsoring Virtua Fighter ?

Normally this demo disc lets you play Versus mode and three fights in Arcade mode. However, it’s a full build of the game — the demo restrictions are superficial. Furthermore, it’s dated 1996-05-27, a month before the final game (1996-06-28).

I’ve made a patch to lift those restrictions so that the inaccessible parts can be explored. Below are some notes on how these differ from the final game, details on how the patch works, and some observations about the even older builds of Virtua Fighter Kids .

Build differences: Java Tea demo

Although this Java Tea demo predates the final Saturn game, the ST-V arcade version is from 1996-03-14. So the main gameplay is pretty much complete, but there are some differences in the extra modes and the menu system.

For example, the combo maker screen uses simpler-looking (English!) text for its menus:

Although there aren’t any movie files on the disc, the Option screen has the movie mode unlocked by default. The final game has it hidden:

Although the “play as Dural” codes work on the character select screen, the “Fish Dural” variant doesn’t work:

Neither the “Wireframe” nor “Combo Master” codes listed here work either, alas.

Older builds

The Tech Saturn Tsuushin Vol.5 disc has an earlier build of Virtua Fighter Kids , from 1996-05-10. It’s supposed to be an auto demo, i.e. not allow gameplay. But some light hacking can make it somewhat explorable.

It mostly has minor menu differences, e.g. a more primitive key configuration screen:

The Sound Settings screen is also simpler:

The demo of Virtua Fighter Kids on Saturn Super Vol. 6 disc is from even earlier —1996-03-21 — and it’s got more interesting differences. It straight up uses the Virtua Fighter 2 Option screen!

The code is obviously reminiscent of VF2 ’s, and it includes the hidden calendar functions I’ve written about elsewhere .

How about the arcade version? It’s also got the VF2 options screen hidden away, but it’s non-functional. The real settings screen is accessed with the service button:

Patch details

There are two things to patch: the restrictions on the Mode Select cursor and the three-fight limit.

For the first, we just replace the number of available menu items with the correct number:

For the second, we replace the number of fights and set the next mode to “name entry”:

This patch makes the build date appear on the title screen:

Outro

For more articles about prototype builds hiding out on demo discs, see my Extending the demo page at my Rings of Saturn blog. And for lots more Saturn reverse engineering articles, see the Hacks & Cheats category here at SHIRO!.

	Bo Bayles
		Rings of Saturn: 32bits.substack.com