Customer Reviews:
 A decent port of the arcade classic April 5, 2006
Imran Ali (London UK)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The original Virtua Fighter was launched in the arcades in 1993, it thrilled fighting fans with its specatacular 3D visuals and realistic chracter movement.
There were a number of home conversions, but sadly none of them , including the version under scrutiny here, came anywhere near conveying the beautiful graphic style of the original. As a massive fan of the first game, I find the Saturn version to be the closest in spirit of the arcade version but it is bugged with polygon drop-out and does not really reflect the quality of the arcade game, though the gameplay is unaffected. Virtua Fighter Remix on the Saturn was better, but to the purist, it was not the original game. The Mega Drive 32X (Genesis 32X in the US) version is regarded as the best by fans, but I find the visual compromises too radical, so much so that it does not feel as if you're playing the game on which that version is based on.
The PC version is based on Virtua Fighter Remix, though you get the option to use the original non-textured polygon models and stages, but that is where the problem lies. Although superior to the original Saturn characters, the polygons are not glitch free, as they have this flicker problem. The original untextured stages are not in the game, instead, when you turn stage textures off, you get a horrible assortment of chequered tiles as the base, reminiscent of the 32X stages. The original character select is also missing - you only have the Virtua Fighter Remix character portraits, and not the 3D faces of the polygonal characters. The game is pretty fast and all the arcade moves and combos are here. The speed of the game is not the same as the arcade version - even when you select 'Smooth' playing speed, it is a lot faster than the original, but it does add to the freneticism of combat. You have 3 buttons - kick punch and guard, and with those you can launch a multitude of combos and counter attacks. Since the game is modelled on real motion captured fighters, there is, even to this day of sophistication, a visceral realism in the movements that could never date. Virtua Fighter is known for the its fighting engine which encourages combos and an attack-guard-counter attack fighting strategy. For those looking for a more comic book style fighting game, Virtua Fighter would come across as boring, but those who would persevere would find this a rewarding experience. Although people often rave on about how good the subsequent games are, the first game is quite excellent and has that unique polygonal graphic style which is so much a part of the Virtua concept.
It is best played with a joypad - don't try it with the keyboard because it would be hard to perform some manoeuvres.
Personally I would love to see a direct port of the original Sega model 1 arcade board, but this version is my favourite because not only do you get Virtua Fighter Remix, you can use the polygonal fighters from the original game, which are the closest looking iterations of their arcade counterparts, and the glitching truly is a minor thing. I would have liked to have seen the original aracde stages too, but since they are absent, I suggest using the textured stages because at least they look more authentic than the chequered non textured ones. You also get a ranking mode and a cool team battle mode, the latter of which was not present in any other version, and is hugely fun. In two player mode this game would last forever, and with minor ommissions aside, you are getting a game that used to cost over 14, 000 pounds in the arcade. I have fond memories of playing this in the London arcades when it came out, so it made an inelible impression and made my chi dhood special, especially since it inspired so much wonder - and it IS a joy to play. One thing to note - the music in this game is the same as the Saturn version and sounds great. The original arcade music was never used in any home conversions (except Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary Edition on Playstation 2 - a remake of this game, which is also excellent). The Saturn music is based on the original and has been remixed so it doesn't sound as primitive as the arcade version.
Anyway, I probably stand alone in thinking that this is the best version of the original game, but I believe it has the least visual problems, and does offer a cool team battle mode. I like all the versions because each of them has something which the others do not and between the 32x, Saturn and PC version, you have something that reflects the power of the arcade game.
Overall, this may not be a jaw-dropping title anymore, but it may make you smile when you pull off a few really cool moves. Enjoy - ignore the dissenters, this is fun and cheap too. Imagine putting it on your laptop and playing it portably - in 1993 that was an impossible fantasy!
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