U.S release dates of the Turbo Duo and Sega CD

[SignOfZeta]

I think the JP release of VF1 is even worse than the US one.

[Lost Monkey]

The Saturn launched in North America with Virtua Fighter as a pack-in and the game was never sold at retail. It was covered heavily in the media, as the Playstation couldn't save games or play anything out of the box.

But that version of VF was the one that was so hastily put together they had to re-release it as Virtua Fighter Remix, right? They sent it out for free to everyone with new jim lee art on the cover. I interviewed him once, and never asked about that. whoops.

Go back and look at some video footage - Saturn VF was very close to the arcade, and was very highly rated on release.  There are just some texture glitches and the backgrounds move in a jerky way occasionally.  VF -Remix is not closer to the arcade VF - it is more like VF with VF2 textures... 

[SignOfZeta]

VF1 on Saturn is not that close to the arcade. I hate the game period but the Saturn version is slightly worse looking than the already terrible looking arcade version. It also ran at the same "medium res" that other AM2 games ran on so the resolution alone is a big difference. Then there is all the disappearing shit and the backgrounds jumping around.

It's good like how Mortal Kombat for Genesis is good, good enough for people who like Mortal Kombat but for VF fans...or even Sega themselves who clearly just needed the thing done by a date, and then kept remaking the thing, it isn't that good. Even the press at the time sometimes seemed to prefer the 32X version.

VF2 on the other hand is missing a LOT from the arcade (more than VF1, since VF1 had super minimal graphics) but it still does a much better job port-wise. It's also a WAY better game than the first.

[xelement5x]

The Saturn launched in North America with Virtua Fighter as a pack-in and the game was never sold at retail. It was covered heavily in the media, as the Playstation couldn't save games or play anything out of the box.

But that version of VF was the one that was so hastily put together they had to re-release it as Virtua Fighter Remix, right? They sent it out for free to everyone with new jim lee art on the cover. I interviewed him once, and never asked about that. whoops.

This was my understanding as well.  VF Remix distribution in the US was initially an "oops, that was bad I hope you'll forgive us" type thing.  Eventually it did have a bit wider release in the form of a full longbox version, but the most prevalent release out there is the CD case version which looks very similar to the JP release.

[SignOfZeta]

I never thought of Remix as any kind of apology. I assumed it was just like, "Hey, while working on VF2 we were messing around in the lab and found out a way to make VF 1.5. It isn't really worth paying for since you already have the game so we'll let you have it for a reduced price."

It was also released for STV so...I guess don't really get it either. ?!?

[seieienbu]

Did the NES at first release even come with Mario/Duck Hunt?  The NES Action Set definitely did; that was the model I got back in 87 or so and the light Zapper was Orange by then.  That said, the first NES sets I ever saw were a year or two earlier and they had R.O.B. with them unless my memories are betraying me.

[GohanX]

The first US sets had ROB and a zapper and came with Gyromite and Duck Hunt.

[seieienbu]

The first US sets had ROB and a zapper and came with Gyromite and Duck Hunt.

Yeah, that's more in line with what I was remembering.  A friend of mine bought SMB iirc shortly after NES was released.  I vividly remember his copy not having Duck Hunt on it.

[Lost Monkey]

VF1 on Saturn is not that close to the arcade. I hate the game period but the Saturn version is slightly worse looking than the already terrible looking arcade version. It also ran at the same "medium res" that other AM2 games ran on so the resolution alone is a big difference. Then there is all the disappearing shit and the backgrounds jumping around.

It's good like how Mortal Kombat for Genesis is good, good enough for people who like Mortal Kombat but for VF fans...or even Sega themselves who clearly just needed the thing done by a date, and then kept remaking the thing, it isn't that good. Even the press at the time sometimes seemed to prefer the 32X version.

VF2 on the other hand is missing a LOT from the arcade (more than VF1, since VF1 had super minimal graphics) but it still does a much better job port-wise. It's also a WAY better game than the first.

Gotta hook up my Saturn tonight... jonesin for some VF...

[SignOfZeta]

Man, looking around VF1/VF Remix was released in a lot of different versions. I'm seeing multiple JP versions, before and after XBand implementation, the version that came packed with the "100" Saturns, the STV version. I'm not sure about Euro but in the US there are versions for Genesis, 32X, and Saturn (GG obviously doesn't count) and of course the JAMMA which saw many updates, Im assuming. Also: Winblows.

Who actually played VF1 this much and why didn't they play VF3-5?!?

[Black Tiger]

I tried VF3 - 5, but they aren't as fun and the aesthetics are kinda soulless compared to the first two. The first gane, like Virtua Racing have charm to them, as Sega went for a stylized look instead of boring modelling that attempts realism. The animation of the fighters is what feels natural, even when exagerated. The style of the first couple games has the 3D equivalent of the appeal of <16-bit pixelart. VF3 was caught in that awkward phase of 3D evolution and unfirtunately aimed for realism. VF4 looked nice and has a noticeable style, but was too flashy and felt like it was trying to compete with the DOA series. I have the VF1-style bonus game for it. That is much more appealing. I bought VF5 and tried it, but it just felt like a waste of time, like the changes to moves and extra little things wete tacked on just to resell the same game with a new coat of paint.

I didn't get VF1 Remix until later on and don't have nostalgia for it, but it's a cool tech demo (high res so early on) abd the same solid game is underneath. I'd still rather play VF32X more than anything after VF2.

[SignOfZeta]

 BBZZZZTTT!

The correct answer is "because they switched to Tekken".

Thank you for playing.

I agree, VF3 has some of that uncanny valley shit going on. VF4 I'll defend but I have to admit I didn't like it enough to even try VF5 once.

My personal choice for 90s Sega fighting nostalgia is the DC version of Fighting Vipers 2. I love that thing.

[seieienbu]

I've never been much of a fan of the VF series.  VF2 is probably the one that I played the most but even when it was new on the Saturn it never really worked for me.  My biggest complaint with the franchise is that so many things feel arbitrarily difficult for sake of being difficult. 

A bit over a decade ago, VF4 was at Evo.  My friends and I had watched the finals and thought the game looked awesome.  We picked it up and played it a bunch for a couple of months.  The Evo DVDs came out at some point so we bought them, watched them, and then realized the things we were doing weren't remotely as cool or interesting as what we were watching.  Our interest petered out after that.

Years pass, I keep playing fighting games, I get better, and new VF games came out.  With the fifth one I'm reminded of how I wanted to play VF4 back when so I invest some time and find out more about the technical nature of things like how damn near everything requires 1 frame precision, you have to do multiple option selected throw techs all the time to protect yourself, a couple of others that escape my mind atm.  There also wasn't exactly a lot of local players when, at the same time, I could be playing SF4 with any of the 30+ people that would show up to weekly tournaments.  So I didn't stick with VF.

BBZZZZTTT!

The correct answer is "because they switched to Tekken".

I could probably go off on this for quite a while.  I don't think Tekken is any easier than VF in the end but when you're getting started?  A lot of Tekken is readily apparent and you can understand what you did wrong by seeing it.  In VF that didn't seem true.  I couldn't just see a combo and copy it; combos were super hard and required a bunch of effort.  Doing the things that I saw better players doing weren't feasible for me when I was actively trying to play the game.