"Virtua Fighter 2" is THEE GAME that made me fall in love with 3-D games. I was so astonished at how fluid, and visually appealing that game was for a 1994 (I was 10 at the time) arcade game, definitely ahead of it's time. It was also the first fighting game to use motion capture, the graphics had to take a dive on the Saturn, but it was still a good 60 FPS game.
@@robertdanker6193 brother I when ever I ran outta coins, I would sometimes just watch the attract mode for the heck of it, if no one was playing. That’s how flabbergasted I was at the graphics.
@@BoyBlaze2002 Me too!! I remember getting 20 bucks worth of quarters and trying to beat the game I made it to Akira but couldn't beat him. Played the crap out of it on Sega Saturn!!👍👍
@@robertdanker6193 bruh at least you made it to Akira in the arcades, I could never get passed Jeffrey. On the Saturn I had time to get acclimated to every characters game plan and developed my own strategy to beat them.
Isnt it crazy to think that more than half of the subscribers to maximillian werent even born when this game came out? I feel so blessed to have witnessed the entire fighting game evolution.
They should actually do that especially if Virtua Fighter 6 is coming out in a few years or they could add the previous games as a bonus feature on VF6 (similar to what Tekken 5 did).
@@temjin44I will never forget the first time I saw the bridge stage, it was the first time I ever saw a big rocksolid piece of 3D geometry moving smoothly at 60 FPS and just like you my brain could not handle it.
@@CorporalDanLives a good way to describe it is solid. The characters and environment actually felt like they had weight and density. Crazy that they had the textures and fluid animation to go along with it. Mind-blowing for its time. Introduction into the modern gaming of 3D polygons
3:38 That random scream always killed me. That's not Sarah, that's the _ambient noise_ for the Chicago stage along with the cop siren and gunshot noises! You're fighting in a _baaad_ neighbourhood to have a drive-by around a fighting arena!
I remember most of the 32-bit era as an ugly mess of grey-brown textures but not here. Beautiful blue skies, silky smooth animation. This is one of those rare games that still looks good when you take the rose-tinted glasses off. I was a Sega kid during the 90's and this was one of the games that was my pride and joy.
Man this was literally the first game i got for my Saturn. Love VF2 man, this game was the cream of the crop for 3-D fighters in 1994-1995. The graphics, the music, the gameplay, it was all great. I started with VF1 in the arcade but VF2 was the game that made me fall in love with the series. This was an excellent port of the arcade version, there were some limitations here and there but overall this was an extremely well done port. Side note: Jeffrey was always THE hardest character for me to beat in this game, he's a nightmare to deal with. 70% damage Splash Mountains are a scary thing.
You were smart and waited until VF2 was out for the Saturn, I had the unfortunate Virtua Fighter 1 (non remixed version) which was a sad day. Especially when all your friends were playing Battle Arena and Tekken on their new Playstations. However VF 2 was an excellent port, the only thing missing was Shun Di's bridge. 😁
I can't believe it me this long before realizing that Jacky's throw is literally just the Snowplow, the finisher that wrestler Al Snow used. Also, got to love Wolf just throwing out Steiner Screwdrivers.
This game has so many wrestling ass wrestling moves. I can't remember his name but that one dude was just throwing out Samoan Drops like nobody's business
That Giant Swing into the head dive took me out 😂, I didn't own a Saturn growing up but had the chance to play this a lot with my uncle back in the day, good times indeed...
Virtua Fighter 2 soundtrack is definitely one of my favorite video game soundtracks of all time. Still have a copy of my Saturn disc that I made decades ago in the CD player of my car. Honestly it's the only thing missing from later VF games, they've all had rather forgettable soundtracks since.
Great video, fellow VF and Saturn OG here! Regarding the release date though, it was 1994 in the arcades but late 95 in the US and Japan on Saturn - we didn’t get it in the UK until January 96! But yeah, this game is for me the single most impressive piece of software in that generation, given the hardware it’s running on. And it holds up insanely well today. What a game.
21:26 - The stuff that looks like glitches are actually Akira's reversals. VF2's got nasty option selects and some dirty tech nearing SF2 Turbo territory. VF2 made me love fighting games. Played this in hole-in the wall arcades when it was new.
Man, that AI was infuriatingly smart back when I played this. It never felt cheap though, like some of the older SF2s. So actually beating a character felt like a HUGE accomplishment, and I'd go to school the next day bragging with my chest out, like "Yeah, I made it all the way to Kage yesterday!!" The music, visuals, SEGA-style super-fast gameplay (its also n00b-friendly), this game on the saturn (or even moreso in the arcade) was basically the video game equivalent of an IMAX experience. Its amazing how Yu Suzuki's genius level of creation with this game literally changed the entire video game industry
I am not much familiar to the Virtua Fighter franchise but I do know that this game defined 3D fighting as a whole,and this came way before Tekken. Even looking at this now on the Sega Saturn just shows that it still looks good even to this day.
I love this game! I got my 1st job at hungry jacks aka Burger king to buy a Sega Saturn VF2 and imported Ultimate MK3. I quit my job and just played VF2 when friends came over none stop for like 2 years! So much fun Then got Daytona and Sega Rally and paid $200au to import SF alpha 2 from Japan. This console was a fighting game beast! It loaded up way faster then the playstation 1 versions of the same games
I played this for the first time back in 1995, on a Sega Saturn kiosk at my local toys r us. A year later I got the Saturn system that has this, Daytona USA, and Virtua Cop as a pack in.
Played this in the arcade whenever I could and played the first one on my 32X so much I blistered my fingers practicing. What a great series, and another reason why Sega will always have a special place in my heart.
Can you imagine Akira as a playable fighter in the next smash game and if they kept the previous fighting game character's Terry vs Akira could actually happen
Like you Max, I got into fighting games with my sister! We used to go to arcade machines at Alabama called Goody’s and played them every weekend. We love fighting games! Virtua Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, and many other games crossover games! You’re the best, bro! SHINE ON! WE’RE TEAM MAX DOOD!😊👊🏾
So nostalgic. Growing up playing the shit out of this game on pc. I was struggling so hard to use Jacky and his flipping jumping backward kick. I also kept checking Sarah's bio in the extras. Theres this one picture of her wearing a summer dress while shes posing on the beach. 😂 I was legit simping for that one picture of her.
I've never really enjoyed let alone been good at fighting games, but this one will always hold a special nostalgic place for me as it was one of the first games I ever played.
While I’ve gotten into the Virtua Fighter series last year through VF5 Ultimate Showdown (I did once play Virtua Fighter on the Nokia when I was 6 years old). I respect how Virtua Fighter paved the way for 3D fighters and I’m fond of the various stages in the series(especially Sarah’s VF5 stage and Dural’s VF2 stage) as well of the various music choices (Jacky’s VF1/VF2 theme is great). While, I haven’t played any old school Sega consoles (Dreamcast, Saturn) or games (Nights, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Fighter) there’s something that feels quite nostalgic about them that I appreciate. On a side note. I recommend the Virtua Fighter anime it’s actually pretty good too bad season two is hard to find.
I also have a special place in my heart for VF2. It was the game that convinced me into buying a Saturn instead of the PS1 in 1995. Love it. (actually bought a used japanese Saturn just the other year, to re-live some memories, with VF2, Fighters Megamix, SFZ2 and Guardian Heroes) Kudos Max!
This unlocked a memory i didnt know i had, i was born in 2000 & i honesty didnt know i played this until the menu screen & was hit w a shit ton of memories durin the character select
94/95? This is impressive, Tekken 1 was very blocky in comparison. And the fighting animations here are very smooth and realistic, isn't this where Shenmue got it's fighting from?
VF2 was literally the first Fighting Game I ever played. I had it on PC and hated having to play it on a Keyboard. It took forever to learn how to play but The glorious soundtrack solely motivated me to get through it. To this day it’s one of my fondest memories.
Virtua fighter is a fantastic series that deserves more attention. For vf6 there needs to have story for each character instead of using an article to get the story.
Considering how much more powerful the Arcade was compared to the Saturn, this game being so close to the Arcade version was nothing short of a miracle.
VF2 is easily the best fighting game of the 90's. As a kid who had a Saturn while everyone else had a PS1, this was the game that made all my friends think twice about their choice of console. I actually managed to score a Virtua Stick still in the shrinkwrap a few years ago. Best fight stick I have ever used.
Influential is right! VF2 remains in my top 10 fighting games of all time for a reason. Twenty eight years later it's still satisfying as ever to whoop people with Pai and Lion.
Virtua Fighter 2 definetly made me. I grew up poor, we got a saturn on clearance in 1998/1999. Vf2 was one of the 3 free games and several other games because toys r us had their saturn games in clearance when I got it. A long with the 3 free pack I got clockwork knight 1 and 2, nights, and Last Bronx only cost my mom $5 a piece.
First played VF2 are an arcade at the Cherry Hill Mall here in South Jersey... oddly enough I never saw too many people lining up to have a crack at it back in the mid 90s, so I put in a fair amount of time in. Also played (and still have) the PC port of it that ran on Windows 95 PCs... and yeah, playing that using a keyboard was an experience in and of itself
The amount of hours I put in to this game on Saturn. 100s of hours. Submitted Akira FAQS to GameFAQS for it too. Just seeing this now, all the combos I'd use with him just popped back into my mind like I did them yesterday. What an excellent game.
Virtua Fighter 2 was my first fighting game I really got into. Before VF2 I only played 4D boxing and One Must fall: 2097. I remember my oldest brother was only playing Jacky, my other brother only played Sarah and I manage to master Kage! Didn't know how to say Kage so I always said Cage! Also, big crush on Sarah Bryant as kiddo, dem pixel arts back in the days! Lastly, Ride of the Tiger - Akiras theme is still my nr 1 favourite soundtrack from any fighting game (MK main theme doesn't count because it's legendary). It gets me way more hyped than any Street fighter song!
And I grew playing the weird genesis (mega driver here in Brasil) version without even knowing the 3D existed before going to an arcade out of town I love sega and VF is an amazing part of it’s history
*Wasn’t nothing like waking up early morning fixing a big ass bowl of cereal watching all you favorite cartoons then hoping on the Sega Saturn to play Virtual Fighter.....those were the days I wish Sega would have put more effort into making both the Sega Saturn & Dreamcast both consoles imo is highly underrated...Just imagine if Sega combined the Sega Saturn & Dreamcast together and make a powerhouse console with updated technology that would be dope as hell*
@@ultm8ninja *facts I agree the Saturn was the downfall of Sega....they shoulda learned from the mistakes they made before they released the Dreamcast sega rushed most of their consoles they made*
Kids today wouldnt understand how important and mind blowing virtua fighter 2 was back in 94... if it wasn't for virtua fighter it wouldn't be no tekken,dead or alive,and the rest of the 3d fighting games we know today.
