Virtua Fighter

Overview

Virtua Fighter is a 3D fighting game developed by Sega AM2 and released by Sega for arcades (using their Model 1 hardware) on December 1993.

Best known as the first fighting game in which characters are rendered from 3D polygons (with skeletal-based 3D animation), Virtua Fighter features real-world fighting techniques and a simplistic three-button control scheme (Punch, Kick, and Guard, each of which can be combined for additional techniques).

Similar to Street Fighter II being credited as the progenitor of the traditional 2D fighting game genre, Virtua Fighter is often credited as the same for 3D fighting games. The game's success is also often credited for popularizing the use of 3D polygonal graphics in the gaming industry (including some of the Sony staff citing it as an inspiration to make the Sony PlayStation support 3D graphics). It later received numerous sequels and spinoffs, with each main sequel being considered an industry standard for 3D graphics at their times.

A home conversion of the game was later released on the Sega Saturn as one of the system's launch titles, and was a pack-in title with the platform in North America. This version was used as the base for the updated arcade revision, known as Virtua Fighter Remix. The game also receive a conversion for the Sega 32X on October 1995.

Characters

The game includes eight playable characters and one boss character (who is used in the one-time "bonus match").

• Akira Yuki - A kung fu teacher from Japan, specializing in the striking martial art of Hakkyoku-ken ("Eight Extremities Fist", or bājíquán).

• Pai Chan - An action film star from Hong Kong, who fights with the agile martial art of Ensei-ken ("Lost Track Fist", or mízōngquán).

• Lau Chan - A famous chef from China and Pai's father, who fights with his own unique martial art of Koen-ken ("Tiger-Swallow Fist", or hǔyànquán).

• Wolf Hawkfield - A Native American professional wrestler from Canada, who fights in the tournament with wrestling techniques.

• Jeffry McWild - An indigenous fisherman from Australia, who fights with heavyweight pancratium.

• Kage-Maru - A traditional ninja from Japan, who fights with agile jujutsu.

• Sarah Bryant - A college student from the United States, who fights with Jeet Kune Do.

• Jacky Bryant - An indy car driver from the United States and Sarah's older brother, who also fights with Jeet Kune Do.

• Dural - A mysterious metallic gynoid and the game's bonus boss using techniques from all other fighters. Only playable with cheat codes.

In addition, three characters were later found unused in the arcade game's files, including Majido Ab Dul (a bouncer from Saudi Arabia, also known in-game as Shiiba), Jeffery Buckman (a soldier from the United States), and Akira Ryuzaki (an earlier version of Akira, also known in-game as Takeru Ryushoji). Majido did erroneously appear in some arcade cabinet artwork, and later made an appearance as "Siba" in the 1997 game Fighters Megamix.