The world fighting tournament has begun! Nine fighters prepare to take on the winner of the previous contest, Lau Chan, with each set to spar their way to the top for the honor of being named world champion. As is known among arcade aficionados, Virtua Fighter 2 is far and away Sega's best fighter yet to hit the gaming scene. The jump from VF to VF2 is simply unbelievable. And surely to the immense satisfaction of Saturn owners, the console port is the ultimate arcade translation. It retains all the characters with their detailed renderings and signature animations, including Shun's hilarious sake-drinking. With the lone exception of 3-D backgrounds (replaced with 2-D look-a-likes), Sega accepted no compromises.

---

The gameplay of VF2 likewise flawlessly echoes the coin-op version. Brawling it out with martial artists capable of performimg over 20 special moves, as well as engage in complex airborne combat, makes for hours of dueling fun. It's an excellent reproduction of various true to life fighting styles. Sega implemented several new game modes with this Saturn iteration, such as an intriguing ranking mode that tests your fighting ability and subsequently grades your performance. Players can also test out a computer intelligence mode that lets the game learn from watching you fight and retaliates in turn. The replication of music and sound from the original is also rather well done.

Printed in Issue #33, January 1996