Virtua Fighter 2

Advertising

As part of Sega's advertising campaign in Portugal, a Saturday morning show (cyberMaster) pitched eight contestants in a knockout playoff showcasing the most popular titles (such as Mortal Kombat 3, FIFA 96 or Virtua Racing) for both the Saturn and the Mega Drive. The only game that was permanently featured in the show was Virtua Fighter 2, and was played between the two finalists to decide the winner.

Dural

The original arcade version was rumored to allow players to choose Dural, the final boss character, via some sort of super-secret code. This wasn't true, but she was made available for the Saturn version albeit only on vs and practice mode. Now guess what Sega did for the PC version?... they made Dural available on every game mode.

Easter Eggs

Beating 20 opponents with Kage makes his face mask fall off instead of just his headband when he falls down.

ESRB Rating

The version distributed by Expert Software has a packaging error. The front of the box lists the correct ESRB rating of "Teen", while the back incorrectly lists "Kids to Adults".

Patch

A Direct 3D patch was released to take advantage of hardware acceleration on slow PCs.

Popularity

Virtua Fighter at one point reached a popularity peak in Japan that went up to having actual schools that focused on teaching people how to play at their best in the game!

Promotion

At one point to boost Saturn sales Sega of America ran a promotion where if you bought a Sega Saturn they would give you Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop and Daytona USA for no extra cost.

Resolution

Virtua Fighter 2, at the time of release, boasted the highest resolution seen in a console game: 708x480.

Sales

Virtua Fighter 2 is Sega of Japan's only game to sell a million copies in Japan.

Awards

• Electronic Gaming Monthly
  • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #79 (Best 100 Games of All Time) (Saturn version)

• Game Players
  • 1995 Holiday Edition (Vol. 8, No. 13) - Game of the Year
  • 1995 Holiday Edition (Vol. 8, No. 13) - Best Saturn Game of the Year
  • 1995 Holiday Edition (Vol. 8, No. 13) - Best Fighting Game of the Year
  • 1995 Holiday Edition (Vol. 8, No. 13) - Best 32-Bit Graphics of the Year

Information also contributed by AkibaTechno, Big John WV, John Chaser, Luis Silva, Robyrt, Satoshi Kunsai, and Zovni