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Virtua Fighter Cyber Generation Revealed

Posted by simoniker on from the quest-goes-west dept.

Thanks to IGN PS2 for their information on the unveiling of Sega's Virtua Fighter Cyber Generation for PlayStation 2/GameCube, as the semi-secret game formerly known as Virtua Fighter Quest "takes the form of an action-RPG title, rather than a versus fighter." 1UP also has a preview and in-game screenshots of the game, now due in Japan in Summer 2004, which "on the surface... seems to have only a passing connection to the original Virtua Fighter games." However, it turns out the teenage lead characters are collecting 'Virtua Souls', which "...contain fighting data from legendary fighters of old who took part in a tournament to name the world's best fighter", and when you "collect a Virtua Soul... you'll end up being able to perform a special skill, recognizable as moves from the Virtua Fighter series."

6 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. Good Luck by illuminata · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People became fans of the Virtua Fighter series because of the deep gameplay mechanics. Now, they're wanting that same fanbase to play an action-RPG. I would hope that AM2 retains the mechanics that made the series popular. Otherwise, there will probably be a lot of disappointed fans.

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    1. Re:Good Luck by h0mer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      People became fans of the Super Mario Bros. series because of the interesting characters and tight play control. Now they're wanting the same fanbase to play golf, race go-karts, and have a Party.

      I'll reserve judgement until I play it, but what's wrong with taking existing characters and concepts and doing something completely different? It's certainly a double-edged sword though. If the game is excellent and would've been good without the Virtua Fighter brand, the brand only helps the game. OTOH, if the game is teh suck, it hurts the Virtua Fighter name.

      Also, I think the VF series has reached a plateau just like Tekken. VF4: Evo is incredibly deep but I don't see what else they can do besides add more characters and improve the visuals. Don't even think about messing with the B/P/K button configuration, the world doesn't need another VF3.

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    2. Re:Good Luck by illuminata · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Super Mario Bros. series has a much larger fanbase than Virtua Fighter. Also, the Mario titles don't require the mastery that the Virtua Fighter titles do. This gave the Mario series a more casual fanbase as well.

      There was nothing wrong with branching out with the Mario license, Nintendo pulled it off wonderfully. Yet, the Sonic and Pac-Man licenses tried and failed. The Virtua Fighter license isn't nearly as popular as Mario, Sonic, and Pac-Man.

      Virtua Fighter isn't an extremely popular, casual gamer's title like Mario. It doesn't have that broad of a reach. Therefore, AM2 needs to please the fanbase that they have built. That fanbase was built around the fighting gameplay, thus they need to make sure that the fans are satisfied with that aspect.

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  2. Sega's making RPGs again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So how about a new Phantasy Star? Not an online one, but a real fullblown new one... please... please :)

  3. Screw Virtua Fighter Quest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I want my Shenmue III!

  4. Doesn't Look like a Fighting Game by Doc+Squidly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the screen-shot this game looks more like Final Fantasy than any fighting game. While it might bring some RPG players to the Fighting genre, don't expect any die-hard Fight gamers convert to RPG.

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