Virtua Fighter 3

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Virtua Fighter 3

Developer(s)	Sega-AM2
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Yu Suzuki
Release date(s)	Arcade 1996 1997 (Team Battle) Dreamcast November 27, 1998 (Team Battle) October 14, 1999 (Team Battle) October 18, 1999 (Team Battle)
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Platform(s)	Arcade, Dreamcast
Input	8-way joystick & 4 buttons, gamepad
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade system(s)	Sega Model 3
Arcade display	Horizontally oriented

Virtua Fighter 3 is the third game in the Virtua Fighter series.

Two new characters were added to the staff of fighters: Aoi Umenokouji, a Japanese woman who used nimble forms of Aikido and Judo as her fighting styles of choice, and Taka-Arashi, a Sumo wrestler from Japan. This would be the only game in the series in which Taka Arashi would appear in (however, the series current producer, Hiroshi Kataoka later explained it was due to the technical implications of having a substantially larger character^[1]).

Sega had made several announcements that a port of the title would appear on the Sega Saturn. However, lagging sales and the coming launch of the more powerful Dreamcast effectively halted such a plan. It can be assumed that had the game been released, it would have had significantly reduced graphics to accommodate the Saturn's weaker hardware (as what happened with other Model 2 fighters like Last Bronx, Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter 2). Other rumors suggest that the Saturn version might have had to accomodate a 3DFX-powered upgrade card, in order to enable an 'enhanced' port of the game to run that would not have been possible on stock Saturn hardware. [1]

1 History
2 Characters
- 2.1 Returning Characters
- 2.2 New Characters
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

It was the launch title for the arcade board Model 3 from Sega. Developed by Yu Suzuki's Sega-AM2, it was a revolutionary game from a technical standpoint, with its detailed graphics earning widespread praise from critics and gamers alike. Characters' eyes now appeared to track the opponent's position, their muscles could flex and relax, the fighting arenas featured stairs and slopes, and Dural, the female robotic final boss, was made of a metallic surface that reflected the environment around it.

The gameplay also followed through some changes. This version was the first in the series to introduce undulations in the stages, such as the staircase in the Great Wall stage, or the stage set on top of a descending roof.

However, the biggest addition came in the form of a fourth button, the Dodge, (the series had previously used only three - Kick, Punch and Guard), which was used to evade enemy attacks. By pressing the button with the joystick in neutral, your character would move into the screen (i.e. away from you), by pressing the button with the joystick held up the same would happen, but by pressing the button will the joystick held down, your character would move out of the screen (i.e. towards you).

This 'evasion' technique enabled players to dodge incoming attacks, creating opportunities to counter-attack almost immediately. Virtua Fighter veterans were at first resistant to this change, but were soon won-over with the extra strategy and freneticism it added to bouts. The evasion feature would later be used in other 3D fighting games as the 'sidestep' feature.

Virtua Fighter 3 proved to be a sucess in the Japanese arcades, dominating the charts and surpassing rival Tekken 2. A Sega Saturn port was announced, however the Saturns hardware could not handle the game and the graphics were forced to be reduced. While both Virtua Fighter 3 and the Sega Saturn were popular in Japan at the time, the Saturn failed to grab market share outside of Japan and Segas support shifted into a new console (the Dreamcast).

Virtua Fighter 3 was followed by an updated version called Virtua Fighter 3tb (Team Battle), that featured battles between teams of various fighters, one after another is defeated. This "team battle" version was later released on Sega's Dreamcast console, being one of its launch games. It became one of the best selling Dreamcast games in Japan. Critics contend that the rush to have the game ready by launch resulted in a graphically inferior conversion.

Virtua Fighter 3 was inteneded to be a launch title for the Dreamcast in North America, but it was delayed. By the time of its release, it had to face Soul Calibur, which was arcade perfect and had dazzling visuals at the time. Many critics considered Soul Calibur to be the better game.[2]

Other fans considered their favorite VF game to be Virtua Fighter 2: Sega removed both the levelled stages as well as the Dodge button for the fourth game.