When you come off of such a high point as Virtua Fighter 2 on the Sega Saturn, once you harken in a new console with a new numbered sequel to such a prestigious franchise, you need to bring your absolute A game. You need to batten down the hatches and make sure that this sequel is going to be the next great thing. Did they succeed? In a word, yes. When I said that Virtua Fighter 3tb for the Sega Dreamcast was the worst Virtua Fighter game, that was more of a joke. It was also, believe it or not, an absolute compliment. The truth of the matter is, I disliked Virtua Fighter Remix the worst of any of them. The first Virtua Fighter is objectively worse than VF3tb.
This game gives you so much fighting, you begin to burst. You put in one mode of the game, whether it be single player or 2nd player mode, you are going to drown in combat. There are more characters, more levels, and more rounds than ever. The combat is still silky smooth and you can find your own character fighting style. Jackie specializes in kicks and has speedy attack style. Jeffry is much more tankish, slow, but he also has hard grappling moves and slams. Now they have brought in some of the newer characters, including the sumo wrestler, Taka-Arashi.
This is, no joke, a lot of combat to go through just for some arcade modes. Sometimes, five or six matches is all it takes, but no, these matches kept going and going. Great combat, that much is certain, but sometimes, it is better just to give the people a small match roster. This is accentuated in the Team Battle, which this game was titled after.
However, if this is a full on tournament mode situation when you have a party to go through, Virtua Fighter 3 is your baby. You want enough fighting and bashing skulls to satiate an entire party, you get Smash Brothers and you get VF3tb, and you will make the best experience to come. This will test people to their breaking point and there may be friendships lost as you find either the cheapest or the most effective techniques to beat the snot out of one another.
If you wanted more fighting and more Virtua Fighter, this is the one you go to, especially if you have a lot of time on your hands. It has the controls, the characters and the awesome looking backgrounds. One place where this version falls short, however, is the uncanny valley happening with their characters in this awkward stage in style. Virtua Fighter 2 is probably where they caught the beautiful classic style the best. Virtua Fighrer 3 should have probably stuck closer to the older graphical settings.
It's still awesome fighting from an awesome fighting game. If you want fighting and you want nostalgia, you go to Virtua Fighter and you start stomping face. Whoever your favorite character is, they have a great selection here. Even Lyon and Shun return from their introduction in Virtua Fighter 2. Play this game enough and you'll find your rhythm, especially once you find the character that matches your style. It's all here, get ready to Mash Virtua Skulls!
