STORY:Armstone City, year unknown. The Mayordecided to hold a fighting tournament with the grand finale being held on thetop of the city tower, and the Vipers, young urban warriors decide to compete,each with their own goal on mind.
REVIEW: Leadby Yu Suzuki, the AM2 development team has been creating games for Sega since1985. Virtua Fighter 2 became a "genre defining" 3D fighting game inarcades just a few years before AM2 decided to introduce Fighting Vipers, a completely new3D fighter with a brand new cast. The arcade version of Fighting Vipersuses the Sega Model 2 hardware. The game was later ported to the Sega Saturn,butfeatured much lower quality graphics than the arcade version.
Fighting Vipers has 9 originalcharacters, each with their own unique fighting style and abilities. Fighting Vipers borrows quite a few core animations from Virtua Fighter 2, making itvisually resemble its older brother quite a bit. I always considered that a goodthing, because it gives Fighting Vipers a "recognizable" lookand feel for returning fighting game players. It's not a total clone, however, as Fighting Vipersfeatures unique visual elements like particle and stage effects, which greatly differentiateit from VFand other 3D fighters.
|
|
| Fighting Vipers character selection screen. |
Each of the fighters also wear their own unique combat armor, which can be broken off during thefight by certain powerful attacks. High and low parts of a character's armor can be broken off. If both parts of armor are broken, a character's life bar with turn red. If a character is hit when their armor is broken, they will be susceptible togreater damage than usual. Like in other 3D fighting games of the early/mid90's, there is no actual sidestepping in Fighting Vipers. However, afterbeing knocked down, characters can "roll" into the foreground or background.
Perhaps the most immediatelyrecognizable gameplay element of Fighting Vipers, one that makes it standout from Virtua Fighter, is the collision detectionishighly exaggerated. Certain attacks will send opponents flying ridiculously high into the air, while others will knock characters straight across the stage like aspeeding bullet. 
Visually, it's more extreme and arguably more exciting than VirtuaFighter. On that note, the "ouch factor" of Fighting Vipers is pretty much off thecharts. Attacks definitely hurt when they connect. The sharp, and (forlack of a better word) "crunchy" sound effects also add to theexperience.
While the characters of Fighting Vipers sharea few basic techniques from the VF cast, they also have a variety of unique(and powerful) attacks that define their designs. Some of them fight noticeably"sloppier" than their VF counterparts, with "streetfighting" seemingly taking prominence over properly executed martial arts.Characters also have surprisingly deep movesets. How many moves each characterhas may surprise you. That said, the characters of Fighting Vipers werevery ahead of their time in 1995.
|
|
| Pepsiman breaks Picky's armor... in front of the Pepsi truck. |
The basic control layout is essentially the same to the Virtua Fighterseries, with one button for Guard, Punch, and Kick. This allows players familiarwith VF to jump right in. Along with a respectable variety of attacks,throws, and combo-strings, the Fighting Vipers also have a few unique universalattacks. Each charactercan perform and launch attack that sends their opponent flying high into the air— enabling a follow-up attack or air combo. (On a side note, if you K.O. your opponentwith a launch attack and they land perfectly on the top of the wall, they willhilariously be stuck up there.
All of the game's 3D arenas are closed in by walls, caging the fightersinside... another element that the fighting genre hasn't seen thus far. Players canjump off of walls, knock each other into walls, and even grab & throw theiropponents into the wall. Furthermore, if a powerful strike connects to K.O. the opponent, players can even knock theiropponents clean through the wall to finish a fight. (I have tosay... sending an opponent through a wall is quite a satisfying and hilarious experience.)
Thiseffect was also considerably cool-looking in 1995, definitely adding bonus points to that "ouch factor" rating.It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a fighting game, andrather impressive attention to detail for back then.)
|
|
| Time to Break 'em through the wall. |
All fighters can also execute powerful knock-back attacks, which auto-block fora brief period of time and sends the opponent flying backward if it connects.(These moves could actually be called "early Street Fighter IV FocusAttacks"). Fighting Vipers
The trademarkground attacks and jumping attacks to a grounded opponent also return from VF(and are a bit overpowered if you ask me). The combo system fairly intuitive, andit isn't difficult send someonethrough a wall after a launching move (which is just too fun). Some stages evenhave "springboard" walls, which humorously sends the opponent flyingmiles away.... 
The Sega Saturn port of Fighting Vipers was graphically inferior to the arcade version,but offered new console-only mode like Training and VS Playback mode. The cast of Fighting Vipers later appeared in FightersMegamix (1996-1997), where VF characters are selectable as well. The sequel, FightingVipers 2 was released in 1998 but was rare to see outside of Japan arcades.The console version of Fighting Vipers 2 was ported to Dreamcast only inJapan & Europe (and was cancelled in North America, unfortunately).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Page Updated: June 20th, 2024 Developer(s): Sega-AM2 Publisher(s): Sega Platform(s): Arcade,Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, PS3 (PSN), Xbox 360 (XBL) Release Date(s): November 1995 Arcade
Aug. 30th, 1996
Nov. 30th, 1996
1996
Nov. 27th, 2012
Nov. 28th, 2012Characters: Bahn, Candy, Tokio, Jane,Raxel,Picky,Grace,Sanman, Mahler, B.M.,Kumachan, Pepsiman ( Featured Video:
Related Games: Fighting Vipers 2, FightersMegamix, VirtuaFighter, Virtua Fighter Remix,VirtuaFighter 2, Virtua Fighter Kids, VirtuaFighter 3, Virtua Fighter 4, VirtuaFighter 4 Evolution,Virtua Fighter 5, VirtuaFighter 5 R, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, VF5: Ultimate Showdown, Last Bronx, Tobal No. 1, TEKKEN 2, Soul Edge, Street Fighter 4, Groove On Fight
GameplayEngine 8.0 / 10 Story/ Theme 7.0 / 10 OverallGraphics 8.5 / 10 Animation 8.5 / 10 Music/ Sound Effects 7.5 / 10 Innovation 8.5 / 10 Art Direction 7.5 / 10 Customization 4.0 / 10 Options / Extras 8.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation 6.5 / 10 Replayability / Fun 8.5 / 10 "Ouch" Factor 9.5 / 10 Characters 7.0 / 10 BOTTOM LINE 8.4 /10
Review based on Arcadeversion
Final Words: Fighting Vipers doesn't take itselfnearly as seriously as Virtua Fighter, which in retrospect, actually ended up being agood thing. Fighting Vipers was ahead of its time. The exaggerated collision detection and "arcade" feeldefinitely made Fighting Vipers stand out in 3D fighting game genre. Vipers offers an"edgier" cast and very different 3D gameplay experience from VirtuaFighter.
After picking up the HD re-release of Fighting Vipers on PS3 (PSN) in 2012,I developed a new appreciation for the game... and wasreminded how fun (and hilarious) Fighting Vipers actually is.I alsodidn't realize how deep the character movesets were... these guys were early TEKKENcharacters in terms of interesting and deep moveset designs!
~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen
Fighting Vipers never came close to the popularity or success of VirtuaFighter (or the other big 3D fighter at the time, Tekken 2).In my opinion, the cast of Fighting Vipers isn't as likeable or diverse as otherfighting game rosters, which is probably why the series never caught much mainstreamattention.However, I think Fighting Vipers characters actually have more personality than those from VF.
Click Here for all Posters / Box Artwork!
Click Here for all Screenshots!
FOLLOW ON: TFGNEWS CHARACTERS GAMES
