Fighting Vipers 2

Fighting Vipers 2 is a fighting game developed and published by Sega. The game is the sequel to 1995's Fighting Vipers and was released for the Sega Model 3 arcade system in 1998 before being ported to the Dreamcast in 2001.

Fighting Vipers 2
Developer(s)Sega AM2
Publisher(s)Sega
Director(s)Hiroshi Kataoka
Producer(s)Yu Suzuki[1]
Designer(s)Youji Kato
Artist(s)Imai Toonz
Composer(s)Hidenori Shoji
Platform(s)Arcade, Dreamcast
ReleaseArcade
April 1998
Dreamcast
  • JP: January 18, 2001
  • EU: 2001
Genre(s)Fighting game
Arcade systemSega Model 3[2]

Over 25 years after the original release, the game is set to be a playable arcade game in the upcoming Yakuza series spin-off Like a Dragon Gaiden.[3]

Gameplay

Along with the original cast of the first game, Fighting Vipers 2 introduced Emi, a computer geek who fights with a self-developed mecha armor, and Charlie, a BMX rider. New unlockable characters included Del Sol (a Mexican wrestler with a Sun mask), and Kuhn (a copycat character with various movesets from all the other original characters similar to Virtua Fighter's Dural).

Development

AM2's Hiroshi Kataoka told Sega Saturn Magazine that development began in early 1997 after work on Fighters Megamix for the Saturn had concluded, and lasted for ten months. Members of the development team visited Alcatraz early on in the project for inspiration for the caged stages and the character designs were inspired by the "fashionable sports that are being played by young people today, such as BMX riding and skateboarding along with their associated music culture". Motion capture was utilised for the opening sequences and winning and losing poses, but the majority of animation was done by hand.[4]

Release

The game was planned for a U.S. release but was later cancelled.

The game was praised for being a perfect Dreamcast port of the original Model 3 Arcade game (unlike Virtua Fighter 3tb which was a loose port), however the developers did not include any additional extras for this release, making it a straight port.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Fighting Vipers 2 on their June 15, 1998 issue as being the second most-successful arcade game of the month.[5]

Jim Preston reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for Next Generation, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "Dreamcast software sales were always sluggish in Japan, and with mediocre titles like this it's not hard to see why."[6]

On release, Famitsu magazine scored the Dreamcast version of the game a 30 out of 40.[7]

References
  1. "The Works of Yu Suzuki". Ys Net.
  2. "In the Studio". Next Generation. No. 39. Imagine Media. March 1998. p. 20.
  3. Croft, Liam. "Like a Dragon Gaiden Reveals Its Mini Games, from the Fights to the Kinky". Push Square. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  4. Harrod, Warren (15 July 1998). "AM2 Interviewed!". Sega Saturn Magazine. EMAP (34): 52–55.
  5. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - TVゲーム機ーソフトウェア (Video Game Software)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 566. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 June 1998. p. 21.
  6. Preston, Jim (May 2001). "Finals". Next Generation. Vol. 4, no. 5. Imagine Media. p. 82.
  7. ドリームキャスト - FIGHTING VIPERS 2 (ファイティングバイパーズ2). Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.52. 30 June 2006.


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