| smbhax [sys=SAT; cat=Fighting; reg=J] |
| | | It's kinda like what I wanted Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary in VF4 Evo (see entry 329) to be ; D--a somewhat nicer-looking version of the original VF, if Saturn low-res (but thank goodness it isn't 480i like Saturn VF2 ; P).
Characters noticeably less bulky than VF2 chars. Simple physics-type quick combos seem easier than VF2. I suspect the physics will go all to heck once the going really gets tough--like by Kage, round 7, in VF2 (see entry 1378)--but I guess we'll see.
I was going to say the presentation is nice at least and it does appear to be BUT you can't freely map the buttons, have to pick from four presets. Of course if you're running it in an emulator like I hope to be you can make a special config to remap them, so whew.
Akira can't throw in this version! The English manual https://archive.org/details/Virtua_Fighter_Remix_1995_Sega_US/page/n6/mode/1up https://segaretro.org/images/5/5c/Vfremix_sat_us_manual.pdf says "Throw (All fighters except Akira): [A+B]." Nothing said like that in the VF2 manuals so I guess this was a one-off.
BEWARE there's a later XBⱯND (XBAND for word searches...) version that apparently requires the Saturn modem and Media Card (a 2000 Yen card to pay for phone charges through the modem or something? Anyway it's a little like credit-card sized thing that slides into the modem) https://segaretro.org/Sega_Saturn_Modem#Media_Cards in order to run; nothing in Mednafen documentation about XBAND but that version doesn't appear to run natively; can't find much on it but at one point I got Google overview to say that you needed a "hacked" version of Remix XBAND ROM in order for it to run in Mednafen--then again Google overview says Akira can throw in Remix, so who knows. ; P
(XBAND was in the States for Genesis and SNES--see it wasn't Sega, it was by a US company awfully called Catapult Entertainment--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND says it--just that Genesis/SNES run of it?--topped out at 15K subs.)
I accidentally bought the XBAND version momentarily from an eBay listing that didn't mention it was the XBAND version--it was a sealed version and I think they didn't know it wasn't the regular version. 'p' I just happened to be looking up the cover art on GameFAQs a bit later and noticed there were two JP covers, and the XBAND or "SegaNet" version as it may be known (I don't see "SegaNet" on the Remix cover, but there is a "SEGASATURN NETWORKS" title and "NET" image with a stylized Saturn icon in front of it) looked suddenly familiar--it's got a nice black border on two sides of the art which may be partly what attracted me in the first place. Anyway the seller let me refund it; hopefully they update their title and description with compatibility info. |
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| | | RE the no Akira throws thing, in VF1 arcade https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/arcade/583647-virtua-fighter/faqs/1096 he doesn't have a standard P+D throw, but he does have
Trip {S}{D} Back+Punch
Pull in, throw out {S}{D} Down/Back, For+Punch (don't roll)
Backwards uppercut {S}{D} Back, For/Down+Punch+Kick (don't roll)
so possibly he can do something like those in Remix. ... I see a db,fP "Shin'iha" listed in the manual under his "Special Moves." Ah yeah and b,dfPK is "Youshi Senrin"; and bP is "Toushin Soutai" (Within grabbing range of an opponent)." So he's got throw-like moves, just not a standard throw input.
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VF for Saturn came out in Japan 11/22/94. Remix came out 7/14/95. In the States Remix came out just 3 months after vanilla (05/11/95, 10/02/95)!
Video comparing the two:
The original was flatshaded like the arcade version; Remix's texture revamp nuked the floor lighting in that one night stage though. Fighters are larger onscreen in Remix and there's less poly dropout on the stages. Video says it isn't as "choppy" as the vanilla version ran. I mean I kinda like the flatshaded look but whatever. |
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| | | I was thinking well I could just get both, but I think I'll stick to Remix over vanilla--camera juddering at start and end of round is definitely worse in vanilla. That and the smoother palette, and solid black shadows rather than the checkerboard shadows of vanilla (except maybe in certain stages, like the checkerboard shadows are still there in Sarah's stage, I guess pretending the floor lighting is still there ; D), combined with the larger-on-screen characters (the zoom vanilla has them at does look arcade-accurate, mind you) does seem to make Remix easier on the ol' eyeballs.
There is still some camera popping that's kinda harsh, mind you. ; ) |
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| | | | Oh huh Remix was by Sega AM1 (Sega AM2 being the main series developer) and first came out in the arcade, I'll be danged. |
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| | | HG101 says in the US Remix was free to 'everyone who filled out the registration card that came with each Saturn unit, in a way to "replace" the old version as the pack-in bundle.'
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Oh wow! So Sega AM1 became Wow Entertainment which merged with Overworks to become Sega Wow which split into three pieces one of which was Global Entertainment R&D Dept. 2 (this part is via Sega Retro) who converted Sega AM2's arcade game "Sega Golf Club Ver. 2006 Next Tours" into PS3 launch title "Miyazato San Kyoudai Naizou: Sega Golf Club" (see entry 1164). So that's two AM2-by-AM1 conversions I've been into lately. ; D |
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| | | Sega released a PC version of Remix, but Windows 11 does not allow its installer to run; things claiming to be "unofficial installers" appear to be hacked pirated versions of the game--which is tiny, size-wise--minus the CD audio tracks. It sounds like even beyond that there are a number of issues requiring further hacks to run that hacked pirated copy of the game. So I'll stick with the Saturn version. ^ _^
(There's also a PC version of VF2; haven't even looked at what might be required to run that but I'm happy with my PS3 version in RPCS3. : D Well, I mean, the AI and controls/physics get real grotesque at later stages, so it's a gosh darn bear to play through, but that's the game itself, not the version. ; D) |
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| | | | (There's a 2,848 K demo of "Virtua Fighter PC" that's still downloadable from the archived official site https://web.archive.org/web/19970605153559/http://www.sega.com/segapc/downloads/games/vfighter.html --but Windows 11 won't run that .exe, either.) |
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| | | | Remix came out in Japanese arcades three months before the Japanese Saturn version came out--but in the US, where both versions were later than in Japan, the arcade version didn't come out until a month AFTER the Saturn version; it sounds like the priority by that time was getting it to home users to help promote the console, where the original VF console port with its flat-shaded and glitchy polygons was facing graphical competition from the likes of Battle Arena Toshinden in PS1 (which I remember seeing in a Toys'R'Us in Chicago on one of my little escapes from my college campus to wander around downtown, and thinking boy that looks sharp) (I also remember seeing VF in the arcade kinda near my family's house in Seattle, pretty sure some time before the Toshinden run-in; I guess it must'a been on a visit home during a college break; I don't remember seeing any VF in an arcade after that--I suppose I must have seen SOME VF here and there at some point but I wasn't getting to arcades much anymore and certainly the impact would have been less than seeing the first 3D fighting game). |
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| | | The original VF arcade was 30 fps. It looks like the vanilla Saturn port was too, whereas Remix Arcade/Saturn (arcade version was on ST-V board, "Sega Titan Video" arcade-ified Saturn hardware) are SORT of 60 fps: stage and characters/bg update in alternating frames. ; D
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| | | | Mednafen documentation says Alt+A and Alt+R enter/advance and exit "Frame advance mode" so maybe I'll be able to demonstration the 60fps alternating framerate "live" as it were. |
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| | | Oh right I was just reading something about this last night; Saturn had two CPUs, and two graphics co-processors--one for sprites/polygons, one for backgrounds.
"For example, Virtua Fighter used one CPU for each character, while Nights used one CPU for 3D environments and the other for 2D objects."
That might not apply to remix I dunno; I was thinking more about the polys vs backgrounds graphics processing here. Although wait the stages are polys and the backgrounds are updating with the characters so that doesn't quite fit.
Also Saturn's 3D is quadrilaterals rather than triangles! = o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn#Technical_specifications |
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| | | To get rid of the vertical black bars at 1080p:
ss.stretch 0
ss.xscalefs 4.823
ss.yscalefs 4.823 |
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| | | | Runs at 704x224 ie horizontal hi-res, which apparently some Saturn games did. Interesting. Mednafen then scales that internally to nearly 4:3 (0.74172), for instance its 3x default windowed is 906x672 without overscan--triple vertical and 0.777 horizontal (close to 7/9). |
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| | | Character select screen illustrations and cover art by Katsuya Terada ( source: https://virtuafighter.fandom.com/wiki/Virtua_Fighter_Remix#Trivia ).
I think I'm gonna scan the cover and back; the scans on GF and MobyGames aren't great. |
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| | | | Terada's comic work for the most part hasn't been translated into English--the Monkey King on Amazon is the main one; he seems to like putting bare breasts in everything so that could be why it's mostly stayed in Japan. He did the covers for a 2005 5-issue Marvel limited series "Wolverine: Soultaker" https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/43524/wolverine_soultaker_2005_present --they're okay. |
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| | | | Both Sega Retro and archive.org have 600 dpi scans of the Japanese manual so no need for me to scan mine. |
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| | | | Case has a clear CD tray, similar to Last Gladiators (entry 2063), Sega Worldwide Soccer '98 (entry 2066--although that's a thicker "medium" jewel case), and apparently a bunch of other mostly first-party Japanese releases https://selectbutton.net/t/saturn-is-not-our-future/10897/167 . |
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| | | | (Whoops the DP:LG tray is white, just the sorta hinge/spine front part is clear.) |
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| | | | The game's designed for 1:1 PAR (wider than 4:3); see camera down-shot on Jeffry's helipad stage between rounds (random)--screenshot 6 here. |
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| | | | (Well actually Remix is more like technically 1:2 PAR or however you'd write that due to its double horizontal resolution.) |
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| | | ss.correct_aspect 0
ss.xscale 3
ss.xscalefs 4.828
ss.yscalefs 4.828 |
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1:44 - Akira playthrough (EASY)
5:21 - Pai problem
20:13 - finally passing Pai
25:48 - final round
27:11 - bonus stage
28:21 - credits
30:39 - crushing not-ranking-mode...for a bit ; D
38:53 - failing codes
Did some more checking of some of those cheat codes after recording.
The Ranking Mode cheat lists on GameFAQs is wrong. It says "At the Title Screen press Down-Right, C, L, R, Start."
The cheat is shown correctly at https://segaretro.org/Virtua_Fighter_Remix/Hidden_content#Unlock_ranking_mode : you have to hold down-right, C, R--AND Y while pushing Start. GameFAQ's code omitted the Y button, turns out that's kind of important. 'p'
I've reported the incorrect code to GameFAQs.
When it's entered correctly, "RANKING MODE" appears as a selectable item on the game's main menu.
Apparently Ranking Mode also unlocks if you beat Dural in the Bonus Stage at the end of Arcade Mode ( https://www.captainwilliams.co.uk/sega/saturn/virtuafighter/virtuafighter.php )--that's specifically in the section of that page on vanilla Saturn VF but the section on Remix says they're virtually the same (and the unlock button combo does carry over); I can't confirm this one yet 'cause I can't beat Dural. ; D
And yeah it looks like you can't continue in Ranking Mode.
The Japanese version's Ranking Mode results/grade page is of course all in Japanese so the impact is maybe a little less, at least until clumsily translating it via Google Translate. ; D But next time I'll hopefully be able to stumble through a try at that and the next one...
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After a lot of tries I did get the play as Dural cheat to work (at character select screen, do down, up, right, left-plus-guard); the timing/input is just REALLY tight, ie you gotta do it fast with no diagonals or anything. Sega Retro had said https://segaretro.org/Virtua_Fighter_Remix/Hidden_content that you had to start with Akira highlighted, but I was able to do it with Lau highlighted for instance--so I edited that part of the Sega Retro page.
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I tried the "Different Costumes" cheat listed on GameFAQs (hold up while selecting character with A) on every character and just got the regular 1P costume every time. I can't find that code listed anywhere else that didn't just copy their codes (including the incorrect Ranking Mode code) from GameFAQs. The GameFAQs code appears to be incorrect / fake and I've reported that to GameFAQs.
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This game crushes. It's SO bright. The hits are HARD. The music RULES.
Hm okay the manual shows lots of complicated-looking moves for Akira, yeah. ; ) But the VERY EASY difficulty boss opponent Akira didn't do 'em so eh :ppp. ; )
Anyway yeah love it. Looks great at 1:1 PAR, too! Proper widehead Akira, square floor tiles, etc. Was checking through them the other day and turns out most my Saturn games were actually made for 1:1 PAR rather than 4:3. Those crazy artists with their fancy computer screens didn't care WHAT they'd look like on a CRT! ; D |
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| | | Whoops I forgot to post my first Remix video. These are in Mednafen--this one was 4:3 'p':
3:28 - Option
7:24 - Akira
9:29 - the framerate
35:06 - some Wolf
39:20 - a little Kage
[Update 5/21: OOh, I've found this game along with 3 others out of my 11--4 out of 7 if you don't count the anamorphic widescreen golf games!--was designed for 1:1 PAR, which means I should be running it slightly wider than the ~4:3 it was in here. I'll have it in its designed--ie Jeffry's helipad marking is circular, round win boxes and the checkerboard bg of the UI is square, etc--aspect ratio next time]
Remix re-uses the music from the initial Sega Saturn launch game version, Virtua Fighter, which had remixed the music from the original arcade game.
The checkerboard shadows ARE still there over the actual floor lighting in Sarah's stage in the Saturn's launch game VF.
I like the launch VF's flat shaded, illuminated style, and stages such as Lau's and especially Sarah's with its unique floor lighting do look better in it. Without that lighting model, Remix is much brighter--and about half the stages in launch VF do look a bit on the dim side; Remix is perhaps slightly too bright in some stages. Still, Remix's reduced camera judder and popping, and reduced polygon flickering, mean less chance of migraine triggers for my sometimes photosensitive tired ol' eyes, and the characters being larger on-screen is a definite plus. And I do like Remix's hand-drawn, animating character heads on the character select screen.* So yeah I think I'll just stick with Remix.
* Remix's character select screen art is by Katsuya Terada, who also did the cover art for this Japanese version; the current scans of it on GameFAQs and MobyGames aren't great, so I'm going to make some new scans and submit them to MobyGames--not sure if they'll want to replace the old scans and even if they're up for it, it could take a year for them to get around to it ; ); I've got smaller web-sized versions up at https://smbhax.tumblr.com/post/815542199946231808/virtua-fighter-remix-sega-saturn-illustration-by |
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| | | | (I've since corrected the latest video description to call it 1:2 PAR rather than 1:1 PAR for Remix, since it's running in Saturn's horizontal hi-res mode of 704x224.) |
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