Virtua Fighter 2

This game has aged well as a trailblazing 3D fighter from 1994. My only gripe would be that the characters are kind of forgettable and derivative to me. I know that fighting game characters tend to have the same stock personalities. Even so, Virtua Fighter's roster just isn't as memorable compared to Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and later franchises like Dead or Alive and Tekken (which ironically borrowed from Virtua Fighter).

I remember when the Virtua Fighter franchise began, they were huge in the arcades and viewed as revolutionary! 3D beat em up games!

Thing is I always thought they were overhyped. Sure they looked special but at their core they were very very basic games.

Essentially each of the characters is a clone of one another move-wise with only minor differences here and there. Button bashing was the key more than anything as opposed to memorising pages of special moves.

Ontop of that is one of the most damning issues with Virtua Fighter 2, the ridiculous difficulty spike. Mortal Kombat has often been criticised for being too difficult but that's nothing compared to Virtua Fighter 2. Here you will grind your teeth as opponents block everything you have and then take half your health off with one kick...........on easy difficulty.

Combine all of this and you have a highly lackluster game that pales in comparison to similiar games of its time.

The Good:

Looked okay in its day

The Bad:

Small roster

Stupidly difficult

Very limited

Things I Learnt From This Game:

I miss the arcades

I remember quickly growing to hate Pai Chan