Fighting Vipers

Fighting Vipers features a similar style of gameplay to Sega AM2's more renowned Virtua Fighter series, specifically Virtua Fighter 2, using simply guard, punch and kick attack buttons with a focus on combo moves. The Saturn version uses its three extra buttons for three smaller combos.

Each of the 9 characters featured in the game wears armor that can be broken off by opponents, leaving them more vulnerable to taking damage.{{cite magazine|date=December 1995|title=Arcade Storm Brews at AMOA|magazine=GamePro|publisher=IDG|issue=87|page=23}} A human shaped meter in the top corners of the screen monitors damage to the armor. Walls surround each arena, caging the combatants in, allowing for attacks in conjunction with them (bouncing off etc.).{{cite magazine|date=October 1996|title=Fighting Vipers: The Worthy Follow-Up to VF2|url=https://retrocdn.net/images/d/dc/EGM_US_087.pdf|magazine=Electronic Gaming Monthly|publisher=Ziff Davis|issue=87|pages=124–5}} If a knockout attack is strong enough, characters can knock their opponent over, on top, or straight through the walls.

The Saturn port of Fighting Vipers added Playback Mode and Training Mode, both of which are now used widely in the fighting genre. Players could save their matches and play them again in Playback Mode, while Training Mode talked the player through the moves of each character one-by-one.

; Main Characters

• Bahn:

: Despite only being a 17-year-old high school student, Bahn is a powerful and imposing fighter in a long coat and hat. Hailing from Nishino Town, Japan and declared himself as Genghis Bahn III, he has come overseas to find and fight his father, whom he has never met and abandoned him and his mother when he was a boy.

: Voiced by Sega designer Kazunori Oh in the first two main games, and Hiroki Takahashi in Project X Zone.{{cite web|title=Kazunori Oh interview by Weekly-AM2|url=http://www.sega-rd2.com/weeklyam2/2001_01/vol55_02.html|publisher=Sega R&D2|quote=違うタイトルで言えば、『FIGHTING VIPERS』にも思い出があります。僕はバンの声をやったので。|postscript=Sega designer Kazunori Oh did the voice of Bahn.|access-date=March 11, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050221200911/http://www.sega-rd2.com/weeklyam2/2001_01/vol55_02.html|archive-date=February 21, 2005}}

• Candy (Honey in the Japanese version):

: A petite 16-year-old fashion student with a pleasant nature, Candy designed her own trademark plastic fairy costume herself, and has entered the tournament to promote her original fashion line.

• Grace:

: A 19-year-old African-American born in Armstone City whose armor is themed after the protective gear for inline skating, including the skates themselves. Grace is making her living as a fashion model. Though she once dreamed of becoming a professional figure skater, her lover and coach betrayed her, leaving her disillusioned.

• Raxel:

: The narcissistic lead singer and guitarist for a hair metal band called 'Death Crunch' with KISS-styled armor and a red Gibson Flying-V electric guitar, Raxel is the son of an Armstone City councilman, a drop out who left home after a fight with his father. Raxel has entered the tournament to heighten his own profile and become more famous.

• Tokio:

: A 16-year-old Japanese American pretty boy with a sense of justice rebelling against a strict kabuki actor's household. Tokio is a former leader of a street gang called 'Black Thunder' but left after feeling responsible for another gang member's death. He entered the tournament for a challenge and for thrills.

• Sanman:

: A mysterious fat man about whom nothing is known, other than his birthday (3 March) and an obsession with the number 3, hence his name (san is Japanese for "three"). Sanman drives a large customized scooter. Picky is the only person whom he befriends.

• Jane:

: A butch and muscled 18-years-old part-time construction worker, Jane trained her whole life to join the Navy, but did not make it past training. She was discharged after repeatedly losing control of herself during fights and injuring fellow seamen. Jane now wants to test just how tough she is, hence entering the Fighting Vipers tournament.

: Voiced by Cara Jones.{{cite web|title=Cara Jones|url=https://www.carasmatic.com/cara/|publisher=Carasmatic Productions|access-date=March 11, 2024}}

• Picky:

: A young stereotypical skateboarder who attended Armstone campus, Picky's armor is styled after protective gear for skateboarders. He carries his skateboard on his back, and hits opponents with it. He is a 14-year-old middle schooler. Picky began skateboarding to impress his first love, Catherine, but leaves her for Candy at the end of the game.

• Mahler:

: A mysterious 20-years-old masked wrestler, who wears a poisonous snake armor and holds a grudge against the Mayor of Armstone City (who has organised the tournament). He was not officially registered as a participant of the first Viper tournament. He is an unlockable character.

• B.M.:

: The main antagonist of the series, he is the mayor of Armstone City and in fact the organizer of the tournaments. B.M. is a powered-up version of Mahler.

; Sega Saturn exclusive guest characters

• Kumachan: a 10-year-old smiling bear character wearing an orange hat, who is included as an unlockable character in the Sega Saturn port. It is based on the giant floating balloon mascot seen in the Old Armstone Town stage. It uses Sanman's fighting style, and its 2nd player counterpart is called Pandachan. Even though it can fight, its 3D model never moves.
• Pepsiman: the Japanese mascot of Pepsi who only appears in the Japanese Sega Saturn version of the game as an unlockable character.{{cite magazine|date=December 1996|title=Place Your Ad Here|url=https://retrocdn.net/images/9/9e/EGM_US_089.pdf|magazine=Electronic Gaming Monthly|publisher=Ziff Davis|issue=89|page=26}} He was removed from the US and PAL releases.{{cite magazine |title=Q&A|magazine=Sega Saturn Magazine|issue=27|publisher=Emap International Limited|date=January 1998|page=42}}

Fighting Vipers was developed using the same game engine which was first used for Virtua Fighter 2, and uses a nearly identical arcade board, though with slightly faster processing speed.{{cite magazine|date=December 1995|title=Fight For Life!|url=https://archive.org/details/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_002/page/n19/mode/2up|magazine=Sega Saturn Magazine|publisher=Emap International Limited|issue=2|pages=20–21}} Unlike Virtua Fighter 2, there are no ring-outs; producer Yu Suzuki stated, "We received comments about the ring-outs in VF {{sic|indicating different changes,}} and so for FV the fighting can continue mercilessly."{{cite magazine|date=November 1995|title=Nothing Compares to Yu|url=https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-011/page/n11/mode/2up|magazine=Next Generation|publisher=Imagine Media|issue=11|page=10}}

The character Mahler was created by reducing the power specifications of the boss, B.M., so that he would be appropriately balanced for player vs. player matches.

A demo of the game was displayed at the 1995 JAMMA show with all eight characters playable, though they did not yet have all their moves available.

The Saturn conversion, like the arcade original, was developed by Sega AM2.{{cite magazine|date=September 1996|title=Sega Boosts Saturn at Tokyo Toy Show|url=https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-021/page/n19/mode/2up|magazine=Next Generation|publisher=Imagine Media|issue=21|page=18}} The programming team consisted of 15 people, most of whom had worked on the Saturn version of Virtua Fighter 2, and some of whom had worked on the arcade version of Fighting Vipers.{{cite magazine|last=Harrod|first=Warren|date=November 1996|title=Viper Talk|url=https://archive.org/details/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_013/page/n57/mode/2up|magazine=Sega Saturn Magazine|publisher=Emap International Limited|issue=13|pages=58–59}} Work on the conversion began in the first quarter of 1996{{cite magazine|date=July 1996|title=Snake Eyes|url=https://archive.org/details/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_009/page/n47/mode/2up|magazine=Sega Saturn Magazine|publisher=Emap International Limited|issue=9|page=48}} and took eight months. After converting the Virtua Fighter 2 engine, the team focused first on recreating the barriers, as they anticipated this would be the most difficult part to accomplish on the Saturn hardware. Because armor and walls can be broken in the game, there was no easy way of reducing the number of polygons in those elements. In part to compensate for the lower polygon counts on the characters, a new form of dynamic lighting incorporating Gouraud shading was added to the Saturn version. In order to make this effect possible, and have the game run at a speed comparable to the arcade version, the team decided at the beginning of development that they would not use the Saturn's high-resolution mode.

The original Japanese version had a large amount of advertising for Pepsi, due to product placement agreements with Sega at the time. This licensing was removed in the US and PAL versions because the promotional campaign involving Pepsi was never taken outside of Japan.

In the Japanese version, the character Candy is named Honey.

{{Video game reviews

| MC = 71/100{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/fighting-vipers/critic-reviews/?platform=xbox-360 |title=Fighting Vipers on Metacritic|website=Metacritic }}

| CVG = {{Rating|5|5}} (ARC, SAT){{cite magazine |title=Video Drome Special: Fighting Vipers |magazine=Computer and Video Games |date=9 February 1996 |issue=172 (March 1996) |pages=74–7 |url=https://retrocdn.net/images/e/e4/CVG_UK_172.pdf#page=74}}{{cite magazine |title=Sega Saturn: Fighting Vipers |magazine=Computer and Video Games |date=9 October 1996 |issue=180 (November 1996) |pages=52–5 |url=https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d8/CVG_UK_180.pdf#page=52}}

| EGM = 6.625/10 (SAT)

| GSpot = 8/10 (SAT)

| NGen = {{rating|3|5}} (ARC)
{{rating|5|5}} (SAT)

| rev2 = Sega Saturn Magazine

| rev2Score = 94% (SAT)

| Fam = 37/40 (SAT)

}}

In Japan, Game Machine listed Fighting Vipers on their December 15, 1995 issue as being the most popular arcade game at the time.{{cite magazine|title=Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - TVゲーム機ーソフトウェア (Video Game Software)|magazine=Game Machine|issue=509|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=15 December 1995|page=25|lang=ja}} It went on to be one of the top five highest-grossing arcade printed circuit board (PCB) software of 1996 in Japan.{{cite magazine|editor-last=Akagi|editor-first=Masumi|title="Tekken 2", "Virtua Cop 2" Top Videos '96|magazine=Game Machine|issue=534|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 February 1997|page=26|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19970201p.pdf#page=14}} It was considerably less popular in North American arcades.

Reviewing the arcade version, Next Generation called Fighting Vipers "a beautiful, highly polished, polygon-rendered and texture-mapped game featuring brand new characters, unprecedented closed-in arenas (for a 3D fighter), a slightly different set of fighting strategies using armor, and a more cinematic style of viewing." The reviewer also praised the more intuitive button combinations used to execute moves. Despite this, he concluded that the game fails to measure up to recent fighting games, chiefly due to the "strained" character designs: "Raxel, Jane, Picky, Sanman are undeniably trendy and conclusively uncool ... They lack the artful, graceful movements of VF2{{'}}s Lau, Sarah, or Pai."{{cite magazine|date=December 1995|title=Fangless |url=https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-012/page/n203/mode/2up|magazine=Next Generation|publisher=Imagine Media|issue=12|page=203}}

In reviews for the Saturn version, the barrier mechanics - allowing players to beat opponents against or through walls and use them to launch attacks - were met with universal approval.{{cite magazine|date=November 1996|title=Review Crew: Fighting Vipers|url=https://retrocdn.net/images/8/89/EGM_US_088.pdf#page=76|magazine=Electronic Gaming Monthly|publisher=Ziff Davis|issue=88|page=76}} Most were also enthusiastic about being able to break off an opponent's armor for extra damage, though Crispin Boyer and Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly felt the amount of flesh exposed when a fighter's armor is broken off amounted to cheap lewdness. While some complained of reduced polygon counts and occasional slowdown compared to the arcade version, the conversion to the Saturn as a whole was well-regarded, with critics especially praising its retention of the arcade version's smooth animation, its use of light sourcing, and the Saturn-exclusive features. GameSpot concluded, "If you have a Saturn, this is the fighting game to own. If you don't, Fighting Vipers gives you a good reason to get one."{{cite web |title=Fighting Vipers Review|url=https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/fighting-vipers-review/1900-2533928/|website=GameSpot|access-date=15 November 2017 |date=December 1, 1996}} GamePro said it "is one of our favorites because it's fast, sexy, and easy."{{cite magazine|author=Scary Larry |date=December 1996 |title=ProReview: Fighting Vipers|magazine=GamePro|publisher=IDG|issue=99|pages=140–1}} And while most critics felt that Fighting Vipers clearly falls short of Virtua Fighter 2, Rich Leadbetter of Sega Saturn Magazine said it "is far more of a gratifying experience to the average gamer than VF or its sequel"{{cite magazine|last=Leadbetter|first=Rich|date=October 1996 |title=Review: Fighting Vipers|url=https://archive.org/details/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_012/page/n65/mode/2up|magazine=Sega Saturn Magazine|publisher=Emap International Limited|issue=12|pages=66–67}} and a Next Generation reviewer concluded, "VF2 is one of the best games of all time, but Fighting Vipers nearly eclipses it."{{cite magazine|date=December 1996|title=Snakes Alive|url=https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_24/page/n265/mode/2up|magazine=Next Generation|publisher=Imagine Media|issue=24|page=264}} In Japan, Famitsu scored it 37 out of 40.{{Cite web |title=ソ フ ト 売 上 デ ー タ SEGA SATURN |url=http://gamedatamuseum.web.fc2.com/ss.htm |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=Game Data Museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221032934/http://gamedatamuseum.web.fc2.com/ss.htm |archive-date=21 December 2011 }}

A sequel, Fighting Vipers 2 was released, introducing new characters. It was ported to the Dreamcast but only in Japan and Europe.

All of the Fighting Vipers characters were used in Sega AM2's Fighters Megamix for the Sega Saturn. Fighting Vipers was also re-released for the PlayStation 2 as part of the Sega Ages line. A PAL version was planned, but never released.

Fighting Vipers was re-released in late 2012 on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live as one of five games included in the Sega Model 2 Collection. The re-release features online play, but does not contain any of the extra content found in the Saturn version. Fighting Vipers is also included as a playable arcade game in Judgment and Lost Judgment.

Bahn appears as a solo unit in Project X Zone, a Nintendo 3DS RPG crossover of Capcom, Sega and Namco Bandai Games.

{{main|Sonic the Fighters}}

A programmer working on Fighting Vipers put Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails in the game for amusement, which led to Sega AM2 commissioning a Sonic fighting game, Sonic the Fighters.[http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3149135 The Last Arcade Crusaders Sega AM2 Interview from 1UP.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005090935/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3149135 |date=2012-10-05 }} Hidden within the data of the arcade version of Sonic the Fighters is an additional character named Honey,[https://web.archive.org/web/20111004101218/http://www.x-cult.org/games/411/Sonic_The_Fighters/1308/Honey/ "Honey"]. X-Cult. Retrieved September 21, 2013, Archived from the [http://www.x-cult.org/newegg/games/411/Sonic_The_Fighters/1308/Honey/ original] on October 4, 2011 on the Wayback Machine a yellow cat wearing Candy's red plastic fairy costume. She is only playable by hacking the game's data. Honey's model was removed from the Sonic the Fighters port on Sonic Gems Collection. However, in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 port, she is a playable character, and was later introduced to the cast of Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comics during an arc based on Sonic the Fighters. The arc depicts Honey as a fashion designer similar to her human counterpart, and also features a boar character based on Jane.

{{reflist}}

{{notelist}}

• {{moby game|id=/fighting-vipers}}
• {{KLOV game|id=7790}}

{{Virtua Fighter series|state=expanded}}

{{Yu Suzuki}}

{{Sega}}

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