Fight fans will be delighted to hear that their beloved Virtua Fighter series has finally hit the iPhone, though appalled to hear that it’s a remake of the 2D Mega Drive version.
At just €1.59, Virtua Fighter 2 sounds like one of the best bargains on the iPhone. Considering the gorgeous looking and surprisingly deep Street Fighter IV is priced at a prohibitive €7.99, gamers could be forgiven for believing that Capcom’s brawler has a first class opponent in VF2. After all, it was the fighting purist’s 3D choice in the late 1990s, Tekken be damned.
It is with a heavy heart then that we must impart some genuinely disappointing news – Virtua Fighter 2 on iPhone is actually a poor port of a 1996 Mega Drive release, not the 3D battles on the Sega Saturn or Arcade.
This is a port so lazy that SEGA forgot to remove the ‘Genesis’ branding from the title screen. Genesis was the US term for the Megadrive, just in case you were hoping for a Phil Collins Vs Peter Gabriel ruck.
Much like SEGA’s Street of Rage releases, here the company has spared every expense, with no Game Center compatibility and a bolted-on floaty on-screen D-pad. Whether or not we can expect online battles anytime soon is unconfirmed, but don’t hold your breath – for now, you’ll need another sucker that paid up the €1.59 to enable Bluetooth.
This is as exciting as it gets folks
Note to SEGA – people want to play Virtua Fighter as they remember it, not in the form of a relatively unheard of sprite-based 16-bit title that was panned upon release nearly 15 years ago. As of this writing, SEGA’s output, bar their Super Monkey Ball and Sonic the Hedgehog 4 releases, is painfully underwhelming.
Rather than relying on sub-par Mega Drive emulators, why not push the iPhone a little harder for full-blown Saturn release. A touch-controlled NiGHTS: Into Dreams, Fighters Megamix, Virtua Cop 2, SEGA Rally or Daytona USA is what people want, not Ecco the flippin’ Dolphin. Take a look at an technological beast such as Infinity Blade and you can see why lazy ports don’t cut it anymore.
With stodgy controls, fuzzy graphics and the unshakable feeling that you’re playing a stripped-down version of a technical classic (both in terms of chracter’s movesets and presentation), Virtua Fighter 2 packs very little punch on the iPhone, while mobile gamers should vote with their wallets and hold out for SEGA to finally step up their game on iOS devices.
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