Review by: Pascal "Saturnman" Vellet

Rating: 7 (out of 10)

Summary:

Fighting Vipers is the popular arcade brawler converted to the Saturn. The home version ends up being somewhat lackluster technically but keeps the good control and interesting gameplay of the arcade original as it was.

The review:

Arcade Fighting Vipers was more and less a spin-off of the Virtua Fighter series. Actually, Fighting Vipers had a completely new cast of characters and it did try to incorporate new gameplay features. But the main goal from Sega was to offer a Virtua Fighter with more simplified gameplay and characters with broader appeal. Unfortunately, it didn't work as planned. Fighting Vipers has always lived under Virtua Fighter 2's shadow. To the opinion of many, VF2 just had better graphics, more interesting characters and better gameplay. This is still largely true now that FV has made it to the Saturn (a year after VF2).

Graphically, Saturn Fighting Vipers marks some good points. The game runs at 60 fps, just like the arcade game. The characters are nicely animated. The Saturn version also has some special effects like the same light-sourcing from the arcade and even some gouraud shading the arcade original didn't have! Apart from some little slowdowns and clipping problems, FV looks good. But put Saturn VF2 side-by-side and FV pales in comparison. Just like in the arcade, the whole graphical design of Saturn FV is not as good as VF2. FV's characters lack details and have that same fuzzy look as Toshinden on PSX. All the special effects Saturn FV uses are actually not that noticeable to make much a difference. And worse, the special effects came at the cost of the high resolution. One of the most outstanding feature of Saturn VF2 was the high resolution, it's gone in Saturn FV. By the way, the nice arcade intro of FV has been replaced by a cheesy and grainy FMV intro. Bad idea.

As for the characters with "broader appeal", well, this is one of the obvious weaknesses of FV. The game has a cast of eight eccentric characters to choose from. In fact, "eccentric" might be an inappropriate term because some characters are downright goofy. But even with character design aside, no character actually stand out with a particular fighting style, every character seems to be more and less the same. Now that is a shame because in VF2, characters like Shun or Lion are totally unique in both character design and fighting style which has made them crowd favorites.

But enough complaining, FV certainly has some good points. The game has the same simplicity of control of Virtua Fighter (three buttons: Guard, Punch and Kick) and the same impressive number of moves for each character as in VF2 (between 50 to 80 moves each!). Sometimes it is so obvious the game is a spin-off of VF that some characters in both games share some striking similiraties. For example, Bahn in FV fights with a lot of the same moves of Akira in VF.

But FV also distances itself from VF by introducing several gameplay twists. First of all, the game is plain easier to play. In VF, knowing all the moves isn't enough, you have to combine everything in a complicated and sometimes instinctive winning strategy. In Fighting Vipers, strategy isn't all that important. You can just pick up the joypad and start fighting. The AI of the computer-controlled opponents is a lot more forgiving than in VF. In VF, missing a throw or a punch can mean big trouble. In FV, if the computer hits hard, you just have to hit harder! Each character in Fighting Vipers wears an armor for protection, this armor can break which makes you more vulnerable but with less weight on your body, your attacks are more powerful and inflict more damage to your opponent. Unlike VF, FV has no ring-outs. Instead, each ring is surrounded by either fences or walls in which you can pummel your opponent. You can even climb fences and walls and jump on your opponent, just like in wrestling. Great stuff!

Lastly, while the sound effects are just adequate, the music is not so bad. Most music tracks are filled with electric guitar and it sounds a lot like the music in last year's Sega Rally.

In the final analysis, Saturn VF2 is a better game to FV in almost every respect. However, FV share some important gameplay qualities with VF and adds a couple of innovations. If you don't mind FV being second best, this game has a lot to offer. And if you still haven't mastered some of the characters in VF2 (like Akira or Shun), Fighting Vipers is like a Virtua Fighter for beginners, it lets you win!