Fighting Vipers

... Story: Armstone City, year unknown. The Mayor decided to hold a fighting tournament with the grand finale being held on the top of the city tower, and the Vipers, young urban warriors decide to compete, each with their own goal on mind. Review: The AM2 development team, lead by Yu Suzuki, has been creating games for Sega since 1985. Virtua Fighter 2 was already a "staple" fighting game in arcades when AM2 decided to introduce a completely original 3D fighting game property known as Fighting Vipers. Candy is jail bait... beware! Fighting Vipers features 9 original characters each showing off a unique fighting style... although, the characters of Fighting Vipers seemed to have "borrowed" quite a few techniques from the Virtua Fighter cast, as many of the animations look strikingly similar. Fighting Vipers offers some unique gameplay features however, making it clearly stand out from VF. Firstly, each of the fighters wear their own unique brand of "armor" that can be broken off during the fight... if the fighter is hit when their armor is broken, they will be susceptible to more damage when hit. The 3D arenas are closed in by walls, caging the fighters in; another element that the fighting genre hasn't seen thus far. Characters can knock each other into the walls and even through the wall at the end of a fight, if the right combination of attacks is performed. Sending an opponent through a wall was quite satisfying and looked impressive for the time; definitely scoring high in the "ouch factor" category. Bahn... A Jotaro Kujo cosplayer? The basic control layout is essentially the same to the VF series, with one button for guard, punch, and kick. The combo system isn't bad and some cool combos are fairly easy to get off, especially when your opponent is against the wall. Fighting Vipers' gameplay is notably faster than VF, and some combos are done in almost "button mashing" sequences, sometimes using the same button.  Another unique gameplay feature to Fighting Vipers is the quick recovery, where a character can get back on their feet right after getting hit. This allows for a counter attack, but also may leave them vulnerable to their opponents attack. Overall, Fighting Vipers offered some decent gameplay and was a respectable and unique 3D fighter for the time. The Sega Saturn port was graphically inferior to the arcade version, but offered new console-only mode like Training and VS Playback mode.

Last Updated: 5/25/2010 Developer(s): Sega-AM2 Publisher(s): Sega Platform(s): Arcade, Sega Saturn, Playstation 2 Release Date(s): 1995 (Arcade), August 30th 1996 (), November 30th 1996 (), 1996 () Characters:  Jane, Raxel, Picky, Grace, Sanman, Bahn, Honey, Mahler, Tokio . Featured Video: Related Games: Fighting Vipers 2, Fighters Megamix, Last Bronx, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter Remix, Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Fighter Kids, Virtua Fighter 3, Virtua Fighter 4, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Fighter 5 R - Review is for Arcade version of Fighting Vipers -  Gameplay Engine  8 / 10 Story / Theme  7 / 10 Overall Graphics  8.5 / 10 Animation  9 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  7.5 / 10 Innovation  8 / 10 Customization  6 / 10 Options / Extras  6 / 10 Intro / Presentation  6 / 10 Replayability / Fun  7 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  8.5 / 10 Characters  6.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE 8 / 10   Final Words: Fighting Vipers was a step below VF2 in terms of presentation, characters, and gameplay; but it's differences with the VF series made at stand out as an "alternate" 3D fighter from Sega. I enjoyed playing it at the few arcades that had it back in the day. ~F.Yagami, Webmaster of TFG ....