Who Are the Hidden Characters in Fighters Megamix?
Twelve of them, and the strangest two are a car and the developer's logo.
Beyond the full casts of Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers, Fighters Megamix hides twelve characters, unlocked by completing the single player courses, with two of them gated behind stranger conditions still. Each hidden fighter plays by one of the game's two systems: as a Fighting Vipers character, with armor that can be smashed off, or as a Virtua Fighter character, without armor.
Here is the full hidden cast, with where each one came from.
THE GUESTS
Borrowed from other AM2 gamesBean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear
Both from Sonic the Fighters, unlocked by defeating the Muscle course. Bean is a green duck based on the older Sega arcade game Dynamite Dux, bombs included. Bark is a cream bear in a scarf and mittens whose alternate costume is a Santa suit.
Janet
From Virtua Cop 2, unlocked by defeating the Girls course. She fights with the moves of Aoi Umenokoji from Virtua Fighter 3, a character whose own game never reached the Saturn, and her arena is based on the first stage of the original Virtua Cop.
Hornet
The number 41 car from Daytona USA, unlocked by defeating the Secrets course. It stands on its rear wheels and boxes with its front tires, sounds like an engine, and when its shell is knocked off, revealing the body and engine beneath, it fights using Bahn's move set.
Rent-A-Hero
From the Japan only Mega Drive game Rent a Hero, unlocked by defeating the Smart Guys course. He carries a handicap no other fighter has: a battery life meter above his health bar. If it empties, Rent-A-Hero shuts down.
Kids Akira and Kids Sarah
The super deformed forms of Akira and Sarah from Virtua Fighter Kids, unlocked by defeating the Virtua Fighter course, each keeping a stage from that game.
THE ORIGINALS AND THE ODDITIES
Made for this game, or rescued for itSiba
A fighter cut from the original Virtua Fighter before its release, unlocked by defeating the Bosses course. An icon of him, mislabeled as Akira, still appears on older Virtua Fighter arcade cabinets. Megamix is his playable debut, sword and all.
Deku
The only original character created for the game, unlocked by defeating the Dirty Fighters course: a comical Mexican green bean in a hat. Smash the hat off and a bird is perched underneath, which squawks during his win pose.
URA Bahn
A super powered version of Bahn from Fighting Vipers, unlocked by defeating the Fighting Vipers course.
Mr Meat
A slab of meat with limbs, available after the game has been booted up 30 times, selected from the Kumachan slot. Called Niku in the Japanese version.
AM2 Palm Tree
The developer's own emblem as a playable fighter, unlocked by clocking up 84 hours of game time and selecting Kumachan with the Z button. The longest unlock in the game is the logo of the studio that made it.
The pattern is the point. Every other hidden fighter is a piece of AM2 history, a cut character restored, a mascot promoted, or a joke the studio told about itself. Twelve unlockables in 1996 was an unusually deep bench, and reviewers singled out the roster and its variety as the game's chief virtue.
THE GAME ON THE SHELF
Fighters Megamix
Fighters Megamix · America · Saturn
The American Saturn box for the crossover whose hidden roster this page unlocks.