Why Does Fighters Megamix Mix Virtua Fighter and Fighting Vipers?

Because AM2 wanted to throw its own players a party, and had two hit casts to invite.

The documented answer has three parts, and all three come from the studio itself. First, the concept: AM2 used the idea popularized by The King of Fighters, mixing characters and styles from different games into a single roster. Second, the occasion: AM2 said the impetus was that towards the end of the year we always think about having a festive game for all the users who support the Sega Saturn. Third, the preview: the game was intended as an introduction to Virtua Fighter 3, carrying its dodge move and new techniques into Saturn homes.

Director Hiroshi Kataoka's interviews fill in the intent. The game was conceived as a new fighting game featuring both casts, not a simple combination of two existing games, and Kataoka described the project as the realisation of a dream for its developers.

WHAT THE MIX ACTUALLY MIXES

Systems, not just rosters

Two engines in one menu

Players switch between a Virtua Fighter fighting system and a Fighting Vipers system, which differ in how far attacks knock opponents back and how fighters recover. The casts did not just share a select screen; their home rules came with them.

Two kinds of arena

The open ended rings of Virtua Fighter are present, though with no ring out, alongside the closed cages of Fighting Vipers. Battles can take place in either.

Armor meets its counter

The Fighting Vipers characters keep their breakable armor. The Virtua Fighter 2 characters were given new moves specifically for breaking armor, so the older cast could fight the newer system on its own terms.

Bosses, playable outright

The mix also freed the bosses of both games: the final opponents of Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers are playable without cheat codes, something neither home game had offered directly.

WHAT THEY DID GET

A third game, not a double pack

What Saturn owners received in December 1996 was neither a Virtua Fighter 2 reissue nor a Fighting Vipers port, but a new game whose single player mode, nine themed courses ending in hidden opponents, was built around the meeting of the two casts, and whose hidden roster then widened the crossover to the whole studio: Sonic the Fighters, Virtua Cop 2, Daytona USA and Rent a Hero all send fighters. The mix was the product. Critics deemed the crossover mechanics a complete success, and the game was hailed as one of the Saturn's best.

THE GAME ON THE SHELF

Fighters Megamix

Fighters Megamix · Japan · Saturn

The Japanese Saturn box for the crossover that put Virtua Fighter and Fighting Vipers in one ring, the mixture this page pulls apart.

The full story: The History of Fighters Megamix →

Why Does Fighters Megamix Mix Virtua Fighter and Fighting Vipers?

WHAT THE MIX ACTUALLY MIXES

WHAT THEY DID GET

THE GAME ON THE SHELF

THE FIRST WORD