legendary game producer Yu Suzuki wanted to capitalize upon it. One of the beneficiaries

of such a technology were fighting games, and the ever ambitious Suzuki, who had already

created Champion Boxing, turned his attention to the genre again. The result: Sega's own

fighting game series, Virtua Fighter, which became so popular it is now an exhibit at

the Smithsonian. Also important, I guess, is that it spawned a sequel, Virtua Fighter

2, which may have had more success on the Saturn, but nonetheless made its way onto

the Genesis in 1997. Although more low-fi than its arcade and Saturn predecessor due

to graphical limitations, the Genesis version of Virtua Fighter 2 is still as complete a

fighting game as any, with colorful characters and a ring out fighting arena that is reminiscent

of sumo dohyos. In fact, if you turn off the energy bar so that both players have unlimited

energy, you could create your own sumo matches. Although this is a 2D fighter in the harshest

light, Virtua Fighter 2 is still a hefty challenge and looks better than almost any other Genesis

game. I also admire each character's fighting style, especially Jacky Bryant's versatile

Jeet Kune Do technique. Along with Jacky comes all the other fighters from the co-op, which

all stand in your way of the mysterious Dural. Master your fighter's unique abilites for

great justice and a clever post-battle taunt. Virtua Fighter 2 for the Genesis looks so

good for its class that such graphics could be mistaken for a Playstation or lower grade

PS2 2D fighter. The detail and style of each stage's backgrounds, such as the azure sky

and white sand of Pai's stage, serve as a gorgeous backdrop. The game's visuals are

testament to the hard work of Yu Suzuki's team that has worked so tirelessly on games

for both the arcade and the console. It has been remade for such contemporary platforms

like the iOS, Virtual Console, Playstation 2, and shown here as part of the Sega Genesis

Classic Collection now available on Steam.