I remember that I played VF3 for the first time on an machine that had a big screen and it blew my mind.
This one:
That is the same one I played on. I went insane!
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Virtua Fighter 3. What a badass game!
- Thread starter Trojan X
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That is the same one I played on. I went insane!
I know what you mean. To be honest, it also has the best VS game sound/jingle I've ever heard in any fighting game. Hearing it on some solid speakers and sub sounds incredible with both bass and classy choir sound. I remember hearing the vs sound for the first time on the Megalomo cabinet, it made my heart miss a beat in excitement. It's so unfortunate that the vs sound/jingle was never topped in any of the VF sequels.
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS THREAD.
I HAVE THIS IN MY HOUSE.
I bought the Astro City cabinet when I lived in Japan for the sole purpose of playing arcade VF2. It took me about 10 years to finally get a working VF3 + adapter harness (requires external power supply + audio amp, huge pain in the ass) but now I am rocking this game HARD all the time. It's a masterpiece.
A while back my buddy Airthrow (who did the wiring to get this bastard running) hooked up the Model 3 to his PC's RGB capture board and we got some decent quality video out of it. There's still some really weird ghosting there we haven't figured out yet, but I don't think there's a lot of direct-feed video of this on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXrNoddxUbo
We did an extensive capture session where we took a ton of footage from the arcade version and then a ton of footage from the Dreamcast one (running through the same capture board). I think the final verdict was that Dreamcast was actually running the same geometry, but the textures were cut way back, and there might have been issues with the character rigging on Dreamcast, but I can't quite remember. (I fully realize about 3 people in the world still care about this.)
You are most welcome and that is frigging fantastic that you got the original cabinet. You know what? It would be fantastic if you could make a video review or feedback of your experience of putting that together, your emotions of when you finally got it working, and your nostalgic feeling of whenever you play the game. If you like, you can give the video to me so I can put it on the next episode of Versus Battlecast. It would be great and I would be honoured if the video is done nicely! If you are interested then let's talk via PM.
For everyone that is playing the game again, I strongly strongly urge you all to learn the KOREAN STEP. I guarantee you, once you've learned how to KOREAN STEP then the real depth of VF3 will explode in your face causing you to love the game like you've never loved it before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVXMim20eNs#t=1734
celsowmbr
Banned
Only I...or Do you guys love the VF3 songs too?
And how about VF3 "vocal" songs?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8HdL_V2mq4R1q00d0U0ayHW3q6eiJl-r
And how about VF3 "vocal" songs?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8HdL_V2mq4R1q00d0U0ayHW3q6eiJl-r
U n i o n 0015
Member
VF5 is a progression of VF4, which was itself somewhat of a step backwards for VF.
From VF -> 2 -> 3, it was all about adding layers to the game. People didn't really embrace the undulating stages of VF3, and combined with the price of the cabinets, it just wasn't as popular. So AM2 went back to the tried-and-true formula of VF2.
A few months back I gif'd this tutorial.
The image resolutions had to change to keep the gif sizes and framerates relatively uniform.
anyway, that's a great tutorial and it definitely widened my appreciation of VF3.
I would argue that movement in VF is as good now as it was in 3 after being somewhat more restricted in 4. I would also argue that many of the more minute changes to the series' mechanics, such as getting counter-hits from hitting failed evades with circulars or getting staggers from moves that push the opponent into the wall, make for a more rewarding experience overall. Playing VF is so stressful now, it's such a rush. If there were two steps back from VF3 to 5, there were twenty steps forward in other aspects.
U n i o n 0015
Member
I care, so that makes us four.
Old Sega was like my glory years, I can listen to history and talk about this stuff for thread after thread.
SkylineRKR
Member
I probably had most fun with VF3. I felt it was the most easy to get into VF. The damage, timing etc were less harsh than VF2. There was also a grab animation and other things that made it a bit more fun than VF2 to me.
When I played VF4 I was initially slightly disappointed, it looked like it somewhat went back to VF2 with its flat and simple arenas and no real evasive move. Vanilla VF5 I enjoyed less than VF4 Evo but Final Showdown is perhaps the greatest VF I have played.
VF3 on Dreamcast may not have been Arcade perfect, it was still closer than the first 2 Saturn ports were and probably closer than VF4 for Ps2 too.
When I played VF4 I was initially slightly disappointed, it looked like it somewhat went back to VF2 with its flat and simple arenas and no real evasive move. Vanilla VF5 I enjoyed less than VF4 Evo but Final Showdown is perhaps the greatest VF I have played.
VF3 on Dreamcast may not have been Arcade perfect, it was still closer than the first 2 Saturn ports were and probably closer than VF4 for Ps2 too.
Well, I'll tell you what make VF3 superior to VF5:
1) VF3 features more 3D gameplay compared to VF5 or more-so, Final Showdown, which is widely thanks to the escape button. You can shift up and down in VF5 but it keep you on a 2D plane. Note that VF5 (vanilla) is more 3D than Final Showdown.
2) The number of floating hit is more realistic and feels "sensible", in VF5 the amount of hit you can pull off is more overboard and borderline ridiculous.
3) The uneven floor provide strong gameplay strategy for certain characters, e.g. Lion is deadly on Pai's rooftop stage.
4) If you block a big round attack in VF3 you can leave your opponent in a recovery animation that you can take advantage of, e.g. blocking Lau's stand roundahouse kick or low sweep will leave him in a recovery animation. THis is just like real life, if someone blocks your backward round ahouse kick, you'll end up trying to recovered from that block, your leg won't go through your opponent like in VF5. Unfortunately, this cool element that provide strategy and opportunities disappear in later iterations of VF but note that the developers tried to partially re-introduce it in VF5 Final Showdown.
5) Most important, the animation execution of the throw escape surprises your opponent, but in VF5 the throw escapes are too readable thus allowing you or your opponent to quickly prepare a counter attack.
6) Kage, Lau, Aoi and Shun Di are much much better in VF3 than VF5. Thanks to the physics, they move so much better, execute so much better, flow so much better. Watching an expert play with Shun Di and Lau is a sight to behold... either specular or brutal.
7) The physics in VF3 makes the game feel more realistic: You sweep both legs then you'll see the game react to the hit by having both their feet swept off the flow, you kick the head and you'll see the character spin in the correct motion of the hit, the floating combo makes sense and it is also according to the character's weight, the high, mid and low definition is very pronounced, and the physics (mechanics) really allow the player to create more than 6 styles of strong play for each character. This is not entirely the case for VF5.
8) Appropriately themed stages and really memorable music, or rather if the music isn't memorable then it is definitely captivating.
9) Less is more... The less moves you have, the more you get out of your character and the more balance a game will be. In VF3, every single move you have in the game serves a purpose, and every move executed will result in a different reaction. It leaves you to focus more on what your next attack should be after your initial 2 attacks you planning to execute. Of course, you can do this too in VF5 in respect to attack planning, but the amount of moves available for each character in VF3 feels just right and not fall into the realms of a memory test.
10) Making your opponent become unbalanced makes so much sense in VF3 and it can be done in many different ways, especially if you are Akira. Unfortunately, this is near non-existent in VF5.
11) VF3 plays more like a strategic 3D fighter, VF5 FS plays more like a 2D fighter.
In case you doubt my VF3 skills please look at my battles in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVXMim20eNs&list=PLEDED0C203D71D110#t=2146
In a perfect world, I'd love to have VF5 Final Showdown with VF3 physics, mechanics, and everything else that makes VF3 so unique. That would be godlike.
Boulotaur2024
Member
Some shots before the thread dies
Arcade version emulated with Supermodel v0.3a. Game is still poorly emulated such a shame...
Arcade version emulated with Supermodel v0.3a. Game is still poorly emulated such a shame...
Here's some VF3tb tournament footage from the year 2000. japan VF hype!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AccjaL_rBQQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AccjaL_rBQQ
Could you elaborate on that?
Sure. In vanilla, you can tap up then press all 3 buttons to do a wide side step that put you to the side of your opponent (90' degrees) which is a 3d playing field, and in final showdown this element has been remove. Yes, you have the normal side step by tapping up or down on counter, but they only normally place you on a 45' degree angle on a 2d playing field which is still facing your opponent's face rather than their side.
a successful evade (one that evades an attack) will still leave your opponent side-turned, and you can still cancel failed evades with P+K+G (OM) to side-turn your opponent
I haven't played a lot of 5 but here are my brief "casual" thoughts...
- While the graphics in 5 are technically superior to 3, the art style and character designs feel like they moved in the wrong direction. The new characters look like they belong more in Tekken or even Final Fantasy as opposed to VF.
- Flat arenas. I'm not good enough to claim the strategic difference for high level players but when playing with my friends, it's more fun to have dynamic environments that effect that play from stage to stage. I hated fighting Lion in some stages but that just made it sweeter when I managed to pull out the win.
- Less emphasis on evade/sidestepping/whatever you want to call it. For me, my favorite technique in 3 was to evade an attack and counter with a throw.
As already mentioned, PlayStation 2 was not capable of matching the NAOMI 2 board in Virtua Fighter 4 or Virtua Fighter 4 Evo.
Polygon count is greatly reduced, as are textures.
The lighting in Jackie's stage is a good example. NAOMI 2 could handle 6 light sources. I believe the PS2 version of VF4 Evo used more polys than the PS2 port of vanilla VF4, but still less than the arcade.
Besides having two PowerVR2DC / CLX2 graphic chips (same gfx chip and clockspeed as Dreamcast's but 2 of them!) NAOMI 2 had a separate geometry & lighting (T&L) co-processor called 'Elan' to relieve the two (!?) SH-4 CPUs from the burden of transforming & lighting polygons for the PowerVR chips.
In addition to an absolute FUCK-TON of RAM for a board that is using, for the most part, Dreamcast architecture (aside from the new Elan chip)
http://system16.com/hardware.php?id=725
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1058634&postcount=2
Polygon count is greatly reduced, as are textures.
The lighting in Jackie's stage is a good example. NAOMI 2 could handle 6 light sources. I believe the PS2 version of VF4 Evo used more polys than the PS2 port of vanilla VF4, but still less than the arcade.
Besides having two PowerVR2DC / CLX2 graphic chips (same gfx chip and clockspeed as Dreamcast's but 2 of them!) NAOMI 2 had a separate geometry & lighting (T&L) co-processor called 'Elan' to relieve the two (!?) SH-4 CPUs from the burden of transforming & lighting polygons for the PowerVR chips.
In addition to an absolute FUCK-TON of RAM for a board that is using, for the most part, Dreamcast architecture (aside from the new Elan chip)
http://system16.com/hardware.php?id=725
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1058634&postcount=2
I miss the days of constant technical progression in videogames. Back when arcades looked miles better than home consoles, simply because arcade hardware had shorter development cycles (and different business models, obviously).
Segas arcade stuff was the best of the best in that respect, in my opinion.
Segas arcade stuff was the best of the best in that respect, in my opinion.
Sega's was the best.
The only company that could rival Sega in arcades, for awhile anyway, was Namco. At least in the early to mid 90s. (System 22 and Ridge Racer was Namco's rival of Model 2 and Daytona USA),
By the late 90s / early 2000s Sega pulled far ahead of Namco because Namco relied more and more on PS1+ based and then PS2+ based boards. Sega had Model 3, NAOMI (Dreamcast based) NAOMI 2, Chihiro (XBox based)) and aside from TRIFORCE (Gamecube based) with Namco and Nintendo, the next gen Lindbergh (equivalent to PS360 but not based on them) and the even more powerful Europa-R board using Nvidia's G80 / 8800, namely for Sega Rally 3, a special 60 FPS version of Sega Rally Revo which was 30fps on consoles.
A few months back I gif'd this tutorial.
The image resolutions had to change to keep the gif sizes and framerates relatively uniform.
anyway, that's a great tutorial and it definitely widened my appreciation of VF3.
.
Wow. That looks fantastic in gif animation form. Thanks!
another linker for your stinker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQmrBa8KfRQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQmrBa8KfRQ
Goddamnit, we need accurate Virtua Fighter 3 and VF3tb ports on still-alive consoles.
I still got my Japanese dreamcast and VF3TB since Japan launch day. Best purchased I made and I still cannot believe that I play it today.
What other 3D fighting game had uneven floor? Seems like VF3 was the only fighter that did that right.
LukasF
Member
ranmafan
Member
Oh the days back in college when I would play this with friends from my Japanese class in the arcades near campus. It was so awesome. Just loved that huge tv setup the arcade had for it. I wish sega would go back and rerelease vf3 on a current console. sadly I doubt that would ever happen. Oh well, even with its flaws I'm still glad I got a version of it on Dreamcast at least.
it's not impossible, segas been decent about rereleasing their old stuff (but not as good as companies like capcom) and we got a great version of vf2 like two years ago.
7DollarHagane
Banned
hopefully they put this out on PS4/XB1 someday as downloadable, or Steam. Never played it, even once. I loved VF2 and 4/5 but mostly casually.
Leafhopper
Banned
It just dawned on me that I might not have ever played 3.
I played 1 and 2 in the arcades and 4 a lot when it came out on PS2 and VFEvo and then a good chunk of 5.
Maybe I should get on that.
EDIT: Hold on, this was the on the Dreamcast. I did play this nevermind, I don't think its 2 I played a lot of.
I played 1 and 2 in the arcades and 4 a lot when it came out on PS2 and VFEvo and then a good chunk of 5.
Maybe I should get on that.
EDIT: Hold on, this was the on the Dreamcast. I did play this nevermind, I don't think its 2 I played a lot of.
ranmafan
Member
Yeah that's true, I was thinking about that actually when I wrote my post. It would be nice if they did it for sure. Even a virtua fighter compliation would be kind of cool to see.
an "HD" collection with online support for 3tb and 4FT would be fapworthy for sure. if they put it on disc I could gift it to people. you hearing me sega?
PassiveObserver
Member
Specifically, what was wrong with the Dreamcast version? I gather it was a bit of a shoddy port, but was anything wonky gameplay-wise?
no nothing wrong gameplay wise. all the frame data is identical and it's locked at 60fps.
the problem is the game's visuals were compromised in the translation from arcade to console, and the home release is so barebones compared to VF2 and later releases like Last Bronx
if you want to play VF3tb the only important problem with the dreamcast version is the piece of shit controller and nonsense default button mapping
Tekken 4.
Oh yes, that was messy...
Also the UK PAL version is not 60hz full screen, unlike the 60hz perfection we got with Sonic Adventure and mostly every DC release later down the line.
I always felt that we got short changed with Virtua Fighter 3, Sega Rally 2 and the no shows of Scud Race and Lost World. Really wish Sega were on the ball from the off with the DC as I would have loved Arcade perfect versions of those.
The Dreamcast was clearly capable considering Sega's efforts with F355 Challenge & Crazy Taxi, it was just a shame the launch games were rushed to release.
Arcade version emulated with Supermodel v0.3a. Game is still poorly emulated such a shame...
That looks so nice. Do you have any more shots?
Alx
Member
The worst part was that the PAL version was running in 50Hz, so was slower than the NTSC one. I still played that game to death, at 50Hz first and later at the right speed through VGA adapter.
The game was also barebone (the game modes were directly ported from the arcade, so no single player other than arcade mode), and a few graphical effects or elements were missing (sand in the wind in Wold stage, no passing under a bridge in Shun's, fewer lights in Jacky's,...)VF3tb is also my favourite of the serie. Although I still liked the following episodes, I was disappointed by the direction it was going from VF4 on. What I appreciated in VF3 (and I suppose what hardcore fighting fans hated) was that the free motions and the uneven floors made it more intuitive. You had to think on your feet, more than rely on muscle memory to pull off an optimal combo (I remember some of the complaining was "that combo used to hit 100% of the time, but now with uneven floor it can miss, that's not acceptable !", well that's how fighting works).
Nemesis121
Member
I lived in NYC at the time when it was release, went to Chinatown to check it out, it was on a big ass screen and the water stage was running with the old man doing his kata i remember being floored, I played a few games, went back every week and blew $20 on the game for an entire summer, the fun times of the arcades
petran79
Banned
I preferred VF and VF2 to Tekken during the 90s.
VF3 was one of the main reasons I decided to get a Dreamcast.
this along with SF2T Grandmaster challenge, are the essence of fighting games.
play those games casually even today. had to get used to the DC controller since an arcade stick was reserved for PC
regarding uneven floors, Mace the Dark Age had it too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rymc-Q6--gs
HueyFreeman
Banned
Some shots before the thread dies
Arcade version emulated with Supermodel v0.3a. Game is still poorly emulated such a shame...
Fuck I love this stage.
It's futile to hope that Sega would ever do something so forward thinking and awesome, but a Virtua Collection series (Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing) would just melt my face.
A virtual collection series would be perfect... the only problem is this is Sega. Sega is never ready to do anything ambitious or fans worthy unlike namco that revamped ridge racer and tekken 3 twice to arcade perfection.
If only you guys experienced 12 players daytona usa 2, it was the most craziest, orgasmic multiplayer gaming experience i have ever done! I remember it well, the speaker was blasting on all the arcade machines, everyone's faces were on the monitor, tons of people was watching the monitors and a replay monitor that showcased the action, girls were everywhere.. it was almost like the drifting scene in tokyo drift or something but with daytona usa 2 and everyone wanted to play. It was insane and frigging awesome feeling because i came first and second place on different occasions! No other game gave me that feeling, ever.
Just found a great video! Check out this tournament that took place in Japan, you'll see plenty of korean stepping, fast reactions and different styles of play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLpdrerT4R8#t=520
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLpdrerT4R8#t=520
I love how nuts the crowd gets over VF. check this one, commentator screams his lungs out when wolf lands a throw at the beginning lmao.
http://youtu.be/0ArHsh3bFwY
lol! The crowd enthusiasm was awesome! I also like that they mostly use the alternative stage music and showed off a beastly Taka.
I like VF3's gameplay. VF4 went a different direction and was disappointing, but VF5 completed that movement, and I can enjoy that one too.
Anyways, VF3 is pretty much the only game that I once thought was PHOTOREALISTIC. Screenshots of Jacky's face used to look FLAWLESS to me. Now... now it really really doesn't. Interesting how much things have changed. It used to be the absolute king of graphics. The God king. Towering above PC and console alike.
Anyways, VF3 is pretty much the only game that I once thought was PHOTOREALISTIC. Screenshots of Jacky's face used to look FLAWLESS to me. Now... now it really really doesn't. Interesting how much things have changed. It used to be the absolute king of graphics. The God king. Towering above PC and console alike.
Hehe! Model 3 games in general still to this day looks incredible to me, most specifically the movement.
How old was you when you saw VF3 for the first time?
Here's part 2 of that amazing Japan fight tournament, everyone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMZoLFcgK0c
This can 100% be done easily by SEGA for ALL formats including Wii, 3DS, and VITA. Best systems would be the PS3/4 and Wii due to the remote. I'd love to play Virtua Racing 8 players online battle together with the exclusive Megadrive and 32X extra stages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYdmP1Y4prA
Oh yes. I want my Indy 500 10-players battle too. Too awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYdmP1Y4prA
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
This thread, along with the discussion in the Dreamcast thread, has kinda convinced me that I should give 3tb another shot. I had the game maybe... I dunno, 14 years ago, and thought it was fun, but never really got into it. I'm sure I'm sophisticated enough to appreciate it now.