Virtua Fighter

There's something I've never really understood. Back in the day, especially in Japan, Virtua Fighter was very popular. Who knows how many quarters were lost in the arcades back then.

There was also no internet. So how did people play a game like Virtua Fighter, which had an entire section of the home port instruction manual dedicated to combos, without preparation? Surely they didn't figure out combos by guessing, that would take forever (and wheelbarrows of quarters).

The only rationalization I can come up with is that Sega sold books of combos or something by mail order.

Anyone that played back then remember how it worked?

We had video game magazines bitd.

Besides everything for fighting games being listed in general game mags, there were also dedicated cheat mags with nothing but tricks/cheat codes and strategy guides.

Strategy guides also became common during the 32-bit generation, but even before that, some mag publishers would make one-off strategy guides dedicated to single games, but physically the same as their magazines.

Sheng Long was invented by a magazine called Electronic Gaming Monthly. In their Tips and Tricks section, they published a method to make him appear as a secret boss in Street Fighter II. The reason that many people fell for it, aside from a doctored screen shot, was because it was common for mags to publish mini strategy guides, cheats, etc.

When the first console game magazines came out, my friends and I only bought them at first for the tricks sections. We just wanted to get some extra replay value out of games we'd already beaten.

Yeah game magazines were the way to go. Some would dedicate whole sections to different arcade games. *sigh* glory days....

In Japan, there was Gamest, the legendary Arcade magazine, which offered in-depth analysis, strategies and combos:

http://i.imgur.com/kWua1uT.png?2

Aside from the mouth to mouth experience shared within the arcade centers.

how I wish I could go back in time. I remember people holding their coats over their hands while playing street fighter 2, so no one would know the combos

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

We had video game magazines bitd.

Besides everything for fighting games being listed in general game mags, there were also dedicated cheat mags with nothing but tricks/cheat codes and strategy guides.

Strategy guides also became common during the 32-bit generation, but even before that, some mag publishers would make one-off strategy guides dedicated to single games, but physically the same as their magazines.

Sheng Long was invented by a magazine called Electronic Gaming Monthly. In their Tips and Tricks section, they published a method to make him appear as a secret boss in Street Fighter II. The reason that many people fell for it, aside from a doctored screen shot, was because it was common for mags to publish mini strategy guides, cheats, etc.

When the first console game magazines came out, my friends and I only bought them at first for the tricks sections. We just wanted to get some extra replay value out of games we'd already beaten.

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They actually started publishing a dedicated magazine called Tips &Tricks magazine.

https://archive.org/details/tipsandtricksmag

The internet did exist back then. Though I didn't see the first Virtua Fighter arcade cab until the mid 90s (Late 94-ish). It still was no Mortal Kombat II, moves-wise. VF is actually one of those Arcade cabs you can actually beat in one go given enough quarters or minor skill. But, yeah, as far as I remember, the mid 90s were still all about the GamePro. Sweet ol' gaming mag days. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

The internet did exist back then. Though I didn't see the first Virtua Fighter arcade cab until the mid 90s (Late 94-ish). It still was no Mortal Kombat II, moves-wise. VF is actually one of those Arcade cabs you can actually beat in one go given enough quarters or minor skill. But, yeah, as far as I remember, the mid 90s were still all about the GamePro. Sweet ol' gaming mag days. :)

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Did it? My family had access to the internet in 1994ish (on an IBM PS/2), but IIRC it was only used for accessing other computers on the company network, not something that could be easily used for looking up Virtua Fighter combos.

Thanks guys, great info. I didn't really play video games, arcades or otherwise, when I was young, and Virtua Fighter was before my time anyway. I did play Sega Super GT every once in a while at the local Chuck E. Cheese, along with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Blades

So how did people play a game like Virtua Fighter, which had an entire section of the home port instruction manual dedicated to combos, without preparation?

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Well those with magazines wrote down stuff on a piece of paper and those who didn't have magazines just enjoyed the game without that autistic "MUH MAINZ" attitude that rules supreme today.

T'was a simpler time it was.

^Lol.

Gaming magazines yes, but also word of mouth. The guys would always be exchanging tips about games and passing codes and such around. And when it came to fighting games, I remember arcades like Red Barron at the mall, there was almost always a guy who would have the game mastered while people would line up to play him.

I remember one guy on the same Killer Instinct machine for hours. He was playing it when we got to the mall, and still playing it when we left, and I think I saw a movie that day. There was still a steady lineup of guys waiting to play him. I'd imagine that if I had stood there and watched him play for a while, I would have learned a lot of moves.

All of that said, I don't recall Virtua Fighter having the same impact in my area as the MK games, SFII, KI or even Primal Rage to be honest. As far as Sega during that time, Daytona was all the rage in my neck of the woods, but I'd imagine that the guys who did play it picked up the movesets and such in the same manner.