is a 1996 fighting video game developed by Sega AM2, a crossover between Sega's 3D arcade games Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers, with unlockable characters from several other AM2 games such as Virtua Cop 2 and Daytona USA. Developed for Sega Saturn, it had a global release in 1997; unlike most of AM2's games of the era, Fighters Megamix did not have an arcade release.
Intended as an introduction to Virtua Fighter 3 (which was announced but never released for the Saturn), Fighters Megamix utilized the concept originally used by The King of Fighters, whereby characters and styles from different games were mixed together. The open ended rings from Virtua Fighter are present (but with no ring-out), and also the closed cages from Fighting Vipers. Virtua Fighter characters have new moves taken from Virtua Fighter 3, including the dodge move, which allows characters to sidestep, avoiding a dangerous blow and opening at the same time room for a counter. It allows gamers to play as the bosses of both Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers without cheat codes.
Upon release, it was hailed as one of the Saturn's best games, with critics deeming its crossover mechanics a complete success, and met with strong sales.
Gameplay
Fighters Megamix includes a training mode, a survival mode, a two-player vs. mode, a team battle mode, and a one-player mode split into nine tracks:
- Novice Trial (beginners)
- Virtua Fighter (all characters from Virtua Fighter)
- Fighting Vipers (all characters from Fighting Vipers)
- Girls (female characters)
- Muscle (strong characters)
- Smart guys (tactical fighters)
- Dirty fighters (sneaky fighters)
- Bosses (hidden characters played last)
- Secrets (the rest of the bonus characters not fought in bosses)
Each track consists of six fights against currently available characters followed by a final battle against a hidden character. Once the first four tracks are completed, the next three become unlocked. After beating those, the next track (bosses) becomes unlocked, and then the final (bonus).
The player has the option of switching play type between Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter, which causes the characters to fight in either the walled arenas of the former or the open arenas of the latter and use the basic fighting style of the corresponding game. The default is Fighting Vipers.
The default cast of characters consists of the entire cast from Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers, as well as Kumachan, a bear mascot in a hat that has no points of articulation. The Virtua Fighter 2 characters have some (but not all) of their new moves from Virtua Fighter 3 added. Bark is a cream bear with large tufts of hair sticking out from the front and back of his 'beanie' hat. He wears a scarf and mittens. His alternate costume is a Santa Claus-esque suit. He plays like a Virtua Fighter character and is unlocked by defeating the 'Muscle' section. He retains his home stage from Sonic the Fighters, albeit without the walls and with the background music from Sonic the Fighterss Flying Carpet stage instead.
Bean the Dynamite — the other of AM2's creations for Sonic the Fighters. the car humorously stands on back wheels and boxes with its front. It plays like a Fighting Vipers character and can have its shell knocked off, revealing body, engine and other parts below. Its voice is sounds of an engine and many other sound effects from Daytona USA, such as screeching tires. Both of Hornet's costumes are a reference to its automatic (Red and Blue) or manual (Red and Yellow) transmissions. Its stage is based upon a racecourse from Daytona USA (the Beginner's course from the arcade game, "Three-Seven Speedway"). Once its armor is removed, it fights using Bahn's move set. later advances in compression technology made fitting Fighters Megamixs much larger selection of moves a relatively simple task. The song, titled "Fighters", was released as a single on July 25, 1997.
| CVG = 5/5
| EGM = 8.125/10
| GI = 9.25/10
| GSpot = 8.6/10
| NGen = 5/5
| rev1 = Digitiser
| rev1Score = 95%
| rev2 = Sega Pro
| rev2Score = 95%
| rev3 = Sega Saturn Magazine
| rev3Score = 95% They praised the game's roster and variety of move sets. Sega Saturn Magazines Rich Leadbetter stated that the game was "different enough to VF2 and indeed VF3 to warrant immediate purchase. The fact that it has huge depth and gargantuan levels of playability helps too." Jeff Gerstmann's GameSpot review stated that "if you don't own a Saturn and have even a passing interest in the VF series, this is probably the game you could use to justify purchasing the system." Next Generation summarized, "Simply put, this is the best fighting game ever on a system that's already chock full of great fighting games."
Despite their positive overall assessments, most reviewers voiced a few criticisms of the game. Gerstmann and Next Generation both noted that the graphics, while good, use fewer polygons and a lower resolution than the Saturn version of Virtua Fighter 2.
Commercial
The game became one of the best-selling Sega Saturn games, with over 600,000 copies sold in Japan alone. In the United States, it was the top Saturn video game rental for three months 1997, from June to August.