Virtua Fighter (バーチャファイター) is a fighting game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Sega Model 1 arcade hardware in 1993. It is the first game in the Virtua Fighter series. It is often cited as being the first fully 3D fighting game released to the general public, and is a basis for almost all subsequent games in the genre.

It was an influential game in the development of 3D polygon graphics, popularizing it among a wider audience (along with Virtua Racing), demonstrating 3D human character models effectively, with realistic movement and physics, creating the basic template for 3D fighting games (such as Tekken, Soul and Dead or Alive), and playing a key role in the development of early fifth-generation consoles (the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation). It was followed by a 1994 sequel, Virtua Fighter 2.

Similar to most other fighting games, the default gameplay system of the Virtua Fighter series involves two combatants needing to win two of three rounds, with each round being 30 seconds long or more. If a character is knocked out (or falls out) of the ring, the opponent wins the round. A fourth round is necessary if a double knockout (both players knocking each other out at the same time) occurred in a previous round and the match is tied one round each. In this fourth round, players fight on a small stage wherein one hit equals victory.

The Virtua label indicates that the onscreen action takes place in 3D. The images were created using wireframe and flat-shaded quad polygons. Beyond 3D, it retained the staple of multiple characters, each with their own distinctive moves.

In the game's single-player mode, the player faces all eight characters (including a duplicate of the chosen character) in a pre-determined order, followed by a fight with the game's boss, Dural. Each fight is a best-of-three match, and the player has three ways to win: knocking out the opponent, forcing him/her out of the ring, or having more health left when time runs out.

Virtua Fighter 2 (バーチャファイター２) is a fighting game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega as is the direct sequel to Virtua Fighter. It is, as the name suggests, the second game in the Virtua Fighter series, and was originally released for Sega Model 2A CRX arcade hardware in 1994.

Virtua Fighter 2 was known for its breakthrough graphics and animation, rendering 3D characters and backgrounds with filtered texture mapping and introducing motion capture animation technology to the game industry.

It was followed by a sequel, Virtua Fighter 3, in 1996.

Virtua Fighter 2 is a 3D 1v1 fighting game, similar in concept to other games of the series. Players select a character, and attempt to use that character to overcome a series of opponents. This can be done by simply knocking the other character out (by dealing enough damage), or by knocking them out of the square "ring" in which the fights take place. Each fight takes place over a number of rounds; typically 3 rounds in a best-of-3 approach (though this can be varied). The game is played with an eight-way stick to control character movement, and three buttons (guard, punch and kick), which are used in various motions to pull off a character's signature attacks.

Each character has their own fighting style, loosely based on various real-world fighting methods, such as wrestling or eastern styles. Characters each have many unique moves; however, like in the original Virtua Fighter, many of the characters share a number of moves with another character (for instance, Lau Chan and Pai Chan each practice similar forms of Kung Fu). In addition, the entire roster of characters shares certain moves and functions; for instance, every character has a basic throw that can be executed by pressing the guard and punch buttons simultaneously. The number and variety of attacks possessed by each character has also been expanded, including the addition of counter-attacks and the ability to prevent throws (with very quick reactions required on part of the player).

All nine characters from the original Virtua Fighter are once again playable in Virtua Fighter 2. The sequel also adds two new characters: Shun Di, an old drunken fist master from China, and Lion Rafale, the French son of a rich businessman who uses praying mantis style kung fu. Additionally, Shun and Lion possess the unique ability to perform "axis strikes" in which they would move around the attacks of other characters, accentuating the game's 3D nature.

Gameplay

Virtua Fighter Remix (バーチャファイターリミックス), developed in 1995 by Sega-AM1, was an update of the original Virtua Fighter. It had higher-polygon models (compared to the original's Sega Saturn port), texture mapping, and some gameplay changes. It was given free to all registered Saturn owners in the US via mail and was available for sale in Japan and Europe.

It also had an arcade release on the ST-V (an arcade platform based on the Sega Saturn) and in 1996 was ported to Microsoft Windows as Virtua Fighter PC. The Windows version played in a higher resolution and had the option to use the textured Remix models or the original flat-shaded models.