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Playing through Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol.19: Fighting Vipers for PS2 as Bahn (aka "Gengis Bahn III"), using PCSX2 in Windows!
This game kind of rules. For all the silliness, the basic fighting is so solid. It doesn't have the funky throws getting munged when collision boxes collide thing that VF2 does (at least in the PS3 port), so maybe this is the game they were using to sort stuff like that out.
Finally realized at the end, trying to find some kinda way to get enough cheap damage in on the boss, that Bahn's thing is super-cheap uppercut juggles. I was having fits trying to do his flying uppercut--is it just me or is the uppercut motion input SUPER unforgiving here? Or have I totally forgotten how to uppercut in fighting games? I don't know!--but even his standing uppercut produces a huge juggle opportunity--heck, probably a better one than the standing uppercut actually, although he does have a double-flying-uppercut move if you can somehow pull that off.
I'm also real bad at knowing when to throw in this game. : PPP
You can't freely remap the controls--you're stuck with a small assortment of pre-configured button layouts. Fortunately they did come with combo buttons (I use P+G for throws and K+G for fancy kick moves...I think Bahn might have ONE back-direction-y fancy spin kick I couldn't quite figure out?) and I could just remap them however I wanted in PCSX2.
Maybe those PS3 ports of this and VF2 were so solid because they'd already pretty close to perfected them in the 2500 Series on PS2!! Has pause-menu move lists, like the PS3 version.
This PS2 version uses dithered textures for things like hit smoke and shadows, where the PS3 version used transparencies. It feels just as sharp as the PS3 version graphically, though, when run through PCSX2--except for a slight yellowish muting of the colors (it looks like the Sega Ages 2500 VF2 port may have that as well). Personally I think the dithering is cool. Actually, the earlier Saturn port used dithering in the same spots (this isn't a port of the Saturn version though--at least, other stuff here is a lot different from the Saturn version, like the frame of the timer, the layout of the objects in the background of Bahn's Old West stage, the higher-poly look of the characters, etc.
Gonna have to try Bahn in FV2 for DC. My feeling right now is that FV1 has a solidity to it that FV2 doesn't; also the stages in 1 are way more memorable than 2's, for the most part--although maybe I'm biased by the Cyber Seattle setting here. ; D But take Jane's FV1 stage, for instance, vs her FV2 stage...which I can't even really remember right now. It's, like, a lab or something? Anyway they're probably both cool but different, I gotta go give 2 a proper try. 1 rules and I'm so glad I can play it emulated on PC now and it's not stuck in my PS3, YEAHHHHHhhh woo.
Bizarrely, the game's intro appears has a Sega non-monetization copyright claim on it!
"MODEL2 COLLECTION (モデル2コレクション) トレーラー
Content owners: sega
Content type: Video
Impact on video: Not monetizing"
So that's what I had to cut out near the end at 1:04:37, right after the pole dancer truck passes the Pepsi sign. : PPP (That's in the attract mode; that same stage in play--it's Picky's truck-stop stage--only has PEPSI and SEGA trucks; but in the PS3 version, there are no PEPSI trucks (no PEPSI logos at all--not on the underside of Picky's board, either ; ), and it's a pole dancer truck rather than a PEPSI truck parked at the truck stop.) |
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| | | | One thing I overlooked in my Vol.19 video is that these run at 3:2 aspect ratio (or, close: 1.509~ ie 1440/954 px at 1080p) in the game's screen options types A (default) and B; but in that video I switch to type C, stretching the screen vertically to full screen height & 4:3 display--but that's too tall and the characters come out looking a bit skinny. |
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The color adjustment I used in PCSX2: Settings - Game Properties - Graphics - Post-Processing - Shade Boost: Brightness 62, Contrast 51, Saturation 52.
This time I set the screen to the game's default option, Type A, which is 3:2 aspect ratio (or more precisely, 1.509...). The manual says (Google Translate) that it's the "arcade" aspect ratio--although, I can't find any information about the arcade game ever running at that aspect ratio; even the screenshots on the back of the game's case are 1.29 aspect, which is the exact result of dividing the Model 2 arcade hardware's pixel width by pixel height (496/384)--1.29 is also the aspect ratio at which it runs in the PS3 port. BUT it does look pretty good at 3:2 and the manual say it's arcade so, I'll go with it, and just say this seems to be the one version of the game that runs at the "correct" ^_ ^ aspect ratio!
Went cheesy with Bahn's standing uppercut from the start this time. (Played some FV2 for DC after this and found his flying uppercut WAAAY easier to do in that so yeah, not really worth trying the flying uppercut move--standard SF-style uppercut input--here in FV1, at least not for me. On the other hand, his standing uppercut (df plus P) usually hits the opponent WAY higher here than in FV2, and doesn't mysteriously often stop registering after two or three successive hits.)
Definitely liking FV1 better than FV2--the moves are way more weighty, and the Cyber-Seattle stages are way more memorable. Like the look more in general, too.
The dither pattern used everywhere here (substituting for stuff--like glass reflections, and puffs of smoke from hits--that was partially transparent in the arcade version) actually IS in DC FV2 in spots, like on the graphic overlay at the start of each round.
They're also similar in that neither port has move lists. ; D (PS3 port of FV1 does!) |
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Comparing input delay between emulated PS2 and PS3 Sega Model 2 fighting game ports of Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol.19 on PS2) and Fighting Vipers (Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol.19 on PS2), in the PCSX2 and RPCS3 emulators.
I also compared the lag in RPCS3's two renderers: the default Vulkan, and OpenGL.
I was off by one talking about delay variation: the emulated PS2 games varied in their delays by ~4 frames from punch to punch, while the emulated PS3 games varied by ~3 frames.
In past comparisons, I've found that on my set-up, PCSX2 has about the same input delay as the actual PS2. I have not done a comparison between RPCS3 and the actual PS3 because I'm just sick of worrying about the PS3 dying (it's running fine, this is just paranoia on my part) and RPCS3 seems to run be running the games well so I'm just going with RPCS3 for PS3 stuff anyway.
In RPCS3, the OpenGL renderer was *maybe* a hair slower in some cases, but not others. And thanks to accidentally testing it twice for FV, I did notice variation when using it, which could just be down to the different random backgrounds: sometimes 6 or 7 frames delay in the airport stage, with its long-range background view, and sometimes as low as 4 frames in Honey's walled-in stack with oddly projected shadows. Probably kind of a wash but I'd have to do way more testing to verify and I don't feel like doing that; I'll just stick to the default Vulkan renderer.
So overall, in emulation the PS3 games had a response about 2 frames faster than the PS3 games--which to me is pretty significant, so I'll be sticking with RPCS3 for VF2 and FV. I'll miss the funky 3:2 (1.509~) aspect ratio the PS2 ports run in by default (they claim real hard it's the "arcade" aspect ratio; but even the screens on the backs of the game cases are the straight pixel 496/384 1.29 aspect ratio, and all the photos and videos I could find of (US, not sure I found any Japanese ones) have them running at either 1.29 or 4:3 (mostly 4:3 for the actual Model 2 board videos as far as I could tell)), but I won't miss their letterboxed displays, slightly juddery framerates, and--for VF2--lack of move lists. The PS2 versions are good ports, just not as polished as the PS3 ones. (
(Curiously, although they all default to 30 second rounds, the MAX time limits you can set for 2P Vs rounds varies from game to game and port to port, except it's always 60 seconds max for VF2--but you can go up to infinite time for FV on PS2, and 90 seconds for FV on PS3.)
It's definitely emulated rather than actual PS3 for me from here on out. Unlike the PS2 though, the real PS3 is NOT going in the cupboard, 'cause it's used for dumping/ripping the games.
RPCS3 stands for "Russian Personal Computer Station 3" (https://rpcs3.net/blog/2018/01/). |
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