| paleface [sys=PS3; cat=Fighting; reg=NA] |
| | | I'm not sure I ever played VF2 in the arcade, although I would certainly have seen it there, as I saw the first--but this PS3 version at least feels convincingly like a very high-fidelity re-creation of the Virtua Fighter 2 arcade game; you can even select between versions 2 and 2.1, although I forget the tweaks 2.1 made. : P At 720p, it looks really sharp, has very good anti-aliasing, and runs very smoothly. The old arcade cheats--ranking mode, expert mode, etc--work.
I played a few embarrassing online matches when it first came out, years ago, and I don't remember if they were laggy or not. Mostly I just remember getting a cheap victory against a probably insulted opponent by spamming flying knees and getting lucky.
Now I'm just playing single-player, and specifically, just Jacky Bryant, because he's the only one who, in Arcade mode, never has to fight in his sister Sarah's Roman amphitheater stage---which I avoid because its constant lightning flashes make my eyes feel bad. 8P
Sarah is the second Arcade mode battle, but if you're playing as Jacky, instead of meeting in her amphitheater, you to to a gritty urban stage, apparently (internet says) Chicago.
The game is hard! : P The controls are very sharp and precise, and maybe unforgiving compared to other games; and movement can feel a bit unnatural, especially how you push up against the opponent--there's sort of a rubbery feel, and if a strike is blocked the blocking character sways back strangely, without it feeling like any contact is made, so fights can become a weird wobble back & forth (and if you end up being thrown or whatever to the side, the camera may end up showing the action from a really awkward, disorienting angle for a bit), hard to deal with if you're relying on Jacky's standard throw, which seems to have a probably way too generous range--but doesn't seem to work at all unless you're stepping toward the opponent; if you get too close you seem to get into this kind of swaying block vortex where you can't land a punch because they're blocking, and you can't throw because you can't move into them! Sheesh. Also I'm a noob.
The order of opponents in Arcade mode is fixed, and the difficulty curve is not gentle: the first, Lau, is always easy to beat; the two, Sarah and Shun, are beatable if you don't screw around too much--after that, you may be on your own, left to whatever trickery you can devise to get through--unless you've actually mastered the game's moves, of course. : o The full opponent order is: Lau, Sarah, Shun, Pai, Lion, Jeffry, Kage, Jacky, Wolf, Akira, Dural (bonus round, no continuing).
Past a certain point, I find that the AI will simply block all my normal punches and kicks, every time. : P This feels a *bit* much...especially since I don't really know many other moves. ; ) Jacky's cheap throw always stands a chance, though, as does his punch+kick haymaker, although they may be able to block that one.
Except, oddly, Jeffry and Wolf, at least on the lowest difficulty setting--which is still incredibly hard for me against, say, Kage and Akira--cannot block Jacky's default flurry of punches, so you can just mash the punch button at them and they'll keep getting hit in the nose until they're knocked out. A rather obvious flaw in the AI's defenses, you would think!
So, it's that old-time difficulty not-so-curve of either crushing or getting crushed. : o
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| | | Interesting cheats in this game--from the original arcade version, I think gamefaqs , contributed there by me):
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Alternate costume:
On the character select screen, hold up while selecting your character. Your selected character will be wearing the alternate costume that Player 2 would normally be wearing in a mirror match.
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Expert mode:
On the character select screen, press down twice, up twice, left twice, and right twice, then select your character.
If successful, you will hear a confirmation sound, "Expert mode" will appear above your health bar, and the AI will be tougher (and supposedly learn from fighting you).
Can be combined with Ranking Mode: no difference will be visible until Game Over, when you will receive a ranking card, and will have no Continue option.
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Ranking mode:
At the title screen--after setting difficulty, etc--press all three buttons together with Start when starting a game. Requires precise timing.
If successful, "Now ranking mode !!" will appear above your health bar, you will get ranking points for performing certain moves, a ranking screen at the end of your game--and you will be unable to continue. Can be combined with Expert Mode, in which case "Expert mode," instead of "Now ranking mode !!," will appear over your health meter. But if you entered the Ranking Mode code correctly, you will still see the ranking screen at the end of the game, and will still be given no continue option. |
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It seems as though, during a play-through, I will get stuck against some character for an hour. : o Oh I get stuck on others for maybe 10 minutes, but then there's that one, who just seems to collision-box-cancel me out of all my move inputs, mercilessly input-read and counter those that somehow try to come out, and just keep piling on the pain. Although, I've found at least that it certainly helps to remember to do those downed attacks consistently, when you *do* manage to knock them down--that damage really adds up. |
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On PS3, playing SEGA games like or at least sort of like the five SEGA arcade games you can play in "Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name"--which I just played on PC, for comparison.
Virtua Fighter 2
Lots cleaner than the Gaiden version visually, w/o Gaiden's scanline filter, & you've got move lists & higher difficulty settings (oh & these PS3 ports have online; no match in my hasty, frightened check). Otherwise felt about the same mashing on pad: still got toyed w/ & destroyed by Pai (she maybe let me get a HAIR closer here? slightly less input delay? don't know really).
PC version is more convenient. Gaiden's filter, torment of a hint more input lag... Dang I'd have to do a test. Wish I could wean myself off fixed platforms.
... PS3. |
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| | | "Normal/Large/Full" graphics options: Normal is 1.29 aspect bordered, Large is 1.29 full screen height, Full is 16:9 stretch. No 57.5/60 fps toggle option. DOES have move lists.
PS2 version implies that arcade version ran in 1.509 ~3:2 aspect. |
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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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| | | After starting a 2.1 session, Hold START during character select to get Dural.
Works every time. This is apparently different than the arcade version, where it worked only 1/16th of the time, according to the entry for that cheat on GameFAQs. |
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Akira playthrough on Easy, RPCS3
By Kage in Round 7, the CPU blocks and counters nearly all of Akira's punches--at least the ones I'm able to do. ; ) (And this is on "Easy"!! : PP) So eventually I realized my main remaining option was his straight-ahead down-forward-Kick, which has decent range and isn't usually countered TOO badly. It reminds me of a) VF4 Evolution Quest mode, where opponents at 8th dan or so and up would also tend to block and brutally counter all but one or two moves and b) playing vs Akira AI in the later VFs--back when I used the Guard button--where all I had to do was hold standing Guard, wait for CPU Akira to do some big rush-in punch thing, which bounced off Guard, then throw him--which is what the VF2 AI started doing to me! ; D
Akira doesn't seem to have much in the way of low attacks--not ones with range, anyway, aside from his wake-up attacks--so with the CPU easily stopping standing punches, and throws really tricky to pull off with the game's funky inputs/physics, what else are ya gonna do?
The kick option also became clear vs Kage 'cause he only counter throws punches, not kicks! And boy does he counter throw those punches. = oo
Akira has hardly any P+K attacks in this VF (he's got b,f,f,PK, but it's hard to execute with the funky VF2 inputs and physics and doesn't seem significantly better than the ffP elbow). And discounting his Punch plus direction counter moves, which I'm too inept to do--I suck at counter moves in all fighting games, pretty much! too impatient ; D--he really DOESN'T have that many moves in this game--which I kind of like. ; )
Accidentally doing Akira's standing neutral Kick--a high kick--is almost always a death sentence. ; D
It's funny how the move list lists all of your high and low wake-up attacks separately, when they're all either kick x 3 or down plus kick x 3. They take up a huge chunk of the move list. ; D And it took me a while to realize yeah you do gotta press Kick three times to get them to work, instead of just once like later VFs!
The camera doesn't keep up with the action very well once fighters start doing a lot of wake-up side-roll attacks and down attacks--and down attacks, which are supposed to choose the correct attack direction automatically, start to go the wrong way! ; D There are a lot of strange interactions--Wolf like sweep-kicking or something my diving punches with unerring timing, for instance ; D--and unique animations that come out in those situations; it almost feels like oh this is where the REAL VF starts! ; D
Fortunately, as with VF5FS, in RPCS3, the kinda janky way the framerate FEELS at time--especially in the last couple stages here--doesn't actually come across in the recorded footage, however THAT works. ; D The PS2 version in PCSX2 would probably be smoother to play, but it's got weird washed-out color, no move lists, two more frames of input delay, and not quite the right aspect ratio (1.33 or vertically letterboxed 1.509, rather than 1.29).
Tried to see if I could make a save state in RPCS3 so I could go to bed and come back to try to finish the run the next day but nope, it wouldn't even TRY saving a state, even after I tracked down and enabled the "SPU" or whatever setting it suggested "might" work (found under the Advanced settings tab). Save states in RPCS3 aren't so safe! : P (I've had them just fail to reload before in some other game, even when it let me make one.)
Not that I SHOULD be playing this goofy VF anyway but my darn masochistic side can't seem to resist it??
Stopped feeling shoulder strain once I stopped bothering trying Akira's back-forward move, or er wait was it more like his forward-forward move (I was getting that in VF5FS, too), so maybe I shouldn't be playing Akira, for ergonomic reasons. Not 100% sure it was from gameplay yet though so I suppose for now it's something I'll just have to monitor. |
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