Virtua Fighter 3TB

[lastcallgames]

PC made me play this.

Ok, so Virtua Fighter 3 was (eventually) ported to the Sega Dreamcast by AM2 themselves, and they ported the updated Team Battle version, which includes the option to play with multiple teams of fighters instead of just the Normal arcade mode.

The Team Battle mode is pretty lame though, since you can't even switch characters and the game has to load a new bout each time one fighter gets knocked out. Marvel vs Capcom 2 this isn't. Also, in another interesting quirk, the number of characters on each team is based on the number of rounds necessary to win in the options screen, but that's not mentioned there.

Graphically, it looks very good, a marked step up from VFs 1 and 2, the environments are pretty gorgeous, and the fighters much more detailed than earlier titles. It may not be as good looking as Soul Calibur or DOA 2 though, which is a bit of a mark against it. The sound is ok, not fantastic, but it definitely keeps in the style of arcade conversions of the time, particularly Sega's arcade ports.

The controls are good, like other VF titles, it uses one button each for punch and kick, as well as a block and sidestep button. That makes it perfect for the DC pad, whereas some other fighting games have had trouble with the DC's four face button+two trigger configuration. The controls are tight and responsive, which is a must.

The gameplay however is a little less rosy. Certain characters are exceedingly difficult no matter when they're encountered, and others can be beaten even if they're up around stage 7 or 8. The game disincentives ornate combos and throws by having the CPU sidestep or strike with higher priority.

In all, VF3TB is a good game, but not the best 3D fighter on the system. It looks good, controls well, and sounds alright, but can be very frustrating, and it's pretty shallow, with only 3 modes (practice, normal, and team battle), 10 characters, and the characters themselves are paper thin. Soul Calibur has fantastic fantasy characters, and DOA 2 at least gives the characters personality in cutscenes, VF 3 does neither of these, and it suffers for it.

Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle gets a 7/10 from me.

[mazonemayu]

added to the index

[FinedrivE]

Nice review! This game sits in a difficult genre on our system. Comparisons to Soul Calibur and DOA2 are unavoidable and while it plays as good as the arcade version it seems dated by the higher quality of the afore mentioned titles. You are spot on with the controller. Thanks for the review!

[Dreamcast_Ninja]

I agree with your review I still enjoy playing it.

[CD AGES]

VF3tb was not ported over to the DC in-house AM2.
The game was outsourced and ported by Genki

[Wrath of Khan]

Yes, I believe Am2 had a completed saturn port that never got released.

[lastcallgames]

I think someone pointed that out in the comments on Youtube. I was misled because I don't think the intro mentions anyone but AM2.