Virtua Fighter 2

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" where the fights occur. Each fight takes place over many 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.

The arena size could be adjusted to a tiny platform or 82 meters (269 feet). This is the only game in the series—other than Virtua Fighter Remix—that could have such size adjustments. The physical energy meter could also be adjusted to infinity, giving the player the advantage when beating opponents or practicing moves against the computer player. Adjusting the arena to a smaller size and giving the characters infinite health could lead to mock sumo matches, wherein victory is achieved by knocking the other player's character out of the ring.

Virtua Fighter 2 presents no narrative in game; there is no story-based intro sequence, no narrative character endings, and very little text to supply much of a plot. However, the game was given a story in its supporting material, such as the manual for the Sega Saturn version.

Virtua Fighter 2 hinges around a fighting tournament, where the greatest fighters in the world seek to compete for fame and glory. However, the tournament is organised by the sinister "J6" syndicate, who intend to use the information gathered to perfect their fighting cyborg "Dural" (the game's boss, who uses a move-set made up of other character's moves).

The game took Sega AM2 a year to develop. The game's head developer was Yu Suzuki. For Virtua Fighter 2, he wanted to introduce texture mapping to the characters, who lacked textures in the original game. However, the Sega Model 1 arcade system lacked texture mapping hardware, so the Sega Model 2 system was developed for the game.

5 million adjusted for inflation) to purchase a texture-mapping graphics processor from the military flight simulation firm Lockheed Martin. Suzuki convinced Sega to purchase the chip, which his team then adapted into a much cheaper processor for video game use in the Model 2 hardware.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Virtua Fighter 2 as the most successful arcade game of December 1994. It went on to become Japan's highest-grossing arcade game in 1995 and 1996. In the United States, the game also generated high earnings upon release, and went on to become one of the top ten best-selling arcade video games in the country in 1995. As of 1996, over 40,000 arcade units were sold worldwide. Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 became Sega's best-selling arcade games of all time, surpassing Out Run (1986).

Virtua Fighter 2 was critically acclaimed upon release. It used the Sega Model 2 arcade hardware to run the game at 60 frames per second at a high resolution with no slowdown (by comparison, the original Virtua Fighter ran at 30 frames per second). Computer and Video Games gave the arcade game a positive review, praising the "stunning visuals" as "quite possibly the best graphics ever seen in a fully-playable arcade title", the "quality of the animation" where "you can certainly feel each blow when they connect and the character reels back" and the "more accessible" combos which "opens up the opportunity for a number of new sequences." The magazine later called it "the greatest arcade game ever made" in December 1995.