Do you play Virtual On (VO)? I know I do or at least I use to play. If you are into mechas and such then this game is by far bar none the best experience. Unfortunely there is a steep learning curve IMO similar to when Street Fighter come out when you had to learn how to block and do special moves.
When I first saw VO in a magazine, I automatically fell in love with the idea. Two robots battling in a 3D areana. The characters design were done by the Gundam designer. I must stress this, there is NO GAME that is even similar to VO. It is not Tekken with fireballs or whatever. It's not a FPS shooter so don't play it that. Unlike those first person shooters (FPS), almost all your weapons lock on, but the robots moves very fast across the screen. When they dash, there is a big booster jet trail that comes out from behind them. Looks very cool. The game was more like a arcade robot simulator than anything. If you have watch the Robotech battle scenes when you are young, then you'll know VO is you living it.My first experience playing was on the Sega Saturn which to my suprise was more responsive than the laggy arcade version! LOL. The L and R button rotated your robot. There were 3 button for attack (Left, Right, Middle attack). 2 buttons were use for dashing, but they do the same thing. Despite not having a twin stick, the game is very playable on a pad. For some people, they are better on the pad than on the sticks. I had to read a bunch of FAQs right away inorder to enjoy the game. I learn not to dash backwards or be killed since it is a slow dash and your weapon shots are weaker due to momentum. I learn the 2 ways to lock onto someone to prevent them from just running up behind you and chopping you up with their swords. You can lock on by jumping (which locks) then cancel the jump to land right away and by dashing and attacking at the same time (which locks). I prefer the Saturn VO over the arcade VO, not because of the controls, but the Saturn version is more responsive. However, the feel of using two sticks like for tanks is unmatch at home on a pad. The one player game is decent. Not too easy, but not too challenging either. I think my fastest score beating the game on highest difficulty with Raiden was at 6 minutes! (memory is kind of foggy, but it was extremely low). BTW, did anyone notice that the demo of Virtual On with the japanese text was harder than the USA VO?
When I read every review of VO offline and online, first word that came to mind was .. "idiots". Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) thought the game was scrubby since the weapon locks on. DUH! If the weapons did not lock onto your opponent then all game would end in a timeout. It's harder to hit someone in VO than in a FPS since the mechas move insanely fast. Another thing I see in all the reviews is the controls. They claim the game is unplayable without the sticks. That's like saying Street Fighter 2 was total garbage on the SNES because you have to play on a pad. Obviously these reviewers are the same type of people who would actually do worst on a twin stick than on a pad. They act like the sticks will magically make the game and them 100% better. Most of the stuff that can be done on the arcade can be done on the gamepad. I honestly think beginners should start the game on the pad then move onto twin sticks since using pad is easier and less akward. I also watch some gaming website videos of them playing. I was laughing my ass off. I would have killed them perfect and I'm not even that good. LOL. However, I do blame Sega somewhat for this. VO does not teach people how to play at all. Only time it shows anything is in the intro which you have to wait for and the it wasn't that much informative either. If only VO came with some kind of campaign academy training mode or something. *sigh*.After VO, I eagerly await the sequel Virtual On Oratorio Tangram (VOOT). It is a very beautiful game, but the Dreamcast controller was a backward step from the Sega Saturn version which had more button. Once again, the DC prevails as being a system with just plain shitty controller (no 6 button face for fighters either!). There were different configuration for the controls, but none of them could match the Saturn's due to lack of buttons! ARGH! Not only that, but VOOT was faster and some might think too fast. It was just harder to do setup tactics. In VO, you didn't expect to do damage in the first shot or second, but make them move in the next shot so that you get a big kill. In VOOT, it seems so much easier to run away (chicken player). And it was harder to punish as well especially with the newly introduced air dash. The crouch shot where you kneel on one knee and aim up wasn't as effective as it once was. Now people could have jump up and fire and then hide. Overall, I thought VOOT was inferior to the older and less pretty VO. Still, VOOT is superior to a lot of games out there.
Unfortunely, VO and VOOT are what I considered sleeper hits like most Sega games (Virtua Fighter anyone?). There is going to be another game coming out in the VO series called Virtual On Force which features 2 on 2 battles. I'm glad at least the VO series is still alive in Japan. It was still top 10 in Japan even after a few years it came out! Why did I started writing about all of a sudden? There is a VO machine at my school which cost only 25 cents (that's 1/4 of a US Dollar)!!! I never played much of the arcade version since I felt it was a bit steep (1$! lol), but at 25c a game I can play all I want!BTW, here is a excellent video trailer of VOOT. Watch and behold. http://www.activision.com/games/voot/