A friend wrote a post looking at some of the history of Virtual On as well as what had taken influence from it. I like their coverage of games and thought folks here might too!
I remember finding some of those arcade cabinets in a local movie theater in the early 2000’s. I’m not sure if it was a sequel or a spin off but they had the dual joystick control setup. The game was definitely a quarter sink at that theater but man it was fun.
Playing the first game in yakuza was a treat. I would love to see them spread out for western audiences but it probably is a pipe dream.
Yeah a local theatre was my first experience with it as well (and Sonic the Fighters next to it)! Far as I know all the cabs for it had the twin stick setup as that’s integral to the experience.
I was so frustrated the Masterpiece collection didn’t release outside of Japan, but at least it’s easy enough to get a copy of it, and it’s frequently on sale digitally. Just makes it harder to play with folks who aren’t already into it.
I have all of them installed on my PS5 save for Marz via the following two titles:
- Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Masterpiece 1995~2001
- A Certain Magical Virtual-On
I adore the series. Really wish it was more beloved. My local arcade had the sit-down dual cab for the original.
Heck yeah, they’re so good!
I’ve got A Certain Magical Virtual-On on my Vita. I know many people weren’t keen on it but I thought they did a pretty good job making it smooth on there! I don’t think I saw it was on PS4 (I assume) but may have to get my hands on that.
I got my friend who wrote the linked post to pick up Masterpiece, so we’ve been playing that a bunch.
Yeah, it was on the Vita and PS4.
Ah bummer, just looked and it was delisted already. Guess I’ll have to see about getting a disc copy.
