Prior to its arcade release in 1993, all preceding beat em up games had utilised a 2D graphics model that rewarded the player for button-mashing. Virtua Fighter used rather a different format, implementing simply detailed, polygonal fighters to add a sense of depth. Segas beat em up didnt stop there though in a genre dominated by crazy moves even Bruce Lee couldnt dream of doing, Virtua Fighter was far more realistic, adding real world martial arts techniques to create an authentic fighting experience. The first in the long running series featured only nine playable characters, but kept gamers the world over giving up their hard earned quarters to enjoy the games deep, rewarding fight mechanics. Though the polygon graphics it implemented would quickly become eclipsed by the graphics of rival games, this seminal game paved the way for the 3D beat em up format we enjoy today. Indeed, one of the great criticisms of the genre is that it has changed so little from the schematics created by Sega's classic all those years ago.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
