Sega Publishes Article on Virtua Fighter's '90s Arcade Boom'

MadeManG74 · Jun 6, 2017

As part of an ongoing series of articles on Sega's rich arcade history, the official Sega Interactive website has published an article detailing Virtua Fighter's massive impact on the arcade market in the 1990s.

The writer interviews legendary Virtua Fighter player Bunbun Maru about his experience with the game, as well as exploring just what Virtua Fighter meant to the world of video games when it launched (including the creation of the term 'Virtua Poor' for people who spent all their money to play Virtua Fighter!).

http://sega-interactive.co.jp/special/history/columns/c_senpai_08.html

The article is entirely in Japanese, but can be read with the help of translating software while we await a proper translation and will update this thread! It's an interesting and fun read, and we'll keep you updated with any follow ups or translations as they come.

EDIT:
User @Toto has kindly provided a translation of the article:

In 1993, a strange fighting game named “Virtua Fighter” burst onto the scene. The characters, who looked as if they had been pasted together with boards, were able to move around smoothly, as if they were really alive. When I first saw it, I remember it being like a visual shock.

When you grouped the games of that time together, such was the amount of 100 yen coins being sunk into the game that the phrase “Virtua Poor” was born.

Players that had used some hundred thousand yen were common, and there were even dedicated people who had bought the cab and board to play at home.

Image Caption 1: Image of VF 1

Along with the games popularity, famous players such as Shinjuku Jacky and Ikebukuro Sarah were in the limelight, connected to this massive social phenomenon.

Up to this point, even if a game were this popular, you wouldn’t really see players being noticed. You might say that this was the moment of genesis of a new gaming culture.

Of course at the time, yours truly was considerably enjoying Virtua Fighter, but I have to say even now, outside of the heart of that time, it’s still exciting. It can be understood that the size of that movement was hitherto unheard of.

Among the young game fans of today, I think there also those that don’t know about the Virtua Fighter boom. It struck me that it might be interesting to pass on the story of the wild enthusiasm of those days, so I decided to speak to another person at the heart of that time, Bunbunmaru.

There are two parts to this series. As the pioneer of 3D fighting games, who changed the games industry, I want to take a look at Sega-senpai’s (I call him this to show my respect) achievements.

Bunbunmaru, real name Genki Shinohara [please check this, I have no clue, Japanese names are superhard], was a junior staffer in the editorial department at Famitsu magazine. These days, like yours truly, he freelance writes, as well being an MC at gaming events, undertaking event management and live commentary.

At the time, as one of Virtua Fighter’s famous players, he was being called a Virtua Fighter Iron Man, alongside the previously mentioned Shinjuku Jacky and Ikebukuro Sarah.

“Before I started playing Virtua Fighter, I was crazy about Street Fighter 2. When my local arcade received the Virtua Fighter machine, I was playing Street Fighter 2 and was playing Virtua Fighter as often as I could. When I first saw Virtua Fighter, the movement of the characters was so beautiful, I was surprised. I was a martial arts and pro wrestling fan from before, so to see the punches and kicks flowing so well was a real surprise. Apart from that, the polygonal graphics were so cutting edge, they were so catching weren’t they? Even now, I think the design of Virtua Fighter looks cool.”

Bunbunmaru tells of how he became totally addicted to Virtua Fighter:

“By chance, I read in a gaming magazine that an arcade in Shinjuku, Spot 21, was hot and that a virtuoso player by the name of Shinjuku Jacky had beaten 98 challengers with a single credit. I thought I had to play this Shinjuku Jacky, so I travelled to Spot 21 for the first time.”

At that time, Bunbunmaru encountered Famitsu editor Shinjuku Jacky, real name Takahashi Haneda [??] (and my co-worker at the time) and ended up being scouted by Famitsu.

What really ignited the popularity of the Virtua Fighter franchise was the 1994 release of Virtua Fighter 2.

“I kept thinking how much more popular can the game get, while on an average day the gallery at Spot 21 had upwards of 100 people crammed into it. On a weekend evening, you couldn’t physically enter the arcade, it was bursting with people. Players with a great belief in their ability were making trips from the countryside to come and play. When a recognisable famous player would enter the arcade, like Moses parting the waters, players would split left and right and open a path for the player to approach the cab. That was amazing *laughs*. I mean, this was a time where events at Akihabara arcades were gathering 1000+ plus spectators. Outside the arcade, there was a big monitor set up projecting tournament footage, and people walking by would stop and watch. It was like having a TV set up in the street broadcasting a pro wrestling match featuring Rikidouzan *laughs*.”

With such a large movement, the atmosphere in the ar.cade changed. The space around the Virtua Fighter cab really became like a ring, and the strong players were respected. It was as if they were martial arts masters, or top athletes.

With the sequel, the director at the time, Yuu Suzuki, took a trip to China to study the martial arts movements required in order to increase the realism of the character animations. Putting his own body on the line, it is famously said he ended up training in Chinese martial arts. As a result, more than a fighting game, it was closer to a fighting simulation, and it was from this that realistic animation was born.

Returning to the topic at hand Bunbunmaru, as one of the Virtua Fighter “Iron Men” respected by many gamers, participated in many activities.

“At the time, the Sega affiliated arcades were organising a tournament they were calling the “100 man kumite”. It was to be me alone playing 100 people, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, touring various arcades. I didn’t meet the win ratio of 80%. My biggest win streak was 96 people. I also helped out commentating of tournaments, working for Virtua Fighter Maniacs, a strategy guide published at the time. I also contributed to the Virtua Fighter Maniacs strategy videos. The amount of videos sold at that time was far ahead of TV dramas and movies, occupying between 1st and 8th place, and they were all videos featuring myself.”

Nowadays those feelings of unbridled enthusiasm are unthinkable. Next time, I’ll cover how not just the gaming media, but also the general media gradually took up this movement. At the time, this sort of phenomenon was exceptionally strange.

We’ll also hear the detailed history of the name Bunbunmaru. Please look forward to it.
Click to expand...

BLACKSTAR · Jun 3, 2017

yooo, this is the article I've always been waiting on

this info has always been really hard to come by, for whatever reason

Lewisthewizard · Jun 3, 2017

You know if put all the puzzle together such as Sega renewing the trademark, putting VF5: FS in Yakuza 6, Sega planning to bring back a lot of their old IP's and now this. I'm getting this strong feeling that Virtua Fighter 6 could be annouced this year or 2018.

MadeManG74 · Jun 4, 2017

Lewisthewizard said: ↑

You know if put all the puzzle together such as Sega renewing the trademark, putting VF5: FS in Yakuza 6, Sega planning to bring back a lot of their old IP's and now this. I'm getting this strong feeling that Virtua Fighter 6 could be annouced this year or 2018.
Click to expand...

It's all linked, and it all comes back to PEPE SILVIA.

(Just kidding, I agree with you)

Tricky · Jun 4, 2017

Sega needs to stop looking back a the old glory days and focus on recreating that past in the future. TL;DR Give us VF6 already c'mon!

MadeManG74 · Jun 6, 2017

@Toto has kindly provided a translation:

In 1993, a strange fighting game named “Virtua Fighter” burst onto the scene. The characters, who looked as if they had been pasted together with boards, were able to move around smoothly, as if they were really alive. When I first saw it, I remember it being like a visual shock.

When you grouped the games of that time together, such was the amount of 100 yen coins being sunk into the game that the phrase “Virtua Poor” was born.

Players that had used some hundred thousand yen were common, and there were even dedicated people who had bought the cab and board to play at home.

Image Caption 1: Image of VF 1

Along with the games popularity, famous players such as Shinjuku Jacky and Ikebukuro Sarah were in the limelight, connected to this massive social phenomenon.

Up to this point, even if a game were this popular, you wouldn’t really see players being noticed. You might say that this was the moment of genesis of a new gaming culture.

Of course at the time, yours truly was considerably enjoying Virtua Fighter, but I have to say even now, outside of the heart of that time, it’s still exciting. It can be understood that the size of that movement was hitherto unheard of.

Among the young game fans of today, I think there also those that don’t know about the Virtua Fighter boom. It struck me that it might be interesting to pass on the story of the wild enthusiasm of those days, so I decided to speak to another person at the heart of that time, Bunbunmaru.

There are two parts to this series. As the pioneer of 3D fighting games, who changed the games industry, I want to take a look at Sega-senpai’s (I call him this to show my respect) achievements.

Bunbunmaru, real name Genki Shinohara [please check this, I have no clue, Japanese names are superhard], was a junior staffer in the editorial department at Famitsu magazine. These days, like yours truly, he freelance writes, as well being an MC at gaming events, undertaking event management and live commentary.

At the time, as one of Virtua Fighter’s famous players, he was being called a Virtua Fighter Iron Man, alongside the previously mentioned Shinjuku Jacky and Ikebukuro Sarah.

“Before I started playing Virtua Fighter, I was crazy about Street Fighter 2. When my local arcade received the Virtua Fighter machine, I was playing Street Fighter 2 and was playing Virtua Fighter as often as I could. When I first saw Virtua Fighter, the movement of the characters was so beautiful, I was surprised. I was a martial arts and pro wrestling fan from before, so to see the punches and kicks flowing so well was a real surprise. Apart from that, the polygonal graphics were so cutting edge, they were so catching weren’t they? Even now, I think the design of Virtua Fighter looks cool.”

Bunbunmaru tells of how he became totally addicted to Virtua Fighter:

“By chance, I read in a gaming magazine that an arcade in Shinjuku, Spot 21, was hot and that a virtuoso player by the name of Shinjuku Jacky had beaten 98 challengers with a single credit. I thought I had to play this Shinjuku Jacky, so I travelled to Spot 21 for the first time.”

At that time, Bunbunmaru encountered Famitsu editor Shinjuku Jacky, real name Takahashi Haneda [??] (and my co-worker at the time) and ended up being scouted by Famitsu.

What really ignited the popularity of the Virtua Fighter franchise was the 1994 release of Virtua Fighter 2.

“I kept thinking how much more popular can the game get, while on an average day the gallery at Spot 21 had upwards of 100 people crammed into it. On a weekend evening, you couldn’t physically enter the arcade, it was bursting with people. Players with a great belief in their ability were making trips from the countryside to come and play. When a recognisable famous player would enter the arcade, like Moses parting the waters, players would split left and right and open a path for the player to approach the cab. That was amazing *laughs*. I mean, this was a time where events at Akihabara arcades were gathering 1000+ plus spectators. Outside the arcade, there was a big monitor set up projecting tournament footage, and people walking by would stop and watch. It was like having a TV set up in the street broadcasting a pro wrestling match featuring Rikidouzan *laughs*.”

With such a large movement, the atmosphere in the ar.cade changed. The space around the Virtua Fighter cab really became like a ring, and the strong players were respected. It was as if they were martial arts masters, or top athletes.

With the sequel, the director at the time, Yuu Suzuki, took a trip to China to study the martial arts movements required in order to increase the realism of the character animations. Putting his own body on the line, it is famously said he ended up training in Chinese martial arts. As a result, more than a fighting game, it was closer to a fighting simulation, and it was from this that realistic animation was born.

Returning to the topic at hand Bunbunmaru, as one of the Virtua Fighter “Iron Men” respected by many gamers, participated in many activities.

“At the time, the Sega affiliated arcades were organising a tournament they were calling the “100 man kumite”. It was to be me alone playing 100 people, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, touring various arcades. I didn’t meet the win ratio of 80%. My biggest win streak was 96 people. I also helped out commentating of tournaments, working for Virtua Fighter Maniacs, a strategy guide published at the time. I also contributed to the Virtua Fighter Maniacs strategy videos. The amount of videos sold at that time was far ahead of TV dramas and movies, occupying between 1st and 8th place, and they were all videos featuring myself.”

Nowadays those feelings of unbridled enthusiasm are unthinkable. Next time, I’ll cover how not just the gaming media, but also the general media gradually took up this movement. At the time, this sort of phenomenon was exceptionally strange.

We’ll also hear the detailed history of the name Bunbunmaru. Please look forward to it.
Click to expand...

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Sega Publishes Article on Virtua Fighter's '90s Arcade Boom'

MadeManG74 Moderator Staff Member Tournament Manager Silver Supporter

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Sega Publishes Article on Virtua Fighter's '90s Arcade Boom'

MadeManG74 Moderator Staff Member Tournament Manager Silver Supporter

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