Virtua Fighter 3

is the sequel to 1994's '' Virtua Fighter 2'' and the third fighting game in the ''Virtua Fighter'' series, developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega in 1996. It was the first arcade game to run on the Sega Model 3 system board.

Like its predecessors, ''Virtua Fighter 3'' was a major hit in arcades, selling 30,000 arcade cabinets worldwide. In Japan, it was the fourth highest-grossing arcade game of 1996 and the overall highest-grossing arcade game of 1997. A port for the Sega Saturn was announced but ultimately cancelled. However, the game eventually reached home consoles in the form of a conversion for the Dreamcast.

Gameplay

This iteration is the first in the series to have undulation in the stages, such as a staircase in the Great Wall stage, a stage set on top of a sloping roof and a raft constructed of individually moving elements on a bobbing water surface.

A fourth button, the Dodge, was added (the series had previously used only three - Kick, Punch and Guard). Pressing the button with the joystick in neutral or held up makes the character move into the screen (i.e. away from the viewer), while pressing the button with the joystick held down makes the character move out of the screen (i.e. towards the viewer). This 'evasion' technique enables players to dodge incoming attacks, creating opportunities to counter-attack almost immediately.

Characters

Returning characters are: Akira Yuki, Pai Chan, Lau Chan, Wolf Hawkfield, Jeffry McWild, Kage-Maru, Sarah Bryant, Jacky Bryant, Shun Di, Lion Rafale, Dural. Two new Japanese characters were added to the roster of fighters: Aoi Umenokoji, a beautiful Japanese woman and a childhood friend of Akira Yuki who used a nimble form of aiki-jujutsu as her fighting style of choice, and Taka-Arashi, a sumo wrestler from Japan.

Taka Arashi would not make another appearance in the ''Virtua Fighter'' series until ''Virtua Fighter 5 R''; the series' producer Hiroshi Kataoka explained that the removal of Taka in subsequent installments was due to the technical implications of having a substantially larger character. Taka had in fact nearly been cut from ''Virtua Fighter 3'' due to difficulties with his jumping moves.

Plot

Judgement 6, an organization seeking global domination, are hosting a third fighting tournament. The characters all enter to achieve their personal goals. Some wish to challenge Judgement 6 and uncover the group's secrets. Kage-Maru won the tournament. whose actual specialty is Jujutsu, has a vendetta against the Syndicate that killed his father. The Syndicate also took his mother away from him and made her as one of their fighters. He made an impressive showing as a fighter during the first tournament but was not able to find much information on Judgement 6, although he did receive word that his mother is still alive, he hopes to learn more the second time around, in the past tournament he succeeded in saving his mother (who had been transformed into Dural). When a Bajiquan fighter Akira defeated Dural and thereby saving Tsukikage from both Judgement 6's brainwashing and Dural state at the end of second tournament, Kage was able to get his mother back.

For many months, Kage and his mother lived a peaceful life in a small, hidden village. When about a year had passed, though, Kage's mother was suddenly struck by a mysterious illness. Kage's investigation into her ailment revealed that it was an after-effect of her transformation into Dural, and now he is entering the new tournament to find out what connection this has to the new-model Dural, After winning this world tournament, Kage managed to recover a part from the new type Dural. He used that part on his mother, hoping it would cure her. However, the plan backfired. Not only did his mother not recover, it caused his mother to transform back to Dural. She immediately attacked Kage. Sensing no way out, Kage decides to kill her in order to end her suffering. He was nearly successful but she managed to escape and was ultimately rescued by J6. Kage hears of the 4th world tournament and decides to enter the tournament with every intention of killing Dural.

History

''Virtua Fighter 3'' was the launch title for the arcade board Model 3 from Sega. Developed by Yu Suzuki's Sega AM2, it was a revolutionary game from a technical standpoint, with its detailed graphics earning widespread praise. Characters' eyes appeared to track the opponent's position, their muscles could flex and relax, and the fighting arenas featured stairs and slopes. The game also introduced the ability to move in three dimensions to the series with the dodge move, a feature that was apparently added fairly late in development, as Suzuki said in an interview held during the third quarter of 1995: "The fact that the game is 2D from the player's perspective probably won't change in ''VF3''. If the viewpoint changes rapidly during gameplay, the player can't concentrate on the game, and it's difficult to keep up with the situation your character is in, as in ''Battle_Arena_Toshinden''">Battle_Arena_Toshinden.html"_;"title="'Battle_Arena_Toshinden">'Battle_Arena_Toshinden''"_In_addition,_he_stated_later_in_the_same_interview_that_he_intended_to_keep_''Virtua_Fighter_3''_a_three-button_game_like_its_predecessors.

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