canon fire 034: The quiet and enduring legacy of Virtual On
canon fire 034: The quiet and enduring legacy of Virtual On
CANON FIRE is made possible by the generous contributions of readers like you. Support more writing like this on Patreon. Thank you! Composed of a full size sit down cabinet equipped with two...
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.
5Yeah 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.
4
Yooo, they still got the classic cab at Arcade Odyssey down here near Miami. Some guy walloped my ass real bad at it, so I can imagine you can get really good at it. The singleplayer is hard as balls, and you have to be real tactical. Duel wielding joysticks is surprisingly intuitive, but you really have to mind your startup, execution, and cooldown times for both weapons and your movement, meaning conservative play and taking cover is imperative. I can't believe I found reference to it on Beehaw.
Arcades with real arcade games need to make a comeback (damn you D&B for only having DDR). Sadly they're all Japanese and Korean, so you gotta look for smaller arcades or Round1. Rhythm gamers have lots of machines to play these days, so go hunt some if they're nearby.
2I 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.
2Heck 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.
2