Released to arcades in 1995, Sega's Virtual On was a fairly revolutionary game at the time. Despite its relative popularity, the game is somewhat forgotten today and the series has not seen an entry in over a decade. Let's take a look back to the 1990's, a time when Sega ruled the arcades with innovative and fresh arcade games that were consistently ported home to the new Saturn console.
Showing off the power of the then-new "Model 2" arcade hardware, Virtual On was a graphical tour-de-force. After sitting down in your cockpit, arcade players would take control of two sticks to pilot a wide array of different mecha to pilot. The intense fun of the game came from the use of "twin sticks" that the player would use to pilot the mecha(Virtuaroids). In an arena, players would compete to destroy each other's Virtuaroids within the set time-limit. The game provided endless amount of fun. The mechs have homing missiles, lazer swords, among many other weapon types. design was also great. For fans of anime, the characters will surely be appealing.
By today's standards, the blocky polygonal graphics are rather crude and elementary. However, twenty years ago, this game looked great. Sega's Model 2 was setting arcades on fire with games like Virtua Fighter 2 and Virtual On. Looking past the dated visuals, the core game-play remains top-notch. If you are lucky enough to find a machine (Cineplex in Bowmanville Ontario still has a VO machine working!!!), give it a shot. You will surely find yourself pumping quarters into one of these huge machines.
Virtual On came home to the Sega Saturn in 1996. Although we never got the twin stick peripheral outside of Japan, the conversion was still quite fun. Even with less graphical detail and no twin stick, I remember playing the game for hours on end with my friends during 1996. The game is fairly cheap today (not the twin stick). Any Sega fan should pick up a copy if you have no played it.
In 1998, a much-awaited sequel to Virtual On would arrive to arcades with Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram. Based on the Sega Model 3, the game looked great. Gone were the blocky and chunky polygons, replaced with the smooth and fluid animations the new Model 3 was churning out. A variety of new virtuaroids were added to the roster as well. To date, I have yet to see a OT machine in arcades. Several revisions of the game were released to arcades, including an upgraded version based on Sega successor to the Model 3, the Sega Naomi.
Oratorio Tangram would arrive home to Japanese Dreamcasts in 1999. Once again, Japan would see a twin stick peripheral come home for purchase. Like the Saturn stick, these are quite rare items today and go for big bucks. For the rest of us, playing OT on the Dreamcast without the sticks was far less enjoyable than on the Saturn. While a number of different control options were available, the awkward (in my opinion) layout and feel of the DC pad was very detrimental to my OT experience. I would still love to get a DC twin stick to properly experience OT in all of its glory.
Since its 1998 release to arcades, OT has found life on many other platforms. A popular game on both Xbox Live and PCs, many players still prefer OT as their Virtual On of choice. VOOT, as it is called in its community, even had very pricey twin sticks released for the Xbox 360. A recent survey by Sega of Japan found that VOOT is the most widely played entry in the series, even today. Despite this, I much prefer the Saturn original.
Fans of the series eagerly awaited Sega's next move. For fans outside of Japan, it would be a long and crushing wait. Released in Japan only, Virtua On "Force" would arrive to Japanese arcades in 2001. Based on the Sega Hikaru (and upgraded Naomi), the game used teams of two instead of one-on-one combat in past entries in the series.
Despite some favorable reviews and reception, the game was never released outside of Japan. A region-free Xbox 360 port was released in 2010. However, few outside of Japan have actually played the game, myself included.
A final game would see release on the PS2 in 2003. The game sold quite poorly and was released in fairly limited quantities. Scrapping the four-play action of "Force" with two-player split-screen, many players saw the game as a cannibalized port of "Force". Keeping most the same character and stage design, it included a sort of "story" mode that many players responded to quite negatively. A PS3 version of the game would arrive in 2013. After Force and Marz, the series has basically lied dormant since the early 2000's. With no future games planned, the future of Virtual On remains uncertain.
Despite the series being a commercial "dead duck", Virtual On lives on with a rabid fan-following. Today, many online tournaments are frequently held on Xbox Live and other online services. In Japan, players can find several annual tournaments such as "God's Garden" that attract a fairly large amount of players.
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