Virtua Fighter Kids

Developer: Sega-AM2
Publisher:  Sega

This game is a bit of a strange concept, take Virtua Fighter 2 and turn all of the characters into big-headed children (literally)... just what was the thought process when making this game?

The game looks and sounds like a kid friendly virtua fighter 2, all of the environments are colorful and look pretty cartoony, but what really stood out for me, at least on a technical level was the characters' expressions, maybe it's because their heads were too small in other fighting games, but I really love how each fighters' facial expressions would change during each battle.

On the gameplay side... well... its Virtua Fighter 2 I noticed the gameplay is a bit faster this time around (though not as smooth) and that punching is harder now due to the characters' small arms, but for the most part it's the same game, that is, with the exception of the 'Kids mode', this is a newcomer friendly arcade mode in which your character will perform a random special move by tapping the same button three times, it's a nice feature if you never played the game or if you're playing with a friend who's just a casual fan of the series, but for the most part I never gave it any real use.

You have a pretty standard variety of modes here, including an uncommon feature called 'Combo Maker' which is exactly what it sounds, you can create special attack combinations and save them on your Saturn's memory, honestly I found this a bit too tedious for me and not really worth the effort.

Overall I felt this game was created to introduce newcomers to the series, if you own Virtua Fighter 2 there's really no need to get this game, if you don't own Virtua Fighter 2... then you're still probably better off buying that instead of this game, as Virtua Fighter Kids feels like a novelty at best, with that said, I can't deny that on its own merits the gameplay is still pretty solid.

Trivia: Did you know Virtua Fighter Kids served as practice for the developers to work on improved facial expressions for the then upcoming Virtua Fighter 3?

Pros:

- Colorful and cartoony graphics are kind of cute

- It serves as a nice introduction to newcomers

- For the most part, its still Virtua Fighter 2, so the gameplay is pretty good

 
Cons:

- For the most part, it's still Virtua Fighter 2, so why not just get that instead?

- Combo maker is more trouble than it's worth

Final Score: B

If you've read my previous Saturn packaging reviews, you're probably expecting me to rant on how much I hate mid 90s CGI covers, well, I'm glad to say I don't hate this one, the big headed characters look pretty cute, the backgrounds are colorful and I like that there's a bit of humor to it like having Jeffry hanging from a palm tree and looking into the distance, a shame that the box is still one of the early ones.

The manual is what has now become standard fare for Sega's fighting games, meaning it's pretty good, it's pretty detailed when it comes to each of the characters' moves, but this time they didn't bother creating a backstory for any of them, can't blame them, I'm not sure if it's even possible for this game to have any semblance of a plot.

Overall, not a bad packaging, the boxart is an improvement over previous Sega-AM2 fighting games and the manual is what you've come to expect from them, at least for the most part

Packaging Score: C+