Fighting Vipers

Fighting Vipers
Japanese sales flyer
Developer(s)Sega AM2
Publisher(s)Sega
Producer(s)Yu Suzuki[2]
Designer(s)Hiroshi Takaoka
Composer(s)David Leytze
Platform(s)Arcade, Saturn, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 (PSN), Xbox 360 (XBLA)
ReleaseArcade
  • WW: November 1995
Saturn
  • JP: August 30, 1996
  • NA: October 29, 1996[1]
  • PAL: October 31, 1996
PlayStation 3 (PSN)
  • NA: November 27, 2012
  • JP: November 28, 2012
  • PAL: December 5, 2012
Xbox 360 (XBLA)
  • WW: November 28, 2012
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer
Arcade systemSega Model 2

Fighting Vipers (ファイティングバイパーズ Faitingu Vaipāzu) is a 1995 fighting video game developed by Sega AM2. A 3D fighter, it uses the same game engine as AM2's Virtua Fighter 2 (1994) but features enclosed arenas and an armor mechanic, and was targeted more towards Western audiences, using a U.S. setting and more freeform styles of martial arts.[3]

The game was released in November 1995 on the arcades using the Sega Model 2 hardware before it was ported to the Sega Saturn home console in 1996. Though Fighting Vipers was not very popular in North American arcades,[4] the Saturn version was one of the most high-profile games in the system's 1996 holiday lineup,[5] and was met with positive reviews. A sequel was made, Fighting Vipers 2 (1998), and all characters in the original also appeared in a crossover with Virtua Fighter 2, Fighters Megamix (1996).

  1. ^ "Press release: 1996-10-29: FIGHTING VIPERS -- THE SECOND WAVE OF SEGA SATURN'S BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS EPIDEMIC TAKES OVER THE NATION". Sega Retro. 2023-11-15. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  2. ^ Works of Yu Suzuki Archived June 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Ys Net
  3. ^ "Round One: Let the Action Begin!". Sega Saturn Magazine. No. 11. Emap International Limited. September 1996. pp. 30–35.
  4. ^ "Fighting Vipers: EGM Takes a Stand" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 91. Ziff Davis. February 1997. p. 153.
  5. ^ "Sega's greatest videogame promotion ever -- three hit arcade games free with Sega Saturn purchase at holiday time". The Free Library. Business Wire. November 11, 1996. Archived from the original on December 5, 2015.