Saturn Fighting Vipers

My first impression of this game in the arcades was mixed. The characters looked weird and the game seemed like just another entry in the crowded fighting game market. War Gods from Midway and Soul Edge from Namco were still getting more than their share of quarters in the arcades at the time that Vipers hit. When I played it however, I found a very enjoyable and brutal fighting game with excellent graphics, some cool moves and innovative ideas that are implemented well. FVipers introduces barriers to the fighting game genre where you can slam your opponents against them to do some major damage. Some barriers will cause damage even if you just touch them, such as the barb wire stage. Certain killer moves will knock your opponent through the walls or barriers into the next block for the ultimate ring out. Another new idea in Vipers is the addition of protective suits. Each character wears a suit of armor that you can break by applying punch or kick pressure to the armor. If you keep punching a character in the chest for example, the armor in that area will break off. In the case of a woman character, the effect will result in the character being exposed in the chest area. Thankfully someone thought of bras a long time ago. There are eight characters to choose from and they are all somewhat off in one way or another. Sanman is a fat bloke who looks like he just came from the buffet table with food still in his mouth. He has some simple moves where he will rush towards the opponent swinging his arms and most of the special moves that he can do involve his upper body. Then there is Honey who looks like a ballerina with red colored armor and fights like a ballerina would with a lot of pirouettes and kicks. Then we have Picky whose skateboard and stage are sponsored by Pepsi. The Pepsi logo is clearly rendered on his board and a truck carrying the choice of a new generation rumbles through the background as Picky pummels his opponents with his skateboard. There is also a zoned out looking punk rocker whose uses his guitar as a weapon. Wonder if he will be sponsored by Coke in the sequel. Bad joke. The rest of the characters are odd enough to make them interesting and Sega should be commended for taking a chance on Vipers with its motley crew and its innovations. One plus that the import version will have over the USA release when it is available is Pepsi Man. Pepsi Man is a metallic 'Dural' look alike who sports the Pepsi logo and fights fairly well. Think of him as an added attraction in this crowd of fighting performers. It is unknown if the USA version will keep the skimpy outfits on Honey and Grace when their armor breaks off. Its all very tame stuff but corporate Sega of America might think otherwise and move to censor the undies.

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