Sega Saturn Virtua Fighter Kids SKUSS10

Sega Saturn Virtua Fighter Kids SKUSS10 is a ‘super deformed’ version of Virtua Fighter 2 released on the Sega Saturn in 1996.  In Japan, Virtua Fighter Kids was released on the Saturn as a promotional item in co-operation with drink brands “Java Tea” and “Energen” under the title “Virtua Fighter Kids: Java Tea Original Edition”. It was later released commercially without any mention of “Java Tea” on the cover. All Java Tea product placement was removed from the western versions of the game, but is present in all Japanese versions (Arcade, Regular and Java Edition).

All the characters have big heads, and the  music is a faster pace. The gameplay itself is slightly tweaked from Virtua Fighter 2. The Saturn version includes some new FMVs and programmable button sequences to allow players to test and use pre-made combos. Despite being children, some of the fighters retain adult characteristics, such as facial hair, muscles and breasts.

The premise allows AM2 to do all kinds of crazy cartoony stuff that makes the game a real slapstick experience: When characters run, they leave a dust cloud, and when they get hit, stars fly around them. They also all got chipmunk voices in their win pose speech samples. When crouching beneath high attacks, a goofy animation plays where they swing around their enormous heads like boxers. All the while the huge heads make facial expressions so much more visible and distinctive. The little creatures are actually supposed to be dolls in the game’s narrative: Aside from the FMV, there is a hidden factory stage that shows their assembly line when Shun fights against himself, as well as a toy shop in a Pai vs. Pai match. There is also a variant of Dural whose head is a transparent fish bowl – an its inhabited!

The game isn’t just called Kids and styled kiddy-friendly, it’s actually servable as an entrance level variant for kids… and other amateurs. It introduces the new difficulty setting “Practice,” which sets the CPU at about the intelligence level of baked beans, and it’s even possible to make the own character invincible. The game also allows to program combo macros for easy access during play. Unfortunately, the large heads really weren’t such a great idea for a fighting game. They give the game a really weird feel, and keep clipping into each other all the time.

Actual item pictured