Virtua Hamster (Sega 32X/Saturn)

Virtua Hamster (Sega 32X/Saturn)(gamesthatwerent.com)

65 points by deadcast 4 years ago | 7 comments

ludamad 4 years ago |

Even as a hobby game dev, I look at these and gain appreciation for just how much went into this kind of work. Particularly of note to me is the memory calculations for models right in the design doc - I'm sure for solid reasons

ArtWomb 4 years ago | |

From the original producers of the first Virtua Fighter. An IP that still resonates today. It's incredible to see the old school titles re-released on modern platforms, using the latest engines and netcode for online competitive play with almost zero lag. It must truly feel like a future spoiled with riches to the OGs ;)

JohnBooty 4 years ago | | |

Apologies for being pedantic, especially if you already know all of this like the back of your hand! But, here goes:

    From the original producers of the first Virtua Fighter

Same parent company (Sega, of course) but the teams were worlds apart.

Virtua Fighter was created by Yu Suzuki (Space Harrier, Out Run, After Burner, etc) and his team (AM2) at Sega of Japan. The other Virtua titles were all done by Sega's teams in Japan as well. No real connection between the games but they all began as arcade titles and shared a certain design aesthetic and often staff.

Sega of Japan and Sega of America had a famously contentious relationship. It was sometimes fruitful in spite of that; it was Sega of America who created the "edgy" identity for the Genesis in America along with the anti-Nintendo attack ads that allowed it to (for a time) attain stature on par with Nintendo in America.

As far as game development chops were concerned, SOJ tended to have a very low opinion of SOA's creative output.

Speculation: I didn't read the design docs for Virtua Hamster but it seemingly has no connection whatsoever to any other Virtua game Sega did. I think it was sort of a ploy by the American development team to garner attention and the game greenlighted or whatever.

joezydeco 4 years ago |

Looks like they were trying to make a clone of Atari's Stun Runner but couldn't figure out a storyline on outfitting hamsters with lasers.

https://youtu.be/U6CPtjyr19M

ergot_vacation 4 years ago |

That game box art is amazing. Lot of the concept art too. I was ready to laugh, but this seems like might have genuinely been a fun little game. Too bad Sega had no idea what they were doing around that time.

Seems pretty straightforward too. Could probably be mocked up with modern graphics in Unreal or Unity pretty easily. Though it might be worth keeping some of the 90s aesthetic.