The game was first released in the arcade in 1995 using the Sega Model 2 hardware and ported the same year to the Sega Saturn with significantly reduced graphics.
Fighting Vipers features a similar style of gameplay to Sega AM2's more renowned Virtua Fighter series, specifically Virtua Fighter 2, using simply a Guard, Punch and Kick attack buttons with a focus on combo moves.
The game is set apart with two unique features. Most notably, each of the 9 characters featured in the game sports armor of some kind or another that can be broken off by opponents leaving characters much more vulnerable and able to take much more damage. A human shaped meter in the top corners of the screen monitors the damage to your armor. Secondly walls surround each arena, caging the combatants in, allowing for attacks in conjunction with them, and if the correct combination is hit at the round's finale, characters can punch their opponent straight through the walls.
When ported, Fighting Vipers offered other modes besides Arcade and Vs. Playback Mode and Training Mode both of which are now used widely in the genre, by games such as Tekken and Soulcalibur. Players could save their matches and play them again in Playback Mode, while Training Mode talked you through the moves of each character one-by-one.
Fighting Vipers features a similar style of gameplay to Sega AM2's more renowned Virtua Fighter series, specifically Virtua Fighter 2, using simply a Guard, Punch and Kick attack buttons with a focus on combo moves.
The game is set apart with two unique features. Most notably, each of the 9 characters featured in the game sports armor of some kind or another that can be broken off by opponents leaving characters much more vulnerable and able to take much more damage. A human shaped meter in the top corners of the screen monitors the damage to your armor. Secondly walls surround each arena, caging the combatants in, allowing for attacks in conjunction with them, and if the correct combination is hit at the round's finale, characters can punch their opponent straight through the walls.
When ported, Fighting Vipers offered other modes besides Arcade and Vs. Playback Mode and Training Mode both of which are now used widely in the genre, by games such as Tekken and Soulcalibur. Players could save their matches and play them again in Playback Mode, while Training Mode talked you through the moves of each character one-by-one.
