Virtual On: Information from Answers.com

Release Date: 1995
Genre: Fighting
Style: 3D Fighting
Similar Games: T-MEK (Arcade), Street Fighter (Arcade), MechWarrior (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

Earth has entered the Virtual Century. Imagine the whole world being controlled by great crime syndicates that primarily operate and control the media industry. Due to the corruption and lack of focus, compared with Earth, other alien civilizations are expanding at great speeds. Fearing the loss of power, one syndicate in particular uses technology found in ruins to gain an advantage over its rivals. Their ultimate creation, that of the "VirtuaRoid," is a type of mech that can be controlled by individuals with inherent skills. In order to search for these people, DN created a video game called "Virtual On" and put it in arcades to select out those who had proper abilities.

*Virtual On} takes you into this test and ultimate task of destroying the ruins which the original mech technology was taken. Gameplay at it's most fundamental represents a two-on-two fighting game, in which the arenas are 3D. The gameplay is reminiscent to T-Mek, but has elements that ultimately play similar to Street Fighter style games.

~ Paul Biondich, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

With mech designs by the designer of Gundam, Virtual On puts you in the cockpit of large, articulated fighting machines in enormous 3D arenas. The game is played from a behind-the-mech perspective, and the camera rotates to keep your enemy in view when you leap in the air. Control is a bit tricky at first -- you need to push both sticks in the direction you want to go, and jumping requires you to push them in the opposite directions. You also have to keep tabs on your energy usage, since firing depletes your on-board batteries. But once you master the movement of your metallic monolith, you'll be unstoppable.

Each mech has its own special moves -- the feminine Fei-Yen robot lets loose a ray of glowing hearts, and the Bal-Bas-Bow robot fires both of his arms at his opponent. Close combat features the mechs pulling out their melee weapons, and one shot from Temjin's laser sword should cleave any opponent in half. If you win two matches out of three, you're on your way to the next stage -- and good luck if you can make it to the end boss, which is a terrifying sight to behold.

Virtual On is fast, furious, and incredibly fun to play (especially against an opponent in versus mode). Fans of Gundam, Macross and Robotech should check this game out -- it's mecha-licious!