Fighting Vipers

Fighting Vipers is a 1995 fighting video game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for arcades. A 3D fighter, it uses the same game engine as AM2's Virtua Fighter 2 (1994), but features enclosed arenas and an armor mechanic, and was targeted more towards Western audiences, using a U.S. setting and more freeform styles of martial arts. The game was released in November 1995 in arcades, using the Sega Model 2 hardware, before it was ported to the Sega Saturn home console in 1996. Though Fighting Vipers was not very popular in North American arcades, the Saturn version was one of the most high-profile games in the system's 1996 holiday lineup, and was met with positive reviews. A sequel was made, Fighting Vipers 2 (1998), and all characters in the original also appeared in a crossover with Virtua Fighter 2, Fighters Megamix (1996). The story of Fighting Vipers focuses on a group of fighters known as Vipers who take part in a fighting tournament called Nutcrack that is held in a metropolis called Armstone City at the behest of its mayor.