Virtual On Your Xbox

In 1995 Sega (or specifically AM R&D Dept 3 of Sega Rally fame) released the amazing Virtual On: Cyber Troopers into the Arcades. Based on the latest version of the Model 2 Arcade board, this was a frantic 3d polygon-based Robot fighting game utilising a fantastic twin lever control system: Lever 1 controlled the direction of your robot and Level 2 controlled its rotation.



The game was a massive hit in the Japanese Arcades and was brilliantly converted to the Sega Saturn, twin sticks also included!



In 1998 an Arcade sequel was to follow, this time using the Sega Model 3 board but retaining the unique twin controller system. The game was named "Virtual On : Oratorio Tangram" and the following year saw another conversion, this time to the Dreamcast in Japan and the US:



In 2000, a revised version of the Oratorio Tamgram was released in the Arcades, and then in 2001, using the very flash but very expensive Hikaru hardware, Hitmaker (old AMD3) released Virtual On 4 : Force into the arcades.



In 2003 Virtual On : Marz was created as a new game for the Playstation 2 utilising the twin analogue sticks on the PS2 controller:



In 2007, under the Sega Ages 2500 banner, the original Virtual On Cyber Troopers was re-vamped and released on the Playstation 2:



Finally it has been released this year into the Xbox 360 Live Arcade, upgraded into full HD. Check on the screenshot below how good it now looks.



Unsure if the Twin Sticks were manufactured for Xbox which Sega was initially considering if they got 1500 pre-orders for the product - below is the first and second designs:



If you want to know anymore about the Virtual On series then try any of the links below. History lesson over. Goodnight.

Official Sega Virtual On Website

Official Virtual on Marz Website

Japanese Model Makers Kotobukiya