Virtual On is Out Now for XBox Live Arcade!

Perhaps all you need to know about Cyber Troopers Virtual On Oratorio Tangram is that it is a game wherein giant mech-robots fly around colorful arenas destroying each other with a wide variety of creative weapons.

Okay, this may not be all you need to know, but it is certainly a key talking point. The game is out now on XBox Live Arcade, and you can play it over XBox Live against other players to your heart’s content.

Virtual On was a 1998 arcade game which also came out on the Dreamcast (there was also an earlier arcade version, which came out on the Saturn as well): it’s a 3D fighting game where players select the mech of their choice and square off against one another in a variety of unique arenas.

Rather than trying to replicate the feel of the many other late-90s fighting games, Virtual On in its arcade incarnation used dual arcade sticks to control the mechs, hewing closer to the feel of classic tank-style arcade games. The resulting game is one with fast-paced action and highly stylized & colorful graphics, but with a very analog core to it, where there is a physicality to piloting around big robots and having them blast each other to little polygonal bits.

So, how does the game–particularly its controls–translate to the console? The Saturn and Dreamcast versions both had twin arcade stick peripherals, but there is no “twin sticks” controller available for the XBox 360. (Well, there is technically another option here–to do what one fan did, and just create your own dual-stick controller. While we can’t officially endorse dismantling your controller and wiring it to empty candy boxes, this is most definitely an impressive piece of work).

Actually, it might be worth noting that the standard-issue XBox 360 controller has twin sticks, and this release of the game was designed with this in mind. More importantly, the XBox Live Arcade release also allows you to customize your controls as much as you like. Using the sticks for movement and the shoulder buttons and triggers for dashing and weapons seemed most natural to me, and playing this way, you can do everything you need to without having to move your hands off the controls.

There is also convenient practice mode for the game, which actually has fairly detailed settings to help you train in both the basics and more advanced techniques.

The game maintains its arcade look, but with upgraded HD graphics. It looks terrific–bright colors and fluid animation, with vibrant battlefields whizzing through space set against backdrops that recall something as wickedly cybernetic/psychedelic as Rez. You can play through the game’s single-player mode and square off against surprisingly well-captained AI opponents, or, of course, you can play the game over XBox Live Arcade against other players.

If there’s something familiar about the mechs in Virtual On, it might be because famed Japanese mecha designer Hajime Katoki helped craft the game’s robotic avatars–Katoki also worked on the Gundam anime series, and his robotic designs have a very distinct flavor to them. Virtual On features 15 playable “Virtuaroids” (mechs), each with unique weapons and styles, and each of these mechs has fully customizable colors. It’s a blast just to select your “Virtuaroid” and see its robotic parts writhe and transform as it accelerates through a launching tunnel and towards the combat arena.

There’s great minor touches too, like the Dreamcast system embedded into the backs of the various mechs (if your mech whispers to you that it’s thinking, you’ll at least know why). Similarly, if you want to give your mech a custom paintjob and name you can save it to your hard drive and then, in the mech selection screen, select your creation using an icon that looks like the old Dreamcast VMU. Another fine touch: at the end of each match, there is a short replay showing the death sequence of whoever lost. These are surprisingly fun to watch and the camera AI seems to do really well in capturing the poetics of getting blow apart in dramatic fashion.

Virtual On Oratorio Tangram is out today for XBox Live Arcade — this is truly a unique game from SEGA’s arcade heritage and it’s great to see it available for download.