Advanced V.G.

About

A concept as absurd as it is enjoyable

The postulate is tasty: waitresses from family restaurants compete in a big martial arts tournament, mixing special blows and formidable combat techniques. Each fighter represents her establishment and her style is distinct. The roster has nine playable characters: Yuka Takeuchi, waitress and heroine of the karate game Kyokushin, Chiho Masuda la ninja, Manami Kusunoki the little kawaii with cat gloves, Elirin the Bunny Girl, Kaori Yanase lintello geek specializing in taekwondo, Ayako Yuki the Starlet, and Reimi Jahana, the reigning champion and CEO of the Jahana Group, the tournament sponsor. A colorful casting, each with its own personality and move.

Well built versus fighting, with bottom

The gameplay is clearly inspired by Street Fighter, with weak and strong punches on the fist and foot, combos specific to each character, and special movements to perform with the controller. It is strongly recommended to use a 6 button controller to fully enjoy the title.

The game offers three modes: the Normal mode in classic arcade, the Versus mode with two players, and above all a History mode centered on Yuka Takeuchi, interspersed with neat animated cutstages and fully doubled dialogues in Japanese. The Super CD-ROM format is used to offer quality CD-DA music and narrative sequences much more developed than in most combat games of the era — a real effort of staging that gives the characters thickness.

A hidden secret for connoisseurs

A secret character, Yuka in reinforced version, can be confronted in Normal mode thanks to precise manipulation: after pressing Run to start, you must immediately tap Run on controller 2 in loop. Winning the second player will trigger his appearance for all the next fights. Another curiosity: by holding up high and pressing buttons I, III and V on controller 2 when the TGL logo appears, then launching the game with controller 1, two additional Keiichi and Kei characters become accessible in reverse mode, in the extreme corners of the selection grid.

A unique female combat game on PC-Engine

When he was released, the French magazine Consoles + attributed 88% to him, and the reputation of the title did only grow with time among collectors. In the catalogue of PC-Engine combat games, Advanced V.G. occupies a separate place: an entirely feminine roster, a true narrative, a careful artistic direction signed Takahiro Kimura, and a universe original enough to have lasted well beyond the machine. A must-have for all lovers of versus fighting old-school and the beautiful era of Super CD-ROM2.