Share your VO experience or history

[Norburyman]

Ahh ok, still trying to get my fingers round that

[Spiff]

I first played Operation Moongate in like...1997 I think, I was like five years old at my sister's boot camp grad up in Missouri and they had a VOOM machine set up somewhere in there. Don't ask me why. I gave it a shot and I've been like obsessive over it ever since. I spent a lot of time scrounging for machines, I've only seen two in my life. One used to be in Abilene while I lived there, and I was happy for that.
When I found out about it coming to xbox I was like "omgwtfbbq", and here I am.
Back in Abilene when they actually had that machine everyone at that arcade knew me as the guy that could beat King Shovelbutt (Jaguarandi) with any VR.

I'm also faaaaar better at VOOM than VOOT, lole.

[jiakhang]

Final clue to my identity: I wrote one of the few english VOOT 5.2 faqs and dedicated it to our local CC Maniac. If this is not enough to guess my callsign, I don't know what to say.

Rolander
BTW, I used to play a lot of VF with Choon Eng; he was also a big Virtua Racing and/or Daytona racer back in the day.

OMFG Rolander ... i am so bad with names.
Yeah back then I was wondering whether I should write plain text FAQs but I ended up on the HTML route because I wanted to add pictures and diagrams in my guides. So I snubbed gamefaqs

[Hustle Kong]

Hello!

I've been playing VO:OT off and on since it was released on the DC, when I imported a copy.

I used to post on the SydVOC forums, though I can't remember if I used the same handle. I also post on Gamefaqs. Of course, I recognize Menthol Moose's screen name.

My GT for xbox is also Hustle Kong.

Taking these past few years off after having packed away my DC hasn't improved my game any.

[MentholMoose]

Hello!

I've been playing VO:OT off and on since it was released on the DC, when I imported a copy.

I used to post on the SydVOC forums, though I can't remember if I used the same handle. I also post on Gamefaqs. Of course, I recognize Menthol Moose's screen name.

My GT for xbox is also Hustle Kong.

Taking these past few years off after having packed away my DC hasn't improved my game any.

Welcome!! I think I remember your handle from SydVOC, although it was a very long time ago (9 years, time flies).

[PhantomPhotonX]

Looks like I finally made it to the VOOT party. Please allow me to introduce myself.

I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember, but Virtual-On was truly special. The first time I saw it was at a nearby bowling alley during a friend's birthday party. I remember thinking to myself, "This is the best video game ever made, and I hope it comes out on a console soon!" I loved the fast pace, the cool-looking robots, and the fact that it was 3-D.

I got a Sega Saturn just for VOOM. OK, actually I had to convince my mom to buy one for me and my brother, and she was appalled by the fact that this was the only game we ever owned for it. Nevertheless, I became obsessed with the game. I went to different Websites to look up the stats for all the Virtuaroids so I could pick my favorite. What drew me to Temjin was the fact that I had no idea what style of play I wanted to use at the time, so I just picked a VR that was good at everything. But that wasn't the only factor. See, I was very young and naive at the time, so what I truly fell in love with were the giant sword he carried, and his Flooded City theme song. And thus, my ridiculous love for this video-game character was born.

Along came VOOT for the Dreamcast, and again I got the Dreamcast just for that game, although this time my brother actually bought a few more games to go with it. But VOOT was far and away my favorite game at the time, and I would spend countless hours trying to capture awesome replays of my fights against the computer. I also played hundreds of games against my brother. It was around that time that I learned the advanced tactics of the game, and whenever I learned anything, I would share it with my brother to use against me.

His favorite VR was Dordray, who always seemed unfair against my Temjin. Eventually, he learned the secret to beating me every time, and when Smash Brothers Melee came out, I decided to quit playing VOOT forever and sell the Dreamcast. I remember being so disappointed that I could not beat my brother, and to be quite honest, I never wanted to see VOOT again.

Fast forward to 2009. I was going to school to get my Master's Degree when I learned that VOOT was coming out for the Xbox 360. I thought, "So what? The game wasn't really that good anyway." But then I learned that there would be online play, and I would no longer be limited to playing against the one person who always had the perfect strategy for beating me. I became just as excited for this new release as I was when I first saw the original arcade game almost 15 years ago. So the very day of the game's release, I teamed up with Temjin once again and decided to take down as many people as I could.

And here we are. I primarily play the game on weekends, but it is virtually (pun intended) the only game I ever play now. So when you see me online, and come face-to-face with my Temjin, you can blame the sword, and the Flooded City theme song. See you online!

[DeepInTheHops]

Looks like I finally made it to the VOOT party.

Welcome! In case you didn't notice, I've already touted your skills in the Good Games/Bad Games thread. So you already have a reputation to uphold. Sorry about that.

[Kita]

I'm new here, I figure I'll make this my first post.

I got a copy of the PC version of Operation Moongate back in 1996, I wanna say. It came with my first computer, and although the learning curve was massive and I couldn't get past Viper II, I kept playing and sort of fell in love with Fei-Yen. Anyway, I never got to play VOOT until I bought a cheap Dreamcast in 2003-4 out of a Gamestop and downloaded a copy. I was, of course, no good at it having not played the original for a long time, but I kept at it. I'm still not as good at Oratan as I am at Operation Moongate, having not mastered stuff like watari dashing, etc., but I'm getting better. Last week I bit the bullet, purchased an Xbox 360, and have been getting beat up by Japanese players all week.

[Fredo]

I discovered Virtual On thanks to Shenmue 2 and its "Toy Capsules", I never had the chance to meet an arcade machine.

One day, around 6 or 7 years ago, in a gameshop, I wanted to buy a robot-fighting game, I had the choice between Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram (Japanese version) and some kind of Gundam game, I choosed VOOT because I loved the mech-design I saw in Shenmue 2, certainly one of the best choices of my life xD

As the notice was in Japanese, learning how to playing was a difficult task, but thanks to the tutorials after the rolling demo, I did it, and discovered how unique VOOT is.

I played it alone, against the CPU in arcade mode, I never had the chance to meet another good VOOT player in France, and the netplay was down for long. Once I got used to the controller, I bought a TwinStick, I rediscovered VOOT, learned to quickstep-CQC, to dash-CQC etc
After that, I played again and again, then I discovered the "5.66 customization disc" and "Cust Plus", that allowed me to discover the 3 new VRs

Someday, a friend told me "Give up your Dreamcast, just buy a 360", I answered "I'll buy the console that'll have the next Virtual On", in fact I bought the 360 2 months before VO:OT was announced on it, when I learned it, I was like crazy.

Know I'm buying all I need to make my TwinStick compatible with the 360 and the Dreamcast, I'll show you that.

[Kiddo]

Hey, new person here. (And I'm probably behind on things too)

But aye, I actually recall Virtual On from sometime when I was checking out some Sega Saturn titles and rented it a bit. The gameplay struck a chord with me even back then. Unfortunately I was stuck playing this on the ol' US Saturn Pad, which probably wrecked something...

... anyway, when I checked out Dreamcast titles I rented into Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram, played that with the DC Pad and enjoyed that in spite of the lack of the twin stick setup there as well. Unfortunately though, when the Dreamcast started to die out and I went around looking for discs on clearance, Virtual On was nowhere to be found (oddly enough, I did find Cannon Spike, a game which apparently is rare now. Huh?). I eventually downloaded a selfboot ISO (which notably has some mission audio tracks, much to my dismay), and still wait for a time when I can find a better version around. However, during that wait I did find a Dreamcast Twin Stick that actually went under 100 bucks on eBay and was like "yeah, why not?"... so now I'm playing a pirated Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram with an official Dreamcast Twin Stick. Weird, huh? Anyway, as for the Xbox 360 version, I have not obtained that yet (I felt the main enhancement of it - the HD features - are wasted on my old analog CRT. I'll probably look into getting it - and a Gold subscription - sometime then.)

Sometime ago I found a legit copy of Virtual On Marz on clearance at a gamestop for 20 dollars and decided to buy it in spite of the apparent dissent of that entry. About 2 years later someone on eBay was selling a Saturn Twin Stick modded for PS2 and I won that auction at the... 27 dollar mark. Considering how much "pure" Twin Sticks tended to cost, I thought this to be a steal. I hope when I get VOOT for 360 I can get a controller converter to use that stick on my 360 game. But anyway, yeah, sometimes I play Marz using the stick.

I do not consider myself skilled in the games to any notable degree. I still find them fun, though.

(Summary of the story: the only legit Virtual On I currently own is the one everyone thinks sucks. Sad, isn't it?)

[MentholMoose]

Anyway, as for the Xbox 360 version, I have not obtained that yet (I felt the main enhancement of it - the HD features - are wasted on my old analog CRT. I'll probably look into getting it - and a Gold subscription - sometime then.)

I'm actually playing on a 22" CRT monitor. Set to 1024x768, it looks good compared to playing the DC or Naomi version on the same monitor (both limited to 640x480 resolution). But for me the main enhancement is the online play. There's no chance I would have bought an Xbox 360 and the game without this feature. Anyway, welcome to the forum.

[Viper2]

Hello, another new person here.

I've now been playing VOOM since a few months on my old PC, using the keyboard (would like to change to Twin-Stick, but that currently doesn't work; see my other post ). I got the game for cheap from Japan. I was quite surprised at how smooth VOOM runs on even an old PC and at how good the controls were. I'm mostly a Viper II player (see handle ), although I also like to play using Apharmd or Belgdor from time to time.

[MentholMoose]

Hello, another new person here.

I've now been playing VOOM since a few months on my old PC, using the keyboard (would like to change to Twin-Stick, but that currently doesn't work; see my other post ). I got the game for cheap from Japan. I was quite surprised at how smooth VOOM runs on even an old PC and at how good the controls were. I'm mostly a Viper II player (see handle ), although I also like to play using Apharmd or Belgdor from time to time.

Welcome. Hopefully you can get your PC Twin Sticks going!

[Viper2]

So after playing VOOM with the Twinsticks a bit, I have mixed feelings:

On the one hand, I can now execute a lot more moves than with the keyboard and can actually cancel my jumps and run around diagonally and turn properly. This is nice.

On the other hand, the twinsticks have precise but incredibly stiff movement, which means using them is pretty tiring. The base is a bit too small to keep the twinsticks entirely stable. Furthermore, to fire the center weapon the two triggers have to be pulled at exactly the same moment. If I'm even a little bit off I'll fire the LW or RW, or both the LW and RW (or RW and LW) after each other. Generally, timing seems to be tighter with the twinsticks than with the keyboard.

Now when I play with the keyboard I can play Viper II in an extremely aggressive style and jump-fly pretty far. With the twinsticks I didn't manage yet, as jumps seem shorter (I might accidentally cancel them). On the other hand, Temjin works perfectly with the twinsticks. Which doesn't mean that I managed to get very far in the game using the twinsticks, even on easy mode...got beaten to pulp by Dorkas and Belgdor I think I'm too used to the keyboard.

[chunkypuff31]

I figure that this would be a good place for my first post, so...

Unlike the rest of you guys, my first exposure to Virtual-On was through Hasegawa's model kits, about three years ago or so. I was doing some research on hajime Katoki, as I was curious as to what non-Gundam stuff he worked on. From what I read, he did the designs for some video game called "Virtual-On." When I did a Google-search on what the mechs looked like, I stumbled upon pictures of Hasegawa's models on Hobbysearch. I was instantly mesmerized by how cool these things looked. I knew that I had to see what this game was like.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't get a chance to play any of the games, until a few months ago, when VOOT came out on XBLA. When I first played it... I was blown away, to put it bluntly. I saw plenty of gameplay videos before, but nothing prepared me for the awesomeness that I encountered. I've been lovin' it since. I've only been playing it for a few months, so I still have plenty to work on in terms of skill. I'm also keeping my eyes peeled when I go out, in case I find a VO arcade machine, as I have yet to play with Twinsticks.

[Davo87]

ye, for hajime katoki, the designs from VO try to get a different angle instead of copying gundam. Atleast they dont give them shields, well V-armor is close enough. The way each weapon is fire is also wat this game fun and more meaningful as its more diverse. I hope more players are drawn to the game for VOOT's mechanics and pace of dash speed as that is something I dont see being reproduced fluidly like a gundam game or armoured core. Btw, have you found your VR yet?

[chunkypuff31]

Btw, have you found your VR yet?

As in, my prefered VR? I've been sticking with Temjin recently, although I'm experimenting with Raiden. I'd try playing with Fei-Yen, but I'm afraid of getting strange looks from my parents.

[Davo87]

They're all good choices for beginners. Raiden is def fun when first playing the game. learn to trap them with preaim lasers and also learn half cancels for CW. Temjin looks straight forward but I feel he isnt always that easy to use. Tho online have so much temjin and raiden players a lot so its easy to watch and learn. Oh fei-yen...mind the love hearts!!

[JStryke]

I'm not really sure if I have any experience or history to share really, so expect this to be on the short side.

For me, while I saw VO:OT some time ago when randomly browsing the arcade games section in the XBLA, I didn't actually buy it and start playing until about a week ago when it went on sale for $10. So safe to say, I'm a bit new when it comes to this. Haven't had the chance to jump online yet, but I've messed with the arcade mode for a little bit at least.

As for preferred VR, from the little I've played, I seem to be "best" (kind of a relative term here) with Fei-Yen and Angelan. I notice the bulkier VRs I tend to be quite awful at however so far.

[MentholMoose]

I'm not really sure if I have any experience or history to share really, so expect this to be on the short side.

For me, while I saw VO:OT some time ago when randomly browsing the arcade games section in the XBLA, I didn't actually buy it and start playing until about a week ago when it went on sale for $10. So safe to say, I'm a bit new when it comes to this. Haven't had the chance to jump online yet, but I've messed with the arcade mode for a little bit at least.

As for preferred VR, from the little I've played, I seem to be "best" (kind of a relative term here) with Fei-Yen and Angelan. I notice the bulkier VRs I tend to be quite awful at however so far.

Welcome!!

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