CyberTroopers Virtual-On - Releases and Cabinet differences

[twistedsymphony]

CyberTroopers Virtual-On - Releases and Cabinet differences

I'm a fan of Sega's Virtual On series. I think it's an awesome, highly underrated franchise. Most people are COMPLETELY uninformed or downright confused about the differences between the games. This is mostly due to the fact that the games aren't numbered like other franchises and only the first game was officially distributed for arcades outside of Japan.

Rather than explaining the differences between the games over and over again, I figured I'd write a post explaining them so that I can just point people here who might be confused.

WHAT IS VIRTUAL-ON?
You might be wondering what kind of game IS virtual-On? At it's core its a 1 on 1 fighting game, though it plays very differently than Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Gameplay takes place in a 3D arena and each player has their own screen and fights from a 3rd person perspective of their "virtuoid" (the name given to the giant robots that you control in the fight). The "Twin Stick" controls work like a tank but they also move side to side which allows for strafing (both sticks left or right), jumping (pull the sticks apart), and crouching/guarding (push the sticks together). The thumb buttons on the top provide a turbo boost for quick movement and the triggers fire weapons... and yes there are even special moves (albeit very few).

1996: CyberTroopers Virtual-On
aka "OMG" or "VOOM"
You might be scratching your head "VOOM"? "OMG"? in some markets the home release for the first game was called "CyberTroopers Virtual-On: Operation Moongate" so many fans of the franchise shorten Operation Moon Gate to: OMG, or Virtual-On Operation Moongate to: VOOM. This helps distinguish that you're specifically talking about the first game and not the franchise as a whole. Sega themselves refers to this game as "OMG" when distinguishing between games.

OMG ran on Sega Model 2 (B CRX) hardware. The Sticks used in the Twin Unit control panel use grips from Suzo-Happ and are similar to those used on the Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, Namco's Cyber Sled and several other games. I'm unsure if these sticks share a base with any other games, they are digital 8-way sticks and definitely different than the analog games that share the grip.

In The USA this was released ONLY as a Twin-Unit cabinet:

The cabinet is similar to the Daytona USA twin units however instead of the lit topper it had two large plastic hoods with a metal framed, smoked, mirrored divider between the sides (this piece is often missing). The seats are similar to those used on Wing Wars and a few other games.

Europe received a Twin-Unit of this game as well, similar to the European Daytona USA cabinets including a lit topper similar to Daytona USA and without a divider.

In Japan there was a Twin-Unit release, these used the Japanese style Twin-Unit cabs and featured a hood and divider completely different than the ones featured on the USA cabinet.

Japan also received a Candy-Cab release in the "Versus City" cabinet. A "Versus City cabinet is basically two "Astro City" cabinets back to back merged into one. It's important to note that the OMG Candy Cabs featured completely different joysticks than the Twin-Unit releases; this was due to the twin-unit sticks being too deep to fit within a candy cab panel.

^sorry, outside of the line drawings in the service manual I've never seen a picture of one of these cabinets as they were delivered

Korea received a unique twin-unit releases of their own, similar in design to the Japanese twin unit but very different in color.

There are two known ROM board variants: 1. the Japanese release and 2. the US/International release. Both refer to themselves as "M.S.B.S ver 3.3". In tournament play in Japan there is evidence that a thrid Model 2 PCB could be used to run an arcade monitor that displays the game from an outside perspective; known as a "Live Monitor". Little seems to be know about how this was accomplished, if there was a different ROM board used of if this spectator mode can somehow be activated with the existing ROM boards. Virtua Racing featured a similar "Live Monitor" setup, however attempts from a few US collectors to reproduce that configuration with Virtual-On have failed.

Home Release:
OMG saw home release on the Sega Saturn and PC and there was even a home version of the Twin Stick for both platforms.
Later there was a PS2 release as part of the "Sega Ages" collection and an HD re-release on the Xbox Live Arcade (in Japan only) as well as on the PS3 Store (in Japan only).

^a Sega Saturn Twin Stick (the PC twin stick looks nearly identical aside from the connector and some of the text on the artwork)

OMG's Legacy:
OMG is the most widely released and widely produced version of the game; it was ported to the most home systems, and arcade machines were distributed to every major arcade region in the world. It offers the most simplified gameplay of any of the games in the franchise, which still makes it the best games in the franchise for beginners. Though, it's early 3D graphics (particularly in the home releases) make the game feel dated.

Emulation:
Both the Japanese and US variants of OMG arcade ROMs can be emulated nearly flawlessly using the "Model 2 Emulator".

 

[twistedsymphony]

1998: CyberTroopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram
aka "OT", "VOT", "VOOT", "Oratan", "5.2", or "5.4"
Despite not having the number 2 in the name this is essentially "Virtual-On 2". It's a completely different game than the first Virtual-On; developed 2 year later and running on completely different hardware. There is as much difference between OMG and VOOT as there is between Mortal Kombat 1 and Mortal Kombat 3

VOOT was released only in Japanese arcades. There were two revisions, the initial release "M.S.B.S. ver 5.2" and "M.S.B.S. ver 5.4" both running on Sega Model 3 (Step 2.0) hardware. The PCBs are labeled "VOT" and "VOT v5.4" respectively. Similar to OMG there is evidence that a third Model 3 PCB could be used for "Live Monitor" (spectator) mode for use in tournament play. Descriptions as to how this was setup have been given from a few Japanese Ops who had experience with this. Supposedly the third board simply needs to be added to the network chain, set as another "RNA" (aka "slave") unit and another option to utilize spectate mode will unlock. The rarity of these boards outside of Japan means that no one in the US or Europe has verified and reproduced this setup.

All arcade releases of VOOT received a newly designed joystick. They borrowed the more ergonomic grip design from the Sega Saturn and PC twin sticks that were released for OMG but with a completely unique (and much stronger) base for the arcade. The sticks used in the VOOT cabinets don't share any components with any other sticks on the market, they are unique to Sega. OMG arcade sticks are fairly heavy and clunky, however VOOT arcade sticks are much more like traditional arcade sticks in terms of their action and precision.

Japan received a Twin Unit Conversion Kit to upgrade OMG Twin units to VOOT this includes new PCBs, new Power Supplies (since model 3 needed a 3.3V power line), new control panels with the new Twin Stick design, new marquees, and all new cabinet graphics that covered up all of the original OMG cabinet graphics. I believe these all shipped with version 5.2 as it is specified in the cabinet art.

Japan also received new dedicated Twin-units for VOOT that were completely new from the ground up and used the Daytona USA 2 style twin cab as the base. Again these featured unique hoods up top and a mirrored divider between the players. I believe these all shipped with version 5.2 as it is specified in the cabinet art.

There was also a Candy Cab Variant in a "New Versus City" cabinet, basically two "Blast City" cabinets back to back merged into one.

^this is a picture of my own personal marquee, I imported it from Japan, it's the one and only VOOT candy marquee I've ever seen.

Much like the OMG candy cab I've never seen a picture of the VOOT candy cab as it was delivered.

There is a very special version of VOOT that is (or at least was, I don't know if it's still there) playable at the Sega Joypolis arcade in Japan. The game was modified to work in the R-360 "motion" cabinets. Only 2 of them were made, I've never seen any actual pictures of the machines but it was mentioned on the official Sega website before it was taken down.


Home Release:
The only home release for VOOT was released for the Dreamcast in 2000, this was version 5.45 as it was an enhanced version of 5.4 that included a few additional arenas from OMG as well as 3 additional virtuoids to choose from (really just variants of existing virtuoids) There was also a Twin Stick Controller Released for Dreamcast

^the Sega Dreamcast Twinstick

VOOT's Legacy:
Version 5.2 and 5.4 of VOOT are arguably the most obscure releases in the VO franchise. 5.2 holds a special spot among fans due to a few bugs that make for interesting game play, but since most machines were upgraded to 5.4 it makes 5.2 very difficult to find. both versions lost a lot of popularity after the release of version 5.66

Emulation:
VOOT on Model 3 hardware can't be emulated properly due to encryption on some of the graphical assets that has not yet been cracked. Only one of the two versions has been dumped (it's not clear which one). The game is semi-playable on the SuperModel and Demul emulators but wont be fully playable until the encryption is cracked.

 

[twistedsymphony]

2000: CyberTroopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram - 2000 Edition -
aka "OT", "VOT", "VOOT", "Oratan" or "5.66"
This is a revamped version of VOOT with upgrades in visuals audio, gameplay and including the enhancements from the Dreamcast release (think Mortal Kombat 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3). One of the enhancements was the addition of a Dreamcast VMU port which allowed you to save your player data, you could also create custom character color variants on your Dreamcast and bring them to the arcade to play. The control panel also gained an extra button for "quick messaging" basically a way to taunt your opponent.

version 5.66 was released on NAOMI hardware as a cartridge game, this also meant that the monitors were VGA resolution instead of Medium Res (as was the case with OMG and VOOT 5.2 and 5.4) So there was no way to upgrade from 5.2 or 5.4 to 5.66 without replacing the monitors. The title on the NAOMI cart reads "VIRTUAL-ON OT M.S.B.S. Ver5.66"

This version was again exclusive to Japan. It released in a nearly identical cabinet to the 5.2 Dedicated Twin Unit but with all new metallic art-work.

The Twin Unit was the only cabinet released for this game, though many ops in Japan used them in Candy Cabinets with the 5.2 control panel.

Home Release:
Home versions of the 2000 Edition didn't exist until recently with the world-wide HD-re-release for the Xbox Live Arcade in 2009. The game also offered the ability to play with version 5.2 rules for fans of the older revision.

5.66's Legacy:
VOOT 5.66 is considered by many fan of the franchise to be the pinnacle of the series as 5.66 is the most complete and fully featured version of VOOT. Tournaments of the Xbox 360 release are still held in California and Japan today.

Emulation:
The NAOMI release of 5.66 can be emulated by both Demul and Makaron, however gameplay (particularly audio) is choppy.

 

[twistedsymphony]

2001 - CyberTrooper Virtual-On Force
aka "VOF", "VO4" or "Force"
despite having a "4" as the logo for the game it's not actually the 4th game in the series, it's only the 3rd, the 4 represents that Virtual-On Force is a 4-player game, unlike prior games Force offer 2-on-2 combat as well as the ability to fight against the computer as a 2-player team. The Twin Sticks were similar to the ones used on VOOT cabinets with one small change. The turbo buttons on VOOT used a rubber diaphragm style button while the design was changed to a PCB mounted push-button in the Force sticks, everything else about the sticks is identical.

Force was released on the Sega Hikaru hardware and received several revisions (M.S.B.S. ver 7.5, 7.6 and 7.7) Once again it was released only in Japan.

No candy cab release was available only the Twin Unit which was similar to the dedicated cabs used for VOOT. Ops Now needed 2 twin units if they wanted to support a full 4-players.

Cabinets no longer carried a VMU port but instead included a card reader for storing a player's progress across games.

There was an upgrade kit for the 5.66 cabinets that replaced the PCB, Marquee and cabinet art along with adding the card readers. This is less dramatic than the OMG to VOOT upgrade since the 5.66 and Force cabinets and most of the hardware is essentially the same.

A "Terminal" cabinet was available for players to view and manage their player information without having to use a twin-unit. These terminals used Sega Net City Upright cabinets.

Home Release:
A home version of Force wasn't available until 2010 when an HD re-released was made for the Xbox 360, this was only available in Japan however the game is not region locked.

^the officially licensed Xbox 360 Twin Stick made by Hori. This uses sticks similar to the arcade sticks used in the Force Arcade machines but with a slightly modified base and all black buttons and grips

Force's Legacy: Force is still fairly popular in Japan with working PCBs fetching $800 to $1000 a piece. Regular tournaments held using the Xbox 360 release of the game. I'm not aware of any Force Twin units that have ever been imported to the US, if you know of any please let me know.

Emulation:
It's rare/expensive enough that (to my knowledge) the ROMS haven't even been dumped. Though the only emulator available for the Hikaru hardware is Demul and other games on the platform are still not emulated perfectly yet.

2003: CyberTroopers Virtual-On Marz
Home Release:
Marz never saw an arcade release. It was a console only release exclusively for the Playstation 2. No PS2 twin sticks were made available instead the game relied on the two thumbsticks available on the PS2's controllers. Gameplay was similar to Force with 2-on-2 battles however Marz attempted to add a story mode to the game.

In 2013 the Playstation 3 received a Japan only HD re-release of Marz along with a Hori Twin Stick Similar to the one released for the Xbox 360 a few years prior.

Marz's Legacy:
Marz is considered the worst game in the Franchise among fans, much of the fast-paced gameplay was slowed down and many of the aspects of the franchise that fans loved were changed.

 

[twistedsymphony]

Reserved...

 

[NiGHTS]

Great post!

Love me some Vitual-On! I have the Saturn version and the DC sequel. No idea why it never really caught on. Great game all around. Would pick up the arcade version in a second if a one popped up close to me and was reasonable.

 

[Shoegaze]

Great post.

Are you aware of any high-res scans or repro art available for the US VOOM cab? I just picked one of these up and the artwork is in pretty rough shape, figured I'd see if anyone else has already tackled the art before I reinvent the wheel.

 

[twistedsymphony]

Great post.

Are you aware of any high-res scans or repro art available for the US VOOM cab? I just picked one of these up and the artwork is in pretty rough shape, figured I'd see if anyone else has already tackled the art before I reinvent the wheel.

Arcade Fix-It (aka Mylstar here on KLOV) actually has most of the NOS cabinet art for sale: http://arcadefixit.com/category.sc?categoryId=167

I and another KLOVer bought the last NOS side-art sets, HOWEVER I did scan them (they'll need to be merged and cleaned up) I haven't installed mine yet as I'll hopefully be swapping to the VOOT side-art at some point and wont need to use them (getting scans of that art has proved to be extremely difficult though). If you're interested in the scans send me a PM and I'll send you the files.

The Virtual-On logo for the back of the seat I snagged the last NOS art too, I had that scanned and sent them to RedicRick to make repos, so you could probably contact him and have one or two of those made. The stuff I had Rick make was slightly different than the original. the original logo sticker is inkjet printed on a clear sticker Rick used a white vinyl base and printed the colored sections on top of it. Rick's actually looks WAY better than the original art because the colors are more pure and crisp also the outline is perfectly cut where as the original had a clear sticker "border" around the whole logo. I like Rick's much better but if you're going for restoration accuracy then it's important to know the difference.

 

[Shoegaze]

Fantastic information, thanks a ton.

I had actually checked Mylstar's site and only saw the (sold out) side art... didn't think to search for "Virtua" On. It looks like a NOS seatback and replacement headrest is going to cost more than the entire machine set me back, but I guess you have to pay to play.

I'll definitely drop you a line about those artwork scans, and I'd be happy to take responsibility for stitching them together and touching them up.

Since it looks like you're pretty deep into your restoration, is there anything else I should be mindful of beyond the artwork? Maintenance, known trouble spots, stuff like that? It's almost amazing how little info there is on there, your restore thread and MasterFygar's are just about the only resources I've been able to turn up.

 

[yaggy]

It brings a man-tear to my eye to see so much work go into a klov post. This is awesome. It's a shame these machines are being junked like crazy. At auctions, nobody will take them for $10, perfectly working, unless they are planning to strip them for parts.

 

[twistedsymphony]

I had actually checked Mylstar's site and only saw the (sold out) side art... didn't think to search for "Virtua" On. It looks like a NOS seatback and replacement headrest is going to cost more than the entire machine set me back, but I guess you have to pay to play.

Yeah the plastics seem to be the the hardest part to find in good condition... thankfully mine are all in really nice shape. there's a bit of yellowing that I hope to fix up with some retr0brite at some point but there are no cracks or other significant damage. I know MasterFygar has been looking for some replacement plastics and been mostly unsuccessful.

I recently discovered that WingWars uses the same seat design, and I believe there are a couple of other Sega cabs that used a similarly shaped seat. The side plastics are also shared with a couple of other Sega machines. The hoods overhead are unique to OMG though so those are the most difficult to find or replace. I've seen them pop up for sale on CL and eBay on rare occasion but they're so huge it would cost you a couple hundred bucks just to ship them so your only chance is to find replacements in a local part-out. The divider between the two halves is also missing a lot of the time as a lot of ops neglected to install it and then end up selling the machine without and trashing the part at some point. I've never seen one for sale separate from the machine.

Just about all of the other parts are shared with other Sega machines so there's not too much else that's too difficult to find.

Since it looks like you're pretty deep into your restoration, is there anything else I should be mindful of beyond the artwork? Maintenance, known trouble spots, stuff like that? It's almost amazing how little info there is on there, your restore thread and MasterFygar's are just about the only resources I've been able to turn up.

I see a lot of these machines with broken twin sticks but the twin sticks are super-rugged and most of the time if they seem broken it's really only some of the parts coming loose. I highly recommend disassembling the sticks, cleaning everything then re-assembling with grease and loctite in the appropriate locations, if anything DOES break on the OMG sticks then it's typically the trigger/turbo buttons/grips and you can still get NOS replacements from Sega or Happ. I have an exploded view of the sticks along with all the part numbers in my build thread (I believe I also listed the grease I recommend for the sticks).

Another problem area are the speakers, specifically the sub-woffer under the seat. on my machine the mid-range speakers on the sides of the monitor were all rotted out and the subwoofers were completely dead.. rotted and frozen/not moving at all . I found proper replacement mid-range speakers and listed the part number in my build thread, but the sub-woofers I'm still trying to find a replacement for. I bought a set of used subs from a Sega Rally cab (most of the sega twin unit games from this era used all the same subwoofers) but those were rotted too.... at least they were frozen though. I replaced the cushion on one of them and that seems to work ok but I'm debating building my own sub woofer box and mounting a completely different driver in it because the original stuff isn't that all high quality anyway :-/


You might also want to check out oratan.com it's a very small community of very dedicated Virtual-On enthusiasts. very few of them actually own any of these machines. I think there are only one or two people there who own cabs and AREN'T here on KLOV but they're are a few who own the PCBs and have bought genunine arcade controls to build at-home setups to play the game.

With the recent hd-re-releases of VOOT and Force both which offer online multiplayer most of them game on those platforms simply because they're able to find opponents online that they can compete against.

It brings a man-tear to my eye to see so much work go into a klov post. This is awesome. It's a shame these machines are being junked like crazy. At auctions, nobody will take them for $10, perfectly working, unless they are planning to strip them for parts.

I'm glad you appreciate the post. I've accumulated so much information on these machines over the years and it's hard enough to find good info that I figured it'd be worth making a brain dump about it and hopefully encourage some people to give these awesome games a second look.

It is a shame that these machines don't get much love but I kind of understand why it's not too popular.... it's a fighting game and with a few exceptions that community usually moves on quickly to the latest and greatest, it's an early 3D era game which is pretty low in terms of long-term popularity, and it's a huge machine for something that's "just a fighting game".

VOOT solves the graphical issues and adds a lot of depth to the game, but they didn't bring it state side because it was TOO much depth for an American arcade machine. I feel like the late 90s Japan started adding a lot of complexities to their arcade games and just assumed the American market wouldn't spend the time to figure it out :-/

 

[Shoegaze]

I just found my cab on Oratan! I wonder if that's where the KLOVer I bought it from originally got it or if it's changed hands a few times since then.

 

[ArcadeDanger]

I played Virtual-On back in while visiting my brother at college in upstate NY. Was a lot of fun and looked great, if I had the space I'd add a pair to the collection.

 

[twistedsymphony]

I played Virtual-On back in while visiting my brother at college in upstate NY. Was a lot of fun and looked great, if I had the space I'd add a pair to the collection.

He didn't go to RPI did he? That's where I go my degree, and there was a Virtual-On twin in the student union building that I used to play... that's where I was first introduced to the series.

 

[ArcadeDanger]

Close, Cornell student cafeteria/rec room building.

 

[Shou]

VOOT solves the graphical issues and adds a lot of depth to the game, but they didn't bring it state side because it was TOO much depth for an American arcade machine. I feel like the late 90s Japan started adding a lot of complexities to their arcade games and just assumed the American market wouldn't spend the time to figure it out :-/

The issue there was two-fold. Sega of America sales didn't understand the games so they couldn't pitch to media or distributors and the high cost of Model 3 titles meant that it just wouldn't sell very well. Just like VOOT, VF3tb had the same fate. As I am sure you already know, even today, most people don't understand the complexities (or rather how the simple controls make a very complex and enjoyable vs game).

 

[yaggy]

The issue there was two-fold. Sega of America sales didn't understand the games so they couldn't pitch to media or distributors and the high cost of Model 3 titles meant that it just wouldn't sell very well. Just like VOOT, VF3tb had the same fate. As I am sure you already, even today, most people don't understand the complexities (or rather how the simple controls make a very complex and enjoyable vs game).

I think operation gunbuster had a similar fate. It was amazing for anyone who gave it a chance and learned how to ace the controls, which were innovative. The guns were extremely reliable, even with two triggers, a kicker and a shaker. But unlike "rail" shooters, you now had to grab a joystick and worry about moving yourself around while also figuring out how to avoid being shot. This learning curve seemed to repel the casual (usa) player and translated to poor earnings.

The girl I dated back in 96 loved Virtua On, so it made it even more important for me to give it a chance and learn.

 

[Shou]

I think operation gunbuster had a similar fate. It was amazing for anyone who gave it a chance and learned how to ace the controls, which were innovative. The guns were extremely reliable, even with two triggers, a kicker and a shaker. But unlike "rail" shooters, you now had to grab a joystick and worry about moving yourself around while also figuring out how to avoid being shot. This learning curve seemed to repel the casual (usa) player and translated to poor earnings.

The girl I dated back in 96 loved Virtua On, so it made it even more important for me to give it a chance and learn.

I didn't play Gunbuster until recently but I found very refreshing and an interesting Japanese take on the FPS genre. I even made my own controller to play it at home.

 

[yaggy]

ha! that's gotta be just for gunbuster, then. taito/op thunderbolt gun? yeah, you'll want the stick with a thumb button for special weapon, the button near the muzzle is too inconvenient. the solo game is okay, but you really want to play against another player if possible, that is what made the game fun. i remember closing my arcade, hooking up an amp and big speakers and playing it for hours with friends. i also witnessed it induce an epileptic seizure once, when four college students were playing.

 

[Jeff M]

This post is awesome! Thanks for all the work you put into this. I've already read through it twice and it's killing me that my VO is still over at a friends house frying and freezing in his garage.