One year after the first tournament, Akira, Wolf, Pai, Jeffry, Kage, Jacky, Sarah, and defending champion Lau are invited to the World Fighting Tournament. They're joined by Shun-di, a master of drunken Kung-Fu who wants to prove he's more than an old geezer, and Lion Rafale, fighting for his freedom. Each fighter has his own unique style, from Pai's lightning-fast attacks to Jeffry's powerful slams.
Virtua Fighter is the home port of Sega's popular Model 2A arcade vs. fighter released in 1995 . Game modes include classic arcade mode, 2P vs mode, Expert mode (where the computer character progressively learns and counters players' technique), Ranking Mode (similar to Arcade, but at the end, a fighting style analysis is shown based on number of specials and time to knock down an opponent), Team Battle Mode (two teams composed of five fighters go against each other, the first to beat five characters being the winner) and Watch mode (allows choosing two fighters and then see them fighting). Both Virtua Fighter 2 and Virtua Fighter 2.1 modes are included.
Gameplay keeps the same style from the first game, adding more moves to each fighter's roll. Using a three-key layout (block, kick and punch, being possible to assign button combinations to the extra keys) the player is able to control their fighter, aiming to knock or push the opponent outside the rink inside the time limit. Combo moves range from the quickest, which require the player to press up to five buttons quickly, to strong moves that require more button presses along d-pad nudges to be successful.
While in comparison with the arcade version some parts took a hit on graphical quality (such as texture details and backgrounds), the game uses the Saturn High-Resolution mode and flowing 60-fps to bring the arcade experience home.