Virtua Fighter buying advice for a veteran noobie

II_DeLo_II

New member
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Connecticut
5 years ago I had big expectations for starting a collection after buying my new home (the parents weren't very fond of me bringing home stand-ups). Needless to say, home improvement, a wife and a child got in the way and I had to put my collection on hold.

Fast-forward to today, I just found a Virtua Fighter (a game I've always wanted) on CL in good condition asking $525 OBO. The art work appears original.

I've been out of the game for a while, does anyone have any advice on what to look for should I go to view it and what a fair price might be? Or any advice overall?

Thanks for the help.
 
Other than the board working... A solid monitor is a good thing to look for on it. The med-res ones they use are expensive to replace and are less-common.
 
virtua fighter 1's are a dime a dozen and are the least popular installment of the VF series, and 3d fighting games in general. Paying anything more than $150 for a very nice clean working dedicated one is nuts.
 
For $525, I would expect an absolutely mint prime example of a Virtua Fighter that was home use only.

The VF model 1 board set can be had for $100 or less recently. A replacement power supply will run around $75.

The 25" Nanao MS8 dual mode monitor is a bit of a rare item to find. (although there are other mid-res monitors, they're less common and not always cheap). These more commonly are found in 27" size but the 25" are hard to come by. But its a solid performer and should still look pretty good if it was kept up. Tube burn in would probably be your issue here.

The screen printed mirror glass marquee is a sensitive item on this game so make sure that is in good condition and not peeling or damaged because a nice used one will be expensive.

Other than that, these cabinets are fairly common, I see them all the time, so make sure there is no wood damage, cracks, swelling anywhere on it for a asking price of $525. I saw a VF 1 go at auction last summer for $120 in "C" condition which is working, some monitor issues, some damage to artwork. (thats an auction price though, more like $200 resale) Even in "A" condition, I don't think I would expect it to go much higher than $400-450 resale, at auction it may reach $250-300. A good "B" condition might be worth around $250-300 resale.

Thats all my opinion though.
 
Paid less than $100 for mine. Hatted it, gutted it and multied it.
Terrible game to spend over $100 for. Gets boring extremely fast.

Saving the dual res monitor for future use.
 
Paid less than $100 for mine. Hatted it, gutted it and multied it.
Terrible game to spend over $100 for. Gets boring extremely fast.

Saving the dual res monitor for future use.

Its true! This game was a lot more fun when I was 13. I never play it now and have been thinking about swapping in a 25" VGA to make it a naomi cabinet with net boot. Its still a nice size/shape cabient.
 
If you want virtua fighter 1 I'd recommend getting virtua fighter remix. Sega re-released the game on the st-v hardware in like 95 ish. I'm sure someone who knows more about it could give you the differences but I don't think their are many.

The reason I recommend it is that the stv is straight jamma and runs off a standard res monitor. It is also a cartridge based system. Some of the other games that ran on it include cotton 2 and boomerang, die hard arcade, some baseball game, virtua fighters kids, radiant silvergun, etc.

Pretty much it just gives you some quick options for switching carts in the system or hell just the entire board since it is jamma.

Die hard arcade cabinets usually run pretty cheap(big plastic and heavy) and after that it is a kinda cheap stv card to switch to virtual fighter.

Anyway OP just some food for thought. I have a die hard with the virtua fighter cart although it usually isn't in it. I've seen someone selling a stv cabinet on here before that was stock a virtual fighter remix(only other stv cabinet I've seen other than die hard).
 
I have a soft spot for this game. It was the first 3D fighter and shaped the foundation for every 3D fighting game since. With that said, I can admit it hasn't aged well. Unlike, say, part 2. If you think 2 is a horrible game now days, you're a philistine.

I got my very routed, very average dedicated VF1 unit for about 100 at an auction in the mid 2K's, where no one wanted it and I jumped the gun by 50 bucks too much to win it. There are two big money elements to a VF1 you need to consider when buying one:

1) The side/CP art: Replacement CP/Side Art is non-existent. NOS seems to be damned near impossible to locate for some reason.

It's one of those NOS art packages that everyone could swear they've seen a dozen replacement CP art sheets laying around somewhere...but it winds up being for VF2, 3 or 4. If it isn't rare, then it has an uncanny way of not appearing when I am looking for it.

There's a mirror material associated with this art as well, which may explain why no one is repro'ing it (other than low demand).

This was a huge bummer when I first got my VF1, because I planned on completely stripping and refurbishing the thing (as well as finding a way to swap between 1 and 2)...but now it is just all about keeping the scratched up original artwork as unmolested as possible.

2) The monitor. Self explanatory in that the game requires a Med. Res monitor.

The marquee and monitor bezel are a dime-a-dozen on eBay, since this game was typically converted to 2 or parted out. They are glass, however, which is cool...unless one falls on your face while moving the game (which happened to me).

The PCB is huge and is in a giant, heavy cage. Like the marquee/bezel, the PCB can be easily found...but weight is a major issue when shipping comes into play.

At 500+, it needs to be the best VF1 ever. Perfect side/CP art and a monitor that won't quit. Or Yu Suzuki's personal machine. There are just too many used/scratched up VF1's around to command anything close to 500.
 
There was one on Houston CL that sat for about a month at $150 with no takers a few months back. It was working and the cab looked to be in pretty good condition. It did have some slight discoloration at one of the corners of the monitor.
 
I have a soft spot for this game. It was the first 3D fighter and shaped the foundation for every 3D fighting game since. With that said, I can admit it hasn't aged well. Unlike, say, part 2. If you think 2 is a horrible game now days, you're a philistine.

I got my very routed, very average dedicated VF1 unit for about 100 at an auction in the mid 2K's, where no one wanted it and I jumped the gun by 50 bucks too much to win it. There are two big money elements to a VF1 you need to consider when buying one:

1) The side/CP art: Replacement CP/Side Art is non-existent. NOS seems to be damned near impossible to locate for some reason.

It's one of those NOS art packages that everyone could swear they've seen a dozen replacement CP art sheets laying around somewhere...but it winds up being for VF2, 3 or 4. If it isn't rare, then it has an uncanny way of not appearing when I am looking for it.

There's a mirror material associated with this art as well, which may explain why no one is repro'ing it (other than low demand).

This was a huge bummer when I first got my VF1, because I planned on completely stripping and refurbishing the thing (as well as finding a way to swap between 1 and 2)...but now it is just all about keeping the scratched up original artwork as unmolested as possible.

2) The monitor. Self explanatory in that the game requires a Med. Res monitor.

The marquee and monitor bezel are a dime-a-dozen on eBay, since this game was typically converted to 2 or parted out. They are glass, however, which is cool...unless one falls on your face while moving the game (which happened to me).

The PCB is huge and is in a giant, heavy cage. Like the marquee/bezel, the PCB can be easily found...but weight is a major issue when shipping comes into play.

At 500+, it needs to be the best VF1 ever. Perfect side/CP art and a monitor that won't quit. Or Yu Suzuki's personal machine. There are just too many used/scratched up VF1's around to command anything close to 500.

Well said...
 
Well sosage have you played the remix of it? If the OP is getting back into the hobby I'm still thinking it is a good option. I just haven't played a 1 in a while(to be fair I haven't played the remix, my stv usually has die hard or cotton in it).

As long as it is pretty much the same(should be close) it means cga monitors and jamma vs a cabinet with a medium res monitor that model 1 and 2 stuff would work with(and model 3 I guess).
 
my opinion, get VF2 or later. VF1 is terrible. VF2 is pretty awesome, least I think it is. It is kind of like street fighter 2. the first iteration is way too slow, but SF2 turbo/championship edition holds up to this day and is fun as shit. guess if you don't really care about gameplay and just want the first 3d fighter then VF1 is the way to go, but if you want something fun to play then I can't recommend it.
 
Back
Top Bottom