Games Beaten 2021 List:
1. Golden Axe II (GEN)
2. Time Crisis [Special Mode] (PS1)
3. Streets of Rage (GEN)
4. Time Crisis: Project Titan (PS1)
5. Rayman Origins (360)
6. Borderlands (360)
7. Streets of Rage 4 (Switch)*
8. King of Dragons (SNES)
9. Wild Guns (SNES)
10. Star Fox (SNES)
11. Guardian Heroes (SAT) [2x]*
12. World of Illusion (GEN)
13. Raiden Fighters Jet (360)
14. Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive (360)*
15. Streets of Rage 3 (GEN)
16. Street Fighter III: Third Strike (Xbox)*
17. Mushihimesama Futari (360)
18. Guwange (360)
19. Star Fox 64 (N64)*
20. Soul Calibur (DC)*
21. Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (GEN)
22. Xeno Crisis (GEN)
23. Galactic Attack (SAT)
24. Die Hard Arcade (SAT)
25. Luigi's Mansion (GC)
26. Steel Empire (GEN)
27. Virtua Cop (SAT)I originally played Virtua Cop back around the time of release, shortly after my childhood friend got his Saturn. He got the Saturn system with the "3 Free Games" promotion, so we put a lot of time into those pack-in games when hanging out. However, I haven't had the opportunity to revisit the game until recently. I'm a big fan of light gun games, so I was looking forward to spending some time with this one again.
The gameplay for Virtua Cop is pretty straight forward, as it's an on-rail light gun shooter developed by Sega's AM2 originally for arcades in 1994, and ported to the Sega Saturn in 1995. I believe this is one of the first 3D polygonal light gun games, with Virtua Cop appearing on the scene before House of the Dead or Time Crisis which had a similar graphical look.
The enemies in Virtua Cop have a green circular icon around them which fades to orange and then red, indicating how long you have before the enemy is going to start firing in your direction. You will also have to watch out for civilians, as they will appear roaming around in each level, and if you accidentally hit one, you will lose some of your health. Luckily though, the circular icon that appears over enemies will not appear on civilians, so this should help you distinguish the characters. There are also other weapon types to be found, usually hidden in boxes or creates through each level, including a shotgun or machine gun. The standard pistol only has six shots before you need to reload, so it's a plus to find one of the better weapons. Another nice feature, is that the game can be played in co-op mode with a friend. However, for this playthrough, I played in single player mode.
I think this game looks really good for the time of release. The 3D polygonal graphics in this game aged pretty well in comparison to other early 3D games at the time. And even though I never saw this game in the arcades back in the day (which is a shame), I can say that this looks to be a pretty accurate home port of the arcade game. The soundtrack is also pretty great in Virtua Cop, and I think both the introduction music and first stage music get the player pretty amped for some arcade action. The music composers on this project understood their assignment and gave us some great tunes here.
I'd also like to mention the Saturn Stunner. Sega's first party light gun for the console works extremely well and is very accurate. It's quite easy to calibrate the light gun so that it shoots accurately. The peripheral is a comfortable size too and doesn't feel too small. It really makes we wish Sega released their first party light gun for the Dreamcast here in the States, instead of leaving us with the shitty and inaccurate Mad Catz gun.
I have a few criticisms that I need to bring up too. The game is really short. I'm sure the port was rushed to get it out for the Saturn's launch, but it would've been nice if there was some additional levels or game modes here. For example, Time Crisis has the three stages found in the arcade, and a separate campaign with three additional stages, that are exclusive to the home console release. Another critique I have is that the boss fights are all pretty similar. It would've been cool if there was some variety in the design of the bosses, or in how you have to defeat the boss itself -- that would've been a nice way to switch up the gameplay.
Overall, while the game is quite short, Virtua Cop is a really fun game and I would recommend it to any fan of the genre. It's a good time in single player, but I think it'd be even better with a friend. I can't wait to play this one co-op with a buddy. Check it out if you haven't already!