- Variable Geo
- Advanced Variable Geo
- Variable Geo II: The Bout of Cabalistic Goddess
- Advanced Variable Geo 2
After the first entry on the PC98, the Variable Geo series took two branching paths. The first was the Advanced V. G. series for consoles, which cleans up the adult content and refines the action for a more discerning audience. But a few months after, they also released Variable Geo II, a PC98 exclusive sequel. This keeps the nudity and humiliation scenes of the first game and adds some characters from its console spinoff but otherwise plays like its computer forebear.
One year passes after the conclusion of the first V.G. tournament. Kotoe Kashima – Reimi’s rival has announced she is going to host such an event of her own in order to prove to her that she’s the strongest (and prettiest) of them all, and so she (along with her fellow V.G. fighters) accepts the challenge. There’s still no story mode proper with voiced cutscenes – you just pick your favorite gal and make your way through a series of bouts until the ending. The VS mode also lacks the stage select and handicap options, but most importantly, the option of having a single match against a CPU opponent was also removed. Aside from the antagonist, more playable characters make an appearance – three from Advanced V.G. and another two exclusive to this game.
Ayako Yuuki
Ayako owns the SoTo dance club and is an avid rave dancer herself, which is apparent in her fighting style. Every single attack of hers has something to do with dancing, even her idle animation is that. Voiced by Noriko Azuma.
Erina “Elirin” Goldsmith
The only non-Japanese character in the roster, Erina was born and raised in Japan, bullied throughout her childhood by the Japanese kids for being a foreigner. Thus she developed some street fighting techniques of her own. Also a walking stereotype of an American woman as seen by the Japanese, right down to the bunny costume. Voiced by Yumiko Ogawa.
Satomi Yajima
Yuka’s friend and rival from the dojo, Satomi entered the competition in hopes of making money for a living and taking care of her severely ill brother after their parents died in a car accident. She can manipulate fire though her arms somehow. Voiced by Yuko Ohike.
Terumi Kannazuki
The first Kotoe’s bodyguard you face in the Normal Mode. Voiced by Ayako Miyamoto.
Yumiko Watanuki
The other Kotoe’s bodyguard. She uses a variety of Chinese martial arts and has a fashion sense that matches her fighting style. Voiced by Akiko Iwato.
The gameplay doesn’t differ much from its PC98 predecessor. Two action buttons, one for punching and the other for kicking, traditional SF2-style special move inputs and blocking by holding the directional button in the opposite direction – simple as that. The only difference are the “desperation attacks” carried over from the first console game. When the “V.G.” symbol under character’s stamina meter flashes, they can perform a powerful move that can overpower their opponent. If a player is able to pull it off with controls that are slightly less unresponsive, that is. And the control scheme on a keyboard is just as atrocious as in the previous game, so get that controller plugged in, you’re gonna need it. Also it’s quite baffling that fights start nearly instantly, something that’s not present in other games in the series – you can be easily thrown off guard while waiting for the usual telltale “Round One, Fight!” announcement.
When it comes to the audiovisual qualities, V.G. II doesn’t look and sound that much different from the first game. The FM soundtrack sounds just as neat, and with new characters there are new musical themes, but the PCM sound effects are still awful. Character designs look good as usual, courtesy of Mr. Kimura, but only on the static images in the menus or cutscenes. Their sprites move just slightly less choppy but there’s no great difference in the animation department. Well, unless you count even more exaggerated “jiggly movements” than before – the game credits list mentions two “breast tremble supervisors” – imagine employing two employees just to work on girls’ bosoms when your game is in dire need of good gameplay!
And V.G. II is not any different in terms of lewd stuff. In fact it’s quite the opposite – they cranked it up to eleven, giving each character three humiliation scenes that are even nastier than in the original V.G. Once again, developers provided an option to disable these cutscenes if you’re in a safe-for-work place or just don’t want images of humiliated women. In the end, Variable Geo II is more of the same with little changes to the formula or performance, and if you’re really looking for an all-girls fighting game, you’d better try entries with the Advanced moniker on the consoles, because this is where the series really shines.
