VFX2 full game in English!?!?

[yellowlightman]

I wouldn't be suprised if Bandai release it. They've been release a lot of games lately that weren't originally released in America. For instance Inu Yasha, DBZ and Gundam Battle Assult 2. Neither of these have complete translations (especially Inu Yasha). The great thing is that they are selling them for cheap. I got each of these 3 at Target for $19. I've got VFX2 already that I play on PC (it looks better and runs better than on PS1) but I would still buy it again for $19 just to understand the story.

Thats a good point, but all the same since nothing has been announced through news circuits and all we have to go on is a release date that might or might not be old, I'm thinking it's doubtful it'll be released. Also consider that Inu Yasha, Dragonball Z and Gundam are all still on TV and popular, whereas Macross is not. It's not likely to sell very much at all, assuming it is released.

[13strikevalkyrie13]

so wait, vfx2 is really coming to america?

[Ladic]

I got the mod chip + installation for $60, so I'll be importing the new macross game, as soon as it comes out.

[TheLoneWolf]

Who told you that retailers have these things sitting in their stockrooms for a week before the release?!

You know, it actually helps to read a post before replying to it:

Anyways, this is just my experience from working at a music/dvd store, so I'm assuming the same practices apply to the video game industry.

I suppose proofreading couldn't hurt either.

Even when I used to work at Ames, we never got games before their street date, just music and games... again, the day before the street date.

I'm sorry, but that statement just doesn't make sense to me. Ames doesn't get games before the street date, but they *do* get games and music before the street date? I'm not trying to come off as the grammar police, but your misuse of punctuation and sentence order is very confusing.

Anyways, back to the topic. The English version of VFX2 was complete and was scheduled for release on Sept. 9th 1999. That date got pushed back to Sept. 18th, then to October 18th, November 18th, and so forth. By December, everyone had already assumed the worst. Finally, in April of 2000, Bandai officially cancelled the game. Bandai cited prior commitments to other games such as Digimon World and Countdown Vampires. However, rumors indicated that problems were legal in nature and that "far too many companies want a piece of the profit from this game, and no reasonable agreement could be reached between them."

Sources: AFM archives; IGN article 1 ; IGN article 2

My own comments on the matter: I don't believe Bandai's official statement is 100% true. Digimon World et al may have been extra work for Bandai, but VFX2 was already done, it's not like they had to spend any time coding it from scratch. Plus, Bandai is a corporate giant, but their official statement makes it sound like they are of limited resources. I think the legal mess was their biggest problem. Now, would Bandai go ahead and send the game into mass production before resolving the legal issue? Or, did the legal problems present themselves after the game went into mass production? As for any chance of a future release, Bandai would first have work out that long-standing legal mess.

[JB0]

Now, would Bandai go ahead and send the game into mass production before resolving the legal issue?  Or, did the legal problems present themselves after the game went into mass production?  As for any chance of a future release, Bandai would first have work out that long-standing legal mess.

The legal issues may HAVE reared their ugly head at the last minute.

As for resolving them, a lot's happened since '99-2k.

As I understand it, since then it's been established in court that Tatsunoko only holds rights to the original TV series animation.

So logically Harmony Gold can't play the license infringement card anymore since their licensor only holds rights to the original series animation(and just the animation, not the characters or mechs present in that animation).

...

Of course, they may've played the trademark card too. That's still on the table.

Edited September 16, 2003 by JB0

[Prime]

So logically Harmony Gold can't play the license infringement card anymore since their licensor only holds rights to the original series animation(and just the animation, not the characters or mechs present in that animation).

Logically maybe. But like logic has anything to do with these sorts of things

Edited September 16, 2003 by Prime

[mikeszekely]

Who told you that retailers have these things sitting in their stockrooms for a week before the release?!

You know, it actually helps to read a post before replying to it:

Anyways, this is just my experience from working at a music/dvd store, so I'm assuming the same practices apply to the video game industry.

I suppose proofreading couldn't hurt either.

Even when I used to work at Ames, we never got games before their street date, just music and games... again, the day before the street date.

I'm sorry, but that statement just doesn't make sense to me. Ames doesn't get games before the street date, but they *do* get games and music before the street date? I'm not trying to come off as the grammar police, but your misuse of punctuation and sentence order is very confusing.

Anyways, back to the topic. The English version of VFX2 was complete and was scheduled for release on Sept. 9th 1999. That date got pushed back to Sept. 18th, then to October 18th, November 18th, and so forth. By December, everyone had already assumed the worst. Finally, in April of 2000, Bandai officially cancelled the game. Bandai cited prior commitments to other games such as Digimon World and Countdown Vampires. However, rumors indicated that problems were legal in nature and that "far too many companies want a piece of the profit from this game, and no reasonable agreement could be reached between them."

Sources: AFM archives; IGN article 1 ; IGN article 2

My own comments on the matter: I don't believe Bandai's official statement is 100% true. Digimon World et al may have been extra work for Bandai, but VFX2 was already done, it's not like they had to spend any time coding it from scratch. Plus, Bandai is a corporate giant, but their official statement makes it sound like they are of limited resources. I think the legal mess was their biggest problem. Now, would Bandai go ahead and send the game into mass production before resolving the legal issue? Or, did the legal problems present themselves after the game went into mass production? As for any chance of a future release, Bandai would first have work out that long-standing legal mess.

Yeah, I meant that at Ames we got CDs and DVDs somtimes a day or two before the street date. Sorry, I got games on the brain.

Two weeks before the street date? At a music/DVD store? East coast or west? I'll ask my friend at Suncoast next time I see him, but I'm pretty sure they don't have anything sitting in their stock room for that long. But as I said, at Ames we sometimes got CDs or DVDs that had a Tuesday street date on our Monday morning truck. And at Gamestop, west coast stores get games on the street date, east coast stores get theirs that day or the day after. The only exceptions since I've been there were Vice City and Madden 2004, both of which we arrived in the store around 8:00pm the day before the street date, and we put those out for sale right away... in fact, we even stayed open late for them. So basically, if a game got canned the day before the street date, that's when we'd know at the store.

Well, you've got the nice IGN article that says that it was officially canned in April. But as I remember, it was supposed to be released on 1-8-00, and I was at the airport that day seeing off my gf at the time. Now, I was already pretty upset that I was going to be in a long distance relationship, so it was a double kick in the ass when I stopped at the EB in the air mall to pick up the game and they didn't have it. Maybe Bandai hadn't made an official announcement, but the sales guy definately told me that it was canceled.

I don't believe Bandai's statments completely either. I contacted Bandai to ask about the cancellation, and the response that I got was that they simply didn't feel that VF-X2 was quality enough to release in the US. Seemed odd to me that they'd cancel so late in the game, and now that I've read their official statement, it almost seems like they're changing their story.

I stand by my earlier speculation, though. I think the game could have been completed and ready to go. The delays in release were probably due to Bandai trying to sort things out with HG, before deciding that it just wouldn't work out. But, since the PSone is a dead system, they might figure that they can ship it and sell it now without much fuss from HG.

Yellowlightman, I don't think that VF-X2 would sell well, either, but don't write it off because of that. I don't know how other stores did, but at the Gamestop where I work, sales for DBZ were poor, Inu Yasha worse, and I think I bought the only copy we sold of Battle Assault 2. DBZ might be popular, but none of the Gundams aired on American TV seemed to enjoy the popularity that Wing did. I didn't even know that Inu Yasha was on American TV. I think that Bandai doesn't expect these games to be mega hits and sell well. I think they're just trying to make a quick buck on fans of the animes. If Bandai thinks that enough Macross fans and maybe some Robotech fans will buy VF-X2, especially if the game has already been produced.

[Pat Payne]

Two weeks before the street date?  At a music/DVD store?  East coast or west?  I'll ask my friend at Suncoast next time I see him, but I'm pretty sure they don't have anything sitting in their stock room for that long.

Well, I know I got the Cowboy Bebop Movie about two weeks before its street date at a Fred Meyer department/grocery store in Springfield, Oregon. I don't know if my local Suncoast (in Torrance, CA -- the Del Amo Mall) had it that early, but he told me they'd never release it before the street date, for fear of the studio embargoing future releases.

Edited September 23, 2003 by Pat Payne

[mikeszekely]

Two weeks before the street date?  At a music/DVD store?  East coast or west?  I'll ask my friend at Suncoast next time I see him, but I'm pretty sure they don't have anything sitting in their stock room for that long.

Well, I know I got the Cowboy Bebop Movie about two weeks before its street date at a Fred Meyer department/grocery store in Springfield, Oregon. I don't know if my local Suncoast (in Torrance, CA -- the Del Amo Mall) had it that early, but he told me they'd never release it before the street date, for fear of the studio embargoing future releases.

I don't know, maybe movies and CDs do get shipped early. But believe me on this one, a videogame can get canned the day before the street date, and we'd never see it in the store.

[JB0]

Two weeks before the street date?  At a music/DVD store?  East coast or west?  I'll ask my friend at Suncoast next time I see him, but I'm pretty sure they don't have anything sitting in their stock room for that long.

Well, I know I got the Cowboy Bebop Movie about two weeks before its street date at a Fred Meyer department/grocery store in Springfield, Oregon. I don't know if my local Suncoast (in Torrance, CA -- the Del Amo Mall) had it that early, but he told me they'd never release it before the street date, for fear of the studio embargoing future releases.

I don't know, maybe movies and CDs do get shipped early. But believe me on this one, a videogame can get canned the day before the street date, and we'd never see it in the store.

I remember a bunch of stores were selling Mortal Kombat early.

[mikeszekely]

Two weeks before the street date?  At a music/DVD store?  East coast or west?  I'll ask my friend at Suncoast next time I see him, but I'm pretty sure they don't have anything sitting in their stock room for that long.

Well, I know I got the Cowboy Bebop Movie about two weeks before its street date at a Fred Meyer department/grocery store in Springfield, Oregon. I don't know if my local Suncoast (in Torrance, CA -- the Del Amo Mall) had it that early, but he told me they'd never release it before the street date, for fear of the studio embargoing future releases.

I don't know, maybe movies and CDs do get shipped early. But believe me on this one, a videogame can get canned the day before the street date, and we'd never see it in the store.

I remember a bunch of stores were selling Mortal Kombat early.

Well, I wasn't working for Gamestop then. I'm just saying what the case is now.

Sometimes, we do get games early. An example is Madden 2004 was supposed to come out on a Tuesday, but we got it and started selling it at 8:00 on Monday night... not even a whole day early.

[JB0]

I remember a bunch of stores were selling Mortal Kombat early.

Well, I wasn't working for Gamestop then. I'm just saying what the case is now.

Not suprising, given Gamestop didn't exist when Mortal Kombat hit shelves.

[vanpang]

Just bought VF-X2 game, as it is in Japanese , I couldn't understand the mission objectives, anyone out there that could tell me where the get the transaltion ?

[mikeszekely]

http://dw.com.com/redir?asid=197819&astid=...ross_vf_x_2.txt

[Bucketrider]

check this out for you ps2-philes:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/choujik...ew_6076093.html

Hooray! just have to wait and see...

[Graham]

check this out for you ps2-philes:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/choujik...ew_6076093.html

Hooray! just have to wait and see...

Old news. There is a 14 page pinned topic at the top of this forum devoted to this already.

Graham

[Lightning]

anybody know where i can download the .rom or .iso file (i'm an emulator noobie) for VFX-2? (i keep getting those "Vote here for the top.." sites and i cant find what i'm looking for)

L06

[Prime]

anybody know where i can download the .rom or .iso file (i'm an emulator noobie) for VFX-2? (i keep getting those "Vote here for the top.." sites and i cant find what i'm looking for)

L06

Try one of the IMacross servers (if any are still up). That's where I got mine...

[Dangaioh]

Unfortunately the game was supposed to be out as of Jan 2000, and is now so far banned thanks to HG's meddling (I should say awakening, it was about this time that they shown interest again, for dissappearing on us on the first place)... how should I know, I used to work at Electronics Boutique and made tons of presell on this game alone to Robotech fans, including myself (fully paid).

It was not until I heard about the complaint of HG that made the game non-existent.

In the summer of 1999, the 2 issues of Official U.S. Playstation announced it's arrival to U.S. One issue had the edited beginning CG movies, the only things missing from the movie were the game's gameplay sequences. The second part of the game was a complete first level w/a fight against the "Ghost controlled by Apple. Also on the demo CD were small amounts of screen shots of certain Valk's for the game.