Variable Geo

Did You Know?

• Advanced V.G. 2 received competitive support from the fighting game community and was featured at Evo Japan 2020.
• Saturn Fan magazine in Japan gave Advanced V.G. a score of 4.4 out of 10.
• Writing in Viz Media's J-pop magazine, Ted Thomas reviewed Advanced V.G. and recommended against importing it.

Plot

Set in a near-future Japan, the games depict a martial arts tournament to determine the country's strongest woman. Sponsoring family restaurants receive promotion by having tournament entrants work as waitresses, leading to increased patronage. The winner earns the title Virgin Goddess, ten billion yen, and a house anywhere on Earth. Defeated competitors are forced to strip publicly, and may endure self-fondling, public masturbation, or rape, intended to teach the shame of defeat. Despite this, many women enter, placing their pride and dreams at stake.

Characters

Takahiro Kimura designed the characters for V.G. and V.G. II. Yuka Takeuchi is a karate practitioner from Tokyo who, after her parents died, was trained by her grandfather in karate and ki manipulation. She enters tournaments to test herself and befriends Chiho Masuda, Jun Kubota, and Satomi Yajima. She appears in V.G. Neo as Misty and in Otome Crisis. Chiho Masuda is a trained ninja who fled her family's clan to seek freedom, entering for prize money and real estate. Jun Kubota, a former Olympic wrestler ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct, joins to fight roughly but follows a personal honor code forbidding weapons. Manami Kusunoki, the youngest competitor at 16, acts immaturely but fights cleverly with childlike energy and imagination, entering solely for the cash prize. Kaori Yanase, a 19-year-old taekwondo-practicing computer technician, entered to test herself but was humiliated by Reimi Jahana in the final round; she now trains to defeat her, bearing no ill will. Reimi Jahana is also a character.

Media

A three-part anime OVA series based on the games was published by KSS, loosely following Advanced V.G.'s plot with changes: Miranda is dead and her spirit seeks a new host, Hybrids are absent, and matches have levels 1–5 with differing penalties. Japanese voice actors were changed. The first chapter released on November 29, 1996; the second on March 14, 1997; the last on June 27, 1997. ADV Films released it subtitled and dubbed on VHS in 1998, and on DVD in 2003. A 2004 OVA, V.G. NEO (English title Variable Geo Neo), animated by Milky Studios, is based on the 2003 visual novel and contains explicit content. Both OVAs were the only Variable Geo media released in English until 2025 with Advanced V.G. Saturn Tribute’s Nintendo Switch and Steam versions.

Gameplay

Variable Geo fighting games use a four-button layout (two-button in V.G. MAX), with two buttons each for punches and kicks of varying strength and speed. Special moves are performed via directional inputs plus a punch or kick button. Later games added a special meter, similar to Super Street Fighter II Turbo, that fills as damage is dealt or received, granting Energy stocks usable for enhanced super attacks; some moves require multiple stocks. Each fight begins with full health bars; the first fighter depleted loses. In single-player, defeating a CPU opponent yields a reward showing the loser in embarrassing or sexual situations, including rape. This feature appears in PC-98, Windows PC, and Sega Saturn versions of Advanced V.G. (toned down on Saturn) and can be disabled.