Virtual-on Force

Mechanics

Winning/losing

A team wins if the opposite teams leader is destroyed or the time runs out while the team has the most total health. You get a "Perfect" if both enemy VRs were destroyed.

Locking on:

Jumping lock-on happens either at the top height of a jump or once you land from a canceled jump. This means that if you air dash in the middle of a jump you wont rotate. You can still air dash from the top height though. You also always end up facing the opponent, unlike in VOOT where if you make a short jump cancel you might not have time to turn enough because the lock-on happens during the jump.

You will also lock-on automatically when you get back up from a knockdown. Pay attention while you're down so you can switch targets if necessary.

Most VRs have an attack that if hits will disable lockon by jumping, if this happens the target VR gets visual noise and a noticable sound. This also happens to both players of a team if an enemy VR that is not the leader is destroyed.

If you finish off the secondary enemy VR with a dash attack you will start rotating towards the leader during the dash.

Switching targets:

You can switch the enemy you want to target by pushing both turbos, this will not cancel a dash. You can do it any time as long as you aren't attacking or in the middle of jump lock-on? You can also set a separate button for this in the port.

On the HUD double attack means that both players in your team are targeting the same enemy. Lock-on alert blinks when you are being targeted by both enemies.

To shoot projectiles in melee range you can just switch targets and attack. If you want to do a turbo attack you can attack and switch targets at the same time.

Rescue dash:

Pushing the "special" button will make you dash at your teammate and make a distinguishable sound. You can do it from the ground and the air. This depletes all your weapon gauges but you can always do it as long as you have health left. Once you reach your teammate the teams health will be balanced out with the same total amount as before. If you push the button when you are right next to your teammate your weapon gauges wont be depleted. Angelan SH can also redistribute health with her TCW.

If your teammate is corrupted/destroyed you will also revive him. However, you can also revive a teammate and balance the health just by moving inside the circle he is in, making you keep your weapon gauges. So if you can get into the circle fairly safely it's a better idea not to use the rescue dash.

You and your teammate get momentary invulnerability if one is revived.

VR states, weapon disables

blue glow: stunned
grey particles: jump lock-on disabled
white circle: invulnerability (angelan MH TCW, specineff TLW)
transparency (blinking): invulnerability
transparency (pixellated): VR with stealth ability isn't attacking/dashing
large white circle, knocked down: corrupted, revivable

A red X and skull over a weapon means that its projectile attacks are disabled, yellow means that melee is disabled.

Various projectiles can also get stuck on a VR, slowing down movement and/or causing damage.

Angelan WH's TCW removes all status ailments from her teammate.

Air dashing:

The length of an air dash depends on how high you jump. If you air dash before you reach the apex of a jump you wont rotate towards the enemy you have as your target.

Turbo attacks:

Both turbos make the same attack variant if combined with an attack, unlike in oratan where you had left turbo (LT) and right turbo (RT) variants.

Crouch attacks:

You can do crouching attacks if you keep holding the crouch input, unlike in VOOT where you need to give the crouch input and attack at the same time. Looks like you cant do any crouch attacks quickly after landing from a jump? 

There are no crouch dashing or crouching melee attacks, but some melee attack variants make VRs crouch while attacking. There are no crouching turbo attacks apart from some VR-specific special attacks.

You can't do sliding(moving crouch) attacks if you're in range 120 from an enemy. You will stop moving because you'll start blocking with the crouch input. You can only do sliding attacks if you are moving to the left or right.

Quick Step attacks:

Quickstepping is now much easier to do, but you cant do it without attacking. Just move left or right while doing a melee attack without turbo and you will rotate around the enemy (yeah, no quicksteps that go forwards/backwards) You can cancel the attack and quickstep by blocking. You can also combo quickstep turbo attacks by inputting them after a normal quickstep attack.

You can do quickstep turbo attacks from a guard with the following technique:
1. hold guard (the animation must be finished), a turbo button and a direction
2. release guard and push an attack button at the same time

Quickstep turbo attacks have more time to be cancelled (with guard, dash, etc.) compared to stationary ones.

Uppercut melee:

Moving backwards from the enemy while triggering any melee attack will make you do an uppercut attack. This attack makes you rotate towards the opponent much less than the jump melee attack.

Blocking/Guarding: 

You can always block with the crouch input as long as there is an enemy close to you (range is 120) and you block melee attacks from all directions. Turbo melee attacks go through the guard.

If you block an enemy melee attack and push an attack button quickly afterwards you will do a guard reversal attack similar to the blocking attacks in VOOT. If you move while doing it you will strafe. You don't need to be targeting the enemy to do this.

Watari Dashing:

Watari dashing (switching directions in the middle of a dash, also changes attacks) is much slower than in VOOT and if you start an air dash from a short jump you might not even have time to start switching directions.

Dash and landing freezes:

Dashing attack freezes are shorter than in VOOT (in comparison to the speed of the game) and there is pretty much no freeze from landing unless you have attacked while being in the air. This means that doing ground dash attacks off of platforms is beneficial; the attack animation gets skipped and you will land without a freeze time.


Unlockables (xbox360 ver.)

Unlocking Virtuaroids

You unlock virtuaroids in the port by completing missions in mission mode. After each mission you will unlock one or more "cards" with a star rank attached to it. The higher the rank the rarer the card, and you are more likely to get higher rank cards on the later missions. If it says NEW on the top right, it's a new virtuaroid. Otherwise it's a color scheme for one you already have. 

All virtuaroids apart from the Kagekiyo series, Guarayakha, Temjin 707J+, 10/80adv, Apharmd "the hatter" and Jaguarandi have "commander" variants which play exactly the same (apart from Bal-series and Temjin 707J/c) but look different from the main variant, and are considered separate VRs. The commander types are all pretty rare unlocks. For the Bal Series these are the female variants, for Angelan and Fei-Yen a + is added to the end of the name and for Specineff and Myzr they are called Type-R. For all others the name just ends with /c, meaning commander.

Two new VRs that weren't in the arcade version were added to the port: Apharmd the hatter and Jaguarandi. The Jaguarandi is the one Guarayakha can transform into. You can't use him in versus mode.

Color schemes

Each VR has 12 color schemes in total. In mission mode you will unlock a color scheme for the VR you are using every time you beat a mission. It is displayed as a card like the VRs you unlock, but it never says NEW in the top right. Once you have the 11 color schemes from the cards you will still keep getting a card with the VR you are using. Once you've unlocked most of the VRs you can get color schemes for VRs you didn't use in the mission.

All of the color schemes are received through cards in mission mode like the VRs apart from the 12th, a shadow VR color scheme you unlock for reaching 101% sync ratio with the VR.

There are no custom color scheme options like the ones VOOT MSBS 5.45 and 5.66 had.

EX option points

You can get more EX option points by beating missions or arcade mode and collecting the crystals that randomly appear in both modes.

AI points

AI points are unlocked by getting wins with the AI in arcade or mission mode, beating missions or arcade mode and collecting the discs that randomly appear in both modes.


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--Tutorial 1: Basics--
a. Just move forward/back/left/right 3 times. The numbers will go down as you do them.
b. Dash in the 4 directions 3 times each.
c. Jump and Jump Cancel 2 times each (you can get them both at the same time).
d. Shoot RW, LW and CW 2 times each.
End: Win the battle.

--Tutorial 2: Shooting--
a. Shoot TRW, TLW and TCW 2 times each.
b. Perform Dash RW, LW and CW 2 times each (any direction).
c. Perform Jump RW, LW and CW 2 times each.
End: Win the battle.

--Tutorial 3: More Dashing--
a. Air Dash in the 4 directions 2 times each.
b. Perform Air Dash RW, LW and CW 2 times each (any direction).
c. "Vertical Turn" (Watari Dash) 5 times. Change direction during a dash.
End: Win the battle.

--Tutorial 4: Rotation--
a. Rotate left and right 2 times each.
b. Rotate left and right while dashing 2 times each. Make sure you let go of the movement stick while dashing if not playing 'twin' style.
End: Win the battle.

--Tutorial 5: Melee 1--
a. Get into melee range.
b. Perform RW, LW and CW melee 3 times each.
c. Guard against two attacks.
d. Perform Quick Step RW, LW and CW melee 2 times each.
End: Win the battle.

--Tutorial 6: Melee 2--
a. Perform Dash RW, LW and CW melee 2 times each. Dash straight towards enemy, when in melee range, pull back on the movement stick then attack.
b. Perform Jump melee 2 times (Jump + Any weapon at the same time, in melee range).
c. Perform Uppercut 2 times (pull back on the movement stick + any weapon in melee range).
d. Perform TRW, TLW and TCW melee 2 times each.
End: Win the battle.

--Tutorial 7: Targeting--
a. Change target 2 times.
b. Win the battle.

--Tutorial 8: Rescue Dash--
a. Perform Rescue Dash 2 times.
b. Win the battle.

--Tutorial 9: Advanced Techniques--
a. Dash then Jump then Jump Cancel 2 times.
b. Dash attack then Jump 2 times.
c. Guard Cancel a melee attack 2 times. The melee must hit before you cancel with Guard.
d. Cancel a Ground Dash Attack by falling off a raised platform 2 times. The 'bullet' must come out before canceling.
e. Melee, then Melee while rotating 2 times. You can hold the rotation after the input for the first melee, then press the 2nd melee. To make it easier, start with pressing either LW or RW, hold Rotate, then press the opposite Weapon button. 
f. Follow a Quick Step Melee combo with a Turbo Melee 2 times.
g. Perform Quick Step Turbo Melee 2 times.

You can do quickstep turbo attacks from a guard with the following technique:
1. hold guard (the animation must be finished), a turbo button and a direction
2. release guard and push an attack button at the same time

h. Dash, Rotate, Shoot 5 times. How I did it: Ground dash and keep holding Turbo. Rotate in the direction of your target a little, then press Guard and Attack. This is the one that gave me the most trouble--someone more experienced may be able to explain it better.
End: Win the battle.

--Tutorial 10--
a. Just win.