The Legacy of Hidden Variable: V.G.

This episode of the Fighting Game Banter Podcast delves into the Variable Geo franchise, a significant player in the realm of female-based fighting games. We will discuss the history, development, and cultural impact of the series, highlighting its unique characters, gameplay mechanics, and the current state of female representation in fighting games. The conversation also touches on the franchise's transition from fighting games to visual novels, the challenges of censorship, and its presence in Fighting Game tournaments.

Some Links to events referenced in the episode:

• AVG2 Grand Finals Frosty Faustings 2023
• Variable Geo Release History
• The Top Ten Worst Games of 2025 so far
• XBOX release of Advance V.G. and Steam Hearts Cancelled

Additional references can be available on request.

Special thanks to our new editor J.M.  

For Guest Inquires, Q&A questions for future episodes, and concerns about errors I may have made with the information said in the podcast. Feel free to email me at jonisbrasko@gmail.com.

Thanks again for listening and I hope I made your day a little better.

Chapters

• 0:00 AVG2 Grand Finals: Frosty Faustings 2023
• 1:19 Introduction to Variable Geo Franchise
• 2:02 The Unique Concept of Fighting Waitresses
• 4:15 The Rivalry with Asuka 120% Burning Fest
• 6:11 Development and Legacy of Variable Geo
• 7:25 The Evolution of Variable Geo Games
• 12:41 Advanced Variable Geo 2 and Its Impact
• 16:13 Transition to Visual Novels
• 22:31 The Elephant in the Room about Female Led Fighting Games
• 25:11 Results May Vary: The Legacy of Variable Geo

Transcript

Jonathon Winger (00:01)
Picture this. It's the grand finals at Frosty Faustings 2023. Poco is down 0-2 to Maxed Out on Tournament Point. Each of them has won a round in the third match and Maxed Out is one round away from winning the whole thing. Then something incredible happens. Poco wins the next round to bring the score to 2-1. Then he wins the next five matches to reset the bracket and take the tournament.

The game that they're playing, most people have probably never heard of that listen to this podcast. But the franchise features an all-female cast that quietly changed fighting games forever. And no, I'm not talking about Strip Fighter 2, but a franchise that never had an arcade release. Never a release outside of Asia, but has become a side tournament staple in recent years.

I'm talking about the hidden Variable known as V.G. Good day to everyone. This is JonisBrasko with the Fighting Game Banter Podcast. Today's topic will be talking about the Variable Geo franchise. Probably the most successful female based fighting game franchise that never had an arcade release until the release of Skullgirls in 2012. It's

The name only sounds familiar if you've either seen either of OVAs or you downloaded character sprites from MUGEN But Variable Geo has become a tournament staple at most recent fighting game tournaments. Examples like Vortex Gallery, Frosty Fousing's, Evo Japan, Combo Breaker, and the Kansai Gaming Party. Now you may be asking what exactly is Variable Geo?

Well, like another fighting game that I mentioned earlier, it had six female fighters with various special moves. And they lost, there would be scenes of a somewhat risque nature. And for a lot of people, that's what the game is known for.

Now the original Variable, GEO, came out on July 9th in 1993 on the PC-9800. Most people just call it the PC-98. Now anyone who was living during 1993 knows the landscape of fighting games and fighting game characters primarily with male fighting game characters.

with maybe one or two females sprinkled in. Your Chun-Li your Mai Shiranui, your Katana or Melina.

But here was a fighting game that had six females. And the plot was actually kind of interesting. These were female fighters who doubled as waitresses for, certain restaurants. And if they win the tournament.

The restaurant owners would get a plot of anywhere in the world. While the waitresses themselves will become rich. And they get the title of Virgin Goddess, hence the name V.G. The main character of the series is one Yuka Takeuchi. She is your standard Shotokan fireball uppercut kick move character. What's iconic about her, is her outfit is based off of the popular Japanese restaurant chain

Anna Miller's. Now granted, we're talking 1993. If you want to go to an Anna Miller's restaurant now, you don't go to Japan, you go to Hawaii.

Well, all fighting games had stereotypes at this time. But in this case, instead of countries, it was types of waitresses. So you had your standard kind of host waitress, what Yuka could represent it. There was a character who represented a sports bar.

There was one who represented a traditional Japanese restaurant. And the main antagonist of the series, Reimi Jahana actually dressed more like a hostess at an upscale restaurant,

Jonathon Winger (04:19)
While not the first eroge fighting game, one... It's the one that most people are familiar with due to the longevity of the franchise. Remy finds pleasure in the humiliation of her opponents and that includes "provocative expressions of the characters. But if we were just talking about V.G being an eroge franchise, the story would probably just end there. But V.G. had something other...

eroge fighting games didn't have a really good rival. In March of 1994, FamilySoft released Asuka 120 % Burning Fest on

the Sharp X68000. This game also had six female fighters, but is considered to be the first non-eroge female-based fighting game. The story revolves around six high school girls who are trying to win funding for their respected clubs by competing in a fighting game tournament. To this day,

both the Asuka 120 % series and Variable Geo usually have their games together at side tournaments. So if you are at somewhere like Frosty Faustings or online with Vortex Gallery, if you see a Variable Geo tournament, you will probably see a Asuka 120 % tournament as well.

Jonathon Winger (05:50)
So these two have become frenemies over time and the people who play both games and go around in the same circles. So I feel that it was only prevalent that I mentioned that because it is rivals that make the games better.

Going back to Variable Geo, we should probably talk about the people who developed and published the game, Technical Group Laboratory Incorporated or TGL. Now TGL at the time had a subsidiary which we know now as Entergram And Giga was one of the brands under Entergram. Giga would be responsible for the PC or adult releases of the Variable Geo games, while TGL would be responsible for the console releases, which we will get to the console releases later because there's quite a few of them. Giga would be well known for the Baldr series of games, which some of those would actually, unlike Variable Geo games, get a release overseas into North America.

Giga would continue to make visual novels and adult games until they ceased operations in 2023. Now TGL and Entergram still exist today and Entergram does own the Variable Geo IP

Takahiro Kimura did the character designs not just for Variable Geo, but various other franchises such as Dirty Pair Flash, The King of Braves, SD Gundam Force, Marriage of God and Soul Godanner!! and of course, his most famous work, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.

He also did the character designs for the vertical shooter Steam Hearts, which was also developed by Giga. Sadly, Kimura would pass away on March 5th, 2023 at the age of 58.

The music was composed by Takehiro Yonemura, or CHEMOOL, his stage name. After Advanced Variable Geo 2, Yonemura would work with another visual novel company and eroge developer known as Leaf. Now for those who are people of culture, you may know them for franchises such as To Heart, Comic Party, Tears to Tiara, and AquaPazza: AquaPlus Dream Match.

The Advanced Variable Geo 2 opening theme used the song Endless Life by Masami Okui. In case you don't know who that is, she's famous for a little song called Rondo Revolution from Revolutionary Girl Utena. But she would actually do an original song called Kiss in the Dark as the opening theme from another fighting game called Eretzvaju, which in North America and Europe we know as Evil Zone.

But let's get back to the franchise, which really started to catch a stride around July of 1994 This game would be released in Japan on the PC Engine CD, which in North America and other places around the world was known as the TurboGrafx-CD Advance V.G would find its way onto the Sony PlayStation in 1996 and the Sega Saturn in 1997. They would bring the roster up to nine characters by adding three new ones. Satomi, which was Yuka's rival. Ayako Yuki, which was a featured dancer hostess at a nightclub. And Erina Goldsmith, your American "gentleman's" club bunny waitress. Ayako Yuki is important because she's the first openly LGBTQ+ character in fighting games. She's a lesbian that provides volunteer services to homeless as well as beat the crap out of rapists, stalkers, and muggers that harm women. Also, since she works at a techno club, her theme is of course similar to "Techno Syndrome" or the Mortal Kombat theme.

But even though Advanced came out on the PC Engine, and I mentioned some of those other consoles, the PC-98 was gonna have one more game.

Jonathon Winger (11:01)
V.G. II - The Bout of Cabalistic Goddess, would be released on the PC-98 in November of 1994. The original used four floppy disks, while V.G. II took seven 3.5 inch floppy disks in order to play. The three characters that I mentioned from Advanced V.G. are included in this game and they have their own special scenes as well. But there would be three new characters included. The main antagonist of this arc, Kotoe Kashima, along with her two bodyguards Termi and Yumiko. Now, Yumiko is the only character from this game that was introduced that would actually appear another Variable Geo game. The game was later retconned to not exist in the official Variable Geo storyline.

Jonathon Winger (11:55)
Even though I've mentioned those other consoles, there was one more that wanted to get in on the action as well. So on July 21st in 1995, Super Variable Geo would come out for the Super Famicom. It was basically completely stripped down version of Advanced V.G with no story mode, no boss characters, and of course, this is Nintendo, so no "scenes".

So while nine characters may not seem like a lot, it should be pointed out that at EVO 2025, the base rosters of MK1, Street Fighter VI, Guilty Gear Strive, City of the Wolves, and Tekken 8 had nine females or less on launch.

Now, before we get to Advanced V.G. 2, it should be pointed out that this franchise was popular enough to actually get a three episode OVA. The Variable Geo OVA would be released in three parts between 1996 and 1998 in Japan. In North America, ADV Films would actually get the rights in 1998. The OVA is loosely based on the Advanced V.G storyline. But ADV would release a DVD later on in 2003 that would be for the 10th anniversary of the Variable Geo franchise. It should be noted that both the VHS and DVD have English dubs. And at that time, that was the only Variable Geo media that had an English dub or was translated in English. Now, because this was a late ADV release, you can find it, but it's a little pricey. So if this is something you want to track down, expect to spend anywhere between $80 and $150 for a copy.

But now we're getting to the one that most people play. The bread and butter, the high point of the franchise, Advanced Variable Geo 2 for the original PlayStation. Now this was just a straight up fighting game. There are no scenes of "provocative expressions of the characters and was no nudity whatsoever. It's just a straight up fighting game and you get a new protagonist. Tamayo Mitsurugi. your Sakura, your Shingo, your I have the same thing as the first protagonist but smaller or not as strong. but the antagonist is Miranda, Reimi's mother, who was featured at the end of the first game, but not playable. Needless to say, the ending of Advanced Variable Geo 2 is the ending of the storyline.

But just because this was released on the PlayStation doesn't mean the 18 plus PC crowd was left out. V.G Custom was released on February 19th, 1999 for Windows PCs. It has the same cast from Super V.G, but with the upgraded graphical style of Advanced V.G. 2. Yes, those scenes of humiliation with full nudity return. And our protagonist, Tamayo Mitsurugi, is featured as a hidden character.

And finally, move on to the last actual Variable Geo fighting game, V.G. MAX, which was released in September of 1999. They bring back Yumiko Watanuki from V.G. II and in a super deformed style, much akin to Neo Geo fighting games on the Neo Geo Pocket.

But that would actually be the end of the fighting game aspect of the franchise. It would then shift more to a visual novel aspect, because that's what Giga did. And this start with V.G Adventure in 2000.

It's a text-based game, and the battles are done in kind of a rock-paper-scissors style. But if you want that true visual novel experience, then you gotta wait a year for V.G. Rebirth, which is the official V.G. visual novel game.

We can move on to the final part of the Variable Geo story, which is V.G. Neo. The thing with V.G. Neo is while it goes back to the story of being of happening during a fighting game tournament, it's not an actual fighting game. It is still a visual novel and it does feature a new cast with Yuka returning, but not quite Yuka. The game also brings back the "provocative scenes of humiliation. with the full nudity and a little bit more. enough more that it actually ends up getting its own three episode OVA H-Series in 2004, which is a little bit easier to find compared to the other Variable Geo OVA.

And that is the actual end of the Variable Geo games and franchises.

But I wouldn't be here if we didn't actually talk about how the game relates to the FGC. And while I mentioned at the beginning about the side tournaments, I should probably mention a little bit more if you want to actually get involved or watch matches.

Now, there is a gentleman named Nao who has won EVO Japan three straight years and has appeared in all four grand finals of Advanced Variable Geo 2. While in the United States, ChronoSanaki would win over GriffyBones in the grand finals of Frosty Faustings in January of 2025, and at Combo Breaker 2025 in May. ChronoSanaki plays Jun, which is your Olympic wrestling slash pro wrestling waitress. While GriffyBones is notorious for playing Kaori, which is your sports bar waitress. But obviously if I'm going to recommend a match, would be the one I talked about at the very beginning with Poco running six back against Max'd Out in Frosty Faustings 2023.

There is one more thing I'm going to mention, because I wouldn't be here otherwise. As stated, even though the games were released on the Sega Saturn, the PC Engine, the PlayStation, the Super Famicom, and PCs. None of those games would come out of Asia, until May of 2025. The Advanced Variable Geo Saturn Tribute will be released on May 29th, 2025 for the PlayStation 4, 5, Steam, and Nintendo Switch. You could also buy a version where it's bundled the Saturn version of Steam Hearts. Now, while it is not necessarily shipped to North America, it is the first opportunity for a lot of people to play a Variable Geo game legally. While none of the cutscenes are in English and none of the dialogue, the menus themselves are in English, which makes the game playable. Now granted, I didn't mention too much about the Saturn version. The Saturn version does have those "provocative expressions for the characters", however the Saturn version never had nudity. The nudity issues became with the PC Engine and of course the PC-98 versions and that one PC V.G. Custom.

I should also mention that if you were to order this game online, like through PlayAsia, this is not a sponsorship, this is just an easy way, because if you want the collector's edition, you can go through there. But if you don't want the collection and you want like the original PlayStation version of Advanced Variable Geo 2, expect to spend about anywhere from $35 to $65 US dollars. But if you actually have a old school PlayStation 3 and have access to the Japanese PlayStation Store, you can actually buy the PlayStation 1 classics version of Advanced Variable Geo and Advanced Variable Geo 2 for around 628 yen a piece. But if you have to have that hard copy, yeah, 100 to 150.

Needless to say, Variable Geo helped set the tone for female fighting game franchises like Dead or Alive and Skullgirls. And just like Variable Geo, DOA and Skullgirls have had to deal with censorship and editing of content for a wider audience. Skullgirls, recently in 2023, had to have a patch more than 10 years after the game was released to remove certain iconography, aspects of racism, or exploitative wardrobes of the characters. While the Dead or Alive franchise has actually gone the way of Variable Geo and has turned from a fighting game franchise into a visual novel franchise their latest game, Venus Vacation Prism, Dead or Alive Extreme, released in March of 2025. And even though that game wasn't released outside of Asia, I recently saw a video by Mojo Plays rating it one of the worst 10 games that have been released in the first half of 2025 due to the fact that literally only one character actually comes from the Dead or Alive fighting games. I find that amazing, but I also am not surprised that's where DOA is now.

In August of 2025, Street Fighter VI would release a preview of swimsuits for some of the female cast. And if there was such a thing as socially acceptable gooning, it occurred during Evo and then later on that week when the outfits were released.

If you want to see something different, if you want to see a female that's not being fetishized or anything like that, then go into Street Fighter VI, make a female fighting game character that's visually older, like 55 plus, a more wider body type and send it to developers and be like, hey, we want characters that aren't fetishized. We want characters that look more like actual women in real life.

I have constantly mentioned this line, "provocative expressions of the characters", the reason I'm saying that is because of City Connection. They're the ones who worked with Entergram to bring the Advanced Variable Geo Saturn collection to consoles and PC. Now, one console I did not mention was Xbox because Xbox did not want the graphical mode that featured the "provocative expressions of the characters". Even though in the menu, you can turn that off so that you don't even get to see the cutscenes, even though the cutscenes have no nudity or any additional images. So once again, Xbox missed out on something.

In Real Bout Special Dominant Mind, it features a new protagonist Alfred Airhawk that takes over for Terry. Now, because these games came out around the same time in 1998. Yuka and Alfred Airhawk actually get shipped together quite a bit online. Both safe and not safe for work images. Needless to say, I have no idea how this ship came to be. So if anyone has any information about it, I would like to know. Because that I think is the weirdest thing that I came across when I was doing research for this podcast.

If you are interested in the Variable Geo franchise, whether you want to play in a side tournament, you want to goon through some pixel art nudity, watching one of the best fighting game OVAs ever created or expand your person of culture status by watching a cheesy hentai about fighting waitresses. Either way, results may vary when you choose to interact with the Variable Geo franchise.

Jonathon Winger (26:27)
Thank you for listening to another tale of banter from the world of fighting games. I want to give a special welcome to our new editor, JM. My name is JonisBrasko, and this has been the Fighting Game Banter Podcast. Until the next tale appears, I look forward to hearing your banter about this one. Take care.