Story time I guess? This was another game that was part of my Sega Saturn memories growing up. It was popular with me and the siblings but we never played it as much as Virtua Fighter 2, Sonic R and Daytona USA usually be more popular than this game. I mean it’s fun but I think it was a tad difficult to play, I don’t really remember much. Either way, had to resort to emulation since the disc was cracked and unplayable so, here’s Virtua Cop for the Sega Saturn… on emulation. 

Story : 8

From the manual, but shortened. The story of an underground arms business ran by a mysterious, powerful crime syndicate. As two of the finest cops (deployed by the special task force to shut down the arms distribution, you go around the city (Virtua City, original) fighting thugs and and armed smugglers to seize the weapons and disband the syndicate. 

The story itself feels like it’s overused but when this game came out I’m not sure if it is an original plot or isn’t as used as much. Pretty decent story to help you understand what the game is about. 

Overall it’s a 8 out of 10. Doesn’t feel tacky for its time. 

Graphics : 8

For a Sega Saturn game, the graphics look great. It’s a really good port of the game with some downgrades of course. The resolution is less refined and letters are a bit blurry when compared to the arcade. The start up “attract mode” stays faithful to the arcade with the intro. The intro uses the ingame engine and the polygons aren’t bad to look at, not at all. Some pixelization and some parts of the models pop through like any older 3D titles (like skin popping over the white shirt or arm going through an object. That kind of pop). 

When staying on the screen longer it’ll show a fmv which is pretty neat, low resolution but they tried. 

The stages are decent size and very well made for the Saturn. Some objects are also breakable which is nice from a red barrel to explode and some crates to bust open. Heck even windows break when they get shot at. That’s pretty cool for an early 3D game. Even the frame rate is pretty good for the game. I’m not sure if it’s a full 60fps or 30fps but the transitioning in the stages isn’t lanky or anything. 

Overall this port is well made and shows the power of the Sega Saturn in 1995. It honestly surprised me in this department. 

It’s an 8 out of 10

Sound : 9

The music itself, excellent. The sound effects, great, the gun sounds, good. Any negatives? No none at all. 

The music is one of the best parts of the game. It shouldn’t be good for an arcade gun game,  but Sega had other plans and thought “well, let’s make this soundtrack lit.” From the intro using a more mellow tone to the stages having a more energetic techno feel and pumping rock music. They’re bangers I tell you. 

The sound effects are pretty good also. Not much compression and they have some good quality. From the gun sounds to explosions and enemy grunts, the sound is pretty good and it makes me wonder how some games just sound so compressed when games like this don’t have that issue. 

The sound rating is a really good 9 out of 10. 

Difficulty : 8

This game isn’t easy one bit. It tricks you on beginner where you think “oh game is a bit easy” but as you go farther along, you need lightning reflexes and great accuracy to get through the stages. Heck I took me 5 tries (continues and game overs) to beat stage one and to make the game more difficult, the lives and continues carry over to the next stage you choose. The game won’t slow down and enemies sometimes will shoot immediately if you’re not quick enough. To know when they’re shooting they have a circle on them and once it goes from green to red, they will shoot so take them out before the pull the trigger. One last thing is enemies that come up close and hit you with an axe and enemies far that throw grenades. If not quick enough the axe wielders will take a life away with one swift swipe. Grenade throwers, if not fast enough they will throw a grenade and you have to shoot the grenade before it hits you or it’ll also reduce your life by one.

Hostages are present in the game also as obstacles. One shot at them makes you lose a life so you do have to aim carefully when around them and the enemies. 

Overall this game is pretty difficult but for reasons. You can change the settings on the menu to ease up things but I kept everything on default. One little issue I had is it took me five minutes to find out how to reload until I watched the attract mode of the game and it says to press the corresponding button twice to reload. I don’t know why twice but that was pretty helpful. Always watch the intro people!

It’s an 8 out of 10. 

Depth : 6

The game doesn’t have much depth. It’s a rather short game with three stages, and a limited amount of continues and lives (can be changed in settings). With the stages are the following : Beginner being the warehouse, medium being a junkyard or construction site area and with expert being an office building where the kingpin is located at. 

Starting the game you’ll be presented with two game modes. Arcade mode where you go through the three stages at any order you want. There’s also a training mode with fun mini games like shooting a specific amount of targets with accuracy being at or above the target range at an allotted time. It’s a decent leisure time to get away from the arcade. 

The arcade you start off with a handgun and a scoreboard. Health is represented by 5 hearts that look like playing cards at the bottom. Default setting you start off with 5 continues once your lives are gone and I think that’s fair if trying to challenge yourself without too much stress. The more you shoot without getting hit the more a gauge underneath the score increases, which grants a higher score with multipliers. One hit decreases your multipliers until it goes back down to one, so be careful if you’re trying to aim for a high score. 

After completing one stage you have an option to choose the next of the two remaining stages, with everything carried over to give a bit of an arcade experience and a challenge. Pretty neat but it makes up for the short gameplay this game offers. 

Depth is a 6 out of 10. The game is pretty good but being short and lack of content causes it to fall short of its mark. 

Addictive : 8

The game is pretty addicting I’m not gonna lie. I had a blast playing the game and just doing what I can to go far without losing all my continues. Sega really nailed the game with the gameplay and mechanics and this being a port to the arcade I say it’s pretty faithful to it, for the most part. Honestly I recommend playing this game of into rail gun arcades. 

An 8 out of 10. 


The game was a lot more enjoyable than I remembered in my childhood, well what I can remember since I haven’t played it much in my youth. Playing it now I don’t know why I never played it as much back then. The game is pretty good, the gameplay is smooth, the graphics look clean for a Saturn. The soundtrack is a banger out of everything, almost to where if I wanted to, I would definitely add to a playlist. This game is worth a try if you have the chance, it’s truly a gem of its time for the Saturn console. 

My rating : 9/10

Review rating : 7.8/10