The Virtual-On Book thread

[Viper2]

...In which I post pictures of the various books that were released in Japan, and that could be interesting for the Virtual-On fan and/or modeller.

I'll give the title whenever I know it.

Sega Ages Vol. 32 (Operation Moon Gate):
Somewhat larger than A4-format book, includes poster, presents the mechs, and features screenshots/how-to-plays, background information, interviews, and Katoki's original line-art. Rather nice to have, one of the better books:

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Playstation MARZ guidebook (white cover showing Temjin):
B5-format or so... Explains how to play, presents the mechs, gives playthroughs, and gives some background information on merchandise and the story. Most pictures are kind of small:

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[Viper2]

Virtual On Schematic (Operation Moon Gate):
Between A4 and B5 format. This is essentially background information for Operation Moongate. There's some color computer art, but most of the book is text, giving the technical background for the mechs and the in-game world. The second part of the book covers the real-world background of Virtual-On, including interviews and overviews of the merchandise released in the early years of V-On. For the diehard fan only:

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Virtual On Perspective (Operation Moon Gate):
Table-top-style book. Gorgeous computer art of the various mechs, apparently straight from the CAD-program they used to design the mechs. A small bummer is that the technical information that they provide is about the drawings themselves, and not the actual mechs:

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And what absolutely sucks is that Jaguarandi and Z-Gradt get the following type of pages, with no images whatsoever:

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[Viper2]

Cyber Troopers Virtual-On MARZ Perfect Book:
Another small-format game guide. Presents the mechs, with nice big pictures, shows alternate color schemes, explains how to play, has play-throughs for all the levels, tells something about V-On's history in the back, and has a couple of interviews. Better value than the previous MARZ guide:

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[Viper2]

Wall of truth:
Table-top style book. Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram Bible. Has very nice CG art and gives background information. Shows details that no other VOOT book shows, and therefore is a must-have:

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[shamanic_beat]

Thanks for the pics! And you probably know this already, but the title for the VOOT book is Wall of Truth.

[Fredo]

I've been looking for scans and translations of the books One-Man Rescue and Fragmentary Passage, in vain.

Would anyone here have that ?

[Viper2]

MARZ guidebook #3 (blue and white cover):
Another B5 format book, with nicely large illustrations of the various mechs, playthroughs, level information, and my favourite feature of this book: a chart showing all of the different color schemes for all of the mechs together.

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[Viper2]

Operation Moongate book (group shot of the Virtuaroids on the cover):
B5-size book, with large CG illustrations of the Virtuaroids, good pictures of Z-Gradt, level information, and original art:

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[Viper2]

Matrix Collection
Together with Wall of Truth, THE set of Oratorio Tangram books to have. The Matrix books were first released separatedly, and later on in a nice hardcover case together with the One Man Rescue book. CG illustrations, and only that. They're partially different from Wall of Truth.

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The back of the books show the back of the mechs:

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[Viper2]

More Matrix Collection:

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[Viper2]

And to conclude for now, my personal all-time favourite VOOM book:
Virtuaroid Technical Manual
This book is great for a variety of reasons. It is the only book that is a true art-book that does not only show CG models. The drawings are great. It has pages explaining how the Virtuaroids work using cartoons. The presentation of each mech features machine-specific slogans.

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Double-sided poster:

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Yeah, that's a Virtuaroid cockpit:

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Some nice Apharmd art:

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Some of the art pages introducing the Virtuaroids. Each features some English text introducing the mech in question, including Jaguarandi and Z-Gradt:

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(yes, that's Dorkas' severed and destroyed head you're looking at:)

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Level information:

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[Viper2]

How to fight with Dorkas:

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...and Temjin:

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Just for fun, the list of Virtuaroid nicknames and introductory texts (including typos, comments between parentheses):

• Temjin, the Blue Lightning: Piercing through the flame, the invincible beam-sword makes the way for the winner!
  (interestingly, his beam-riffle has a blue barrel in the CG art...)
• Raiden, the Devastator: I am the power, I am the roaring thunder: Ye, the all-mighties under the heaven, heed my name and tremble with fear: For I am the ultimate terror in color of raven.
  (so Raiden is the actual Virtuaroid incarnation of the Japanese Thunder-God...?)
• Viper II, the Raptorial: When the scarlet wind blows, all the ground-dwellers will be shaken by fear: The wind never stops till it cries "She's lost control!"
  (art shows Viper II hovering in front of a big burning sun in a cross-like pose, above a burning field of devastation littered with bits of Raiden - AWESOME)
• Dorkas, the Fanged Tornado: Watch out for DORKAS and its phalanx! It'll be too late to regret after being toasted.
  (a bit blunt, fitting for Dorkas...)
• Belgdor, the Ammunition Eater: Here comes the destroyer dreessed in olive-green: There's no way to escape from its lock-on sight.
• Apharmd, the Supersonic Assassin: You need to be swift and persistent to survive the fierce combat: Are you trained enough? And, are you brave enough to bear the tremendous pressure of the battlefield? If you think you are, then try me.
• Fei-Yen, the Golden Valkyrie: Who said the soldier is not the occupation of the woman? This girl really knows the knack of fighting!
  (Gnaaah, kind of mysognistic... )
• Bal-Bas-Bow "the Long-Arm": The mystery has many claws: One who challenges it, should meet his own fate.
  (interesting when you realize one of BBB's close-combat weapons looks like a huge rotating energy claw)
• Jaguarandi, the Punisher, Trespassing into the Secret Base: CAUTION: Those who think that nightmares are just dreams do not know about JAGUARANDI at all.
  (I find it interesting that this is not written as if Jaguarandi is a bug, but actually real in the Virtual-On universe...)
• Z-Gradt, the Final Fortress: In front of Z-GRADT, the time ends, the space vanishes, and the words loses its meanings...
  (Arena name: Nirvana. So fitting.)

[chunkypuff31]

I got an important question, and this thread seemed like the most appropriate place to ask.

Anyone know where I can find a copy of this?

http://www.hlj.com/product/HSG65551

Or at least find full scans? Every site that has it has it listed as out of stock, and searching on Yahoo Japan! Auctions has proved fruitless so far. I'm in the midst of working on the Temjin Firefly, and I need a source for reference. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Temjin747K]

Virtual On Schematic (Operation Moon Gate):

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there is a Jaguarandi figure on schematic4.jpg, and I'm way curious about it

[Viper2]

That's the 1/100 Kotobukiya resin kit released back in the 1990s.

[Temjin747K]

I betcha that Jaguarandi resin kit is unbelievably rare nowadays, and I can't find it on ebay!

[Viper2]

You'll have to look on Yahoo Auctions Japan for the 1/100 Kotobukiya resin kits. Jaguarandi shows up once a year or so...and tends to be very expensive.

[Temjin747K]

ouch...can you at least put up a picture of it?

[Van0079]

Apologies for bumping up such an old thread, but this may be of interest.

http://www.ecrater.com/search.php?keywo ... On&x=0&y=0

From what I can tell, they have:
Sega Ages Vol. 32 (Operation Moon Gate)
Playstation MARZ guidebook (white cover showing Temjin)
MARZ guidebook #3 (blue and white cover)
Operation Moongate book (group shot of the Virtuaroids on the cover)

And they have something that looks somewhat similar to the Wall of Truth, although it's cover is slightly different, so it's probably something else. It's "Cybertroopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram Shinjitsu no Kabe Art Book". They also have some other books and various VO CDs, plus a SD OT Hyper Fei-Yen figure, which appears to be a limited edition item. Plus, various copies of VOOM (with one of them being for Seganet) and a copy of VOOT, DC Twinsticks, and an OMG Arcade Machine, although good luck in getting that.

And, because people are looking for it. OMR, or at least what I was told is it. It's translated and up on the net. Unfortunately, it's not all there, but at least it's some of it. It's missing both parts of Chapter 8, it seems.

http://web.archive.org/web/200502160435 ... /story.htm

You have to highlight the text on the chapter pages for some odd reason, but don't worry, it's there.

[MentholMoose]

Apologies for bumping up such an old thread, but this may be of interest.

http://www.ecrater.com/search.php?keywo ... On&x=0&y=0

From what I can tell, they have:
Sega Ages Vol. 32 (Operation Moon Gate)
Playstation MARZ guidebook (white cover showing Temjin)
MARZ guidebook #3 (blue and white cover)
Operation Moongate book (group shot of the Virtuaroids on the cover)

And they have something that looks somewhat similar to the Wall of Truth, although it's cover is slightly different, so it's probably something else. It's "Cybertroopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram Shinjitsu no Kabe Art Book". They also have some other books and various VO CDs, plus a SD OT Hyper Fei-Yen figure, which appears to be a limited edition item. Plus, various copies of VOOM (with one of them being for Seganet) and a copy of VOOT, DC Twinsticks, and an OMG Arcade Machine, although good luck in getting that.

And, because people are looking for it. OMR, or at least what I was told is it. It's translated and up on the net. Unfortunately, it's not all there, but at least it's some of it. It's missing both parts of Chapter 8, it seems.

http://web.archive.org/web/200502160435 ... /story.htm

You have to highlight the text on the chapter pages for some odd reason, but don't worry, it's there.

Thanks for the links, and welcome to the forum!!