Virtua Fighter [Arcade / Saturn - Beta]

From the long list of scans that MathUser has posted on the HPZ Forum, there’s an image from an early build of Virtua Fighter, with a beta select screen, different names for some fighters and a character (Shiba) that was cut and later reintroduced in Fighters Megamix.

From wikipedia we can read: Siba / Shiba is from a prototype of Virtua Fighter but was cut from the cast by the time of game’s actual release, though an icon featuring him (and mislabelled as “Akira”) appears on older Virtua Fighter arcade cabinents. Siba is an Arab in a white and purple outfit equipped with a sword that charges with green energy.

Beta:

Final:

Thanks to Celine we can even see some screenshots with Siba / Shiba in action! (Taken from CVG magazine issue 31 and a spanish magazine thanks to Sega Saturno). We can also notice that the original name was Virtua Fighters (plural) instead of Fighter.

Also, Nick C was able to find an arcade cabinet with the Shiba picture! Click on the image for a bigger version:

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