I am trying to find a way to mod an old Sega Genesis game called Virtua Fighter 2. I would like to delete characters and alter their appearance. This game can be downloaded on console systems like Xbox 360. What are some methods to do this? What software is required? I am a complete newbie.

I appreciate any feedback and advice.

Console games are rarely designed for modding. The people who write mods for game cartridges often need to understand or reverse engineer the system's machine code. It is not a beginner level task.

Virtua Fighter 2 has been ported to many different platforms, so you might look to see if someone else has already done the work on an edition you have legal access to and has exposed an easy way to make the changes.

You might be better off working with M.U.G.E.N

http://mugen.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Virtua_Fighter_2_Stages

You might be better off working with M.U.G.E.N

MUGEN has a limiting license, anything built over MUGEN needs to be non-commercial.
I don't know if it has support for any console systems.

There is also http://sourceforge.net/projects/opensourcemugen/

If OP wants to mod Virtua Fighter 2 it is not like it can be sold anyway though.

I appreciate the feedback. I should clarify that this mod would be for personal use only.