The Most Influential Game Everyone Forgot About
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- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
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Virtua Fighter is the Avatar of Video Games. It was a phenomenon that not only brought on an onslaught of 3D fighting games such as Tekken, SoulCalibur, and Dead or Alive but it literally changed the entire games industry by shifting every developer's gaze, no matter what genre, towards 3D graphics.The characters' accessories move with a revolutionary real time physics engine and fall off when they get knocked down. The attack animations are still absolutely stunning to this day even compared to modern fighting games like Mortal Kombat 1, showing that Netherrealms really should've hired animators by now. For Virtua Fighter 2, released just 1 year later, they literally spent $2 million dollars on a Lockheed Martin graphics processor used in military simulations just so they could invent fully texture mapped 3D characters, and pushed the bar even further when it came to its highly detailed environments and its pioneering use of motion captured animations. Now, it was clear, Virtua Fighter would consistently set the benchmark for graphics with each new game, debuting cutting edge technology years before they would become industry standard and many of gaming’s biggest titles and characters such as Tomb Raider's Lara Croft, Fumito Ueda's ICO, Jon Romero's Quake and more, hardware such as the PlayStation 1, and every single modern 3D game from Mario 64 to Dark Souls owes their very existence to Virtua Fighter. It’s that important to video games, and its last entry came out in 2006.
This Video will explore the history of the Virtua Fighter series, how it started, where it failed and how SEGA could bring it back through Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the creators of the Yakuza series.
![Chino Pacas - Smith (ft. Junior H & Fuerza Regida) [Video Visualizador Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BVK6k56X30Y/mqdefault.jpg)
First
VF revolutionize so many things for fighting games, like graphics ,fighting mechanics, character customization to a character arcade card for VF4 in 2001.
The “Yakuza with VF fighting mecanics” part is interesting because they did reuse its fighting mecanics in a totally different game before, Shenmue and Shenmue II had a much more simplified variant of the VF combat system for the combat parts, and it works very well (it's way less clunky than GTA at least lol), especially for game released in 1999.
Yeah they've already tried this idea before, even Street Fighter 6 World Tour mode is similar to what I suggested.
Virtua Fighter had nothing ... except a much deeper fighting system than literally any other 3d fighter.
With just 3 buttons.
@@SgtPotShot It also seems ... fair ... like, I'm no "fgc" bod ... but when I got beat by a good player in VF it felt ok, it didn't feel like some great was trying to get easy wins against shit players, y'know?
Ehh... other 3D fighters are merely more accessible at most. Their skill ceilings however can be just as high if not higher than VF.
Tekken Tag 2 was highly requested by FG fans for over a decade yet bombed commercially for being, well... too complex/daunting to actually play. With Tekken 7 then resorting to introducing crutches/mechanics traditionally found in 2D fighters.
If the best anecdotal evidence for VF having more than nothing is; ‘it’s... deep!’ (by which players usually mean they find it esoteric even at entry level), then yeah, that’s a problem in today’s FG climate.
@alexpace1783 I can tell you have never really played VF competitively. VF IS INSANELY deep when you are playing at a high levels like me. It's literally 3D chess.
@@jasonelbow3807Exactly, the fact he compares the complexity of tag 2 to VF is hilarious.
I love that recently youtubers are mentioning this game but my friend and I have been dutifully playing VF2 and fighting vipers since 1996 even to today. Sarah is my favorite.
Virtua Fighter 4 is one of the most satisfying fighting games I've ever played.
I dont have the specs or the consoles to play 5, but that one looks pretty cool.
I'd love that the already exisiting lore of these characters would be reworked or reimplemented in an interesting way.
Pai Chan's complicated relationship with his father Lau, the fact that she's a movie star.
Jeffry and his eternal conflict with the Devil Shark.
The conflict between the Bryant siblings (And Kagemaru) with the evil J6 corporation
Akira and Wolfs' rivalry, among other things there's some actual potential with these characters that could be developed in a story mode or an actual arcade mode with endings that actually show their character.
Yeah I was reading up on the lore for this game/watched a bit of the anime for this video, and the characters and story in Virtua Fighter DOES have potential. It's just never in the games, it's like an after thought. It could make for a good, campy martial arts movie.
@@Ardrid_ the virtua fighter anime is corny as fuck but really good imo, just wish VF would bother to, oh idk
Make character endings?
You don't have a PS3, Xbox 360, or PS4? The game was released several times on last gen consoles.
@@swarthybullxxx Nah, I got a Wii U. I had an Xbox 360 but it broke.
@@DARS_04 rip. If you have a PC, you can always play VF5 in Yakuza 7.
I loved playing Virtua Fighter 5 and the main menu song of the original release still loves rent free in my head. While Tekken remains my fave fighting game, VF5 will always have a special place in my heart.
Virtua Fighters music overall is fantastic.
I was put off VF5 due to two reasons, 1) an over abundance of moves, and 2) how crazy the camera flies around during throws. You can’t see anything! Plus they got rid of some of Jacky’s throws completely which I relied on in VF2.
Going back to the number of moves, I like knowing every moves for a character and exactly when to use them, but was overwhelmed with how many there are in VF5. But then maybe that’s the same with all modern (relatively) fighters
@@joesretrostuff I think the large move lists are mostly a factor in 3D fighters. 2D ones usually have relatively modest moves lists.
@@Ardrid_ Cmon it´s SEGA, the never miss in the music part of the game.
Virtua Fighter did lack the depth of characters found like in Tekken, and probably could have always done with a more involved story mode similar to games like it too, but you're selling short the strength of Virtua Fighter's combat. For a glorified "tech demo", Virtua Fighter 2's fighting in particular still plays incredibly smooth and values good timing and knowledge of the game's mechanics to do well in competitive and arcade scenes. Contrast it to Tekken 2, which not only feels very clunky now (the delay between getting knocked down and back up alone is excruciating) but relies very heavily on the infamous 10-hit string combos to decide any number of fights on that game.
Killer Instinct and Virtua Fighter are the best two fighting franchises, EVER.
One on life support and the other owned by Microsoft.
Sad seeing my childhood memories fade.
Virtua Fighter Is A Thinking Man's Fighting Game.
A strategy of rock-paper-scissors
@@jayclarke777 ?
I think while this video is interesting you ARE drastically underselling Virtua Fighter still, especially gameplay wise.
Virtua Fighter, while it is arguably mostly historically significant due to the staggering advancements in tech and game design and vision it brought upon (especially with VF1, 2 and 3) they have also always been pretty deeply respected fighting games competitively. 2, 4 and 5 are all pretty cult fighting games in that respect. I do feel like the video underrates that appeal of the games pretty egregiously even. Virtua Fighter 2 and 4 especially were pretty big sellers for their time in their respective consoles.
I'm not gonna argue that VF maybe should've done a better job at selling its characters and story to captivate a casual audience better, but I feel like Virtua Fighter died more so because of 3 far more "adult" reasons:
- First was waning interest in fighting games from the late 90s all the way up to the late 2000s making games like this make less financial sense,
- Second was the waning influence of arcades in the West and even Japan, Sega's true home turf and where they'd chose to display such massively cutting edge games like the VF games always are,
- and thirdly is just Sega's overall... incompetence in their handling of their non-Sonic IPs. VF is sadly yet another game in the pile of IPs Sega is irresponsibly neglecting. People HAVE been asking for a VF6 for a while, especially nowadays where eSports are such a huge business. Sega somehow managed to turn a blind eye to this whole trend to do the boatload of nothing they're known to do.
Excellent points, you nailed my thoughts on this video. I appreciated it acknowledged VF's overlooked influence, but there were a lot of bad takes otherwise
What gradually put me off with Virtua Fighter was the underwhelming sound design (sound fx), odd jump physics (floating characters), and a plethora of unforgiveably difficult to execute moves, particularly in the heat of battle.......and many of which can be interrupted by an opponent's jab. Put the game down for one week, and many of those hard-to-memorize moves can be forgotten. To many casual gamers this can be drastically off-putting. I wanted to maintain my love of Virtua Fighter, but too many problems remained, from one entry to the next.
Nether realms lol
Virtua fighter having the Yakuza dev really is a full circle moment. Shenmue was the narrative evolution of vf, Yakuza was kind of the modern version of shenmue.
Yep, it's funny how things turn out sometimes.
I loved playing Virtua Fighter, especially VF5 on the Xbox 360. Without Virtua Fighter, there wouldn't have been Tekken and Dead or Alive too. Sheesh, Dead or Alive 1 was made on the same hardware Virtua Fighter 2 was on and saved Tecmo from bankruptcy...
and roblox, minecraft
Wtf
Imagine if they took a queue from SF6's World Tour and had an entire Yakuza-style game, but the combat took you into traditional Virtua Fighter matches.
Exactly what I'm imagining!
Forget VF6, make a Virtua Fighter Reboot with a Story that feels like Yaku...I mean the now Renamed Like a Dragon.
@@conradojavier7547it wasn't renamed in japan it always been like a dragon same with resident evil in japan it is called biohazard
@@dvdbox360 it's just the West Rename it to match the Japanese Name like Dr. Eggman.
@@sfex4290 VF will make a Woke Stereotype named John who look like an even more Buffer Marisa from SF6.
I love VF because it's more realistic unlike MK, Tekken, SF, or KOF that has demons, monsters and magic. Of course in terms of the story, it's more boring, bland and uninteresting so that it never has a live action adaptation movie. As an early fighting game i played a lot after Dragon Ball, it always has a special place for me.
VF6 better be a Sega Dreamcast 3 Exclusive
Virtua Fighter is by far the best 3D fighting game series out there. I don't care for story or flashy lightning effects etc.
The funny thing is is most of these 3D fighting games look/play the same.
Over the top effects, flashy animations, unrealistic juggling.
If you put SF6 next to Tekken 8, they practically look alike.
@@jayclarke777Wrong. But Tekken 8 is taking mechanics from 2D fighters
by far lol nice joke
I feel like the shift from arcade to consoles is what really killed VF more than anything. If arcades remained profitable outside of Japan VF's reliance on graphical fidelity and solid gameplay might not have been a death sentence. VF always enjoyed a degree of popularity domestically so maybe they didn't feel the need to change their strategy.
Maybe. Japan has always enjoyed Virtua Fighter, even to this day, but it still died regardless. Arcades are still a big thing in Japan, so I assume the hardcore community was very strong over there but the casual audience just petered out.
did you know VF4 was originally suppose to release on dreamcast but the console died so it got to ps2 instead. Like how VF3 was suppose to be ported to saturn but on dreamcast instead.
@@journie3042 I did not know that, no. Very interesting.
Arcades in the west are still profitable, depending on where you are. Round1 is a perfect example of that.
Round1 only exists in select cities tho and is pretty much nonexistent in the midwest.
I had so much fun with Fighters Megamix.
Imagine if Sega reveals VF6 and their main selling point is that you can see some of the dried skin on Jacky's forehead
I would really need to get my hands on that game.
Virtua Fighter laid the grounds that all other 3d fighters has followed but got left behind when Tekken and Soul Calibur blew up they never really had anything that made them stand out nor did they have the bewbs that DOA had to keep themselves relevant
VF got me into taking 3D fighters more seriously and this is coming from someone that loves 2D fighters. Not even Tekken could do that for me. VF is my 3rd favorite fighting game series of all time.
Surprisingly same
Tried getting into Tekken as my first 3D Fighter, well couldn't get into it
Got VF2, Fighting Vipers, Fighters Megamix, VF3, and VF5, and I fell in love with SEGA 3D Fighters
Also Fighting Vipers, DOA, and SC2 were games that I enjoyed. I like Tekken now but, back when I was into 2D fighters Tekken just didn't do it for me.
SEGA just seemed to give up on Virtua Fighter after the 3rd game in my opinion, although I do think Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was really good.
The death of SEGA as a hardware development powerhouse and the NASA tech boards enjoyed in the 90's is what really saw them off.
Had they continued getting in the cutting edge technology that the consoles couldn't bring to the home, by now Virtua Fighter would have been on something like its 9th entry into the series, instead of talking about a 6th.
But anyway, it's still the greatest 3D fighting series ever made in my opinion, even if it's decades old now.
Nice video, but also you forgot or didn't know, that the KOF all star recently had a crossover collab. It even had low polygon versions of Akira, Sara, kim kaphwan & Rugal.
I also remember that before Guilty Gear Strive was released ArcSys posted a picture in the social media of how GG would look if it had the same blocky graphics as the original Virtua Fighter. It seems a lot of Japanese developers have a lot of nostalgia for the original VF, even Akira's Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate retains the look of the original VF
ayo is that the deepest fighting game ever made, VIRTUA FIGHTER?
Are you kidding me? The lore with Jeffrey with his constant battles with the Satan shark, he's arguably the most fascinating character in all of videogames.
Didnt VF4 Evolution sell pretty well and get high praise? It had a an amazing quest mode but instead of character stories, it was about fighting in arcades, fighting AI based on real players, ranking up and customization. Plus other modes like hyper action, seasaw and wall deathmatch. Tekken even copied the mode kinda but not as good.
About “reinventing” Virtua Fighter, I have one wonderful idea:
They should make Virtua Fighter with totally new cast.
So, the name will be “Virtua Fighter: Next Generation”
Here’s the story: many years passed, J6 was destroyed on the previous World Fighting Tournament, however…
A sect, known as “New Dawn Servants” announced NEW World Fighting Tournament.
The only two characters, who return in this game: Akira & Aoi.
Akira found out about J6 and defeated their leaders, who later died in explosion. Akira goes on New World Fighting Tournament to find strange girl, who invited him seconds before the death of Akira’s grandfather.
Aoi, after losing Brad on the previous tournament, decided to train hard in snow mountains. She got an invitation to New World Fighting Tournament only to find out that Brad was killed two days after their last battle. She also found out that the one, who murdered Brad, is participating too.
Alright, here’s the new characters:
- Kevin Butterfingers: a boy who was saved by Akira and later became his apprentice.
Style - messy version of Akira’s style.
- Bruce Goodman: a detective who searches for a girl, who was kidnapped long time ago by New Dawn Servants.
His style - Kickboxing.
- Polina: Russian secret agent with sexy looks and unknown past.
Her style - Sambo.
- Fei-Ling: child of Chinese slums and fan of Pai Chan.
Her style as same as Pai.
- Mark: Eileen’s son, who was blinded by unknown woman. She also crippled his mother. Mark vowed to get revenge.
Her style as same as Eileen.
- Amelia Kujo: Jean’s youngest daughter who suffers from her father’s paranoia.
Her style - Shotokan.
- Orpheus Wolf: Wolf Hawkfield’s adopted son from Greece.
His style - Greek Wrestling.
- Ming Di: Granddaughter of Shun Di, who loves parties and alcohol.
Her style as same as Shun.
- Gunas Unnda: Nigerian fighter, who fights to provide his family.
His style - Dambe.
- Radja Sarad: Indian prince, who is participating in this tournament to find a fifth wife for him.
His style - Adimurai.
- Beltask: former J6 scientist, who is trying to assign J6’s legacy to himself.
His style - piguaquan.
- Yamato Yamamoto: ruthless master, who have a grudge against all fighters after death of her parents.
Her style - Savate.
- June & July: twins who were born and raised within the sect.
One of them will appear on final stage.
June’s style - Eagle.
July’s style - Crane.
Opponent on special stage and true final boss is Minoru Kaneki - the leader of New Dawn Servants and former J6’s subject known as “Dural-Zero”. Akira’s grandfather was her foster brother.
Minoru can use any style and switch between them.
There will be also a feature to create your own fighter: customise him/her, and choose fighting style - from original to new one.
If the game will be successful, there will be an update, called “Virtua Figher NG V2”
Update will add new stages and characters:
- Mi-Ko: famous Japanese idol, who participates to increase her popularity.
Her style - Model Mugging.
- Wendy Wellington: spoiled rich girl, who bought an invitation to New World Fighting Tournament.
Her style - Systema.
- Lilith Screams: gothic fortune teller, who is searching the evil in the tournament.
Her style - Bartitsu.
- Goh: in the previous tournament he fought out the truth about his childhood and managed not to win the tournament, but also destroy J6’s ultimate weapon - Dural Infinity. Now Goh is a famous assassin. He joins the tournament to finish remains of J6.
- Lei-Fei: he joins the tournament to pursuit a woman who attacked the Shaolin temple and killed all the masters.
- Jan: Another member of sect, who replaces June/July as final opponent.
His style - Snake.
And the final update - Virtua Fighter NG 3.0
There will be stages from VF5US and, of course, new characters:
- Pai: after death of her father, she tried to revive his restaurant, but failed. She enters the tournament to earn money.
In this game she uses her father’s fighting style.
- Lion: after sudden death of his father, Lion finally got, what he wished: freedom and company. However, he feels unhappy. He enters the tournament to complete his unfinished business.
- Dave Adams: a biker, who was previously arrested and put in the jail. One day, his lover says: “The man I love is the strongest man in the world”. To prove her words, Dave enters the tournament.
His style - Jailhouse Rock.
- Nine-Five: a failed J6 experiment, creepy humanoid creature. He was created to kill the fighters in World Fighting Tournaments, however, he awakes only this time.
His style - Taekwondo.
- Han Na-young: A lady from Italy, who was kidnapped when she was only an infant, but was saved by Korean police. Now, working as nurse in South Korea, she constantly suffers from nightmares. To overcome her past, she decided to participate in New World Fighting Tournament.
Her style - Hapkido.
- Nova: another member of New Dawn Servants. Looks like Emerald from Sailor Moon.
Her style - Southern Mantis.
She won’t replace Jan as a final opponent, final opponent will be chosen randomly.
There will be a bonus stage: if you don’t lose a single round in match before the final stage, you’ll fight Dural S-251.
She was created as Serial Dural and fights like… Dural.
She appears in QTE-cutscene and if you fail it, Dural will take 30% of your character’s health.
In this, final version, both Dural and Minoru will be unlockable.
Comparing Virtua Fighter to Avatar is insulting to VF.
The Virtua Fighter crossover characters in DOA 5 was a re cool addition. They fit perfectly into that universe. Maybe Team Ninja should try their hand at developing a VF game?
Agree, the first DOA game used Sega's Model 2 hardware, both sagas are linked since the beginning.
@@Hektols I didn’t know that. Nice. I always thought the two series were damn near the same game
Something nifty is with the release of Virtua Fighter 2, Sega also released the "Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series". It was basically a series of music videos that were made for each character, which I think adds a small bit of background to the characters, both in the images and the songs themselves. What's more is if you sent in the obi strips for all of the characters to Sega, they would mail you Dural's disc.
This is true....glad this was mentioned here.
It was the gameplay that I liked, nothing was really like it as far as controls, SF was thought to be complex at the time but it was like casual easy mode compared to VF2.
I still play Virtua Fighter 2 a lot. The series is prominently featured in Shenmue too,
I love the VF series, it was VF 2 that got me heavily into the series. The attract mode took my breath away, I’ve never seen a game so fluid for the time. Keep in mind this was 1994 when I was 10. Sega was definitely ahead of their time in so many ways.
Getting a Sega Saturn with a copy of VF2 for my combined Christmas and birthday present was the greatest gift ever. I would watch that attract mode then sit and wait for it to come around again - I was in complete awe.
@@tournaline3448 is was just so fluid, I’ve never seen ANYTHING LIKE IT!!!! In hindsight looking at something like that in the 90’s was astonishing at best. I remember when I first got my Sega Saturn in June of 1996 for graduating the 6th grade. When I came home from the graduation the Saturn was already hooked up to my TV encompassed by 4 games. The games were VF1 Remix, VF2, Street Fighter Alpha, and X-Men Cota. Aaaaagh the memories. Thank you for sharing your story brother
I remember I was the same age on my birthday when I saw VF2.
Never forgot it.
@@jayclarke777 truly a sight to behold and remember forever.
@@BoyBlaze2002 .....holy shit, who plugged that all up for you??
Yakuza players have never forgotten about it ;)
Painful part is VF revolutioned WAY more than just 3d graphics. Hell, vanilla VF5 had a commentary mode predating SF6 almost a decade and a half earlier.
Sad also cuz it's treated like a shitty Tekken clone that wasn't even trying to be.
People point out the bland designs but the movesets are fuckin wild even as a more "grounded" fighter. Blue Ninja's signature moves is an izuna drop, man.
Excellent video. I always forget that this is not DoA but the OG 3d fighter. I never loved it but always liked it and I wish it would crossover more like in Project X Zone.
The 3D fighting genre is surprisingly unexplored.
Nice short video about VF, but there is alot of incorrect info portrayed here.
What exactly is incorrect?
5:00 Isn't that just Shenmue? We already have that, from before Yakuza even existed in fact.
Shenmue was originally supposed to be a Virtual Fighter game too, before all the characters were replaced with OCs.
Yeah pretty much, still a good idea though.
@@Ardrid_Virtua Fighter would have been better if Shenmue WAS It's Prequel.
I love Virtua Fighter!
Nobody really forgot about it, it’s just, when something outdoes you, you become obsolete.
Wouldn't you say that if its obsolete, people will inevitably forget?
If Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio make a Virtua Fighter Reboot, They need to flesh out J6, & use it's Anime for inspiration.
At its core, virtua fighter its still the better fighting game experience for hardcore players, by a mile. Tekken can't hold a candle to VF when it comes to consitency in its mechanics. And I fucking love Tekken.
Imagine making a video about the merits of Virtua Fighter and not mentioning how its gameplay still holds up to this day. Virtua Fighter 2 may have aged like milk, but play Virtua Fighter 5 today and you’ll find it plays just as incredibly today as it did when it first came out.
You're right, this video doesn't talk about Virtua Fighters combat basically at all. And thats because everyone whos played Virtua Fighter KNOWS it has one of the most deep and complex fighting systems of all fighting games.
This video wasn't about that, it was about how Virtua Fighter fell out of favour with the general public, not the hardcore audience. Hardcore fighting game players absolutely love Virtua Fighter to this day for the exact reasons you stated, but the FGC is a comparitively small audience compared to the gaming community at large, and although its harsh, most people don't play fighting games to learn the ins and outs of the game mechanics. They play it to mash buttons, the cool and maybe even wacky characters, and (if they're lucky) the occasional fun singleplayer mode such as Weapon Master in SoulCalibur, or World Tour in Street Fighter 6.
VF2 aged a lot better than Tekken 1 and 2 did. It wasn't until Tekken 3 that Namco finally caught up, but by that time VF3 was released.
I had to come to grips with Sega not caring enough about this IP. Still has a place in my heart.
I wish in MK they actually fought like Martial artist instead of Pirates with scurvy
Gamers never forgot VF. They just moved on to better things. Character and gameplay evolution in each game? Nope. Endings? Nope. Extra modes? Nope. Music mode? Yes but no. You have to buy separate CDs sold in Japan.
Also: Namco headhunted some of the talents from VF and did Tekken.
You know, I thought Virtua Fighter did evolve its gameplay and the way its characters played a fair bit from game to game.
I don't know what you mean about Music mode. Do you mean just getting to listen to the soundtrack? I'm pretty sure you could do that on the older games
I wouldn’t call tekken better per say but it is great though
The game play in VF5 is above Tekken 7. Also Tekken 8 is just taking mechinics from 2D fighters which isn't original nor evolutionary.
I wish some VF Characters Cameo in a Like-A-Dragon Game.
Virtua Fighter is a great example of why fighting game stories matter. People will dismiss them as entirely irrelevant to the experience, but they give you a lot of reason to be attached to these characters. Virtua Fighter missed the mark by never adding endings, and now this franchise is all but dead in the water. They even released an update to VF5 in 2021 and I only know this because of a King of Fighters mobile game.
Yup, thats exactly why its no longer around. How can you expect people to care about a franchise when they can't even name a single character from it?
@@Ardrid_ I think there was at least some relevancy to the roster, but it didn't really last long. The anime really saves the ass of these characters tbh, though if they make a new virtua fighter I'd do a reboot that actually puts emphasis on Judgement 6 and the story
@@sfex4290 then name a virtua fighter character relevant in 2023
@@sfex4290 where tho
Sad but true. Sega fumbled the ball and Namco picked it up.
I also found out that Bandai tried to merge with Sega, but they didn't do it.
I hated VF1 even back then, TEKKEN 1 is when I began with 3d
T1 was hot garbage compared to VF1. VF2 blew it out of the water.
If it wasn't for the storyline and the FMV of course.
you should note that segas RGG studio is made up of former AM2 developers, with daichi katagiri supervising the development/remake of vf5 Ultimate Showdown. if it is up to them its in very good hands.
I may not be super into VF, but I think that its gameplay is stupid solid and just feels fun even when I have no idea about the in-depth mechanics. Just needs a little bit more substance content wise to get me fully on board with buying a full new game in the series
Yup, exactly.
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution is still one of my favorite games of all time and one i still play to this day followed by Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown on PS4. The fighhting mechanic is just miles ahead of Tekken, dead or alive, and Soul Calibur
One turn off I always had about VF was the unsatisfying rosters.
Virtua Fighter 1 had eight martial artists, and a few more that are prototype rejects and can be found on the Cutting Room Floor.
鉄拳TEKKEN 1 on the other hand also had eight fighters, except they added eight more hidden ones as playable bosses (also with relevant backstories), doing it how it's supposed to be done!
To be fair, half of Tekken 1's characters were clones
@@gregmilne4378
I wouldn't even mind if VF1 had clones. They would all be better than that bare-boned final boss who is a clone of every VF character.
The same ones they left out the roster, including Akira Ryuzaki, Human Dural, Jeffrey Buckman, Majid Abdul, Shiba, etc.
All they needed was different names and different moves.
Most of the original Tekken's characters are left over from VF.
Especially P Jack in his army fatigues.
I trust in yakuza devs when it comes to backgrounds and character development, i mean they made goro majima and kiryu kazuma
Absoltue great characters
I play virtua fighter and i just call it as a kid
Cubic Karate Baji-Quan Man Screaming
They should bring back fighters megamix
Sadly AM2 milking Hatsune Miku ...
There is ANOTHER way to know the story and it's worse.
They used to sell separate CDs for each character in the Saturn days.
There was a decent anime back in the day too.
I grew up with VF in the Saturn.
At the time, the clean 60FPS and great 3d models were so ahead of its time.
If VF6 has a world tour mode, like VF4 Evo did, that would be awesome. Maybe throw in some Shenmue skins or something
Sega kept Virtua Fighter as close to the arcade as possible and that’s why we love it. Story etc. are just gimmicks when the gameplay doesn’t match up to the depth of Virtua Fighter. Accessible yet incredibly deep - the Virtua Fighter series is the king of all fighters for me. Nothing comes close.
Never really played it despite growing up in the 90s playing every other big fighting game series like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat and Tekken and Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur
It's pretty cool gameplay wise.
@@Ardrid_ I don't doubt it. It just never seemed to get pushed as much as those other fighting games franchises for whatever reason back then. I rarely ever saw it in arcades but I always saw Tekken and Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter machines.
@@Nigel222 It probably depended on where you were and what era of the 90s we're talking about. If you were in Japan at any point in the 90s, chances are you would've seen a Virtua Fighter cabinet lying about, but anywhere else it would've most likely been 93/94 where you would've seen Virtua Fighter cabinets. The series stopped being widely popular outside of Japan after the second one.
Virtual fighter two was my first Sega Saturn 🪐 game fun memories.
I still play VF and compete the game is amazing. I do agree it does need to be built with a story and other extras for for a more casual audience. There are still tournaments for this game and in the fighting game community a lot of folks especially the old school guys respect it. Also disagree VF4 was one of the biggest VF games to.
Without Virtua Fighter, we wouldn't have the likes of Tekken and Soul Calibur
@@TheSoCalledZoner1 Roblox?
Jeffry has probably the goofiest lore in VF though
I feel if VF came out with a 6, with a story mode and or arcade ending, revamping their combo system add a few characters, plus a customization it'll put the game back on the map.
I've watched the 90s Virtua Fighter anime as a kid, around the early 2000s, i found out that it was actually based on a fighting game.
If a modern gamers plays one of the older Virtua Fighter games he would have the feeling that he got the free trial version of the game without any of the paid content with the difference that such content never existed.
I'm not saying that they were bad games but in a mere weekend you could clear the game with all the characters and see all the content it had and it happened with other Sega arcade ports.
3:58 To further reinforce your point: Me, a fighting game guy, who is constantly bitching about how shallow the 3D fighter market is compared to 2D, was more excited about seeing Panzer Dragoon than Virtua Fighter. And Jet Set Radio. And House of the Dead. And-
There's nothing marketable about Virtua Fighter in the modern day besides its mechanics (which 99% of players don't care about). Bringing it back would almost be like making a new franchise entirely.
I honestly think there is a beauty to VF "boringness" and "staleness" to the characters, because they are that martial art they represent. Virtua Fighter is definitely one of the most "grounded" Fighting Games i have the pleasure of watching. Something feels real when two characters are fighting in VF
That isn't to say the VF characters are totally boring
Jacky has a cool design and hobby, and one of the rare Jeet Kune Do practitioners who isn't visually based on Bruce Lee
Akira has always been infamously a hard character to use, but almost always the best character and i kinda respect that since he's the mascot of the series. Bajiquan is just badass
Brad is just cool as fuck "Welcome to the Brad Show"
Im Mexican and i just love El Blaze and honestly one if the coolest Lucha Libre Fighters in Fighting Games
Lion is cool because he's one of the few Mantis Style fighters in Fighting Games
I really do believe these characters wear their Martial Arts on their sleeves best out of most Fighting Game characters. It really does feel like the teams of these games took special care and research representing these Martial Arts
VF player here. I guarantee you if VF did put in endings no one would give two fucks in the end. What sold VF4 Evolution when Tekken 4 was faltering was its wealth of content that taught players how to actually engage with it beyond mashing buttons. VF5 ended up being a worse version of VF4 content wise, so not as many people bought it.
I think ultimately what really contributed to its slumber is no one at Sega knew how to evolve the game plus arcades are much less relevant than they were in the 90’s and 2000’s. Just how it is.
I do wonder though if VF6 came out and had amazing content and gameplay if people would buy it. I guess I’m cynical though.
Virtua Fighter was my first fighting game as a kid, and I’ll always love it out of nostalgia. But boy as I got older, I didn’t realize how dry it was. I love Street Fighter immensely because it’s not just fun, but I love the lore. Tekken, same deal. I need personality. VF needs to shake things up. Honestly….it needs a reboot. I even watched the old Anime of VF, and that was lacking some spice too.
While a good bit of the info portrayed in this vid is correct, dude,.....I had to scratch my head, because there is alot of incorrect info, and opinionated history about Virtua Fighter, that takes over after the first quarter of this vid.😵
However, this was a nice, yet entertaining, semi fictional, historically opinionated video to be honest. Not bad, but I think you should do some more research, on VF next time.👏
What info exactly is incorrect? I'd love to correct myself in a comment or something.
I wish they put that Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown on other systems and not make it only a Playstation exclusive because that's what killed it for me.
Yeah they might've been able to grow the fanbase a little bit more with at least a PC port.
In fairness to them, xbox one had Virtual Fighter 5 Final Showdown through backwards compatibility while PS4 didn't due to no backwards compatibility. So they needed an updated version because Sega has a bigger fanbase on Playstation
@@crashpal That's not fair to everyone else
@rxzero00 neither was not having final showdown on Playstation. Sega had to make up for it. Besides many consider Final Showdown the better of the 2 since it has more content than ultimate showdown. xbox would've had 2 versions and THAT'S not fair. Now Nintendo Switch yes you could say they deserved one.
@@crashpal Dude I play on PC, it didn't matter what they did. All there is... is just emulation which isn't the greatest and is not official nor is the online really there officially. And you argue for backward compatibility when that's not completely on Sega's behalf but Microsoft and Sony. So no, it's not really fair at all.
Any plans for Monkey Ball videos?
Maybe :)
_I never forget the first time I watched VF in the arcade, it blew me away. I thought VF will never blow me away again but I was wrong. It blew me away again with VF2 and VF3. Never in my life, a game did that to me again._
Great video on a masterful series! Thank you!
Wrestling is the ultimate sport!! 🐺
From the perspective of a semi casual, I think you just absolutely nailed how I feel about this series. It’s this super influential franchise with all these really deep mechanics that it doesn’t get nearly enough credit for, and it’s really fun to watch in tournament settings, But I don’t think I could name a single VF character if I tried. I feel like when you pick characters in this game, you choose them not because of their style and their personality, but because of their utility. There’s just nothing to them as characters unless you read the manuals, and most casuals aren’t going to go out of their way to do that.
Ah cool, I didn't know Virtua Fighter was actually around that long.
I think virtual fighter was my fourth fighting game I plAyed
It's sad that SEGA doesn't manage most IPs properly and it's sad to be with Sammy, a gambling company.
Recently, SEGA made the 404 GAME RE:SET, but the results were not good. SEGA has to sell or outsource IPs it doesn't use.
- Companies that can take on SEGA IP -
Bandai Namco: After Burner, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop
Team NINJA, SNK: Fighting Vipers
PlatinumGames: After Burner, Space Harrier, Thunder Blade, Virtua Cop, Binary Domain, Dynamite Cop
PlatinumGames, FromSoftware: Altered Beast, Shinobi, Virtual On
Tango Gameworks, Roll7: Jet Set Radio
Purple Lamp, Toys for Bob, Insomniac Games, PlatinumGames (Spin-Off): Sonic
Raw Thrills, Sumo Digital: Crazy Taxi, OutRun, Hang-On, Sega Rally, Daytona USA
Raw Thrills, Forever Entertainment: Virtua Cop
Milestone S.r.l.: Hang-On
Milestone S.r.l., Bugbear Entertainment: Sega Rally
DotEmu: Fantasy Zone, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, Dynamite Cop, Ristar
Enhance Games: Columns, Space Channel 5
Capcom: Phantasy Star, Virtua Fighter, Altered Beast, Sonic
Obsidian Entertainment, Intelligent Systems: Shining, Sakura Wars
InXile Entertainment, Firaxis Games: Valkyria Chronicles
Nobody that ever played Virtua Fighter forgot about Virtua Fighter. This title is goofy as fuck.
Exactly. Thumb's down.
My number one reason for never getting into VF is the lack of endings for the characters. Even for an arcade game having no endings at all takes away the motivation to finish a game. Something like the endings in the old MKs would do, but at least put something more than a "Congratulations" already!
I disagree that the characters are bland... they are timeless and charming. Sega rules.
Interesting. There’s actually an intriguing story in the manuals of FV but the vid is right, it doesn’t get utilised in the game itself. For one thing the ninja Kage is trying to rescue his mother who has been kidnapped and transformed into Dural, the chrome final boss that has everyone’s moves. I’d love to see this and Jacky/Sarah’s story get explored in game
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is literally AM2's Replacement.
Oh, so you're talking about Virtua Fighter, then no, I haven't forgotten about it. And it's in my gaming plan, I just need to get it running on PC somehow. It looks like an alchemy 😁
The thing is.....I feel like if Sega wants to garner more interest in the *Virtua Fighter* IP within the modern age, they gotta do more than re-release Virtua Fighter 5 yet again like they did via *Ultimate Showdown.* What Sega should do now (which I'm honestly confused as to *how* they haven't done so yet) is release a *Virtua Fighter physical collection/compilation.* It should consist of all the important games & upgrades within the franchise alongside minor titles, like *Virtua Fighter (Arcade)/Virtua Fighter Remix, Virtua Fighter 2 (Arcade)/Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega Genesis), Virtua Fighter Kids (Sega Saturn), Virtua Fighter Animation (Game Gear & Master System), Virtua Fighter 3tb, Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution/Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary* (with all the *Final Tuned* content included), and *Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown.* The collection should also include extras like online play for all the games (except for both versions of Virtua Fighter Animation and the Sega Genesis version of Virtua Fighter 2), a full-on gallery mode that consists of all the past Virtua Fighter manuals, the full set of the *Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series* & the *Virtua Fighter GG Portrait Series,* the *one-shot Virtua Fighter comic book,* all 35 episodes of the *Virtua Fighter anime* (the first 24 episodes of Season 1 of the anime should come with the English dub, the last 11 episodes of Season 2 should at least include English subtitles), and to top it all off, there should also be a *sound test* mode that allows you to listen to the soundtracks of all the included Virtua Fighter games, the CG & GG Portrait Series, and the opening and ending themes of the Virtua Fighter anime (I'm referring to *"Akira's Song"* & *"Pai's Song",* of course). You should also be able to freely switch between the playable themes from all of the included Virtua Fighter titles and the opening & ending themes of the Virtua Fighter anime no matter which game you're currently playing (like playing Virtua Fighter 3tb music whilst playing the original Virtua Fighter or having "Pai's Song" play during Virtua Fighter 2's staff roll, for instance).
An expansive physical collection like this should be created to primarily introduce more people to the Virtua Fighter IP and what it has to offer in the form of it's games, artwork, and animation for the purpose of garnering more overall interest in this particular Sega franchise that deserves more attention, especially with how important Virtua Fighter's history is and how it's both innovated within and influenced the videogame industry as a whole. It'll also serve as a better and more official way to play these games on more modern hardware rather than having to dig around for an older console to play these games, especially when it comes to Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned, a title that has only been released in Japanese arcades and nowhere else as of now. This exact collection including the Final Tuned content alongside the Evolution content would not only mean that this would be the first time Final Tuned has been given a console release, but it'd be done in a way where you'd essentially be playing the *definitive* version of Virtua Fighter 4 on an actual console, which is most certainly a plus. This physical collection should be released for the *Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S,* and *PC,* and should feature crossplay between all consoles for the Virtua Fighter games that feature online play in this collection. Such a physical collection would also serve as an easy pick up for Virtua Fighter fans who would like to own this exact compilation of games whilst supporting the franchise even further, and through both scenarios, this physical collection should pave the way for more renewed interest in Virtua Fighter as a whole, which will eventually lead to an official *Virtua Fighter 6* finally being made later on down the line.
Since the debut of Street Fighter IV in 2008, the fighting game genre has had a renaissance and franchises both old and new have all been wanting in on the action. Virtua Fighter needs to make a comeback bc I know there's a ton of potential there and I always liked the characters and their designs.
Its more than just graphics. The gameplay is brilliant as well. And it plays more stable than even Tekken does. Lol
A full yakuza fighting game with virtua fighter gameplay is my dream dude
Kind sir,
Has the thought of creating an upload on the Neo-Geo by SNK been taken into consideration? The idea of playing on the Neo-Geo MVS arcade units and bringing the experience home by duplicating the quality into your living room with their AES home console was truly brilliant by the company, and really deserves to be discussed on changing the way we play video games. 8^)
Anthony..
Very true, VF was amazing and revolutionary back then with only Street Fighter in sight.
Funny that PS said that considering that most entries after VF4 have been PS-exclusive.
VF4 is the only exclusive lol. And Ultimate Showdown is just an upgrade since PS4 didn't have backwards compatibility to Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown on PS3
Somebody said the thing.Thank You.
Virtua Fighters' characters remain virtually the same design wise (pun intended)
Virtua fighter had nothing gameplay wise? DOA is a bit of a vf knockoff with anime toddies and that a ongoing series that’ll get a new release someday you can feel vf in other 3D games even tekken took some inspiration from vf with the crouch jab as a quick get off me tool.
No it’s the same thing with something like Mario bros games don’t need a story to be good they fade away when there’s not a new release in 20 years and fans move on felling like they were abandoned
DOA sucks. At least with Tekken you get Quantity over quality helping replayability
@@crashpal not true neccessarily doa got some replay ability to it I like the second one but it’s main gimmick being fanservice is a bit of a turnoff and I think that’s why it’s not as popular as it could be if it wasn’t so sexual it would’ve been more of a complete slam dunk imo.
@@crashpal DOA doesn't suck bro, it's pretty good if you look beneath the fan-service. They came up with alot of cool ideas that eventually Tekken took from them and put it into their games.
Stage transitions, breakable objects, slippery stun animation (when a character is standing in the water, in the snow or on ice) counter throws, floor/wall explosions, dynamic stage hazards etc. the list goes on.