1. Virtua Fighter Game Download
2. New Virtua Fighter Game Gear
3. New Virtua Fighter Game
4. Virtua Fighter 1

It's been a while since Virtua Fighter fans have had even the prospect of any new content, (Virtua Fighter 5 came out just over 10 years ago) but there's a possibility the VF drought may soon be. Virtua Quest, a simplified role-playing video game (which was also known as Virtua Fighter RPG) with new characters aimed at the children's market, was released for the GameCube in 2004 and the PlayStation 2 in 2005. The Virtua Fighters had their incarnations from Virtua Fighter 4. The new incarnation of Virtua Fighter has been created by Yu Suzuki and his AM2 team using the brand new (and untried) Model 3 system board.This machine apparently has polygon handling like nothing else on Earth and was developed in conjunction with Martin Marrietta, the professional flight-sim experts.

Virtua Fighter (Japanese: バーチャファイター) is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designers Yu Suzuki and Seiichi Ishii. The original Virtua Fighter was released in November 28, 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first Virtua Fighter game is widely recognized as the first 3D fighting game released.

• 2History
• 3Characters

Gameplay[edit]

Similar to most other fighting games, the default gameplay system of the Virtua Fighter series involves two combatants needing to win two of three rounds, with each round being 30 seconds long or more. If a character is knocked out (or falls out) of the ring, the opponent wins the round. A fourth round is necessary if a double knockout (both players knocking each other out at the same time) occurred in a previous round and the match is tied one round each. In this fourth round, players fight on a small stage wherein one hit equals victory.

The basic control scheme is simple, using only a control stick and three buttons (Punch, Kick, Guard). Through various timings, positions, and button combinations, players input normal and special moves for each character. Traditionally, in the single-player mode, the player runs a gauntlet of characters in the game (which may include one's doppelgänger) all the way to the final boss.

History[edit]

The following is a list of games in the Virtua Fighter series:

• Virtua Fighter – Arcade (1993), Sega Saturn (1994), Sega 32X (1995)
  • Virtua Fighter Remix – Saturn (1995), Arcade (1995), Windows (1996)
  • Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary – PlayStation 2 (2003)
• Virtua Fighter 2 – Arcade (1994), Saturn (1995), Sega Genesis (1996), Windows (1997)
  • Virtua Fighter 2.1 – Arcade (1995), Saturn (1995), Windows (1997), PlayStation 2 (2004), Xbox 360 (2012), PlayStation 3 (2012)
• Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series – Saturn (1996)
• Virtua Fighter Animation – Game Gear (1996), Master System (1997)
• Virtua Fighter Kids – Arcade (1996), Saturn (1996)
• Fighters Megamix – Saturn (1996)
• Virtua Fighter 3 – Arcade (1996)
  • Virtua Fighter 3tb – Arcade (1997), Dreamcast (1998)
• Virtua Fighter 4 – Arcade (2001), PlayStation 2 (2002)
  • Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution – Arcade (2002), PlayStation 2 (2003)
  • Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned – Arcade (2004)
• Virtua Quest – GameCube (2004), PlayStation 2 (2004)
• Virtua Fighter 5 – Arcade (2006), PlayStation 3 (2007)
  • Virtua Fighter 5 Online – Xbox 360 (2007)
  • Virtua Fighter 5 R – Arcade (2008)
  • Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown – Arcade (2010), Xbox 360 (2012), PlayStation 3 (2012), PlayStation 4 (2016, through a mini-game in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life)
• Virtua Fighter: Cool Champ – Mobile (2011)^[1]
• Virtua Fighter: Fever Combo – Mobile (2014)^[2]

Arcade fighting games[edit]

The brainchild of Sega AM2's Yu Suzuki, Virtua Fighter was released in 1993 as an arcade game using hardware jointly developed by aerospace technology firm Lockheed Martin and Sega, dubbed the Model 1.^[3] It is considered the first polygon-based fighting game. It introduced the eight initial fighters as well as the boss, Dural.

Virtua Fighter 2 was released in November 1994, adding two new fighters: Shun Di and Lion Rafale. It was built using the Model 2 hardware, rendering characters and backgrounds with filteredtexture mapping and motion capture.^[4] A slightly-tweaked upgrade, Virtua Fighter 2.1, followed soon after.

Virtua Fighter 3 came out in 1996, with the introduction of Taka-Arashi and Aoi Umenokoji. Aside from improving the graphics via use of the Model 3 (such as mipmapping, multi-layer anti-aliasing, trilinear filtering and specular highlighting), the game also introduced undulations in some stages and a fourth button, Dodge. Virtua Fighter 3tb in 1997 was the first major update in series history, implementing tournament battles featuring more than two characters (though not simultaneously as in Tekken Tag Tournament).

Virtua Fighter 4, which introduced Vanessa Lewis and Lei-Fei and removed Taka-Arashi, was released on the NAOMI 2 hardware in 2001 instead of hardware from a joint collaboration with Lockheed Martin. The game also removed the uneven battlegrounds and the Dodge button from the previous game. The title is consistently popular in its home arcade market. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, released in 2002, was the first update to add new characters, these being Brad Burns and Goh Hinogami. Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned, an upgrade to Evolution, was released in the arcades in 2004. In Japan, Virtua Fighter 4 was famous for spearheading and opening the market for internet functionality in arcades. VF.NET started in Japan in 2001, and since companies have created their own arcade networks, E-Amusement by Konami, NESiCAxLive by Taito and Square Enix, and ALL.Net by Sega.

Virtua Fighter 5 was released in Japan on July 12, 2006 for Sega's Lindbergh arcade board and introduced yet two more new characters, Eileen and El Blaze. Similar to its predecessor, two revisions were later released. Virtua Fighter 5 R, released on July 24, 2008, saw the return of Taka-Arashi while introducing a new fighter, Jean Kujo. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was released in arcades on July 29, 2010.

Console fighting games[edit]

The first Virtua Fighter game was ported to the Saturn in 1994 (1995 outside Japan), just months before fellow 3D-fighter Tekken was released. The console port, which was nearly identical to the arcade game, sold at a nearly 1:1 ratio with the Saturn hardware at launch.^[5] The port of Virtua Fighter 2 on the Saturn for Christmas 1995 was considered faithful to the arcade original. While the game's 3D backgrounds were now rendered in 2D, resulting in some scenery such as the bridge in Shun Di's river stage being removed, the remainder of the game was kept intact. It became the top-selling Saturn game in Japan. Ports of the original Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 with enhanced graphics were also released for the PC. Virtua Fighter 2 was remade as a 2D fighter for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1996, omitting the characters Shun and Lion, and later re-released on the PlayStation 2 as a part of the Sega Ages series. Yakuza 5 was released in 2012 in Japan and in 2015 worldwide and features Virtua Fighter 2 as a mini-game. The only port of Virtua Fighter 3 was for the Sega Dreamcast by Genki (instead of AM2) with Virtua Fighter 3tb in 1998 for the Japanese release of the console.

In a reverse of the usual development cycle for the series, an update of the original Virtua Fighter called Virtua Fighter Remix was released for the Saturn and later ported to the arcade.

Virtua Fighter Mini, based on the anime series, was created for the Game Gear and released in North America and Europe as Virtua Fighter Animation. The game was later ported to the Master System by Tec Toy and released only in Brazil. Brazil itself was a market where the series was very popular.^[6]

Following Sega's exit from the hardware market in mid-2001, Virtua Fighter 4 was ported by Sega to the PlayStation 2 in 2002. Outside of a slight downgrade in graphics, the port of the game was considered well done. This port was followed by Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, an update that added two new characters as well as a host of game balancing tweaks, in 2003. Evolution was immediately released under the PlayStation 2's 'Greatest Hits' label in the United States, which lowered its initial sticker price.

With the 2003 PlayStation 2 release of Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution arriving in time for the series' tenth anniversary, a remake of Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary, was released exclusively on the PlayStation 2. While the music, stages and low-polygon visual style were retained from the first game, the character roster, animations, mechanics and movesets were taken from Evolution. In the previous PS2 release of Virtua Fighter 4, a button code would make the player's character look like a VF1 model. In Japan, the game was included as part of a box set with a book titled Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary: Memory of a Decade and a DVD. The box set was released in November 2003 and was published by Enterbrain.^[7] In North America, the game was included within the home version of Evolution, and in Europe it was only available as a promotional item; it was not sold at retail.

A port of Virtua Fighter 5 was released for the PlayStation 3 in Japan and North America in February 2007, and March 2007 in Europe. The PlayStation 3 port is considered extremely faithful to the arcade original, due in part to the arcade hardware (based on Sega Lindbergh platform) and PlayStation 3 hardware sharing NVidia-provided GPUs of comparable capability. A port for the Xbox 360 was released in October 2007 in Japan and North America, and December 2007 in Europe, and contains the additions of online fighting via Xbox Live, improved graphics, and gameplay balances from the newer revision of the arcade game. For years, the designers have held strong on their refusal to add an online mode to console versions of the games; because the gameplay relies so much on timing, any lag would ruin the experience.^[8] Eventually, with the Xbox 360 release of VF5, Sega decided to add online capabilities via Xbox Live. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was released as a downloadable title for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in June 2012, with online play available in both versions. An updated version of Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown named Version B was released in Japanese arcades in 2015. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life was released for PlayStation 4 in 2016 in Japan and 2018 worldwide and the game features Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown Version B as a mini-game, making the release of Yakuza 6 also the PlayStation 4 debut for the Virtua Fighter series.

Spin-offs and adaptations[edit]

Due to the success of Virtua Fighter 2, a super deformed version called Virtua Fighter Kids was released for the Sega Saturn and arcades in 1996. 1996 also saw the release of Fighters Megamix for the Sega Saturn, a crossover that pitted the cast of Virtua Fighter 2 against the cast of Fighting Vipers as well as other characters in AM2-developed games. Megamix served as a home preview to Virtua Fighter 3 in a few ways, as the game featured the dodge ability found in VF3 and the Virtua Fighter characters had their moves updated to those found in VF3. Some stages and music from VF3 are also in the game. The Virtua Fighter Kids versions of Akira and Sarah appear as hidden playable characters in the game; the character Siba, who was omitted from the first Virtua Fighter also appears as a hidden playable character.

In 1996, AM2 began developing a Saturn RPG based on the series, titled Virtua Fighter RPG: Akira's Story, with Akira as the hero.^[9] Development moved to the Dreamcast, the Virtua Fighter connection was dropped^[10] and the game became Shenmue, released in 1999.^[9]Virtua Quest, a simplified role-playing video game (which was also known as Virtua Fighter RPG) with new characters aimed at the children's market, was released for the GameCube in 2004 and the PlayStation 2 in 2005. The Virtua Fighters had their incarnations from Virtua Fighter 4.

During the late 2000s, both Sega and Namco showed interest in a possible cross over between Virtua Fighter and Tekken.^[11] This crossover would combine all the characters and fighting styles from both games, but any other inclusions are unknown at the moment. Prior to that, both franchises were represented as Mii Brawler costumes in the Nintendo crossover Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, in which Ryu from the Street Fighter series is playable too, whereas Akira himself (based on 10th Anniversary version) physically appeared in the sequel Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an assist trophy character.

Other media[edit]

A 35 episodes-long anime television series Virtua Fighter was produced by Tōkyō Movie Shinsha, originally airing on TV Tokyo between 1995 and 1996. In 1995 Shogakukan began publishing a Virtua Fighter 2manga, with creative oversight from Sega AM2 to ensure the characters were portrayed consistently with their original vision.^[12] The games' manga adaptation was written by Kyōichi Nanatsuki and illustrated by Yoshihide Fujiwara starting in 1997. In Japan, Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series, wherein each character in the series had their own Saturn CD showcasing various poses of the fighter, was released around the same time as well. People who collected all the discs could send in their proof of purchases to get a special Portrait CD of Dural. In 2014, Sega formed the production company Stories International for film and TV projects based on their games with Virtua Fighter as an animated project.^[13][14]

The first Virtua Fightermerchandise was a set of dolls of the first Virtua Fighter cast which Sega produced for their UFO Catchers (a model of claw crane). These proved so popular that supplies ran out almost immediately, so Sega made additional batches and began producing other Virtua Fighter merchandise to put in the UFO Catchers.^[12] When these also proved successful, Sega realized that Virtua Fighter merchandise had mainstream potential, and began licensing the property to merchandise producers such as Bandai.^[12]

Sega has also released soundtrack CDs for the games, and even an album of original theme music for the characters called Dancing Shadows.^[12]

Characters[edit]

In other games[edit]

In Sega's music video game Project DIVA 2nd, Vocaloid Megurine Luka can obtain a Sarah Bryant outfit for gameplay. Jacky Bryant and Akira Yuki appear in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing as partners competing against other Sega characters in races. Akira Yuki, Sarah Bryant and Pai Chan, appear as guest characters in Tecmo Koei'sDead or Alive 5,^[15][16] followed by Jacky Bryant in Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate. Akira Yuki, Pai Chan and Dural appear in the crossover RPG Project X Zone, which features characters from Capcom, Namco Bandai Games, and Sega. Akira Yuki, Pai Chan and Dural return in Project X Zone 2 along with Kage-Maru. In Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, Akira Yuki and Pai Chan appears as a playable guest boss where Akira is playable and Pai as assist, though they became regulars in Ignition update. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, downloadable costumes for Mii Brawlers appear to be based on Jacky Bryant's modern appearance and Akira Yuki's first appearance. Akira would also make an appearance as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in his polygonal form from the first game.

Legacy[edit]

Virtua Fighter Game Download

Virtua Fighter is often considered to be the grandfather of 3D fighting games, with each iteration being noted for advancing the graphical and technical aspects of games in the genre. Many 3D fighting game series such as Tekken and Dead or Alive were influenced by Virtua Fighter, and the original Dead or Alive ran on the Model 2 hardware. In 1998, the series was recognized by the Smithsonian Institution for contributions in the field of Art and Entertainment, and became a part of the Smithsonian Institution's Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology Innovation.^[3] Its arcade cabinets are kept at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, where Virtua Fighter is the only video game on permanent display.^[17]

Virtua Fighter played a crucial role in popularizing 3D polygon graphics.^{[18][19][20][21]} The success of the Virtua Fighter series resulted in Guinness World Records awarding the series seven world records in Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008, including 'First Polygon Based Fighting Game', 'First 3D Fighting Game', and 'First Fighting Game for a 32-bit Console'. 1UP listed Virtua Fighter as one of the 50 most important games of all time, crediting it for creating the 3D fighting game genre, and more generally, demonstrating the potential of 3D polygon human characters (as the first to implement them in a useful way), showing the potential of realistic gameplay (introducing a character physics system and realistic character animations for the time), and introducing fighting game concepts such as the ring-out and the block button.^[19]Virtua Fighter 2 on the Sega Model 2 introduced the use of texture-mapped 3D characters,^[22] and motion capture animation technology.^[23]Virtua Fighter 3 on the Sega Model 3 further advanced real-time graphics technology, with Computer and Video Games in 1996 comparing it to CGI and referring to it as 'the most astounding display of video game graphic muscle ever in the history of this industry.'^[24] In 1997, Next Generation stated that Virtua Fighter had supplanted Street Fighter as the premier fighting game series.^[25]

Some of the Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) staff involved in the creation of the original PlayStation video game console credit Virtua Fighter as inspiration for the PlayStation's 3D graphics hardware. According to SCE's Shigeo Maruyama, the PlayStation was originally being considered as a 2D-focused hardware, and it was not until the release of Virtua Fighter that they decided to design the PlayStation as a 3D-focused hardware.^[26]Toby Gard also cited Virtua Fighter as an influence on the use of polygonal characters in Tomb Raider and the creation of Lara Croft.^[27]John Romero also cited Virtua Fighter as a major influence on the creation of 3D first-person shooterQuake.^[28][29]Team Ico's Fumito Ueda also cited Virtua Fighter as an influence on his animation work.^[30]

A late 1995 article in Next Generation declared that 'The Virtua Fighter series has been, and will continue to be, the yardstick by which all next generation arcade and console fighting games will be measured for a long time coming.'^[31] According to Eurogamer: 'One of Yu Suzuki's most enduring creations once christened every round of new arcade hardware, was a pioneer in 3D graphics and helped establish online fighting. All the while, beneath those achievements emerged a game of exceptional depth and nuance.'^[32]1UP.com opined: 'Due to its innovation, Virtua Fighter not only influenced competitors' games -- it basically created a genre. Technically, every 3D fighter that came after it owes Virtua Fighter for establishing that a 3D fighter could work. Even today, Tekken still takes inspiration from Sega's series.'^[33]Game Informer's Andy McNamara wrote: 'It has always been my opinion that the Virtua Fighter series is the most intense and balanced of all the 3D fighters on the market. Its control scheme is intuitive, its pacing perfect, and its depth unmatched.'^[34] in 2006, IGN ranked Virtua Fighter as the 25th greatest game series of all time, explaining that 'no other 3D fighter has equaled VF in terms of difficulty and depth.'^[35]

References[edit]

1. ^'３D 格闘ゲームの金字塔「バーチャファイター」が ソーシャルネットワークゲームとなって、Mobage よりサービス開始'(PDF). Ysnet-inc.jp. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
2. ^'Virtua Fever Combo Fighter'(PDF). Ysnet-inc.jp. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
3. ^ ^ab'Sega-16 – History of: Virtua Fighter'. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
4. ^Alex Wawro. 'Gamasutra - Yu Suzuki recalls using military tech to make Virtua Fighter 2'. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
5. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. p. 502. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
6. ^'Sega-16 – Interview: Stefano Arnhold (Tectoy)'. www.sega-16.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
7. ^'Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary Hits Japan'. IGN. Ziff Davis. 10 October 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
8. ^As expressed by VF5 producer Noriyuki Shimoda in the February 2007 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly when speaking of the PlayStation 3 port of Virtua Fighter 5.
9. ^ ^ab'Creator Yu Suzuki shares the story of Shenmue's development'. Polygon. Archived from the original on June 28, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
10. ^'Shenmue, the History - IGN'. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
11. ^Dunham, Jeremy (2007-02-21). 'Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Interview - IGN'. Ps3.ign.com. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
12. ^ ^abcd'Virtua Fighter Mania'. GamePro. No. 89. IDG. February 1996. pp. 28–29.
13. ^Marc Graser. 'Evan Cholfin to Adapt Sega's Videogames in Hollywood (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety'. Variety. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
14. ^Dave McNary (December 5, 2016). 'Sega's 'Altered Beast,' 'Streets of Rage' Games to Be Adapted for Film, TV'. Variety. Archived from the original on December 6, 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
15. ^Richard Mitchell, 'Virtua Fighter's Akira playable in Dead or Alive 5'Archived 2012-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, Joystiq, March 5, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
16. ^Stephany Nunneley, 'Dead or Alive 5 Pai Chan Announced via Famitsu'Archived 2012-09-17 at the Wayback MachineVG247, September 12, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
17. ^Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (3 March 2016). 'Special Awards'. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
18. ^'Virtua Racing – Arcade (1992)'. 15 Most Influential Games of All Time. GameSpot. 2001. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
19. ^ ^abLeone, Matt (2010). 'The Essential 50 Part 35: Virtua Fighter'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
20. ^Donovan, Tristan (2010). Replay: The History of Video Games. Yellow Ant. p. 267. ISBN978-0956507204. One of the key objections to 3D graphics that developers had been raising with Sony was that while polygons worked fine for inanimate objects such as racing cars, 2D images were superior when it came to animating people or other characters. Virtua Fighter, Suzuki's follow-up to Virtua Racing, was a direct riposte to such thinking ... The characters may have resembled artists' mannequins but their lifelike movement turned Suzuki's game into a huge success that exploded claims that game characters couldn't be done successfully in 3D ... Teruhisa Tokunaka, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, even went so far as to thank Sega for creating Virtua Fighter and transforming developers' attitudes.
21. ^'Virtua Fighter Review'. Edge. December 22, 1994. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2015. Virtua Fighter's 3D characters have a presence that 2D sprites just can't match. The characters really do seem 'alive', whether they're throwing a punch, unleashing a special move or reeling from a blow ... The Saturn version of Virtua Fighter is an exceptional game in many respects. It's arguably the first true 'next generation' console game, fusing the best aspects of combat gameplay with groundbreaking animation and gorgeous sound (CD music and clear samples). In the arcades, Virtua Fighter made people stop and look. On the Saturn, it will make many people stop, look at their bank balance and then fork out for Sega's new machine. Over to you, Sony.
22. ^'The Disappearance of Yu Suzuki: Part 1'. 1Up.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
23. ^'Top-secret military technology was used to make Virtua Fighter 2? Yep, that happened according to developer'. Eventhubs.com. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
24. ^'News: Virtua Fighter 3'. Computer and Video Games (174): 10–1. May 1996.
25. ^'Expand Your Horizons'. Next Generation. No. 30. Imagine Media. June 1997. p. 1.
26. ^'How Virtua Fighter Saved PlayStation's Bacon'. WIRED. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
27. ^Thomason, Steve (July 2006). 'The Man Behind the Legend'. Nintendo Power. 19 (205): 72. Toby Gard: It became clear to me watching people play Virtua Fighter, which was kind of the first big 3D-character console game, that even though there were only two female characters in the lineup, in almost every game I saw being played, someone was picking one of the two females. cf. Gard, Toby (June 28, 2001). 'Q&A: The man who made Lara'. BBC News Online (Interview). BBC. Archived from the original on December 15, 2002. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
28. ^'Does John Romero Still Enjoy Shooting People?'. Next Generation. No. 30. June 1997. pp. 9–12.
29. ^Edge, May 1997, My original idea was to do something like Virtua Fighter in a 3D world, with full-contact fighting, but you'd also be able to run through a world, and do the same stuff you do in Quake, only when you got into these melees, the camera would pull out into a third-person perspective. It would’ve been great, but nobody else had faith in trying it. The project was taking too long, and everybody just wanted to fall back on the safe thing – the formula.
30. ^'Watch The Last Guardian's spectacular new CG trailer'. playstation.com. 18 November 2016. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
31. ^'Virtua Fighter 2'. Next Generation. Imagine Media (13): 127–8. January 1996.
32. ^Robinson, Martin, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown Review, Eurogamer, 13 June 2012.
33. ^Leone, Matt, Essential 50: Virtua FighterArchived 2012-07-19 at Archive.today, 1UP.
34. ^McNamara, Andy, Virtua Fighter 5 PS3 Review, Game Informer.
35. ^IGN Staff, The Top 25 Videogame FranchisesArchived 2012-11-04 at the Wayback Machine, IGN, December 4, 2006.

External links[edit]

• Virtua Fighter at Curlie
• Virtua Fighter at MobyGames

Virtua Fighter (Japanese: バーチャファイターHepburn: Bācha Faitā) is a fighting game created for the Sega Model 1 arcade platform by AM2, a development group within Sega, headed by Yu Suzuki. It was released in October 1993 in Japan, Europe, And UK and November 28, 1993 in North America. It is the first game in the Virtua Fighter series, and the first arcade fighting game to feature fully 3D polygon graphics. The game has been ported to several platforms including the Sega Saturn, Sega 32X, and Microsoft Windows. A critically acclaimed and hit game, Virtua Fighter was highly regarded for its in-depth fighting engine and real world fighting techniques, and has been revolutionary and highly influential in the evolution of the genre and video games in general.

An update titled Virtua Fighter Remix, developed by AM1,^[2] was released for the Saturn in 1995, and ported to the arcade later that same year.^[3] The game's remake, Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary, was released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 in 2003 as a stand-alone title in Japan and as a bonus to Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution in North America.

• 2Plot
• 3Development and release

Gameplay[edit]

The Virtua label indicates that the onscreen action takes place in 3D. The images were created using wireframe and flat-shaded quads. Beyond 3D, it retained the staple of multiple characters, each with their own distinctive moves.

New Virtua Fighter Game Gear

In the game's single-player mode, the player faces all eight characters (including a duplicate of the chosen character) in a pre-determined order, followed by a fight with the game's boss, Dural. Each fight is a best-of-three match, and the player has three ways to win: knocking out the opponent, forcing him/her out of the ring, or having more health left when time runs out.

Unlike other fighting games of the early 1990s (such as Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat), the game relies on a control stick and only three buttons, Punch, Kick, and Guard (block) although different situations and button combinations led to a vast variety of moves for each character.

Plot[edit]

Characters[edit]

New Virtua Fighter Game

• Akira Yuki—A kung fu teacher from Japan, fights with bajiquan.
• Pai Chan—Martial arts movie star from Hong Kong, fights with ensei-ken (mizongquan).
• Lau Chan—Pai's father and a cook from China, fights with koen-ken ('Tiger-Swallow Fist').
• Wolf Hawkfield—Professional wrestler from Canada, fights with professional wrestling.
• Jeffry McWild—Fisherman from Australia, fights with pancratium.
• Kage-Maru ('Kage')—Ninja from Japan, fights with jujutsu.
• Sarah Bryant—College student from San Francisco, CA, fights with jeet kune do (Sega changed her fighting style to 'Martial Arts' in Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution).
• Jacky Bryant—Sarah's older brother and a race car driver also from San Francisco, fights with jeet kune do.
• Dural—A gynoid that is the game's boss character and is also Kage's missing mother. She fights with a mix of all the other characters' styles.

An Arab fighter named Siba was planned, and his character model even appeared on some Virtua Fighter arcade cabinets (though, in some cases, Akira's name was placed under his portrait). He was ultimately dropped, but later appeared in Fighters Megamix.

Story[edit]

Virtua Fighter 1

Once in the Shōwa period, the defunct Japanese army intended to approach Henry Pu-yi, the last Emperor of the Ching Dynasty in their effort to take advantages. However, they were defeated by the Imperial guards who utilized the martial art called Hakkyoku-ken. During World War II, the Japanese army research the mysteries of Hakkyoku-ken to create supersoldiers, developing the ultimate martial art.

Approximately half a century has passed since then, the ultimate World Fighting Tournament is about to start, and all kinds of fighters from around the world engage to determine the world's best. Behind the Tournament, however, there exists an intrigue designed by a sinister syndicate.

Development and release[edit]

Virtua Fighter[edit]

Virtua Fighter was created using hardware jointly developed by aerospace technology firm Lockheed Martin and Sega, dubbed the Model 1.^[4] According to Sega of Japan's publicity manager, Kurokawa, 'We deliberately didn't publicize all the [fighting] moves at the same time but instead revealed them to gamers one at a time by means of the Japanese videogame press.'^[5]Virtua Fighter was a launch game for the Sega Saturn,^[6] and served as the pack-in launch game in North America.^[7] Its Sega 32X version was developed by the same team responsible for the Genesis port of Virtua Racing.^[8]

Virtua Fighter Remix[edit]

Virtua Fighter Remix was an update of the original Virtua Fighter with higher-polygon models, texture mapping, and some gameplay changes. It was given free to all registered Saturn owners in the United States via mail.^[9][10] It also had an arcade release on the ST-V (an arcade platform based on the Sega Saturn) and later ported to Microsoft Windows as Virtua Fighter PC.^[11]

Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary[edit]

With the 2003 PlayStation 2 release of Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution arriving in time for the series' 10th anniversary, a remake of Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary, was released exclusively on the PlayStation 2. While the music, stages, and low-polygon visual style were retained from the first game, the character roster, animations, mechanics, and movesets were taken from Evolution. In the previous PS2 release of Virtua Fighter 4, a button code would make the player's character look like a VF1 model. In Japan, the game was included as part of a box set with a book called Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary: Memory of a Decade and a DVD. The box set was released in November 2003 and was published by Enterbrain.^[12] In North America, the game was included in the home version of Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, and in Europe it was only available as a promotional item; it was not sold at retail.

Reception[edit]

In an early preview of the arcade game, the October 1993 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly hailed Virtua Fighter as a demonstration of 'just how far video games have come in the last eight years.' EGM made particular note of the advanced graphics, how the camera moves along different axes depending on the fighters' location, the use of multiple viewpoints in the instant replay, the high quality of the gameplay, and the smoothness and realism of the animation.^[37]

It went on to become one of the highest-grossing arcade games of all time in Japan.^[38] The console port, which was nearly identical to the arcade game, sold at a nearly 1:1 ratio with the Saturn hardware during the Japanese launch.^[39]

On release of the Saturn version, Sega Saturn Tsūshin scored the game a 38 out of 40.^[29]Famicom Tsūshin would score the same version a 36 out of 40 five months later.^[18] In a review of the Japanese release, GamePro praised the retention of the fighters, moves, varying camera angles, and controls of the arcade version, as well as the improved voice and sound effects and home version options, and concluded it to be 'one of the best games ever bundled with a system'.^[40] Their later review of the North American release was similarly laudatory, but remarked that Tekken and Battle Arena Toshinden for the soon-to-launch PlayStation were even better.^[41]Next Generation, which also reviewed the game prior to the Saturn's USA launch, disagreed, contending that 'What Virtua Fighter lacks in [Battle Arena] Tohshinden's immediate graphical punch, it makes up for in grinding longevity.' They particularly praised the game's depth and realism, and summarized that 'The Saturn Virtua Fighter is, to all intents and purposes, the coin-op game brought home. And away from the arcade, under the harsh light of unhurried examination, its merits grow.'^[25]

Maximum gave it five out of five stars, calling it 'a stunningly close conversion that is quite possibly the best game available for the machine.' They remarked that the innovations such as the 3D motion capture remained impressive, as well as the depth and variety of the character's gameplay application: 'every fighter has almost limitless scope for coming up with all-new attacks.' They also praised the 'very clever mixture of superbly exaggerated sound effects coupled with a tangible, realistic impact for every blow.'^[21]Electronic Gaming Monthly were more subdued in their reaction, but two of their four reviewers commented that it was nearly identical to the arcade version. They scored it 31.5 out of 40 (average 7.875 out of 10).^[16]Edge rated the Saturn version 9/10, stating 'Saturn Virtua Fighter has all the pulling power of the arcade version, including the swooping, gliding game camera, the stylish polygon characters, the totally convincing animation and the compulsive gameplay ... [The graphics] were impressive enough in the original, but on the Saturn, under the kind of intense scrutiny you can never give a game in the arcades, they emerge as simply astounding ... It's arguably the first true 'next generation' console game, fusing the best aspects of combat gameplay with groundbreaking animation and gorgeous sound'.^[15]

Sega Saturn Magazine gave Virtua Fighter Remix 5 out of 5 stars, saying that it fixed the glitches and graphics of the original game while maintaining the already excellent gameplay.^[28]Electronic Gaming Monthly scored Remix 29 out of 40 (average 7.25 out of 10). The reviewers praised all the game's improvements, but most of them concluded that it was still not worth buying for players who already owned the original game.^[17]Maximum likewise praised the quality of the game and its low price tag, but felt it was not worth buying with the release of the even better Saturn conversion of Virtua Fighter 2 less than a month away. They scored it 4 out of 5 stars.^[42] The staff of Next Generation gave it five out of five stars, applauding the graphical improvements and glitch fixes. They commented: 'Perhaps never in videogame history has a problem such as Virtua Fighter been so quickly and thoroughly corrected. Virtua Fighter Remix contains all the great gameplay of the original without any of the weak spots.'^[24] Scary Larry of GamePro gave the game a highly positive review for its graphical enhancements and retention of all the excellent gameplay of the original Saturn version. GamePro also ran two reader-submitted reviews for the game; King Kane argued that the graphical and audio improvements make the game worth trying even for those who are not fans of Virtua Fighter, while Tricky Ricky argued that though the game is an impressive upgrade, the lack of changes to the gameplay make its appeal quickly fade.^[43]Famicom Tsūshin scored Virtua Fighter Remix a 35 out of 40,^[44] and the Sega 32X version of the game a 30 out of 40.^[19]Next Generation reviewed the arcade version of the game, and stated that 'The drawback of all Titan games, including Remix, is that the technology isn't as advanced, fast, or powerful as Model 2B [...] and these games are really like playing fast Saturn games in the arcade.'^[3]

Electronic Gaming Monthly scored the 32X version 30.5 out of 40 (average 7.625 out of 10), calling it an excellent conversion given the system it's on, but dated next to the graphically superior Saturn version and especially Virtua Fighter Remix, both of which had already been released.^[45]GamePro also noted that the 32X version suffers from more slowdown and fewer polygons than the Saturn version, as well as 'tinny sound quality', but praised the additional options not included in the Saturn version and rated it as an overall strong port.^[46] A critic for Next Generation similarly said that the 32X version is not as impressive looking as the Saturn version but has more options and fewer glitches, making it an overall excellent port. He argued that the game was not worth buying a 32X for, since the system was not powerful enough to handle ports of Virtua Fighter Remix or Virtua Fighter 2 (which was soon to be released for the Saturn), but that it was an essential purchase for those who already own a 32X.^[26]

In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Virtua Fighter PC the 121st-best computer game ever released.^[34]

Legacy[edit]

Virtua Fighter dispensed with sprite-based graphics, replacing them with flat-shaded quads rendered in real-time, by the Model 1's 3D-rendering hardware, allowing for effects and technologies that were impossible in sprite-based fighters, such as characters that could move in three dimensions, and a dynamic camera that could zoom, pan, and swoop dramatically around the arena. It has been credited with both introducing and popularizing the use of polygon-based graphics in fighting games.^[47][48][49]1UP listed it as one of the 50 most important games of all time. They credited Virtua Fighter for creating the 3D fighting game genre, and more generally, demonstrating the potential of 3D polygon human characters (as the first to implement them in a useful way), showing the potential of realistic gameplay (introducing a character physics system and realistic character animations), and introducing fighting game concepts such as the ring-out and the block button.^[36]

At a time when fighting games were becoming increasingly focused on violence and shock value, the popularity of Virtua Fighter demonstrated that fighting games focused on gameplay were still commercially viable.^[48] Game designer Yasuyuki Oda remarks being impressed by this video game while working for SNK.^[50]

Virtua Fighter played a crucial role in popularizing 3D polygonal graphics.^[47][51][52] In particular, Virtua Fighter garnered praise for its simple three-button control scheme, with the game's strategy coming from the intuitively observed differences between characters that felt and acted differently rather than the more ornate combos of two-dimensional competitors. Virtua Fighter's fluid animation and relatively realistic depiction of distinct fighting styles gave its combatants a lifelike presence considered impossible to replicate with sprites.^[53][54][55]

Some of the Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) staff involved in the creation of the original PlayStation video game console credit Virtua Fighter as inspiration for the PlayStation's 3D graphics hardware. According to SCE's former producer Ryoji Akagawa and chairman Shigeo Maruyama, the PlayStation was originally being considered as a 2D focused hardware, and it was not until the success of Virtua Fighter in the arcades that they decided to design the PlayStation as a 3D focused hardware.^[56]Toby Gard also cited Virtua Fighter as an influence on the use of polygon characters—and the creation of Lara Croft—in Tomb Raider: 'It became clear to me watching people play Virtua Fighter, which was kind of the first big 3D-character console game, that even though there were only two female characters in the lineup, in almost every game I saw being played, someone was picking one of the two females.'^[57]John Romero also cited Virtua Fighter as a major influence on the creation of 3D first-person shooterQuake.^[58][59]Team Ico's Fumito Ueda also cited Virtua Fighter as an influence on his animation work.^[60]

References[edit]

1. ^'Megadrive Review: Virtua Racing'. Mean Machines (19): 48–50. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
2. ^'Preview: Die Hard Arcade'. Sega Saturn Magazine. No. 16. Emap International Limited. February 1997. p. 24.
3. ^ ^abc'Virtua Fighter Remix'. Next Generation. No. 12. Imagine Media. December 1995. p. 209.
4. ^'Sega-16 – History of: Virtua Fighter'.
5. ^'AM2'. Next Generation. Imagine Media (4): 68–69. April 1995.
6. ^'Sega's Saturn Launched in Japan'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (65): 60. December 1994.
7. ^'Sega Hopes to Run Rings Around the Competition with Early Release of the Saturn'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (72): 30. July 1995.
8. ^'Virtua Short Stories'. Maximum: The Video Game Magazine. Emap International Limited (1): 117. October 1995.
9. ^Kalinske, Tom (October 1995). 'Saturn Savaged on the Net: Tom Kalinske Strikes Back'. Maximum: The Video Game Magazine. Emap International Limited (1): 115.
10. ^'Sega 'Knocks Out' Sega Saturn owners with free Virtua Fighter Remix giveaway'. Business Wire. Berkshire Hathaway. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2019 – via The Free Dictionary.
11. ^'NG Alphas: Sega Entertainment'. Next Generation. No. 22. Imagine Media. October 1996. p. 103. One of the first titles to appear is Virtua Fighter PC, which has more in common with VF Remix than the original.
12. ^'Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary Hits Japan'. IGN. Ziff Davis. 10 October 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
13. ^Williamson, Colin (2014-11-14). 'Virtua Fighter - Overview - allgame'. Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
14. ^'Computer and Video Games - Issue 168 (1995-11)(EMAP Images)(GB)'. Archive.org. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
15. ^ ^abEdge Staff (1994-12-22). 'Virtua Fighter Review'. Edge Online. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
16. ^ ^ab'Review Crew: Virtua Fighter'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (72): 38. July 1995.
17. ^ ^ab'Virtua Fighter Remix Review'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (76): 46. November 1995.
18. ^ ^abおオススメ!! ソフト カタログ!!: バーチャファイター. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.335. Pg.114. 12–19 May 1995.
19. ^ ^abNEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: バーチャファイター. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.358. Pg.30. 27 October 1995.
20. ^GamesMaster, episode 73 (series 4, episode 11), November 29, 1994
21. ^ ^ab'Virtua Fighter'. Maximum: The Video Game Magazine. Emap International Limited (1): 142–3. October 1995.
22. ^'MeanMachinesSega28UK'(PDF). Sega Retro. 2015-07-04. Retrieved 2016-03-11.^{[permanent dead link]}
23. ^Mega, issue 29, pages 38-41
24. ^ ^ab'Reassuring'. Next Generation. Imagine Media (10): 113. October 1995.
25. ^ ^ab'Virtua Fighter'. Next Generation. Imagine Media (4): 88. April 1995.
26. ^ ^ab'Un-X-Pected!'. Next Generation. Imagine Media (11): 177. November 1995.
27. ^Sega Power, issue 63, pages 14-15
28. ^ ^ab'Review: Virtua Fighter Remix + CG Portrait Collection'. Sega Saturn Magazine. Emap International Limited (1): 94. November 1995.
29. ^ ^abSegaSaturn GameCross Review: バーチャファイター. Sega Saturn Tsūshin. No.1. Pg.6. 2 December 1994.
30. ^Ultimate Future Games, issue 3, pages 78-81
31. ^'第8回ゲーメスト大賞'. GAMEST (in Japanese) (136): 40.
32. ^'The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. February 6, 2006. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
33. ^Edge Staff (March 3, 2006). 'Japan Votes on All Time Top 100'. Edge / Famitsu. Archived from the original on 2008-07-23. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
34. ^ ^abStaff (November 1996). '150 Best (and 50 Worst) Games of All Time'. Computer Gaming World (148): 63–65, 68, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 84, 88, 90, 94, 98.
35. ^'GameSpot Presents: Readers' Choice: 15 Most Influential Video Games of All Time'. Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on November 20, 2001. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
36. ^ ^ab'Classic 1UP.com's Essential 50'. 1UP.com. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
37. ^'Virtua Fighters'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (51): 66. October 1993.
38. ^'Ultimate Future Games - Issue 02 (1995-01)(Future Publishing)(GB)'. Archive.org. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
39. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. p. 502. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
40. ^'Saturn ProReview: Virtua Fighter'. GamePro. IDG (68): 31. March 1995.
41. ^'ProReview: Virtua Fighter'. GamePro. IDG (83): 48. August 1995.
42. ^'Maximum Reviews: Virtua Fighter Remix'. Maximum: The Video Game Magazine. Emap International Limited (2): 143. November 1995.
43. ^'ProReview: Virtua Fighter Remix'. GamePro. IDG (87): 72–73. December 1995.
44. ^NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: バーチャファイター リミックス. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.344. Pg.31. 21 July 1995.
45. ^'Virtua Fighter Review'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (75): 36. October 1995.
46. ^'ProReview: Virtua Fighter'. GamePro. IDG (86): 66. November 1995.
47. ^ ^ab'Virtua Racing – Arcade (1992)'. 15 Most Influential Games of All Time. GameSpot. 2001. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
48. ^ ^ab'Future Fights: A Looking Glass into Tomorrow's Fighting Games'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (68): 91–93. March 1995.
49. ^'Tekken 2'. Maximum: The Video Game Magazine. Emap International Limited (1): 21. October 1995. At the end of 1993, the genre was re-defined by Sega's Virtua Fighter, which introduced stunningly animated 3D polygon fighters that greatly excited arcade gamers.
50. ^'『ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ XIV』プロデューサーインタビュー！ 最新作は新旧スタッフが総力を挙げて開発(1/2)'. Famtisu. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
51. ^Leone, Matt (2010). 'The Essential 50 Part 35: Virtua Fighter'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
52. ^Donovan, Tristan (2010). Replay: The History of Video Games. Yellow Ant. p. 267. ISBN978-0956507204. One of the key objections to 3D graphics that developers had been raising with Sony was that while polygons worked fine for inanimate objects such as racing cars, 2D images were superior when it came to animating people or other characters. Virtua Fighter, Suzuki's follow-up to Virtua Racing, was a direct riposte to such thinking ... The characters may have resembled artists' mannequins but their lifelike movement turned Suzuki's game into a huge success that exploded claims that game characters couldn't be done successfully in 3D ... Teruhisa Tokunaka, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, even went so far as to thank Sega for creating Virtua Fighter and transforming developers' attitudes.
53. ^Mott, Tony (2013). 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. New York, New York: Universe Publishing. pp. 226, 250. ISBN978-0-7893-2090-2. Virtua Racing ... was perhaps the first to treat polygons not as a graphical gimmick but as an opportunity to expand the boundaries of traditional driving games ... It's like witnessing the discovery of fire ... [Virtua Fighter] establish[ed] the template that future 3-D fighters would follow
54. ^Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. pp. 501–502. ISBN0-7615-3643-4.
55. ^'Virtua Fighter Review'. Edge. December 22, 1994. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2015. Virtua Fighter's 3D characters have a presence that 2D sprites just can't match. The characters really do seem 'alive', whether they're throwing a punch, unleashing a special move or reeling from a blow ... The Saturn version of Virtua Fighter is an exceptional game in many respects. It's arguably the first true 'next generation' console game, fusing the best aspects of combat gameplay with groundbreaking animation and gorgeous sound (CD music and clear samples). In the arcades, Virtua Fighter made people stop and look. On the Saturn, it will make many people stop, look at their bank balance and then fork out for Sega's new machine. Over to you, Sony.
56. ^Feit, Daniel (2012-09-05). 'How Virtua Fighter Saved PlayStation's Bacon'. Wired. Retrieved 2014-10-09. Ryoji Akagawa: If it wasn't for Virtua Fighter, the PlayStation probably would have had a completely different hardware concept.
57. ^Thomason, Steve (July 2006). 'The Man Behind the Legend'. Nintendo Power. 19 (205): 72. cf. Gard, Toby (June 28, 2001). 'Q&A: The man who made Lara'. BBC News Online (Interview). BBC. Archived from the original on December 15, 2002. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
58. ^'Does John Romero Still Enjoy Shooting People?'. Next Generation. No. 30. June 1997. pp. 9–12.
59. ^Edge, May 1997, My original idea was to do something like Virtua Fighter in a 3D world, with full-contact fighting, but you'd also be able to run through a world, and do the same stuff you do in Quake, only when you got into these melees, the camera would pull out into a third-person perspective. It would’ve been great, but nobody else had faith in trying it. The project was taking too long, and everybody just wanted to fall back on the safe thing – the formula.
60. ^Watch The Last Guardian’s spectacular new CG trailer, PlayStation Blog, PlayStation Network

External links[edit]

• Virtua Fighter at the Killer List of Videogames