Virtua Fighter

Virtua Fighter franchise
Official series logo
Genres	Fighting
Developers	Sega-AM2 Sega-AM1 (Remix) Genki (VF3 DC port) Aspect (Animation) Tiger Electronics (Megamix Game.com and R-Zone ports) TOSE (Virtua Quest)
Publishers	Sega
Platforms	Arcade, Saturn, 32X, Windows, Mega Drive, Game Gear, Master System, Game.com, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PlayStation 3, Virtual Console, Xbox 360
First release	Virtua Fighter December 1993
Latest release	Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown June 5, 2012

Virtua Fighter (Japanese: バーチャファイター) is a series of 3D competitive fighting games created by Sega studio AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki in 1993, and receiving four main sequels since. The first game is widely recognized as the first 3D fighting game ever released.

The basic gameplay 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. Its control scheme is simple, using only a control stick and 3 buttons (Punch, Kick, Guard); however, through various timings, positions, and button combinations, players unlocked a bevy of 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.

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. The arcade cabinets are currently kept at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

History

Arcades

The brainchild of 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. It is considered the first polygon-based fighting game. It introduced the 8 initial fighters as well as the boss, Dural.

Virtua Fighter 2 was released in 1994, adding two new fighters: Shun Di and Lion Rafale. It was built using the Model 2 hardware. 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 eyes on characters that followed opponents), the game also introduced undulations in some stages and a fourth button, Dodge, both of which altered the gameplay. 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. Additionally, 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 2003, 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 early 2005.

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 and Bandai Namco.

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 in 2008, saw the return of Taka-Arashi while introducing a new fighter, Jean Kujo. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was released in arcades in 2010.

Consoles

Virtua Fighter on the Sega 32X

The first Virtua Fighter 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.^[1] Although the Saturn's Titan board was inferior to the Model 2, 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. A port 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 characters Shun and Lion, and later re-released on the PlayStation 2 as a part of the Sega Ages series.

Virtua Fighter Animation on the Master System

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.

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' 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.^[2] In North America, the game was included within 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.

Virtua Fighter 5 was released for the American PlayStation 3 on February 20, 2007. 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. In December 2006, Sega announced that an Xbox 360 port of the game was due the summer of 2007. It was released in October 2007 and contains the additions of online fighting via Xbox Live, improved graphics, and gameplay balances from the newer revision of the arcade game. 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.

Spin-offs

Sega's 8-bit consoles, the portable Game Gear and the home console Sega Master System, as well as the 16-bit Mega Drive/Genesis are not capable of internally displaying complex polygonal, three-dimensional graphics (Mega Drive polygonal racing game Virtua Racing relied on the Sega Virtua Processor hardware co-processor). To still be able to profit from the franchise's success, Sega created two-dimensional ports for those systems in 1996. A 2D-version of Virtua Fighter 2, which featured graphics that somewhat resembled the original 3D game, was produced for the Genesis. An 8-bit game, called Virtua Fighter Mini, based on the 35 episodes long anime series of Virtua Fighter was also 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.

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, and the moveset of Virtua Cop 2 character Janet was based on VF3 character Aoi Umenokoji.

In Japan, the curious Virtua Fighter 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 1996, AM2 began developing a Saturn RPG based on the Virtua Fighter series, titled Virtua Fighter RPG: Akira's Story, with Akira as the hero.^[3] Development moved to the Dreamcast, the Virtua Fighter connection was dropped^[4] and the game became Shenmue, released in 1999.^[3]

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 Nintendo GameCube in 2004 and the PlayStation 2 in 2005. The Virtua Fighters had their incarnations from Virtua Fighter 4.

Recently, both Sega and Namco have shown interest in a possible cross over between Virtua Fighter and Tekken.^[5] 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 Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, in which Ryu from the Street Fighter series is playable too.

Games

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

• Virtua Fighter – Arcade (1993), Saturn (1994), Sega 32X (1995)
• Virtua Fighter Remix – Arcade (1995), Saturn (1995), Windows (1996)
• Virtua Fighter 2 – Arcade (1994), Saturn (1995), Mega Drive/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 Portrait Series – Saturn (1996)
• Virtua Fighter Mini – Game Gear (1996), Master System (1997)
• Virtua Fighter Kids – Arcade (1996), Saturn (1996)
• Fighters Megamix – Saturn (1996)
• Virtua Fighter 3 – Arcade (1996)
• Virtua Fighter 3 : Team Battle – Arcade (1997), Dreamcast (1998)
• Virtua Fighter 4 – Arcade (2001), PlayStation 2 (2002)
• Virtua Fighter 4 : Evolution – Arcade (2002), PlayStation 2 (2003)
• Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary – 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)
• Virtua Fighter: Cool Champ Mobile (2011)^[6]
• Virtua Fighter: Fever Combo Mobile (2014)^[7]

Characters

Character	1	2	3	4	4: Evolution	5	5 R	5 Final Showdown
Akira Yuki	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Pai Chan	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Lau Chan	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Wolf Hawkfield	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Jeffry McWild	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Kage-Maru	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Sarah Bryant	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Jacky Bryant	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Dural	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Shun Di	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Lion Rafale	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Aoi Umenokoji	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Taka-Arashi	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y	Y
Lei-Fei	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Vanessa Lewis	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Brad Burns	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y
Goh Hinogami	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y
Eileen	N	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y
El Blaze	N	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Jean Kujo	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y	Y

• Akira Yuki (結城 晶, Yūki Akira) is the mascot of the Virtua Fighter video game series. His fighting style is Bajiquan, a Chinese martial art (pronounced "Hakkyoku-Ken" in Japanese). Canonically, he won the second World Fighting Tournament (Virtua Fighter 2). In the original Virtua Fighter, Akira serves as the assistant instructor at Yuki Budokan, and is known to be impulsive by nature. After completing his training under his grandfather's tutelage at the age of 23, he went on a quest to test his abilities. When he got word of the 1st World Fighting Tournament, he decided to enter and test his abilities. In the Virtua Fighter anime, Akira starts his quest to see the eight stars in heaven after he had gotten overconfident in his Bajiquan skills from his days training with his grandfather. He is often seen as a comedic glutton in the anime cartoon, as opposed to the games where he is serious and disciplined. He appears in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Project X Zone, Dead or Alive 5 and Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax.
• Pai Chan (Chinese: 陳佩 Pinyin: Chén Pèi, Japanese: パイ・チェン Pai Chen) is a martial arts action movie star in her Hong Kong hometown. Her fighting style is Mizongyi (pronounced "Ensei-Ken" in Japanese). She appears in Project X Zone, Dead or Alive 5, and Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax.
• Lau Chan (Chinese: 陳洛 Pinyin: Chén Luò, Japanese: ラウ・チェン Rau Chen) is a leading Chinese chef and is a master of the legendary martial art Koen-Ken (Tiger Swallow Fist). Complex Games called Lau Chan the 10th best Asian character in video games calling him a "father figure to all other video game fighters" ^[8]
• Kage-Maru (影丸, Kagemaru) fights with Hagakure-ryu Ju-Jutsu. He was born in the village of Hagakure. "Kage-Maru" is the name given to members of the Hagakure clan who work in secret in the shadows of society. His birthright was to become the tenth-generation Kage-Maru. His father, the ninth-generation Kage-Maru, taught him the fearsome Hagakure fighting technique. He fights to avenge his father's murder. In 2010, GamePro included him in their list of top ten video game ninja characters at number #7, ridiculing his "Richard Garriott headband" but applauding him for "an authentic simulation of Jujutsu" and that Kage-Maru is one of the more realistic depictions of ninjas in gaming.^[9]
• Sarah Bryant (サラ・ブライアント, Sara Buraianto) is a college student from San Francisco. She has appeared in games including Dead or Alive 5. She was included in several lists of attractive or sexy video game characters.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]} IGN also described her as a "notable" favorite.^[17][18]
• Jacky Bryant (ジャッキー・ブライアント, Jakkī Buraianto) is a race car driver who fights using Bruce Lee's incredibly versatile Jeet Kune Do style. He appears in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate.
• Wolf Hawkfield (ウルフ・ホークフィールド, Urufu Hōkufīrudo) is a professional wrestler from Canada who lived as a First Nations woodsman and hunter in the Canadian wilderness until he was discovered on a scouting trip by a professional wrestling promoter. Wolf appeared in All Japan Pro Wrestling Featuring Virtua (arcade and Sega Saturn 1997) and All Japan Pro Wrestling 2 Giant Gram (arcade and Sega Dreamcast 1999). Professional wrestler Jim Steele wrestled as real "Wolf Hawkfield" in All Japan Pro Wrestling from 1997 to 2000.
• Jeffry McWild (ジェフリー・マクワイルド, Jefurī Makuwairudo) is an Australian Aboriginal fisherman and Pankration practitioner who fights with a vow to build a new boat and rematch with the "Satan Shark" that destroyed it.
• Dural (デュラル, Dyuraru) is an android-like creature that debuted in the original Virtua Fighter as the game's boss character. According to canon, the first model was Kage-Maru's kidnapped mother. She fights with a mix of all the other characters' styles. Dural was previously a human woman. Her name was Tsukikage (月影) and she was a kunoichi and Kage-Maru's mother. When the mysterious corporation J6 (Judgement 6) noticed her exemplary fighting ability and resilient body, they captured her and used her as their prototype for their terrifying Dural project. Dural is a secret character in the series. Dural appears in Project X Zone as a rival unit.
• Virtua Figher 2 introduced Lion Rafale and Shun Di. Lion Rafale (リオン・ラファール, Rion Rafāru) is a high school student from France and a wealthy family who fights to gain independence from his father, and uses the style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Shun Di (Chinese: 舜帝 Pinyin: Shùn Dì, Japanese: シュン・ディ Shun Di) is an herbal doctor from China who uses Drunken Kung Fu and is considered a sage.
• Virtua Figher 3 introduced Aoi Umenokoji and Taka-Arashi. Aoi Umenokoji (梅小路 葵, Umenokōji Aoi) is a student from Japan who fights with Aiki Ju-Jutsu. She joined the tournament to test herself, like her childhood friend Akira Yuki. She enjoys Japanese paper fan dancing and ikebana. Taka-Arashi (鷹嵐, Takaarashi) is a sumo wrestler from Japan.
• Virtua Fighter 4 introduced four new characters. Brad Burns (ブラッド・バーンズ, Buraddo Bānzu) is a Muay Thai fighter from Italy. Goh Hinogami (日守 剛, Hinogami Gō) is an enigmatic assassin for J6 who fights with Judo and has orders to send the tournament participants into a dark oblivion. His personality is sadistic and brutal, due to the death of his father at the hands of a jealous associate, coupled with his violent upbringing in a J6 training facility. Lei-Fei (Chinese: 雷飛 Pinyin: Léi Fēi, Japanese: レイ・フェイ Rei Fei) is a monk from China who fights with Shaolin kung fu. He entered the tournament with orders to kill Lau Chan. Vanessa Lewis (ベネッサ・ルイス, Benessa Ruisu) is a security guard of unknown origin who fights with Vale Tudo and entered the tournament as Sarah's bodyguard after hearing of J6's plans to re-capture her.
• Virtua Fighter 5 introduced three new characters. Eileen (Chinese: 愛琳 Pinyin: Ài Lín, Japanese: アイリーン Airīn) is a girl who fights with Monkey Kung Fu. She is the youngest character in the series and was raised by her grandmother after her parents died while she was young. El Blaze (エル・ブレイズ, Eru Bureizu) is a wrestler from Mexico who fights with Lucha Libre. Jean Kujo (ジャン 紅條, Jan Kujō) is a French full-contact (Kyokushin) karate fighter and a brainwashed assassin for J6.
• Siba (シバ, Shiba) is a mystery character that appeared on the early VF1 arcade cabinets' character roster under the name "Akira". He appeared in Fighters Megamix but not in the actual VF series. Siba is from a prototype of Virtua Fighter but was cut from the cast by the time of game's actual release, though an icon featuring him (and mislabelled as "Akira") appears on older Virtua Fighter arcade cabinets. Siba is an Arab in a white and purple outfit equipped with a sword that charges with green energy.

Legacy

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. Even to this day, many 3D fighting game series such as Tekken and Dead or Alive were influenced by Virtua Fighter . And while, sales-wise, the series has often fallen behind the other titles (partly due to being released on underperforming consoles Sega Saturn and Dreamcast), the main games have always remained critically acclaimed titles.

In particular, its fans note its more realistic, "tournament rules"-style gameplay (for instance, a loss can occur when a character is knocked out of bounds), which differentiated the first iteration from other fighting games at that time. It is also applauded for its depth, as each character has plenty of moves and strategies to learn, and that each character plays differently from the others. Additionally, the game is also known for its balance across all characters, such that a good user of one character can have a fair match against another good user of any other character.

The developers of the game have also been considered rather meticulous, as shown by their removal of Taka-Arashi, the reason being that the hit detection was too difficult to calculate for the character in comparison to other characters.^[19] The producers also 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, as expressed by VF5 producer Noriyuki Shimoda in the February 2007 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly when speaking of the PlayStation 3 port of VF5. Eventually, with the Xbox 360 release of VF5, Sega decided to add online capabilities via Xbox Live.

1UP listed Virtua Fighter as one of the 50 most important games of all time. They credited 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.^[20] Virtua Fighter 2 on the Sega Model 2 introduced the use of texture-mapped 3D characters,^[21] and motion capture animation technology.^[22] 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."^[23]

The success of the Virtua Fighter series resulted in Guinness World Records awarding the series 7 world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These records include, "First Polygon Based Fighting Game", "First 3D Fighting Game", and "First Fighting Game for a 32-bit Console".

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."^[24] 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."^[25] Game Informer's Andy McNamara stated: "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."^[26] 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."^[27]

In Brazil, one of Sega's biggest markets, the series was a huge success.^[28]

In Other Media

In the Sega 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's Dead or Alive 5.^[29][30][31] 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.

In Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, Akira Yuki and Pai Chan appears as a guest boss where Akira is playable and Pai as assist.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, downloadable costumes for Mii Brawlers appear to be based on Jacky Bryant's modern appearance and Akira Yuki's first appearance.

References

External links

• Virtua Fighter at DMOZ