Virtua Fighter
is a series of fighting games created by Sega AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original Virtua Fighter was released in December 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.
Gameplay
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. Combatants utilize various attacks in an attempt to deplete the other fighter's stamina gauge and deal a knockout, winning a round. If a character is knocked out of the ring, their opponent wins the round in a Ring Out. An extra round is necessary if a double knockout occurs in a previous round and the match is tied one round each. In this round, players fight on a small stage wherein one hit is enough to knock the other out and achieve victory.The basic control scheme uses an 8-way control stick and three buttons. Through various timings, positions, and button combinations, players input normal and special moves for each character. This allows extensive lists of moves to exist for a given character within the limited control scheme. Traditionally, in the single-player mode, the player runs a gauntlet of characters in the game all the way to the final boss.
History
The following is a list of games in the Virtua Fighter series:| Title | Platform |
| Virtua Fighter | Arcade, Sega Saturn, 32X |
| Virtua Fighter 2 | Arcade, Sega Genesis |
| Virtua Fighter Remix | Arcade, Saturn, Windows |
| Virtua Fighter 2.1 | Arcade, Saturn, Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series | Saturn |
| Virtua Fighter Animation | Game Gear, Master System |
| Virtua Fighter Kids | Arcade, Saturn |
| Fighters Megamix | Saturn |
| Virtua Fighter 3 | Arcade |
| Virtua Fighter 3tb | Arcade, Dreamcast |
| Virtua Fighter 4 | Arcade, PlayStation 2 |
| Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution | Arcade, PlayStation 2 |
| Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary | PlayStation 2 |
| Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned | Arcade |
| Virtua Quest | GameCube, PlayStation 2 |
| Virtua Fighter 5 | Arcade, PlayStation 3 |
| Virtua Fighter 5 Online | Xbox 360 |
| Virtua Fighter 5 R | Arcade |
| Virtua Fighter Mobile 3D | Mobile |
| Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown | Arcade, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Virtua Fighter: Cool Champ | Mobile |
| Virtua Fighter: Fever Combo | Mobile |
| Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown / R.E.V.O. | Ultimate Showdown: Arcade, PlayStation 4 R.E.V.O.: Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 |
| Virtua Fighter 3tb Online | Arcade |
| Untitled Virtua Fighter game | TBA |
Arcade fighting games
The brainchild of Sega AM2's Yu Suzuki, Virtua Fighter was released in 1993 as an arcade game using hardware jointly developed by aerospace simulation technology by the company that is now known as Lockheed Martin and Sega's most prominent and well known studio AM2, originally crafted for the arcade system dubbed the Model 1. It is considered the first polygon-based fighting game. It introduced the eight initial fighters as well as the boss, Dural. Sony developers have confirmed that the game inspired Sony to create the first PlayStation console and to focus more on 3D games, more so than the main competitor in Japan, the Sega Saturn.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 filtered texture mapping and motion capture. 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, 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.
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. Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown was released for Sega ALLs cabinet on June 2, 2021, a day after PlayStation 4 version's release.
Console fighting games
The first Virtua Fighter game was ported to the Saturn in 1994, 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. 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 with Virtua Fighter 3tb in 1998 for the Japanese release of the console.File:SMS Virtua Fighter Animation 1996.png|thumb|Virtua Fighter Animation on the Master System
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.
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. 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 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. 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. Virtua Fighter Ultimate Showdown, a remake which also serves as a final update version of the fifth game's sub-series was co-developed with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and released in both PlayStation 4 and Arcade versions in the first two days of June 2021, respectively, with its night generation console title Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. based on recent update of the previous, in additions to rollback netcode and crossplay released in January 2025 for Windows before being set to be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2.
At The Game Awards 2024, SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced a new Virtua Fighter. A digital event called Virtua Fighter Direct happening later that same night revealed more about the game in development, including a full look at the models of Akira and a character named Stella, followed by Wolf and an unidentified male character in EVO Japan 2025. According to Famitsu interview with Ryu ga Gotoku Studio representative Yokoyama and producer Yamada, the new Virtua Fighter is in talk to have a story mode, which would mark the first time in the series. Additionally, the new Virtua Fighter is confirmed to be designed for home releases, with Windows version is mentioned to be one of the planned ports. According to the interview, it is revealed that a Ryu ga Gotoku studio member, Seiji Aoki had been appointed to solely produce re-released versions of previous Virtua Fighter games, as he is not involved in the developing sixth Virtua Fighter game.