Virtua Fighter Series

Tsukuyomimagi99

Tsukuyomimagi99

Joined
Sep 3, 2018
Favourite title
Shenmue
Currently playing
Rise of the Ronin
Seeing as how Shenmue and Virtua Fighter are linked, I am surprised there isn’t a discussion thread for the series here. What are your favorite memories of playing Virtua Fighter? Which game in the series is your favorite? What’s your favorite track from the series? Who’s your favorite character and why? Ever seen the anime? Or discuss the game with the greatest combat system in fighting games here.

Here’s some videos to break the ice with:





 
It was my brother who made me a fan when he got a Saturn in May of 1997 as a present for finishing elementary. Couple of years before that, they were $400, but my parents found one for like $50 that came with the three pack of VF2, Daytona USA, and Virtua Cop. I had played the first game in arcades a handful of times and I enjoyed it. Later that summer, we went to Las Vegas and we played VF3 for the first time there and we were super impressed with how advanced it looked.

Other than that, we spent the next two years enjoying VF2. By the end of 97, we also got Fighters Megamix and enjoyed the hell out of that as it exposed us to Fighting Vipers and other Sega characters. Though it used VF2 graphics engine, it used the VF3 fighting mechanics. Then in May of 1999, my brothers and I got a Japanese Dreamcast from a local import store and we got VF3 with it.

My favorite characters are Akira, Lau, and Shun Di. My favorite song probably has to be Sarah’s theme in VF2.

I’ve also seen the anime. It was thanks to that anime I became a fan of Vivian Hsu, who sang the first two ending themes, Kuchibiru no Shinwa and Kyouhansha.
 
I still play Virtua Fighter very often, and run tournaments for it on a regular basis! We just had a 16 man tournament in September actually, and played at Defend the North and Evo tournaments this year too.

Definitely my favourite fighting game of all time, I think it's easily the best balanced and one of the most well put together fighting games around. It's got a unique blend of strategy and execution that makes the game really simple to learn but difficult to master. It defnitely is everything I look for in a fighting game.
 
I first started playing it in the arcades... VF1 and then VF2. I remember really clearly when they came out and how shocking they were compared to everything else at the time. I also really felt that the controls were intuitive and I could figure out combos just by inference. I missed VF3 in the arcades but got into VF3TB on the Dreamcast... then missed 4, and got back into it with VF5 and VF5 Online, which I still play occasionally. I'm not really good enough to compete in a tournament but I'd kind of like to try some time because from what I've seen the people at VF gatherings seem really nice and cool.

Lau is my favorite character but I've been kind of perplexed as to how he gradually became a villain. I also like Shun, Pai, and Sarah.
 
I am rather new the to VF Franchise. My first VF game I played was VF 3 on the Dreamcast, and I liked it, but I liked Soul Calibur and DOA 2 more.

I never played any other VF game for many years. Since recently. Last Week I got VF 2 for my Saturn and I really like it. It Plays well and looks just stunning for a Saturn game of that time. I am also intersted in adding the first VF to my Saturn Collection soon.
 
My favourite is 1, for its simplicity, incredible soundtrack and just because I've played it the most (also the only one I've ever played in Arcade). Also own it for the 32X and it is arguably better than the Saturn version.

The best one still, IMO, is 2; as we wrote in the other thread, it still stands up to this day and that's a remarkable thing for a game from the mid-90s.

I love 3, but miss the jumps; love what they did with the rings. Many think this is a black sheep, but it really plays superbly and Rowdy is an awesome track.

Never have played 4. Have seen vids and the like extensively, but I have no idea how it plays (in my rankings below, basing it on non-gameplay).

5 I've only ever played in Judge Eyes and Yakuza 6; its still a super-solid fighter with fantastic gameplay and lovely graphics.

So, my favourites:

1-2-3-5-4

What I think is best:

2>5>3>4>1

Fighters Megamix is a wonderful compilation game and I REALLY wish Sega would do something else along these lines, including Fighting Vipers characters as well.
 
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There are so many Fond memories of VF for me. I played 3 tb until I was dreaming about it at Night. It became one of the defining games for the DC to me.

I loved the shit out of VF 2 and 4 as well but I never enjoyed 4 as much as 2, let alone 3 which is easily my favorite game in the series.

I think the soundtrack quality dropped drastically after 3 and a big part of the appeal has always been the fantastic bgm, to me at least. What happened after 3? Did they take Mitsuyoshi off the franchise?
 
hyo_razuki said:
I think the soundtrack quality dropped drastically after 3 and a big part of the appeal has always been the fantastic bgm, to me at least. What happened after 3? Did they take Mitsuyoshi off the franchise?
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Agreed! VF4 and VF5 are fantastic fighting games, but the music in them has always sounded way too generic to me. The tracks are not memorable and they do not have that classic Virtua Fighter/AM2 feel.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
Fighters Megamix is a wonderful compilation game and I REALLY wish Sega would do something else along these lines, including Fighting Vipers characters as well.
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Ironic it was Smash Bros before it was Smash Brothers lol. I’m sad they never made a sequel featuring lets say Ryo, Lan Di, Chai and Ren. I think if they made a new one, they’d also include characters from Yakuza, Sakura Taisen, and Last Bronx....or maybe Seaman....? I mean if they made the AM2 logo and Hornet from Daytona USA as unlockables, who knows what they can do next.
 
My first exposure was when I saw a Virtua Fighter 2 cabinet at a coin op Laundry. Shun Di's theme was lit with that slick refrain & grabbed my attention.


And then seeing the epic simulated martial art fighting on a raft flowing down what was practically the similar backdrop of Guilin on the Li river was pure eye candy.

A good example clip capturing close to what I remember seeing:


It really made a great first impression and is a fond memory.
 
Its an excellent series, and whenever we got a new character included in the roster they always felt unique and really fun to play. Heck, I remember being jazzed that Takarashi was added back into VF5 FS. Plus the game never needed meters, comeback mechanics or anything like that (which is fine for a wacky game like Street Fighter or KOF, but more and more games are adding this and I'm not a huge fan depending on the game, Tekken 7 does it well though).
The series is just pure fighting bliss, Lau will always be my favourite, especially in later games thanks to some simple yet fun combos, though it was Judge Eyes that really got me into more characters besides him as I played through the game with everyone, and ended up being really surprised at certain characters (ended up loving Aoi, which I never thought would happen). While its definitely not a simple game to master, its still simple enough to pick up and play and enjoy, after learning a couple of simple-ish combo's I was on my way to funland! Oh, and VF4 Evo and 5's Xbox ports have excellent single player content with their challenge/world tour modes.

Only real criticism I can level against the game is what they did to Vanessa post VF4. I loved her design and appearance in 4, but they reduced her muscles to make her look more feminine? And not to mention changing her skin colour for absolutely no good reason. VF5 gives her a far lighter skin tone than what she had in 4 and it still annoys me to this day.
 
Tsukuyomimagi99 said:
Mitsuyoshi only composed the soundtrack for Virtua Fighter up to the third game.
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And boy, does it show! I remember being shocked, almost downright disturbed when I first popped VF 4 into my PS4 and heard that soundtrack. Music hasn't been bad in Vf 4 and 5, just forgettable for the most part. On the other hand I can still hum along to a whole bunch of songs from VF 2 and 3, despite not having played those games in over a decade.

SStill played VF 4 Evolution quite a bit because it was so phenomenal gameplay-wise.
 
hyo_razuki said:
And boy, does it show! I remember being shocked, almost downright disturbed when I first popped VF 4 into my PS4 and heard that soundtrack. Music hasn't been bad in Vf 4 and 5, just forgettable for the most part. On the other hand I can still hum along to a whole bunch of songs from VF 2 and 3, despite not having played those games in over a decade.

SStill played VF 4 Evolution quite a bit because it was so phenomenal gameplay-wise.
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Exactly the same with me. I played a bunch of VF4: Evo because of the excellent Quest Mode and how good the gameplay was. But the change in music quality was immediately noticeable and quite surprising. Virtua Fighter and a lot of AM2 games in general always had a distinct style to the music that made it extremely memorable and gave the games a unique identity. This seemed to be missing completely after VF3.
 
Not that Yu Suzuki needs more praise as a legendary gaming savant but Virtua Fighter is his creation. A series to this day is the pinnacle of fighting games in terms of depth, balance, and realism. Virtua Fighter is the measuring stick that every other fighting game both 2D and 3D is measured up to. If this does not speak volumes of Suzuki’s skill and AM2’s masterful crafting, then I don’t know what does.

shadowman16 said:
The series is just pure fighting bliss, Lau will always be my favourite, especially in later games thanks to some simple yet fun combos, though it was Judge Eyes that really got me into more characters besides him as I played through the game with everyone, and ended up being really surprised at certain characters (ended up loving Aoi, which I never thought would happen).
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Aoi Umenokoji is one of my favorite characters in Virtua Fighter due to Yamato Nadeshiko’s being some of my favorite character archetypes. I also think she is a vastly underrated character who has a lot of depth to her. In a game already filled with plenty of defensive options (fuzzy guards, throw escapes, etc) she takes defensive play up to eleven. She is not the flashiest character or the hardest hitting, but if you master her skill set with proper timing she is an absolute demon to fight against. Good luck in landing a hit against her, she is a true “easy to learn, hard to master” character.

 
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mjqjazzbar said:
VF4 on the PS2 is amazing. It has the best tutorial of all time for a fighting game. Truly well designed experience.
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Want to know a super hyped trivia?

Legendary FGC Guinness world record holder...

en.wikipedia.org

Ryan Hart - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

virtuafighter.com

Ryan Hart's Favourite Fighting Game of All Time?

Eventhubs recently published an interview with Ryan Hart and covers topics ranging from on SFIV Ultra, his tournament mindset and his favourite...
virtuafighter.com virtuafighter.com


Quote Verbatim:

"So, Virtua Fighter 4 for me had amazing balance, the game was very fair in tournaments as any character could win. Since every character was a tournament character, it made the game super hype to watch, because you really, really didn't know what was going to happen. Even at the highest level, any character could win. So it's not like a game where it looks balanced, but once everyone knows what's up, certain characters can't win.

No, every character was really, really solid and the players themselves decided the outcome. I mean, that's an amazing accomplishment. It's hard to make a balanced fighting game. Even a company as experienced as Capcom are consulting the community right now to achieve something similar to that, so it's clearly not easy (assuming they are consulting for balance issues).

It's great that they are giving such value to community input. I look forward to the final version and I hope that people are pleased in the end. Anyway, for me it was Virtua Fighter. The psychology, the simplicity of just having 3 buttons as well, instead of 4 or 6 buttons. Yeah, it was an amazing game. Every game has its specialities, though you know. I like each game for different things, but overall, it'd have to be the Virtua Fighter series and in that series, I like Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution the best. "

VF is unmatched. Straight from the horses mouth. Solidifying Suzuki as the best fighting game designer of all time. Until VF is dethroned(Still the pinnacle even today) game designed wise, Yu is objectively the GOAT. Not surprising since the legend himself dreams about perfect character balance(revealed in his interviews) and never stopped tweaking until he nearly perfected them.
 
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Yep. VF4 is the pinnacle, even if it looks more “generic” like others in the thread have said.
 
hyo_razuki said:
There are so many Fond memories of VF for me. I played 3 tb until I was dreaming about it at Night. It became one of the defining games for the DC to me.

I loved the shit out of VF 2 and 4 as well but I never enjoyed 4 as much as 2, let alone 3 which is easily my favorite game in the series.

I think the soundtrack quality dropped drastically after 3 and a big part of the appeal has always been the fantastic bgm, to me at least. What happened after 3? Did they take Mitsuyoshi off the franchise?
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Virtua Fighter 3 was like a dream, I'd never seen any game that looked as good! or played as good!

As for the soundtracks, yeah I think Mitsuyoshi stopped working on the series as stated elsewhere, although I think they specifically wanted VF4 to have a 'rougher' feel than the previous games? You can kind of see it in the darker art design etc and more industrial, less melodious music. I still liked it though!
Did you know you can change the soundtrack between VF1, 2, 3, 4Evo, 5, 5R and Final Showdown in the PS360 port? It's a really great feature.

I do think that Virtua Fighter 5, R and FS have great tracks though! Check these out if you haven't heard them!!


RyoHazuki84 said:
Ironic it was Smash Bros before it was Smash Brothers lol. I’m sad they never made a sequel featuring lets say Ryo, Lan Di, Chai and Ren. I think if they made a new one, they’d also include characters from Yakuza, Sakura Taisen, and Last Bronx....or maybe Seaman....? I mean if they made the AM2 logo and Hornet from Daytona USA as unlockables, who knows what they can do next.
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I agree, and would like to see them make a Fighters Megamix 2 rather than put guests in VF. I like VF being it's own thing :)

If we're going to talk about Smash before Smash though, we have to acknowledge The King of Fighters, which is to my mind the first crossover fighting game!
 
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