Virtua Fighter needs more pizazz to be successful in today's climate of fighters

C

CO_Andy

Member
VF's still a respected fighting franchise, but it falls short of the visual spectacle and over-the-top characters to be relevant with the mainstream. The best way to counter this is to simply develop another Fighters Megamix. I mean who doesn't enjoy watching an erect car wail on a human with its wheels? Fun for the fighting game community and fun for streaming audiences.

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Question is, will there even be a VF 6? If so, how will Sega make it?

As of VF5: Final Showdown, they have a total of 20 characters that they need to update graphically.
 
I still prefer VF5 over any other fighting game that exists, so i don't agree :o

It doesn't get much of a success because the game is really complex and learning one character is like mastering one martial art, and the game doesn't rely on juggles (yes, i'm trolling tekken with that comment)
 
CO_Andy said:
VF's still a respected fighting franchise, but it falls short of the visual spectacle and over-the-top characters to be relevant with the mainstream. The best way to counter this is to simply develop another Fighters Megamix. I mean who doesn't enjoy watching an erect car wail on a human with its wheels? Fun for the fighting game community and fun for streaming audiences.

tumblr_nfdqv5isJi1r7sijxo2_500.gif
Click to expand...

Microsoft should follow suit and have a Forza car as a guest character in Killer Instinct season 3.
 
I know that adding fighters like Hornet would just make the series look goofy, but you're right; it's the most visually-basic fighter on the market, right behind Dead or Alive. I want to see the series make a comeback, but it might need to amp up the goofiness if it wants to pull it off.

That, or cross it over with Eternal Champions? I mean, it's an idea that appeals to no one else but me, but EC was cancelled so that VF could thrive, and those characters were a bit more interesting. Seriously, though, I'm at a loss at making a VF game comparable to the rest of the market in 2016 in terms of standing out.
 
They might do to upgrade the audio quality. Or would that take the Virtua Fighter out of Virtua Fighter?

I gotta say I was a little taken aback when I first played Final Showdown and it sounded like a 90s arcade fighter. Got used to it though, and I still love the dickens out of that game.
 
The best shouldn't be equal to everyone. It's the best.

Ports would be good though. Full series package up to 4 on modern consoles.
 
Virtua Fighter's "pizazz" comes from the character customization. VF5: Final Showdown has the best customization in 3D fighters. You can make Akira look like Ryo from Shenmue, Sarah look like Ulala from Space Channel 5, and you can make El Blaze look like a Samba de Amigo character; and those are just the customizations that reference other Sega games. Certain wearable items give characters special winposes, and each character has a wide range of customizable items that are exclusive to that character.

Tekken's customizations currently pale in comparison to Virtua Fighter's. Tekken 7: FR might change that, but VF still reigns as the king of customization.


In my opinion, VF doesn't really need that much "pizazz" to be successful. VF needs to be the one fighting game to not be very flashy. Tekken and DOA are the 3D fighters to have the razzle dazzle. VF is like a fine wine. Every mechanic comes together so well. Each character's personality shines through in their fighting style, not a story mode.

VF6 can be the same as VF5: FS, just with a graphical overhaul and 2 new characters, and people will pay attention to the game. You don't need flying demons or bipedal race cars to make VF a success. It just needs to continue to be as it is.
 
Virtua Fighter will eventually just be Rent-A-Fighter and their characters get loaned out into other fighting games. First DoA5, then Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. Next?
 
It could use a fresh look, but I think there's a real limit to the pizzaz factor before readability is sacrificed in some attempt to attract newer players.
 
I think it just needs a new iteration. 5 looks good for a 10 year old game, but it doesn't turn heads like it did in 2006.

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I spent a ton of hours playing VF4 Evo on my PS2.

I would honestly be satisfied with just a typical sequel with the same amount of content as the predecessors.
 
CommandThrower said:
Virtua Fighter's "pizazz" comes from the character customization. VF5: Final Showdown has the best customization in 3D fighters. You can make Akira look like Ryo from Shenmue, Sarah look like Ulala from Space Channel 5, and you can make El Blaze look like a Samba de Amigo character; and those are just the customizations that reference other Sega games. Certain wearable items give characters special winposes, and each character has a wide range of customizable items that are exclusive to that character.

Tekken's customizations currently pale in comparison to Virtua Fighter's. Tekken 7: FR might change that, but VF still reigns as the king of customization.


In my opinion, VF doesn't really need that much "pizazz" to be successful. VF needs to be the one fighting game to not be very flashy. Tekken and DOA are the 3D fighters to have the razzle dazzle. VF is like a fine wine. Every mechanic comes together so well. Each character's personality shines through in their fighting style, not a story mode.

VF6 can be the same as VF5: FS, just with a graphical overhaul and 2 new characters, and people will pay attention to the game. You don't need flying demons or bipedal race cars to make VF a success. It just needs to continue to be as it is.
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Yeah, but you can basically pull off that level of customization in KI. I don't think VF needs a gimmick to be good; if that was the case, there wouldn't be a problem. And back in the 90s, it was also one of the first games to use polygonal graphics in a 3D world to such a significant degree, which drew people into the gameplay. But now that's a fundamental bit of the 3D fighter genre, and the characters themselves are just basic martial artist archetypes.

For VF to be relevant against games as charismatic SFV, MKX and Xrd, I'd say it needs a hook beyond just being a first class 3D fighter. The game itself's perfect, but to sell well, it needs to prove its relevance to the casual consumer.
 
I feel like I'm one of the only people who actually really likes its regular look. The characters for the most part look like they stepped out of a martial arts movie.

The only thing I really take issue with is Vanessa's design change in VF5, especially in light of that fact that they NEVER change character designs radically like that with anyone else.
 
If anything it needs to lose its reputation as an 'impenetrable' or 'exclusively high level' fighter, because it's really not. Of course the ceiling is stratospheric if not limitless, but in terms of user-friendliness and getting results fast, it's probably the most accessible 3D series out there.

It shouldn't have to glam up with expensive CG movies, huge rosters, goofy characters and overt lore like Tekken (a series I adore equally) does, but it probably would have helped back in the day.

I think Sega could release VF6 and have it do well, but its chances of ever cracking the mainstream in the west are long gone.
 
Virtua Fighter is one of the most respected but easily overlooked fighters because the developers have under developed the characters in game. Sega never even bother to give the games a proper narrative set up. They never even bother to create proper endings for the characters. It's a shame really. That little narrative effort goes a very long way.
 
Syril said:
I feel like I'm one of the only people who actually really likes its regular look. The characters for the most part look like they stepped out of a martial arts movie.
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Agreed. The customization is there for people who want the wacky. VF is otherwise content to simply be the best of its kind, as it has always been.
 
Its too bad all the companies who make fighters are poverty now except for Namco and Microsoft now I guess. Were always questioning whether or not another part will be made. At least DOAX 3 may fund DOA 6.
 
Rising_Hei said:
I still prefer VF5 over any other fighting game that exists, so i don't agree :o

It doesn't get much of a success because the game is really complex and learning one character is like mastering one martial art, and the game doesn't rely on juggles (yes, i'm trolling tekken with that comment)
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I prefer Virtua Fighter over every other fighting game series also... but I definitely do agree with the OP's title. Not that the game should have a frickin playable Daytona car (that was cute in Fighter's Megamix, but mainline Virtua Fighter should never do anything like that), but they should definitely look to make the game appear less basic to anyone outside of the sphere that already appreciates the series' mechanics (which are actually substantially easier to get to grips with than the most popular fighters of today).

Making the game more visually appealing won't harm the rock solid gameplay that the series has, but could go a long way towards convincing people to try the game in the first place. I think they were on the correct path with Virtua Fighter 4, but then took at least 57 steps in the opposite direction with Virtua Fighter 5.

I mean... compare these intros:

Virtua Fighter 4
Virtua Fiighter 5

Now, imagine in both cases you've never even heard of Virtua Fighter before... how likely are you to look at Virtua Fighter 5's intro and think "yup.. this is the fighter I wanna play next!"? Not very likely I'd imagine.

Virtua Fighter's problem isn't, and never had been that it's too complicated. It isn't. Dead or Alive 5 is currently significantly more difficult to play to any decent standard than Virtua Fighter is. Virtua Fighter's problem is that it only ever "looks" good when played at higher levels, and even then it requires the viewer to recognise what's high level about it in order to appreciate it... whereas the more popular fighters look good to the average viewer even when the player is only able to perform the equivalent of a PPPK. If Sega makes a Virtua Fighter 6, and wants it to perform better, then they need to go back and iterate on the presentation style they touched upon with Virtua Fighter 4, and then also start telling the story of the character's in a way that won't be missed by 99.96% of all players. The gameplay is fine, they just need to dress it up nicer. Oh, and fix Vanessa back... wtf.

Zubz said:
Yeah, but you can basically pull off that level of customization in KI
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Nooooo you can't. KI's customization is multiple rungs below Tekken's, let alone Virtua Fighter's.
 
CO_Andy said:
VF's still a respected fighting franchise, but it falls short of the visual spectacle and over-the-top characters to be relevant with the mainstream. The best way to counter this is to simply develop another Fighters Megamix. I mean who doesn't enjoy watching an erect car wail on a human with its wheels? Fun for the fighting game community and fun for streaming audiences.

tumblr_nfdqv5isJi1r7sijxo2_500.gif
Click to expand...

I don't think you get Virtua Fighter then. It's like asking Shenmue to be more like Yakuza.
 
Neff said:
If anything it needs to lose its reputation as an 'impenetrable' or 'exclusively high level' fighter, because it's really not. Of course the ceiling is stratospheric if not limitless, but in terms of user-friendliness and getting results fast, it's probably the most accessible 3D series out there.

It shouldn't have to glam up with expensive CG movies, huge rosters, goofy characters and overt lore like Tekken (a series I adore equally) does, but it probably would have helped back in the day.

I think Sega could release VF6 and have it do well, but its chances of ever cracking the mainstream in the west are long gone.
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Yeah, all of this.

But I think at this point, they just need to get it out there. They've lost so much ground, and Sega's arcade business is surely suffering without a new VF to give it a killer app.
 
Cyber Caesar said:
Virtua Fighter is one of the most respected but easily overlooked fighters because the developers have under developed the characters in game. Sega never even bother to give the games a proper narrative set up. They never even bother to create proper endings for the characters. It's a shame really. That little narrative effort goes a very long way.
Click to expand...

VF has a pretty elaborate lore, it's just that Sega doesn't give much of a fuck about it and (perhaps deliberately, because they think the fighting itself is most important) barely alludes to it in the games. Like, if you want to know about that stuff, you've got to hunt it down. It's not so hard these days with the internet, but in VF's heyday, it was a nightmare. Storyline stuff tended not to leak much outside of Japan.

I'm a sucker for fighting game storylines, and I think it's something VF could benefit from embracing a little bit more, but I can live without it, and also respect that Sega and a lot of VF players prefer to keep that aspect of the game low-key.
 
ZeroTheShadow said:
Virtua Fighter would be alive right now if there were actually Virtua Fighter players & not Virtua Fighter fanboys.
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Let's be real here though... the last true sequel to Virtua Fighter was released a decade ago. This would be like saying that Killer Instinct (pre 2013) would be alive if there were actually Killer Instinct players, and not just Killer Instinct fanboys. It's quite likely that those "fanboys" would currently be players if a VF6 were to exist and provide then a semi-healthy playerbase to play the game with. I play all sorts of fighters with my brothers for example, and that's included every release of Virtua Fighter... however by the time Final Showdown hit, they were far less receptive to playing it with me much, leaving me to only play it with online strangers. I know for a fact that they'd be all over a Virtua Fighter 6 were it to be released today however... much like how they took to Killer Instinct, despite not having played the previous games for years at that point.

VendettaRed07 said:
Yeah, another Fighters Megamix would be fantastic
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Another Fighter's Megamix would be awesome. But at this point, we'd need another Fighting Vipers first, as the character's from that side are still very much stuck in the 90s. Maybe it could work by replacing them with Dead or Alive characters instead... but that feels like it'd be betraying the spirit of it really.
 
ZeroTheShadow said:
Virtua Fighter would be alive right now if there were actually Virtua Fighter players & not Virtua Fighter fanboys.
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Naw son.

In both Japan and the states VF has a HUGE following that more than large enough to carry the series.

VF real problem is that it's made by Sega.

And Sega is fucking dumb.
 
FWIW, i just dipped into PSN ranked to see if anyone was playing and there were 2 other players looking for a match. for a 4 year old, download-only upgrade to a 10 year old game that's stuck on last gen, it certainly could be more dead.
 
SEGA just didn't put much support behind it compared to Namco with Tekken.

You don't build a scene with such little support.
 
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