Back on April 2 the title Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown was leaked and today we have some additional information. As suspected, the game is the name for Japan’s Virtua Fighter eSports. Artwork for the game, seen above was published on the Japanese PSN while the Asian PSN has the game listed as Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown for PlayStation 4. This name change is no different from Japan’s Puyo Puyo eSports and Puyo Puyo Champions, the latter being the name for all other regions.
No additional details are known at this time, but we do know the project is “commemorating the 60th year anniversary of [SEGA]”, per SEGA CEO Haruki Satomi. Additionally, the project will start first in Japan then spread outside the country. The game will focus on competitive play, and as evidenced by the title, will be seen as the ultimate revision to the modern classic. It’s no Virtua Fighter 6, but it’s a start! More news as we hear it.
[Source: Video Games Chronicle]
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you can just tell by the aesthetics and facial structure that the models on the promo pic were outsourced to a chinese studio that specializes in churning out lifeless 3d crap made to order, wouldnt be the first time sega did this in recent years
not going to surprise me in the slightest if this turns out to just be an online only repackaging of vf5fs with some e-sportsy “upgrades” that nobody’s going to play just like puyo puyo esports
and since I assume they “upgraded” the character models, all the customization stuff is not going to be included, have fun buying those bikini outfits separately for each character as DLC
True pretty much, I’m not getting the appeal of esports games, where is the appeal in a stripped down multilayer only game with all the other modes and options removed?
Also yes, no one plays Puyo Puyo esports at all, at least not on Xbox One, I’ve not had a single match online since I got it over a year ago.
Still if this new VF Esports is being a commemoration of Sega itself, then if they at least made it like the 10th anniversary of Virtua Fighter disk that came with Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution which brought back the original 1993 aesthetics and included all the newer characters in it this way with a few extras, that’d still at least be something worthwhile. Nsver did get a chance to get the original 10th anniversary ver and it would be great to get a remake of it as it just came out before the HD consoles (though if it had been on the Dreamcast it would have been okay).
Con’t an esports fighter title might still fair better over all in the long run than a puzzler but like I said, no one plays esports like Puyo Puyo, I’ve not managed to find any match online.
Although just a thought, it also brings to mind now that I think of it, I remember it was reported here that Sega had patented something to do with the title ‘Virtua Fighter Battle Genesis’ something or other over a year ago in 2018, there was also a second thing that had a distinct logo associated with VF, maybe that is still a seperate project if it’s not this or the pachinko version and this is just like a stop gap to keep the franchise active while that is still being worked on in the meantime.
I can’t speak for these days, but a couple years ago when I was living in Japan Puyo Puyo eSports was really popular amongst my students. Most of that game’s userbase is Japanese, but over there the Xbox brand is roughly analogous to something like 90’s Atari was in the US in terms of userbase — took four years for them to break 100,000 Xbox One units sold. I wouldn’t be surprised if Puyo Puyo eSports isn’t still active on other platforms.
Virtua Fighter might do better in the west and on Xbox, but we’ll see.
Well, I’m open to whatever this ends up being. Nice that Virtua Fighter is doing SOMETHING.
Though I’m glad to see that the Virtua Fighter franchise is getting a new entry, this iteration is not for me. I’ve been figuratively boxed-out of the fighter genre as companies shift focus to the competitive eSports scene. I think it could be detrimental long-term, but perhaps there’s data that proves otherwise.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from “Virtua Fighter eSports”. I had dreams of a full Virtua Fighter 6, but now that reality’s hit and I know it’s going to be a Virtua Fighter 5 Remix I find myself let down and relieved at the same time. Virtua Fighter 5 is an excellent game and a foundation that’ll be difficult not to succeed with. It’s been a long, long time since the last Virtua Fighter, and I’m sure that most of the team that worked on it is gone by now. Maybe working with VF5’s code will help current Sega employees learn its in’s and out’s so that they can have the background to make a proper Virtua Fighter 6. It would have been heartbreaking to’ve waited this many years for Virtua Fighter 6 only for it to be a flop.
The years have made me cynical.
It’ll still be an update in some sense (if they don’t remove other parts of it in the process of adding new) as it’s titled ‘Ultimate’, while the last VF5 release was ‘Final Showdown’.
I appreciate the response. I didn’t make it very clear in the post, but I’m aware it will be a further update to 5 beyond Final Showdown. It’s still built upon that old foundation, though. So while I’m sure they’ll change things up quite a bit, they’re still working off of that modified VF5 code base. Which again isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It’s just that as someone who watched the series push the envelope so heavily in my childhood, there’s a nostalgic part of me that wants to see a bleeding-edge new entry. I understand that things are different now though, and can gladly accept this for what it is.
My imagination got the better of me, but I’m thrilled to have Virtua Fighter back. It’s been way too long; it never should have gone away.