Given that it’s been nine years since we last saw the series-a full 15 years have passed since the last arcade mainline release-you may wonder why Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown released this week is so exciting, this It’s a remake that brings Sega’s fighting series to modern platforms (or at least it’s just one of them now). What makes Virtua Fighter so popular?
Allow me, a serious fan who has been eager to return, try to explain. Virtua Fighter is to fighting games what OutRun is to driving games: easy to use, smooth and full of energy, just like OutRun peddling the dream of youngsters driving Ferrari, Virtua Fighter is to let poster star martial artists fight each other, in both cases Both distill some complex things into intoxicating direct things.They are all peak Sega.
So it’s nice to see the Ryu Ga Gotoku studio-undoubtedly Sega’s premier studio, in their games you will find a lot of that old-fashioned and swaggering style-turning to Virtua Fighter, even though they have always been This project handed is not as grand as some people hoped. This is a condensed version of Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, released in an arcade game in 2010, and then entered the console in 2012, although it has been slightly refurbished for more modern hardware.
The visual overhaul has been kept light, some characters seem to receive more attention than others — cover stars Akira and Kage look spectacular — and some new effects. These include the colored gas cloud that appears every time it hits, which is very common in other 3D fighters such as Tekken. If fortunately the implementation here is underestimated, it is still regrettable that it cannot be turned off as an option.
In fact, the options here are so few that they don’t exist. There is no way to revert to the original Virtua Fighter 5 user interface-although I already like the new user interface very much, it brings a more modern feel to the whole package-no replays, almost no extra decorations. Final Showdown console version of the mode is completely non-existent, here is a bit of a mockery of the ultimate championship title-no license or scoring attack, apart from the powerful training options (part of me), solo players are not too addicted to me. I hope to return to the Quest Mode of the original Virtua Fighter 5 until I realize with fear that many of its arcade machines (such as Shibuya’s Club Sega) no longer exist).
Considering the key points here, these omissions are understandable, because Virtua Fighter Ultimate Showdown is a targeted streamlined version, mainly for online games, available in 16 player rooms or through a decent ranking mode. This begs the question, why did not use the rollback code, if the network code is hardly a disaster-weekend games showed that it is almost the last time Virtual Warrior 5 online experience measurement standards, even though there are actually games available and big The partially obsolete Xbox Live version is different-not as good as Virtua Fighter deserves it.
However, for all these complaints, it feels like everything RGG Studio did to Virtua Fighter, they chose not to do it, and kept the integrity of this greatest fighting game intact. Some of me even like to acquiesce to the basic principle that Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is a bit perfect-some of us have long doubted this.
Several late nights of Ultimate Showdown, online and offline play, did not make this idea dull. In fact, Virtua Fighter is still unique as an elegant and calm fighting game. The driving force for the encounter is electric, and the ebb and flow of the game is now as fascinating as ever.
“Virtua Fighter is to fighting games what OutRun is to driving games: easy to access, smooth and dynamic”
The accessibility of the classic Virtua Fighter is there-this is a series designed for those who used to assemble in places like Trocadero, when Sega’s arcade was the most cutting-edge technology-when the series was in the middle of the century Hand in the fourth part. By the time Virtua Fighter 5 was finally released, it had become an intricate grid of various fighting styles, all of which were perfectly integrated in some way.
Ultimate Showdown reinforces all of this, even if it is not the ultimate version of Virtua Fighter 5, it is still a pleasure to get lost in this great and timeless rhythm. For an old stubborn like me, Virtua Fighter 5 and OutRun 2 are tied for the best in Sega, and for all the opportunities missed here-imperfect network code, lack of peripheral decorations or a lot of new content-have a chance to play it It is very worthwhile to be with the new audience. Maybe this is not the great reward that the series deserves, but it is still a game worth playing.
