Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown Coming to American Hard Drives

Not since the Halcyon days of two-thousand and seven have North American players been able to partake of the resplendent joys inherent to Sega'sVirtua Fighter series. But hark, lo on the horizon, a messenger brings a communique from the Japanese publisher, sending word of the last arcade iteration crossing the great seas to our North American shores, by way of magical tubes, wires, and drives hard as the most adamantine steel. Forsooth, a new epoch of Virtua Fighter relevance may be upon us yet, but not for yet another year's span. Zounds!

*cough* Okay, enough of that. Indeed, Sega will be bringing Virtua Fighter back to American audiences with Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, the last arcade version released in Japan. This version, which features updates to the core mechanics and game balance, dynamic in-game arenas, online play, and 19 playable characters, will be coming as a downloadable entity for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.

Sega doesn't mention anything about pricing in its press release, presumably because the game is a whole year away from release. Sega pegs VF5FS' release date as somewhere around summer 2012.

But hey, look on the bright side: at least you'll have a full year to dig up a copy of the original VF5 and get back into practice. Or you can just do as I do and intend to dig up VF5 and practice, only to completely forget about that idea an hour later, then continuously remind yourself to do so every time you see a new preview or advertisement for VF5FS, yet still continue to do nothing about it, eventually resigning yourself to just download the game and start fresh, only to go online and have your ass handed to you by people who did actually practice in the interim time between now and the game's release. Demoralized, you will stick to playing through offline arcade modes for the sake of achievements/trophies, and stare longingly at the online multiplayer menus, the way a lovesick teenager stares depressingly at the hottest girl in school making out with the captain of the football team.

Seriously, never do anything the way I do it.

Chievo!

Ok cool ill try VF never played it but im down for a challenge!

As close as I'll ever come.

Ummm, sounds like Alex isn't talking about VF any more.

I wonder why they just don't just don't release a new Virtual Fighter title instead?

I won't get it. Virtua Fighter is one of the few fighting games that I just could not get into at all.

Meh.

This article went into a depressing direction.

yay! I love VF5! oh man, I should dig out that old copy & practice!

I played Virtua Fighter 5 and really loved it, even getting reasonably good at it...sadly, I was unemployed and had a really good tutor in one of my roommates. Since I won't have time to "Go to the Mountain and train," I'll probably pass on this one.

Well, this was... unexpected.

I'd say Alex had some fun writing this article. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It'll be interesting to see how much they charge for VF come D-Day.

Sorry, i play tekken.

FINALLY. I MIGHT ACTUALLY TRY IT OUT.

Might try it out. 

Definitely a day one buy for me, but man, it's going to be a whole year before it comes out! Given that this is touted as the most deep and complex fighting game out there, and in the release schedules, it is currently the latest fighting game to come out, that just bums me out. Because it's going to take so much longer for me to get actually good at this game; it'll be like 2013 or 2014. And you can't exactly practice VF5 on the interim since the game is quite different. BAH

YES! Now, I'm kinda glad I skipped VF5 for the lack of multiplayer (I only had a PS3).

Maybe I'll dig out VF4 and get back into the VF mode.

That last sentence...  so you´re still talking about Virtua Fighter right?

I'm mildly excited. The tone of the article was awesome! I could read news like that everyday. Shit was hilarious. Good work Alex.

That last paragraph was hilarious, and accurate as I've fallen into this cycle for every squeal ever made.

Alex immediately burst into tears after finishing this article. Pricing will be interesting for this one since it's an XBLA title but it sounds like a fully featured VF game.

VF4 was good. I'll have to download this for sure. Love that it's moving to downloadable instead of a $60 disc. Yay

Every article needs have a life lesson from Alex from now on, that's the new rule.

If the online is good (and I've heard the netcode for 360 VF5 is really good), this may become my main 3D fighting game. Tekken's netcode really is pretty subpar (even after the patch) and if I'm honest I must say that I'm skeptical if TTT2 will be much better. Watching some clips of Final Showdown on YouTube, it looks way improved from the current PS3 version that is available.

Man, Alex, I think you have too much free time on your hands.

really enjoyed reading the article lol, nice work alex.

I was thinking literally yesterday that they should have bought this to consoles. VF5 was, imo, the greatest of all 3d beat-em-ups and it never really seemed to get its due. Here's hoping a reasonably priced downloadable title will see that right.
Also, I'm hoping the fact its downloadable doesn't mean they skimp on the extras. VF5 had a really great way of handling the single player and the costume customization was great.

It's about damn time.

I love VF...favorite fighting game series.

I'm garbage at VF, but I'm totally going to buy this.

But does it have Zombe Mode and Slice Mode?

I've actually done better at this fighting game than any other, and I look forward to its eventual release.

God damn it Alex, stop making me laugh like a crazy person on the train!

Sweet. I absolutely loved VF 5 Online.

Alex just about described most the games I intend to play. I still have Halo: Reach in its shrink wrap. One day I'll have time. One day...

I think that's kinda weird that they're digging out VF5 some more now, instead of just doing Virtua Fighter 6 or a "lighter", downloadable exclusive Virtua Fighter (much like how they took Sega Rally Revo and made Sega Rally Revo Online from it). I don't know what a lighter, more accessible Virtua Fighter would be, but I'd imagine it would be more exciting than trotting out VF5 again.
 
That being said, I'll still probably check this out:) I remember liking VF4: Evolution quite a bit. The biggest problem with Virtua Fighter is lack of competition. So hopefully this can correct it, what with the online play. Which was crazy that it was omitted from the PS3 version of Virtua Fighter 5.

Well this is a surprise. I like it!

vf5 is a great game, this is great news.

Cool! I was hoping this would happen. I even bought VF5 a month or two ago because I had an itch to scratch (shit's still hard, turns out). But it's weird that it's downloadable. Hope it costs only $15, even though I doubt it since regular VF5 is still a stupid $20.

yesssssss finally sega thank you!!!!! I just wish we didnt have to wait a year :(

And I don't care because I already have  virtua fighter 5 on  xbox 360 and don't see enough changes to make it worth buying and It plays online and I already do enough ass kicking on it online.

at first I thought the entire article was going to be like the 1st paragraph. But then it all came together very well and now I'm wondering why Alex isn't writing more for Giantbomb. And I'll have to visit screened to see what's going down..

The funniest thing in the article is Alex spelling out 2007.

alex.  you are the fucking man for understanding my problem with VF5 right now.  That last paragraph was hilarious, and accurate! IMO. VF5 is the DEEPEST fighter EVAR!

"stare longingly...at the hottest girl in school making out with the captain of the football team."

Well ain't that about a bitch.

I was incredibly patient with Sega while they sat around not telling the Western World shit about their FANTASTIC fighting franchise, dicking around on my offline PS3 version of VF5 and waiting for them to announce this version's American release. In a lot of ways, a great fighter is still only as good as its community and developer support, but I stuck by it while both Street Fighter and Tekken (both great games, no hate) were getting so much boom in fighting fandom.

Finally, after over 3 years of sticking by the game, not even a month ago I FINALLY caved and yelled at Sega that if they wanted so badly for me to convert to Tekken, the 3D fighting franchise whose developer actually stays in touch with people, then I would bite that bullet (again, Tekken's not a bad game by *any* means, just some things about it that don't suit my tastes). I traded in VF5, put the quarter in my pocket, picked up a copy of Tekken 6, and got to practicing.

Then they announce this.

I am so excited that Sega might actually be catching on to what kind of fanbase they really have, but also pretty frustrated that I had to literally give up on them before they took any action. Should I gather from this that the eventual VF6 will see American releases and updates (via downloads or re-released discs, I don't give a shit)? Now that this has happened, is it safe to sell Tekken back and get back on my old bandwagon? Or is this too little too late?

Do you guys think Sega will begin to properly support Western VF fans at this point, or are you holding back your hopes and expectations?

I'll buy it as long as it costs more than twenty five dollars. If its priced at fifteen or nineteen dollars it probably means they took a machete to it and will end up nickeling and diming the hell out of all the costumes and such... which is not cool in my book. Don't screw this up Sega give me the full update for 30-40 dollars and i will be happy.

@DepressedHippie said:

[T]hey… will end up nickeling and diming the hell out of all the costumes and such.

Don't confuse Sega with Capcom.