Overview
Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is a 3D fighting game developed by Sega-AM2 and released by Sega for arcades (using their PC-based Lindbergh hardware) exclusively in Japan on July 29, 2010.
The second major revision of the 2006 fighting game Virtua Fighter 5, Final Showdown further updates character balance, animation, and movelists while featuring significant changes to the overall gameplay (such as adding more risk-reward for certain evasive maneuvers, making destructible walls only break on KOs, and removing 0-Frame Throws, the Clash system, the Multiple Throw Escape system, and most Staggering techniques). It also includes a new soundtrack, altered stage themes, new character costumes, and a revamped user interface.
The arcade version of the game also includes Twitter support (an "industry-first") and a revised Knockout Trial mode ("Knockout Trial Special", with a sci-fi espionage theme that has players attack one of four "compounds", facing off against 10 random opponents from three separate "teams"). It received two minor updates and two major updates: Ver. A (on April 21, 2011) and Ver. B (on March 25, 2015). Ver. B, released nearly four years after the last update, was made to discontinue the game's use of the ALL.Net service and instead uses separate "VF5FS" IC cards.
The "Ver. A" version of Final Showdown was later ported to both the PlayStation 3 (on June 4, 2012) and Xbox 360 (on June 6, 2012) as digital releases. Along with online multiplayer and a special "License Challenge" mode, these ports include character customization via character-specific DLC "Customization Packs" (which only show to players who also own those packs). The "Ver. B" version of Final Showdown was later made playable as a bonus in the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio games Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, Judgment, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
The game was later succeeded by Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown.
Gameplay
Changes from Virtua Fighter 5 R
- Certain evasive maneuvers (such as dodges and back dashes) are riskier (as counter-attacks against these maneuver deal more damage) but more rewarding (such as successful dodges always granting side-attacks and successful back-dashes moving faster).
- Throws are now restricted to three groups: joystick towards, joystick away, and joystick neutral. This gives a 1/3 chance of a throw escape command succeeding (either P+G, towards P+G, or away P+G).
- Knocking an opponent into destructible walls only destroys the wall during or after a K.O., instead of randomly during the round.
- Faster jump speed.
Game Modes (Home)
Single Player
- Arcade - Traditional Arcade Mode, where players face-off against seven CPU opponents (with a bonus match against Dural at the end). Players can customize a variety of options, including difficulty, round and time limits, and handicaps.
- Score Attack - Players choose from three separate "routes" of challengers and attempts to clear them with the highest score. Unlike Arcade Mode, the game uses the default settings and players are ranked on leaderboards.
- License Challenge - Series of single-player challenges, with each challenge "route" consisting multiple matches with specific goals (such as performing combos or blocking attacks). There are 100 challenge routes in total.
- Special Sparring - Requires all costume pack DLC to access. Based on Knockout Trial from the arcade version, players choose from multiple teams of customized opponents (each varying in difficulty, play style, and character data) to give the illusion of fighting against human opponents. Players must defeat all opponents in the team without losing to clear that team. Similar to the Normal mode, players can customize a variety of options, including difficulty, round and time limits, and handicaps.
Dojo
- Tutorial - A 20-step series to outline basic gameplay and commands.
- Command Training - A more in-depth training tool, allowing players to perform every technique in their character's command list in order. (Though they can skip moves if they find one to be difficult)
- Free Training - Standard practice mode with customizable settings, such as the stage, opponent, and analytical HUD elements.
Online
- Ranked Match - Competitive matchmaking. Similar to the arcade version, players are ranked by character using a martial arts-styled ranking system (from 10-Kyu to 1-Kyu, then from 1-Dan to 10-Dan, then with special rankings). Players are not given their opponent's details when matching up, as to prevent gaming the rank system.
- Player Match - Casual matchmaking for quick play.
- Room Match - Casual lobby matches, where up to eight players can join the same "room" and have people rotate-out of matches (with the others spectating).
Story
All of the sought after invitations for the Fifth World Fighting Tournament have been sent and now the 19 best fighters in the world begin their final phases of preparation. They must learn from their prior mistakes and perfect every aspect of their mind, body, and soul - for there is no room for mistakes in this competition. Little do they know that J6, the organization funding the tournament, has sinister ulterior motives for the contest and the company's top secret Dural program is already well underway. In the organization's quest for world domination, the scientists at J6 are creating the ultimate fighting machine with human features. Their first model was defeated in the Fourth World Fighting Tournament, which drove them to kidnap Vanessa. She was able to escape with the help of an insider, but not before they captured her combat data and transferred it to the new advanced Dural model named V-Dural.
J6 is determined to find out who the inside traitor is that released Vanessa and more importantly, if V-Dural is indeed ready to defeat the world's best fighters. The Fifth World Fighting Tournament will reveal both - let it begin.
[taken from the manual to Virtua Fighter 5]
Characters
| Character | First Appearance | Fighting Style | Story |
|---|
| Akira Yuki | VF1 | Bajiquan (Hakkyoku-ken) | Despite strong performances in previous tournaments, Akira still seeks to earn the approval of his ever-critical grandfather. |
| Aoi Umenokouji | VF3 | Aikido (Aiki Ju-jutsu) | Akira's childhood friend who seeks to reconnect with him, and find out the truth behind Brad's advances. |
| Brad Burns | VF4: Evo | Muay Thai | A rich Italian playboy who entered the tournament to prove his skills and to hit on the female competitors. |
| Eileen | VF5 | Monkey Kung Fu (Kou-ken) | A young girl who entered the tournament to meet Pai Chan. |
| El Blaze | VF5 | Lucha Libre | A masked luchador who seeks to beat Wolf in a match to prove he can defeat heavyweight wrestlers as easily as lightweight ones. |
| Goh Hinogami | VF4: Evo | Judo | An assassin sent by J6 to destroy Akira among others in the tournament. Having failed his first attempt, he seeks to complete his job this time. |
| Jacky Bryant | VF1 | Jeet Kune Do | Having fully recovered from his accident and rescuing his sister, Jacky now seeks to confront the mysterious J6 organization behind everything. |
| Jean Kujo | VF5: R | Karate | After Goh's failure, J6 sent Jean to finish the job. Jean is especially interested in killing Lion, without remembering their childhood friendship together. |
| Jeffry McWild | VF1 | Pankratium | Entered the previous tournaments to earn enough money to find and catch the mysterious "Satan Shark," only to discover that J6 has captured the shark for some unknown purpose. Entered now to find out why J6 wants his shark. |
| Kage-Maru | VF1 | Hagakure-ryu Ju-jutsu | The tenth generation "Kage-Maru" ninja from the Hagakure village. His mother was kidnapped, experimented on and turned into the cyborg known as Dural by J6. She then burned down Hagakure and killed everyone there as Dural. Kage entered the tournament to free her and destroy J6. |
| Lau Chan | VF1 | Tiger Swallow Fist (Koen-ken) | A master martial-artist and talented chef, Lau has been suffering from an incurable disease as he seeks an apprentice to pass on his style. Unfortunately, his last student nearly killed him, so Lau has decided to seek out Pai before his death. |
| Lei-Fei | VF4 | Shaolin Kung Fu | A Shaolin monk from a long-forgotten order in China that sought to destroy other martial artists. Lei-Fei entered the tournament to learn Lau's Koen-ken and then kill him with it. Unfortunately, Lei-Fei was too impatient and Lau escaped his grasp. He enters the tournament to face him again in a final showdown. |
| Lion Rafale | VF2 | Praying Mantis Kung Fu | The son of a powerful French arms dealer, Lion seeks to win freedom from his father in the tournament. |
| Pai Chan | VF1 | Mizongquan (Ensei-ken) | A Hong Kong action film star, Pai Chan blames her father Lau for her mother's death. However, her anger has cooled over time and she even managed to save him from Lei-Fei during the last tournament. She now enters to make amends with her father. |
| Sarah Bryant | VF1 | Martial Arts | Brainwashed by J6 to kill her brother Jacky. She managed to break free with her brother's help, and has re-entered the tournament to save her friend Vanessa. |
| Shun Di | VF2 | Drunken Fist (Zui Quan) | A drunken kung-fu master from northern China who joined the second tournament on a lark, but continued returning when he found that one of his students was being held captive by J6 |
| Taka-Arashi | VF3 | Sumo Wrestling | A hot-blooded sumo wrestler yokozuna who seeks to prove his strength to the whole world. |
| Vanessa Lewis | VF4 | Vale Tudo | When she was a child, Vanessa's parents were killed and J6 kidnapped her to train her into a soldier for them. She was rescued by another soldier named Lewis, but Lewis was later killed by J6. Vanessa enters to protect Sarah and find Lewis's killer, but her body was used to make a new version of Dural called V-Dural. |
| Wolf Hawkfield | VF1 | Pro Wrestling | A powerful woodsman and hunter from the wilds of Canada who was scouted by a sports agent, Wolf soon became a famous pro wrestler. He enters the tournament to find the truth behind strange visions of a world in flames that haunt his dreams. |
| Dural | VF1 | ?????? | At first Dural was a cyborg version of Kage's mother, herself a kunoichi from his village. At the end of the third tournament, Kage managed to free his mother, but she needed more cyborg technology just to stay alive. J6 simply kidnapped Vanessa and used her for an upgraded Dural model. Even though she escaped, they acquired enough data to create the V-Dural, and now seek to use this tournament to test its capabilities. |
Downloadable Content (DLC)
SEGA released several packs of content that allows the player to customize their character with a wide variety of different costume pieces that can be accessed and modified through the "Terminal" menu. Players who wish to buy custom packs for an individual character must pay $5 (400 MSP) to be able to customize their respective character. Alternatively, players can buy up to two "Customization Pack Bundles" that contain costume pieces for 9 or 10 characters (respectively) at $15 (1200 MSP) each.
The costume pieces themselves have no good or bad side effects in game, though some of them can trigger a new end-game victory celebration at random or if the player presses a specific command for that character they won as
If the player without the custom packs plays someone who has them, then the characters will only be seen through their default costume.
If the player has all custom packs, then Special Challenge mode is unlocked in the single-player menu (see Gameplay).
Stages
All stages from Virtua Fighter 5 R return with new visuals (including time-of-day and weather changes) and new background music. However, their stage layouts remain intact with only one exception: breakable walls now only break on certain KO hits.
Open (16x16)
These stages have large-sized squared arenas and no fencing, allowing players to easily ring-out opponents by attacking them (or by having them step out of the arena accidentally).
- River (Shun Di)
- Sumo Ring (Taka-Arashi)
Half Fence (12x12)
These stages have average-sized squared arenas and have fencing reaching up to each combatant's hip. Players can knock opponents out of the arena by juggling them.
- Statues (Akira Yuki)
- Terrace (Brad Burns)
Full Fence (10x10)
These stages have small-sized squared arenas and impenetrable full-size walls, preventing players from knocking opponents out of the arena and allowing special wall-based techniques.
- City (Jacky Bryant)
- Ruins (Eileen)
Full & Open (16x16)
These stages switch between Open (16x16) and Full Fence (10x10) at the beginning of each round.
- Training Room (Jean Kujo)
- Snow Mountain (Wolf Hawkfield)
Single Wall (16x16)
For these stages, three sides of the arena are Open while one side is Full Fence. The fight line starts with the Full Fence side in the background.
- Great Wall (Lau Chan)
- Sanctuary (Dural)
Rectangle (6x16)
For these stages, the two longer sides of the arena (which are perpendicular to the initial fight line) are Full Fence, while the two smaller sides of the arena are Open.
- Deep Mountain (Lei-Fei)
- Palace (Lion Rafale)
Breakable Half Fence (12x12)
These stages are similar to Half Fence stages. However, knocking opponents to a wall on certain KO hits causes it to break, leaving that side open for the remainder of the match.
- Aurora (Sarah Bryant)
- Island (Jeffry McWild)
Breakable Full Fence (12x12)
These stages are similar to Full Fence stages. However, knocking opponents to a wall on certain KO hits causes it to break, leaving that side open for the remainder of the match.
- Broken House (Goh Hinogami)
- Grassland (Pai Chan)
Low Fence (16x16)
These stages are similar to Open stages. However, low fences are placed that prevent players from accidentally stepping out of the arena. Some attacks also no longer push opponents out of the arena.
- Shrine (Aoi Umenokouji)
- Temple (Kage-Maru)
Octagon (10x10)
These stages are the smallest in the game and have eight impenetrable full-size walls in an octagon shape.
- Arena (El Blaze)
- Waterfalls (Vanessa Lewis)
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