Virtua Fighter is not the most well-known fighting game but it was a pioneer in the 3D fighting game genre when it released in 1993 in arcades and 1994 on the Sega Saturn. The franchise released new games on arcades and every console generation but is overshadowed by games like Tekken and Dead or Alive. Virtua Fighter however is still really relevant in the arcades of Japan. Virtua Fighter seemed to skip over the PS4 generation of consoles, but at last, it is here. Let’s check it out.

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is however no new instalment in the franchise. The game is an enhanced remaster of the original Virtua Fighter 5 that released in arcades, Xbox 360 and PS3. This remaster is a PS4 exclusive and has some great improvements over its original. But first, before I go into the differences let me first go over the gameplay of Virtua Fighter.

Virtua Fighter in a nutshell

As stated before Virtua Fighter is a 2D/3D fighting game in the same vein as Tekken and Dead or Alive. The gameplay revolves around two fighters duking it out and drop the enemies HP to zero within the set time limit. Win 2 out of the 3 rounds to be victorious. If you knock the enemy out of the ring you instantly win that round. Choose from 19 different fighters, my favourite being El Blaze the luchador, each with its own unique play style. Unlike Tekken and DoA, Virtua Fighter focuses on realism. Every fighters moves, gameplay and design are based around real-life fighter styles. Some are more well known like wrestling, Sumo and Judo but others are more obscure and Vale Tudo, Hagakure-ryū Jū-Jutsu and Ensei-Ken. I didn’t believe that they were really fighting styles but I ensure you, I did some research and indeed they are real.

Easy to learn; hard to master

The gameplay as with most of these fighting games, easy to learn but hard to master. The game uses 3 buttons; punch, kick and guard as well as 8 directional inputs. Through a combination of different timings, positions when performing the moves and button combinations pressed you to perform different attacks or special moves. These are character-specific so learning what every character can do is vital to improving your skill. The triggers and bumpers are used for shortcut command inputs like Punch + Kick for easy excess. You can map the buttons as you prefer which is always a good addition to have. As with almost any fighting game, the core gameplay loop and learning curve make the game fun and replayable. The single-player experience lacks content. But this a massive deal because the game really shines when playing multiplayer, against your friends or random people online. The netcode while still better than most, has some flaws. The connection can be unstable, unreliable and causes some slow-down which is the most noticeable when pulling off long combos.

Improvements and changes

Now that I explained the basics for people who were unfamiliar with the genre/franchise let’s go over the differences between the original and the remaster. Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown uses a different engine, this being the Dragon Engine, which is also used in the current Yakuza games. This in combination with the more powerful hardware that the graphics, like lighting and shading, are vastly improved from the original. Both the characters as the stages are greatly improved, some stages are barely recognizable because of their beauty.

Besides this new music is available on every stage, the user interface is redesigned and a new opening cinematic is added. One of the most welcome changes is the possibility to play online, which not every version of the game previously could do. Fight against each other, create private and/or open lobbies that you and your friends or random people can join. Besides this, you can organize tournaments with different rulesets like single-, double elimination and round robin, for the ultimate brawl.

Pricing and DLC done right

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown already has a DLC available. Normally I despise this because it takes content out of the game and adds it later by paid DLC. With Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown this is different. The base game doesn’t cost you a full retail price being around €30,- DLC includes, with the DLC costing €10 separately. This is a really fair price for a remaster and especially because the base game without DLC is available for free with PS plus to download, which is ending on the 3rd of August 2021.

The DLC doesn’t lockout content, like fighters, as other games do, but instead add more character customization, original style models for the characters as well as almost 180 new and classic tracks. The retro-style models really take you back to the early 3D games. Switching back and forward really lets you appreciate how far graphics have come as well as giving some nostalgia kick.

Conclusion

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown as the name suggest is the ultimate experience of the Virtua Fighter franchise. The graphics have never looked so beautiful on consoles. The game lacks a good single-player experience which is a shame, but this was not the main appeal of the game anyways. The netcode can use some work to make it more stable to enhance the experience. The price of the game is really cheap and even free before the 3rd of August with PS plus. The game is a remaster and we hope to see a new instalment happen, but until it does this game holds you over. It doesn’t matter if you are a veteran or are new to the franchise, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a good way to step in the ring and fight your way to victory.

7.5/10

-Tested on Playstation 4 Pro