New Virtua Fighter Update Revealed

Sega finally unveils what should be the last VF update until VF5 - Virtua Fighter 4 Final Tuned.

At the AOU 2004 show in Tokyo this morning, Sega Japan revealed its latest arcade line-up. As we reported about seven months ago, a new update of the fourth instalment to Sega's flagship fighting series has been on the cards for some time, and today we have the details of what it entails.

Although the Evolution moniker is dropped, all the characters from VF4 Evolution remain, but the emphasis is on the single player experience. In addition to radically updated AI, which should mean the CPU opponents fight a lot more like human players, the Quest concept from the home version of Evolution has been incorporated into this latest arcade update to add longevity.

New moves and techniques are in the game, and the control system has been tweaked slightly, as the title suggests. The characters will all be getting yet more facelifts and new hairdos as well.

VF is a pretty deal in Japan right now, with Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary having seen a full standalone release last month, complete with artwork book and DVD.

The game wasn't playable at the show, but we expect to be able to get some hands on with the machine very soon. Obviously there is no word of a home version yet, and although another port to PS2 would be straightforward, it might not prove viable to release it. The arcade version will hit Japanese arcades in Summer, while western arcades can expect the usual wait to see it if they're lucky.

Virtua Fighter 5 is expected to be unveiled this year. We don't know what the deal is with Fighting Vipers 3 which is also supposedly in production.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com