Virtua Striker 4 Warms Up: First Screens

Come and take a look at the first ever hi-res screens from Sega's Triforce-powered Virtua Striker 4. New details inside.

It's fairly well known that Sega's Virtua Striker 3 performed quite poorly on GameCube in terms of sales - but as even the most casual of arcade goers knows, it's quite a different story in coin-op land.

Toshihiro Nagoshi's Amusement Vision department is back on the arcade scene with the fourth in the Virtua Striker series, which is set to repeat the success of the previous editions in arcades. The series is extremely popular in Japanese and European arcade centers.

Virtua Striker 4 was recently unveiled at a private Sega arcade showcase, and has also enjoyed some really positive feedback from gamers who got their hands on the early playtest version at one of Sega's key Tokyo arcade locations in Ikebukuro.

The game runs on Sega's GameCube-compatible Triforce arcade board, making the prospect of a GameCube conversion likely, but under its new management Sega will likely want to consider the viability of releaseing it on further platforms too, most obviously on PS2.

Insiders have highlighted to Kikizo that some previously GameCube-only Sega home titles will come to other platforms very soon, and it would make sense for Virtua Striker 4 to be included in that line of thinking.

The inevitably even more addictive arcade sequel promises the fast-paced, arcade-style soccer gameplay that fans love, but for many soccer fans, will not be able to offer the depth and longevity available in Konami's recently announced Pro Evolution Soccer 4. Stay tuned for further coverage.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com