Virtua Fighter 5: Huge Hands-On & Media!

Kikizo gets hours of quality time with AM2's stunning sequel - detailed impressions, fresh details, artwork, screenshots and gameplay footage inside.

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Speaking of balance, the whole reason behind the location test, was to further balance some of the characters. While we couldn't use all of the characters during the test -- Sega required players to purchase a VF.net card, effectively reducing you to the use of one character -- we noticed several details about the players that will have players extremely happy. So here's a breakdown of what we witnessed, including aesthetic changes (costumes, animations, etc.) Sorry - no notes for Jacky or Lau just yet.

AKIRA

• Costume 1: Traditional white gi, his standard costume since VF1.
• Costume 2: Relatively the same as VF4. A Dark, navy blue gi.
• Costume 3: Chinese robe with dark pants. Somewhat similar to Lei Wulong from the Tekken series.
• Sports a new two hit punch combo.
• His 1 frame knee attack is the one found in VF4: Evolution.
• Back, Forward+Punch+Guard throw will send the opponent flying into the air, opening them for a huge combo.
• His Shoulder Ram attack will launch into a combo only on counterhit. On regular hit, it will produce a ground stun instead.

  PAI

• Costume 1: Blue chinese gi, her standard costume since Virtua Fighter 1.
• Costume 2: A pink chinese halter-top, with matching long tights
• She has a new punch combo where she punches the opponent three times, then sweeps low, then sweeps high

  SARAH

• Costume 1: Blue spandex, her standard costume since Virtua Fighter 1.
• Costume 2: Black slit dress with garter stockings
• Sarah has several additions to her Flamingo attack, including new string attacks
• Her throws have been changed command-wise.

  VANESSA

• Costume 1: Open green military shirt, black bra, green military pants
• Costume 2: Blue officer's uniform
• It's now harder to tell if she's in offensive or defensive mode
• She can still switch between both modes before the round starts

  LION

• Costume 1: Black and blue shirt and shorts, the same costume from Virtua Fighter 4
• Costume 2: Fluffy shirt with blue patched pants
• Costume 3: Life jacket with no shirt, and shorts. In other words, his Virtua Fighter 2 costume.
• He has two new kick attacks that can really confuse his opponents. They are Kick+Guard and Back, Forward+Kick+Guard

  JEFFRY

• Costume 1: No shirt, white cotton pants, his standard costume since Virtua Fighter 1
• His Splash Mountain throw has a new animation, so it's much faster.
• Many of his moves have been slowed down significantly to match the size of his body.
• His body mass and height have been changed to reflect the size different between him and the rest of the cast. He now towers over everyone in the game.

  KAGE

• Costume 1: Blue gi, his standard costume since Virtua Fighter 1
• Costume 2: Black armor costume, with red highlights
• His Ten Foot Toss (TFT) throw has not changed.
• In addition to his Jumonji stance, he now has a new stance where he grasps his hands behind him. It's unknown how many options he has out of this stance.

BRAD

• Costume 1: Red shirt and black pants, the same costume from Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
• Costume 2: Muay Thai outfit, the same costume from Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution

  GOH

• Costume 1: Blue judo gi, the same costume from Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
• Costume 2: Black leather jacket and pants, no shirt

  WOLF

• Costume 1: Blue wrestling tights, his standard costume since Virtua Fighter 1
• Costume 2: Indian headress, and white wrestling tights
• No new moves, but his animations have been greatly changed. He now has more 'momentum' behind several moves, making them more realistic-looking
• His height is incredible, as he towers over everyone else in the game, except for Jeffry.
• His knee attack will produce a ground stun instead of the usual double over stun it did before.

  SHUN

• Costume 1: Green and yellow chinese robe, his standard costume from Virtua Fighter 1
• You can get in two 3-drink moves at the end of a match
• He has two new throws in the game, one knocks down while the other does not. However, both have really cool animation.

  EL BLAZE

• Costume 1: Black luchadore mask, black leather pants
• Costume 2: Same as costume 1, except he now has a black shirt, and a grey sweatjacket.
• Has a special running stance by pressing Punch+Kick+Guard. This will allow him to run in any direction, and he will only top if you command him to, or he reaches the end of the arena. He can also fake out a run and then double back with an attack.

  AOI

• Costume 1: Blue and pink kimono, her standard costume since VF3
• Costume 2: with a mid-drift bearing top.

  LEI-FEI

• Costume 1: Yellow and red shaolin costume, the same as Virtua Fighter 4
• Costume 2: Green toga and grey pants, somewhat similar to Virtua Fighter 4

So what else? Well, there's an experience bar at the bottom of the screen for each character. You can see this in the Sarah vs. Shun picture on the first page. Sarah has a promotion chance, but usually those are green bars there. If your green bar empties, you can get a ranking match. Now, you don't have to "guess" when you're going to get a promotion.

If you look at the character select screen with Brad and Lei Fei, you'll see two fuzzy icons at the top of the screen. One is the internet reception for the unit, while the other is a totally new icon, which has the kanji: . The translation for this kanji is "misenai" or "Inside Store", so obviously the opposite might be -- which would be "misegai", or "Outside Store".

Yes, we're talking about possible online play...

For now, while many more details may surface in the future, this is what our four hours -- lovely hours, we might add -- with Virtua Fighter 5 gave us. However, we've learned that absence will definitely make the heart grow fonder, and we definitely can't wait until next year, when the game finally sees a release in the arcades.

Meanwhile, be sure to take a look at the all-new gameplay footage we've snagged, showing Akira battle Shun - both looking very different to their standard costume appearances, as viewed in the TV mode. It's nowhere near the usual quality of our gameplay videos due to filming conditions, and you won't get a sense of the incredible level of detail as described in this article - but you can still get a good idea of some of the new stuff and check out Akira and Shun's new techniques. And frankly it appears to be the only option you have right now anyway.

Finally, be sure to check back at Kikizo for some more seriously hot VF5 coverage in a few weeks' time. Our previous look at VF5 can be found here.

Reno
Contributor, Kikizo Games

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