New Virtua Fighter Announced

A new revision on the way, to arcades at least.

Coming hot on the heels of the recent release on Xbox 360, Sega has announced the latest in its regular line of upgrades: Virtua Fighter 5 Version D. Sadly this is a Japanese arcade only release, VF5 being one of the most popular social beat'em ups in the far east.

However, PS3 and X360 owners may be pleased to know no new gameplay features have been implemented in the latest update. Version D takes the tried and tested fighting engine and adds a thick layer of cosmetic polish. In keeping with the customisation possibilities in the series, AM2 has added new items, item-based animations and costumes. Particular favourites include Pirate Jeffry and Cyborg-Ninja Kage (yes, serioulsy!).

Version D also introduces Knockout Trial 2, a one-player arcade mode previously featured in VF5 version B (hence the 2 suffix), and the all-new VF5 Official Open Battle. Arcade tournaments are still very popular in Japan and Open Battle allows for arcade operators to easily setup competitions. The game keeps a tally of winning points that gamers accumulate, and the highest points tally at the end of a tournament wins. Winners will also gain 'official points' that can be used to purchase exclusive Sega VF items.

No release date has been officially stated, but expect this to be gobbling 100 Yen coins in Japanese arcades very soon. Whether or not any of the additions will make it into the existing console versions via downloadable updates remains to be seen at this point, but we wouldn't rule it out.

It's rumoured that AM2 is also beavering away on a full-scale revision - a Virtua Fighter 5: Evolution (in the vein of VF4: Evolution) - that will introduce two new characters to the line-up. For more on the online-enabled Xbox 360 version of VF5, see our recent in-depth interview with AM2.

Imran 'Kage Master' Ramzan