VF5: Final Showdown Finally Makes it to Consoles
Aris ON Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 11:01AM 
It's about fucking time. Now let's see if anyone plays it. Check out the trailer below.
"LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO— 23rd August 2011—SEGA® of Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that Virtua Fighter™ 5, the latest title in its celebrated fighting franchise, will see a grand update and expansion released as a standalone title for both Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.and PlayStation® Network. The new game, entitled Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, will contain a full overhaul of Virtua Fighter 5’s mechanics, balance and animations, along with new game modes, new dynamic fighting arenas, a massive collection of customisable character items and two all-new characters added to the roster. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is expected to be available in Summer 2012."
[Via VFDC]
Reader Comments (47)
It's not really mismanagement so much as it is them not giving a fuck about the market outside of Japan. They've simply given up on trying to crack the West.
Pretty cool, I'll definitely grab this and mess around with it. Hope the netcode is really good and sets a new standard for 3D fighters as I've heard the 360 netcode on the current VF is really good. To be honest though, Sega are kinda a-holes and have kinda shat on their fans over the years. I'll have fun with this game, but won't invest too much of my time into it because you can't trust that they'll support the franchise properly (or at all) over time. Sorry, love the VF games but Sega kinda sucks until they prove otherwise. Also checked out some youtube clips of the game and when did VF turn into DOA? Lots of chicks (and dudes) fighting in their underwear, lol.
I'm excited to see this announcement and will try to support the game, but I'm not expecting much because Sega took way too fucking long to bring the game out on console. Plus it's going to compete with newer games that are more popular. Plus the people who do play VF will probably stay home and play it instead of trying to start a scene for it because of how great the online is with this game.
We'll see what happens though.
I like how Aris gets shit on when he's showing support for a game that needs it by posting info about it on his website. You know guys, he could just not post anything about it instead. But y'all still whine and moan like you're crying for a balance patch. "No Aris, you don't hold up to my 1337 and pure standards of gaming! Crucify!"
Shut up.
I like VF. But I am not very good. I own VF4 Evolution for PS2.
What I found interesting is with this game is that they are releasing some kind of easy beginner mode for it, to help hook new players. More then Tekken ever did.
It has got to a point with Tekken 6 now where my casual friends will not even play me at all because they simply do not understand Tekken 6 and the systems that the game now has (bounding etc).
Heres my opinion. Tekken 6/ tag 2 is not even a fighting game anymore. It is not remotely enjoyable for the masses. You can only make a little progress after putting in 100s of hours, making it more role playing like, simply by leveling yourself up. Strange to look at it this way but when you see games like SF and how easier they are to play/ hard to master you can kind of see where I am coming from. I do not see anyone new coming into the tekken scene for tag 2. Unless they REALLY try to help out the new players. Like a beginner mode. I mean think about. I am going to be playing Julia/Lili probably (Shes still Julia f*ck this JAYCEE cr$p) Thats like nearly/ around 300 moves I could do, not to mention the system changes/ learn the tag crash etc. Imagine a new player coming into this? with no proper tools or beginner mode?
Think about it.
@Cosmic_Castaway Yeah I give Aris credit for posting this info at least. he's not as close minded as Mike Kwon seems to be. As for VF4's similarity to VF5 the same could be said of T6/TTT2 and T5. Also VF4 was a difficult game to get into and understand, it took me a year of practice and competitive play to appreciate it as the best. VF5FS will be much easier in comparison.
Out of the fighting game companies Sega are the biggest so if they see enough potential in FG's they could get behind this in a big way. In the same way that Namco and Capcom seriously stepped up their community relations so too does Sega. The only worry is that this might be too late, no reatil release and that VF5FS may not be the best VF game.
agreed PuNkMAFIA, to many of my friends who favour SFIV over tekken. say tekken is to "spammy "because they can "beat their friends by button mashing on tekken" ironically they play sfiv and use sagat and use "heavy zoning" with his tiger shots, knees, round house all day long. as you said similiar to what they told me -they like SFIV because its easy to learn but hard to master.
when faced against me in tekken they lose and i try to explain them about launchers, resets, just frames moves, bound, and strings of attacks. they do listen but in the end its "just to much to know and thus not interested."
I personaly dont' see any of my friends that play SF4 series that did try tekken 6 ever going to play TTT2 for two reasons
1) sf4 has to much of a grip on them. not saying thats a bad thing. but they already complaining about how to get up faster in T6, still.
2) they get discouraged when they fight against an experience tekken player and get rolled on with all these game mechanics and atleast 80 + plus strings of attack. and with me already knowing t6 well and they don't. they are just simple way to behind to catch up in TTT2.
sure i guess a tutorial will help its a stepping stone.
but back on subject on VF 5 FS. i hope the dlc is cheap lol
Wtf... I play both and I think it
's way easier to get adequate mastery in Tekken and actually be competitive than it is in SF4 with all it's 1 frame links and shit.. You people are crazy..., I know SF4 was touted as the casual friendly game but it really isn't.
Honestly, Tekken can be overwhelming if you just pick it up and look at the move list. But we all know a quick trip to the zaibatsu character forums will get you well on your way with a fraction of the moveset. and the bound system is far easier to get a handle on than the execution stuff that's required in SF.
Throwing fireballs like an idiot in SF4 on the other hand will get you absolutely no where. I think this gen, Tekkens main problem is the netcode was complete ass on release and many casuals just dropped the game...
Why would a casual gamer go to the zaibatsu forums? They wouldnt. Simple. End of.
Streetfighter 4 is hard at top level. 1 frame links are for the gods we all know this. but 2 casual players would have more fun playing sf the tekken 6 anyday.
Good shout on the netcode though. Good netcode and hold casual players interest and keep people playing.
Brokentier Latiff (2nd Evo SFAE) said he trained online. Something everyone needs to accept.
I am just ranting now not even talking about VF apologies. Aris looking for to your opinion.
Thanks.
Aris i think what some people commented before meant that when people like you (Known world wide in the fighting game community) start playing a game or even just showing interest and getting hype for it(MK) that other will too, even people that didnt have much interest for it at first. I could be completely wrong though.
@Diabolic, you're not wrong. Aris is someone in the FGC that people respect, so there will be those who play a game or don't based on what he says about it or based on his involvement with it. But he can't do much if VF players aren't out playing VF.
@PuNkMAFIA
Harada just tweeted that tag2 will have a beginner trainer and an advanced one. So watch your mouth, and let's finish this sell
Most elements of the VF series are dated, generally boring and of relative poor quality.
man aris it must suck to half to deal with such douche bags all day.
I mean hell I've even hurled shit your way here and there, but I swear it had some semblance of logic...
You fagots, go read Fuudo's interview and you will find that he stopped playing VF for the EXACT SAME reasons as stated above.
You morons more than likely don't even play the game for yourself!, and if you do you are clearly terrible because no one gives a fuck about any of you
I actually think this has developed into a interesting conversation. I agree with DeathByBears that VF is Dated and boring and I know many top players have moved away from it because of this. They simply haven't changed enough in the series to keep people interested world wide. However, I will likely buy it and give it a try. Unfortunately I can guarantee that I will have next to no competition so the chances of me playing it for any extended period of time is slim.
The point I wanted make wasn't actually about VF per se but more about the comments by Mike on 1 of the recent podcasts that theres no point in playing games that don't have lots of competition. Nothing wrong with that idea to an extent but how far is he taking that reasoning? Will he not actually bother to try anything new that comes up until it demostrates it has large a competitive base first? If everyone did that what would happen to the variety of games at tournaments? A currently dead game like VF5, SC4, KOF 2002UM or Guilty Gear AC are not likely to come back to life but I always think new entries in a series have a chance to revive a previously dead scene if there's enough open minded players.
As for VF it's not boring at all but has been 1 of the most fun and rewarding FG's out there. It's never previously been easy to get into and understand which is part of what's held it back and caused these negative oppinions. Why do top multi game players like Ryan Hart, Gamerbee and ShinZ say they like VF best of all games? VF4 had been one of the most popular
arcades in Japan but that changed with VF5. It wasn't that it was a lack of evolution but more that the changes made in VF5 weren't well received and FS in particular didn't go down well and neither did Sega's handling of the business. Ryan, Gamerbee and Nukki (one of the greatest long term FG players) all mentioned they liked VF4 much more than VF5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm0ddPwhxhc&feature=related
Yes the look of the game hasn't gone down too well with most players in the west and that is another factor but at least it's now much easier. VF4FT is imo the best of all but I'm hoping there'll be more work put into VF5FS in the year before it comes to console to turn things around. If Sega with their might then push it properly who knows.
1 other thing that worked against VF was the start it got. At the beginning it never had anything like the exposure that SF or even Tekken did. SF2 arcades were all over the place and cheap compared to VF. SF2 got ported to every system out there while VF stayed on Sega systems when they started to fail miserably (Saturn & DC). Tekken rode the wave of the Playstation's success. Admittedly when I first saw 3d fighting games Tekken was the one that looked the most impressive but that changed with VF3. VF3 looked amazing for it's time and was one of the most innovative 3d FGs but ended up getting a shitty rush job port 2 years later for the DC. VF4 came out on PS2 and did better than any previous VF but was a very uncompromising game aimed at serious players and the many who were new to VF didn't understand it and gave up with the wrong impression. The intial PS2 port got butchered graphically too.
Arcadia July issue Top 10
1. Gundam vs. Gundam Xtreme Versus
2. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown
3. Blazblue Continuum Shift II
4. Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion
5. Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition
6. King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
7. Arcana Heart 3
8. Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code
9. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
10. King of Fighters XIII
Yeah nobody plays that virtua fighter for sure
How many people outside of Japan pay attention to VF? Plus those Arcadia rankings still doesn't change the fact that the game looks dated and boring to people. Plus Sega waiting until summer of 2012 to bring this game out doesn't help its cause when there's going to be newer games that it will have to compete with.
Yo everybody needs to stop complaining and give VF a chance.....Its been years since console release. I die hard for Tekken but I will support this game bc I remember back in 93 when a VF 2 cabinet was next to a Tekken cabinet in my local arcade back in the day. Im acually happy for the VF community. They have been in the dark for years staying dedicaded to this game and I respect that. We'll see what happends we have along wait tho.