Next Gen Hybrid Fighting Games

1rst generation fighting games e.g. Tekken, MK, Street Fighter, Soul Calibur have deep fighting engines where the characters have dozens of moves with strong offensive and defensive options. In addition to this the best of these games have story modes and each match takes place in a single arena of some sort. All legitimate 1rst generation fighting games have a dojo or training mode where command and moves can be learned and offense and defense can be practiced and learned. The story modes provide character and fighting style backgrounds as well as a deeper immersion into the game. 1rst generation fighting games originated back in the late 80's and early 90's. They initially ran on arcade machines each game was played a token at a time

Over the last 30 years, 1rst generation fighting games have evolved in terms of graphics, sound, motion capture and meters and comeback mechanics. But the core engines and basic architecture of all of the 1rst generation is basically intact.

The new generation of fighting games replace the single arena matches with open world stages and more RPG elements. Absolver, the Judgment games, and SIFU are examples of Next Gen Hybrid Fighting Games. They combine the open world RPG style game with deep fighting engines, and characters with dozens of moves with strong offensive and defensive options, and a deep training mode. I've been playing Absolver recently. It would be a smart move for Virtua Fighter 6 (or whatever it will be called) to move in the direction next gen hybrid fighting. Whereas Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 are still basically 1rst generation fighting games. Virtua Fighter 6 has a chance to break the mold and truly bring the Virtua Fighter series into the 21rst century.

Games like Absolver(A Competitive Two Player Fighting Game) have all of the features that 1rst gen fighting games but with the short story mode and single arena replaced with full on character creation, RPG and Open Worlds. The training modes and dojos of Next Gen Hybrid Fighting Games tend to be more extensive as well for example:

 

I think VF should still be a 1 on 1 fighting game, but maybe it could have an epic single player mode that is a next gen hybrid fighting game.

 

Sega's Shenmue series is basically a one vs one open world fighter. And it is more-or-less open world with a strong RPG element. Virtua Fighter could easily be pulled into the world of Yakuza or the Judgment series with one vs one fights. That would modernize VF. Many Shenmue players were hoping that Shenmue III would bring the full VF fighting engine and character roster (that would have been kewl ) VF characters need to be brought into a open world situation, like Shemue, Yakuza, or Judgment

 

I personally would not like if VF abandons the classic 1v1 fights entirely and still keeps them. So I think this idea should be implemented as its own single player mode. It would be the perfect blend!