Brilliant. About time this highly innovative (and still stunning looking) game came back into the spotlight. Can't wait to watch!

Kyasao better get an invite you know, being VF3 tetsujin and all.

Weird. Does VF3 secretly still have a scene? Where do they even play, it's not in any arcades anymore, and I heard the home version was bad.

Devdan, you can't be serious? This is a Japanese tournament for a Japanese game. Most arcade games ever (certainly big profile ones like this once was) still have some sort of presence in amusement halls there, all on the original hardware.

It's a tragedy and a travesty that pure VF3 arcade has barely been seen in the West past the '90s. I remember a ten-pin bowling alley about 40 mins across town had it where I grew up. How times have changed.

Here's some classic UK based VF3 action - check out that massive minty cab!



This chap was recently playing in New York on stream! No doubt a good chunk of the JP players on the list for this upcoming event probably also go back to this era, when polygon 3D gaming was seriously being pushed by SEGA/AM2.

I spent a bunch of months in Tokyo, and went to dozens of arcades and never saw a single pre-FS Virtua Fighter game. Pretty much every arcade had a ST or 3S setup, but older versions of VF were nowhere to be found. I don't doubt the possibility that older VF machines exist somewhere, but as I understand it Tokyo is pretty much the biggest place for arcades in general, so I'd think there would be ONE old VF somewhere. I think I saw an old TTT somewhere, and TRY had a Soul Calibur III, but outdated 3D fighters seem much rarer than 2D.

looks like they were playing a few days ago. preparing for the upcoming stream i guess.

http://www.ustream.tv/search?q=VF3

check the first 4 videos

Some games rotate out the old versions when a new one premiers. When VF5 came out almost every arcade in Japan removed VF4FT. You could get VF4FT boards for dirt cheap. When Tekken 6 came out there was a huge sale of T5DR machines. ST, 3S, and SFIV weren't meant to replace each other. Sega launches each new VF with the intention of replacing the previous iteration completely. Overnight almost all arcades transitioned from VF4FT to VF5.

You won't find many non VF5FS machines that play a VF game on them in Japan (unless it's a pachinko machine with a VF theme). I'm sure that all of the VF3 machines they are practicing on and will use for this tournament were specifically brought out for this event. It also means that they have to swap the panels because VF5FS cabinets likely have only three buttons and VF3 needs the fourth 'evade' button. Most of the VF5FS machines on older Blast/Astro model cabinets I've seen didn't have plugs in the fourth-sixth holes but instead had only three button panels.

There is at least one Club Sega where they have (had?) a special VF History section with one or two machines running every version of VF. So 1 for VF1, VF2, VF3, VF4, VF4EVO, and so on.

Much more appreciated to see VF3tb than VF2 in PS Store... VF3tb was the true source for today 3D gameplay VF. And untill now VF3tb has unique exclusive features like angled surfaces, 1st person view (for fun)... really want to play it especially online.
VF3tb made more reolution in genre than VF2, so i dont understand why SEGA still not re-released this game in remastered view with online features.

They may be playing it on dreamcast at their homes/game centers maybe..?

I suspect some of them will have their own kits, either running off superguns or an old versus city cab if they have a bigger place. Shame no 3D stuff left from the '90s in their arcades. It surprises me what 2D stuff is still up and running on immaculate machines from around the same era, i.e. much of the CPSII stuff, and STG classics from Cave and Raizing et al.

Plenty of combos and match-ups to see on VF3, plus the terrain factor. Cast was pretty much perfect. The introduction of Aoi arguably gave the whole game another new dimension, plus the sound and visuals were incredibly fluid and funky. Hopefully after this Cup goes down, whatever's left of SEGA will then give this the premium port treatment to XBLA, just like VF2 received a while back.

Followed on Ustream. I have never played VF3 in any form (not even DC) so this should be good!!

I'm absolutely thrilled to see this; VF3 is one of my favorite games of all time. Home version isn't too bad at all, just a bit disappointing graphically. I definitely understand the replacement of prior iterations with every new installment, but I personally see every VF as an amazing game in its own right just like with the aforementioned SF titles. Each has their own quirks and very memorable moments and all of them are fun and fresh to play interchangeably at any time. That's just my opinion, though, and the arcade operators' revenue would likely be much lower if I was in charge! Either way, I'm definitely looking forward to the stream; thanks for sharing.

Seeing new VF3 play is so awesome; I still remember watching older Beat Tribes. A YouTube member named Takeshimono3 has a lot of them up if anyone's interested! Hopefully he/she doesn't mind if I mention the channel here. Thanks for posting that link!

I am rehosting the UStream footage on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRPb7JPkuj8
Bon appetit!

THIS IS DAMN VF!!!!!!!!!!!!

nope! that's just what the stream looked like unfortunately

Thanks for the upload Oneida. Really makes me want to pull out the boards and sticks but then I'd be playing against the CPU

Oh shit, a VF game worth playing.