Why Virtua Fighter Is A Competition between Martial Arts Styles

Virtua Fighter was released in 1993. At that time in Japan and around the world the big question was which martial art was the most effective.

Mixed Martial Arts Contest were originally promoted as a competitions to find the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat, competitors from different fighting styles were pitted against one another in contests with relatively few rules. This is where Firtua Vighter gets the inspiration for its roster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts

In 1993 K1 Championship Series was very popular in Japan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-1

K as in Karate, Kung Fu, Kickboxing. Yu Suzuki was very aware of the popular K1 competitions in Japan.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship also started in 1993. The early UFC fights pitted martial artists of all styles against each other. The purpose of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship competitions was to identify the most effective martial art

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Fighting_Championship

Virtua Fighter is known more for its fighting styles than its characters. True VF fans know its all about the martial arts style: Sumo, Wrestling, Vale Tudo, Baji Quan, Judo, Kickboxing, etc. At the time Virtua Fighter 1 and 2 were released the martial arts scene worldwide was all about finding out which Martial Art Style was the most effective

Virtua Fighter more than any other 3D Arcade fighting game is a celebration and nod to the competition between martial arts styles

Virtua Fighter 4 was released in 1996 around this same time the Japanese Pride Fighting Championship was crazy popular in martial arts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_Fighting_Championships


The question of which Martial Art was the most effective was red hot during the time the Virtua Fighter series was being conceptualized. And it was this question that Yu Suzuki explored in video game form when he created Virtua Fighter.

Although lots of players would like VF to be a common Arcade Fantasy Brawler, it was never meant to be that. Virtua Fighter was always an Arcade Version of a Martial Arts Combat Simulator that pitted the various Martial Arts Styles against each other.

Virtua Fighter was always in tune with the hot Martial Arts Competitions , Championships and Questions of the time.

• Virtua Fighter was launched in 1993
• UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) formed in 1993
• K1 Championship series originated in 1993
• Virtua Fighter 4 launched in 1996
• Pride Championship Fighting 1997

I know this will come as a shock to some of the VF fanbase, but Virtua Fighter is the 3D Arcade Progenitor of the UFC MMA combat simulation series of video games. For all intentional purposes VF was the first 3D arcade martial arts combat simulation (not martial arts fantasy).

Virtua Fighter's best future would be to pursue more realism, and more martial arts simulation both in its presentation and animations.

Rather than bend the knee to Fantasy Arcade fighters such as Tekken and Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter should be pursuing the new skool of Martial Arts Realism in Video Games like EA's UFC, Sloclaps's SIFU and Absolver

https://www.ea.com/games/ufc/ufc-4
http://sloclap.com/en

Hoepfully the next version of Virtua Fighter will abandon the Tekken-Copy-Cat-Approach and be about hard core , realism based martial arts combat and simulation and maybe we can get a growing, fresh, thriving, new community

 

I swear you post this stuff to purposely get a rise out of me, anyway on to the post.

This question had been around for quite a long time way back in the times of the Shaolin temple and beyond. Different masters from different schools would meet and fight each other during huge public displays. This was to see who's art was better but mostly to attract new students.

Most of these fights were actually tests of endurance with neither master making a move and the fight being decided by who could last the longest.

When they did battle it was pretty scrappy at best but I digress.

I'm going to abandon the majority of your post as you've said it many times before in practically all your posts.

Yeah remind me how well they sold in relation to say Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat or even Tekken?

I'll wait.

 

@Dragonps

I don't know the numbers for all of the games involved. Lets just say for the sake of argument that Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tekken have sold millions and millons and millions of copies and the UFC and other martial arts games based on realism had only sold a few thousand copies or less

It still doesn't make sense for VF to try to be something it is not. VF was not designed as a 3D fantasy arcade fighter (i.e. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat). VF has always had the opposite presentation. Its presentation was based in realism, and quasi-realistic martial arts animations.

VF's appeal, and the primary reason why so many players (my self included) chose VF over Tekken, over Street Fighter over Mortal Kombat is because of its quasi, realism both in martial arts styles, stage presentations, character movements, and character designs. It was the lack of fireballs, whirlwinds, super moves, explosions, and pyrotechnics that attracted me to Virtua Fighter.

VF can never do 3D arcade fantasy fighting better than Tekken, or a 2D arcade fantasy fighter like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. Players looking for that kind of fantasy fighter are always going to choose Tekken, Mortal Kombat , Stret Fighter, etc over Virtua Fighter. On the other hand, VF can and does do realism better than all the other 3D arcade fighters.

VF is not Tekken, its not Street Fighter , its not Mortal Kombat. Of course RGG would like it to sell as much as or more than these fighters, but the answer is not to abandon VF's identity by copying off of Tekken. Adding fantasy elements, hit sparks, Tekken Skins, Tekken UI, Street Fighter Modern Control schemes is not going to increase Virtua Fighter sales.

@Dragonps I"m sure you can understand the basics here. I don't know whether you play shooters, but Fortnite is one of the most popular shooters of all times and is out selling virtually every other kind of shooter. Fortnite is a fantasy based battle royale shooter. All of the other major shooter game publishers saw all the money Fortnite was making, and they immediately stared trying to transform their games in to Battle Royales, Tactical Shooters like Ghost Recon, and war simulators like Call of Duty tried to copy off of Fortnite. This strategy did not work and all it did was piss off loyal fans and cheapen the Ghost Recon and Call of Duty brands

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...attle-royale-plus-splinter-cell-vr/ar-AAZR5Vh

The makers of Ghost Recon want Fortnite sells. But Ghost Recon is a tactical simulation and Fortnite is a fantasy battle royale shooter. If the makers of Ghost Recon want to get the same kind of sales, they need to make a new battle royale shooter.

If RGG/Sega wants to go after the Tekken crowd, Mortal Kombat crowd, or Street Fighter crowd, then RGG/Sega should just make a new 3D arcade fantasy fighting game. Adding fantasy elements to Virtua Fighter, is just going to cause some existing VF fans to drop the game. Its not going to convert Tekken fans, Mortal Kombat fans or Street Fighter fans. Sure Tekken, SF, MK fans will vist VF for a few matches out of curiosity , hang around for a week , here or there, and then go back to the games that do fantasy best. And after the dust has settled all that VF fans will have is a diminished version of VF with less features, poor Tekken imitations, and poorly implemented fantasy elements.

@Dragonps

Now that we have Red, Yellow, Blue and Purple Hit Sparks, Tekken skins, a Tekken UI, and have dropped single player content and have announced VF as e-sports, I guess all we have to do is wait for the VF sales to start rolling in, and for the VF community to triple in size. Any day now we should expect VF5US ranked mode and room modes to have thousands of new players , thousands of new youtube and twitch viewers.


I personally believe that the market for 3D martial arts simulations, quasi simulations, and video game martial arts combat with a focus on realism is new, growing and wide open. I believe that Virtua Fighter should finish becoming what it started out to be. As a 3D martial arts realistic combat system Virtua Fighter would gain new fans, respect, and its prestige back while fulfiling and extending Yu Suzuki's original vision

 

It's the quasi-realism, like Kung Fu Films, you are correct. True realism in Fight Night or MMA/UFC actually sucks and most Chinese martial arts got exposed for their impracticality (however they are beautiful).

It has to be both quasi-realistic and FUN FUN FUN

 

How is it trying to be something it's not? A few changes to hit spark colours is hardly going to destroy the franchise.

Quasi is a pretty loose term considering you have;

A ninja that can throw you up 20 feet into the air and jump after you, catch you in mid air then bring you down on your head.

A cybernetic brainwashed fighter

Characters that "float" in the air when they're launched upward.

What part of that is realistic in any way shape or form?

Po it's not. It's really not.

If it was then your UFC and realistic fighters would be selling more, the fact is they're not. Fantasy fighters are selling more because the majority of people like those fantasy elements. That's not to say that VF should follow, it should have it's own identity certainly.

The fact is I know you have your heart set on this and I'd love to see the data that says people want more realistic fighters but I'm not seeing that and the sales don't suggest it either.

I think if you make VF any more realistic you'll drive people away, the game borders on the fantasy element more than you think.

If you want realism well it would have to lose the float state and launchers (lets see how many players will be happy about that) lose some moves (that Kage throw would have to go) Honestly you'd end up with such a different game I doubt people would be interested.

 

https://www.gamesradar.com/sifu-tops-1-million-sales-in-just-three-weeks/
https://www.estv.co/content-creators/esfl-gaming
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/sifu-sells-over-500-000-copies-in-48-hours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtSaU6SlVFM
https://www.twitchmetrics.net/g/518711-ea-sports-ufc-4
https://www.gameinformer.com/2020/1...ents-in-partnership-with-esports-fight-league
https://www.vgchartz.com/game/73105/ea-sports-ufc/
https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/8515-ea-sports-ufc-puts-sales-charts-into-a-submission-hold
https://www.vgchartz.com/article/27...-estimated-266919-units-first-week-at-retail/


https://m.twitch.tv/directory/game/EA Sports UFC 4
https://m.twitch.tv/directory/game/Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown


I say what I mean, and I mean what I say, and I used the word Quasi several times. Get a dictionary mate

McDonalds, out sells just about everybody when it comes to burgers and fries. But when you're looking for quality, Mickey Dees is the last place you go


@Dragonps

Yes, Yes, Yes Virtua Fighter would probably sell more if you add more floating, flying, and flipping, more explosions, whirlwinds, the ability to momentarily become invisible, Add Batman, the Hulk, Super Mario, Super moves, Power Ups, Stages from GTAIV, Thongs, Baseball bats with spikes, racist cops with metal billy clubs, the Jiggles from DOA, Side Scrolling, One Button-Ten-Hit-Combos, a weapon's based battle royale mode, a dragon fight from Elden Ring, More purple, More Blue, More Yellow, More Red Flashes, Larger, and more pronounced, throw in a few in-game-ads, one or two Sega NFT's, Get some roll-back-net-code going, and I'm certain VF would sell more copies than it ever has.

And you and a couple of other folks on this site would still see and enjoy the game
as Virtua Fighter. I'm just sayin

 

UFC has seen a decline in quality and sales over the years, for instance UFC Undisputed 2010 sold around 2.49 million but Undisputed 3 over sold just over a million.

A launch sales record means nothing in terms of overall sales and again the data does not suggest that they're becoming more popular.

Tekken 7 has sold over 9 million copies

Mortal Kombat 11 has sold over 12 million

Both MK and Tekken have regular tournaments, but does UFC?

Surely if it's as popular as you claim then why aren't there any tournaments at EVO?

EA don't release the numbers for UFC anymore but when they start to get Tekken or MK numbers then you might be right.

Until then you're wrong, very wrong.

Ah but we're not talking about quality Po, we're talking about popularity and sales figures. UFC and Sifu may have better quality than MK or Tekken (I don't see it) but sales wise and popularity wise it's at the bottom of the barrel.

I know you're not willing to let this go so I'm going to let it go for you.

I hope we can actually have a sort of debate at some point.

 

So actually you have no idea how many millions of downloads UFC 4 had or how many millions of players play the UFC games online or offline

On the other hand I do know

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/11/ufc-ea-sports-extend-licensing-agreement-for-10-years

@Dragonps

Its unfortunate Tekken 7's 9 million, or MK's 12 million in sales don't have any measurable benefit or relation to Virtua Fighter sales. But maybe there is hope. Now that Virtua Fighter features Red, Blue, Purple and Yellow Hit effects, and Tekken Skins, and Tekken Music, and Tekken UI options, perhaps we'll start to get a piece of that Tekken 9 million sales pie.

And if we can throw some of MK fatalities, and babalities in there maybe we can get a little bit of MK's 12 million sales pie. And If we can simplify VF by providing SF modern controls maybe VF can ride a little bit of that up and coming SF sales

@Dragonps I stand by the arguments I've made for VF to add more realism and navigate away from the Tekken, MK, and SF block buster selling Fantasy Arcade Fighters and more towards the unpopular failing, dwindling, and dying realistic presentations of martial arts in video games such as SIFU, Absolver, UFC, Sleeping Dogs, Fight For New York, etc. If you really understood VF's progenitor and the vision of VF you would see that realism is VF's destiny (Win or Lose) that's its best self. You can't change a leopard's spots without killing it

And any true fighter would rather die on their feet than live and kow tow on their knees like a little punk byatch

I personally would rather see VF epic fail with its original vision of a quasi realistic martial arts simulator than have it succeed as a watered down, castrated, Tekken-SF-MK-wanna-be e-sport

I love and and regularly play VF4, VF4EVO, VF5, and VF5FS. I am a VF fan for life. I am also a UFC fan for life. I chose VF over the Tekken, MK, SF Arcade Fantasy fighters for its realism, beauty, elegance, and authenticity. I play VF today for those reasons.

VF5US and possible future versions of VF (if they are also castrated and defaced) won't be on my playlist

@Dragonps I honestly, truly hope you get all the fantasy, flying, twirling, bouncing, color flashing, exploding, and magical moves that you're looking for in your fantasy based arcade fighters. I reeeeeally do. Honestly If that's what makes you and the millions and millions and millions of arcade fantasy fighting fans happy., then by all means let the Hit Effects, Hit sparks and Magic Moves, flow.

And I'll just ride with the small , dwindling, invisible minority that prefer realism , authenticity, simulation and elegance in our martial arts based video games.

You and those that agree with you are clearly in the majority

And I on the other hand, have no problem being one the few

Semper Fidelis

 

@akai My good friend what did I say that I know?

I don't recall making any specific claims that I had specific knowledge about publishers sales figures. And even if I did have such knowledge, I would certainly be under NDA to not disclose. So I would not likely proffer to post that kind of specific knowledge on VFDC

If you look closely. All I did was post some links. I made no comment one way or the other about the content of the links. I left the interpretation of the information in the links up to the reader


I believe @Dragonps basic point is that fantasy based arcade fighters are more popular and enjoy more sales than martial arts games that are more simulation based, and more realistic. I'm not disputing that claim Like the old saying goes:

"We should all be eating shit because a billion flies can't be wrong"

The point of me creating this thread was to point out that realism and a certain amount of authenticity is what distinguishes Virtua Fighter series from the more fantasy based fighting games like SF and Tekken and the fact that VF was released in 1993 in an environment where Pride FC, K1 were extremely popular and influential in Japan is critical to understanding of VF's origins. Also the fact that in 1993 UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) was launched and from a video game hermenutical point of view its obvious that the question or notion of pitting various martial arts against each other to see which one is the best is a big part of what influenced the concept of Virtua Fighter.

For example the back of my Virtua Fighter 5 game case contains this text:

"TAKE ON THE WORLD'S MOST ELITE FIGHTING CHAMPIONS
RISE THROUGH THE RANKS IN THE FIFTH WORLD TOURNAMENT WITH LIGHTING QUICK COMBOS AND COMPLEX MARTIAL ARTS MOVES. FIGHT AS ONE OF 17 CHARACTERS AND MASTER THEIR SPECIALIZED FIGHTING STYLES IN THE MOST REALISTIC VIRTUA FIGHTER EVER"

In contrast the back of my Tekken 7 game case contains the text

"THE BEST FIGHTS ARE PERSONAL"

The back of of my Tekken 6 game case contains the text

"THIS IS YOUR FIGHT"


My Tekken game cases don't even mention the words "MARTIAL ARTS" They don't mention phrases like ELITE FIGHTING CHAMPIONS, and there is certainly no mention of the word REALISM. Where as the Virtua Fighter Game material does.

If you were to read the game guide that come with Virtua Fighter Evolution you would see the text:

"One year has passed since the Worldwide Martial Arts Championship. Now the date has been set for a new national tournament the "Worldwide Martial Arts Championship"

In fact if you look at names of tournaments and in game text in various places in VF4 EVO, and VF5 you will see the phrase "Martial Arts" several times.

I don't recall seeing the phrase authentic, realistic, or Martial Arts Championship anywhere in Tekken, or SF.


@Dragonps is making the case that VF should not be made more realistic, because the fantasy arcade fighters like Tekken , SF and MK demonstrably sell more copies.

My response to @Dragonps is so what! Fantasy Arcade Fighters may have sold more. So what! I stated my belief that the popularity of Martial Arts realism in video games is growing and wide open. I offered SIFU sales as an example. I offered links that demonstrate there is an legitimate audience (in the millions) for UFC games. I suggested to @Dragonps, to you and to anyone else that the next release of VF would be better served to pursue more realism and not more fantasy(i.e expansion on Red, Purple, Blue, etc Hit Effects). That is my opinion, in which I am obviously entitled to. I also suggested that it was the original vision of Yu Suzuki for Virtua Fighter to have realistic and authentic character movements, and environments. Yu Suzuki could have chose more fantasy based fighting styles (e.g he could have added bears, kangaroos, pandas, dragons, golems, flying robots, etc) BTW what Martial Arts do Roger, Alisa, Kuma use But he didn't.

He chose:

Judo
Karate
Kick Boxing
Sumo
Jeet Kun do
Drunken Fist
Monkey Kung Fu
Mantis Kung Fu,
Shaolin Kung Fu, etc

Plenty of games had fireballs, whirlwinds, super moves etc at the time VF was released in 1993. Yu Suzuki could have included all of that in VF, but he didn't. @akai if you recall the title of this post was related to Virtua Fighter and Martial Arts Styles

But @Dragonps being the Troll that he is posted this:

So @akai now you get in the thread to challenge me on what I said that I knew about sales figures ROFLMBAO when in this thread I posted:

Considering the fact that the title of the Thread was about Virtua Fighter and Martial Arts Styles and that I'm now being challenged about my knowledge of specific sales figures I'm starting to be just a wee bit captuous with respect to the literacy capabilities of the individuals challenging this post's original proposition.


I know my posts are usually TLDR for most people. But if you don't read, you can't
point fingers, or make accusations.

Its my opinion that the next version VF's best course of action is to pursue new fun innovations in authenticity, realism in the context of Martial Arts and Martial Art Championships. Those are the roots of the game. Those are the DNA of the game, and the game is best served when it makes advancements and innovation along those lines.

Its my opinion that the next version of VF will fail in spectacular fashion if it continues to copy off of Tekken with more Tekken Skins, more Tekken Music, More Tekken UI Elements, Tekken metering concepts, Tekken-like combo windows, more Tekken Hit effects, and graphics styles more Tekken like pacing, or if it adds Tekken-like-combat mechanics. It will fail if it abandons its realism and authenticity roots in favor of 3D arcade fantasy elements.

And No I'm not going to back that up what with anything other than my status as a
Virtua Fighter fan boy

I want to see the VF community grow and the next version of Virtua Fighter succeed also. But not at the expense of sucking Tekken's D#cK and Kissing SF's @SS
VF started all this SH#T everything from ranks to ring outs, and the fact that @Dragonps and others are so thirsty for game sales that they are willing to accept monkey-see-monkey-do as a marketing strategy for Virtua Fighter says everything about the true nature of their commitment to the Virtua Fighter series

 

My friend , when I posted that I do know

I was referring to the following link:

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/11/ufc-ea-sports-extend-licensing-agreement-for-10-years

In other words I was stating that I do know that EA-Sports has extended the licensing agreement to EA for UFC for 10 years. That is the fact that I know. That's why I posted the link.

@akai

This thread was not about which game sells the most. The title of this thread was meant to treat the subject matter of the original design of VF.

My fellow VFDCer @Dragonps and you are now continuing to emphasize sales figure info

So on the matter that's relevant to this post. Do you believe that Yu Suzuki made Virtua Fighter realistic by mistake or that he forgot to include fireballs, whirlwinds, super moves etc? Do you feel he would prefer VF5US to have red, blue, purple , and yellow hit effects rather than not have them. Do you personally think VF should innovate more in the direction of fantasy or realism and authenticity? That's the subject matter of this thread.

What I know, or don't know about sales figures for fantasy arcade fighters versus realism based fighters is truly not relevant

@akai with respect to realism , authenticity, simulation combat esport the ultimate question for VF is

To BE or Not to BE


Cheers!!!!!

 

I concur, but VF has to be it's own thing, there's no hope of dethroning Tekken or Street Fighter. I reckon @Dragonps got triggered by the word realism. Rather what Po is after isn't really realism but the aesthetics of it whilst preserving the gameplay; Like a decent Kung fu film.

Everyone got lost in the weeds of credibility of arguing numbers when it's just a sentiment Po and to an extent me feel that maybe the aesthetic of a kungfu film would make VF stand out (whilst retaining its gameplay).

 

Very good advice! I think I will follow your advice here on out.

For the record, realism does not necessarily equal difficult.

When I want a totally realistic combat simulation I play UFC games, and Fight Night boxing games.

I do not want Virtua Fighter to become just another UFC or Fight Night game.

However, these games do have massive tutorials and an entire career mode aimed at teaching players the game. Their user interfaces are state of the art. And Virtua Fighter could learn something from their Dojo modes, their Tutorials, their in game command list help. Virtua Fighter could learn something from how these games track user profiles and fighter statistics.

@GustavoHeisenberg is correct. I'm not going for a hyper realistic Virtua Fighter. I do want the game to have the basic authenticity of a kung fu movie. Ip Man, Once Upon A Time in China, Kill Zone, the Protector, Shaolin Temple, Enter the Dragon, etc. No one wants to see Virtua Fighter be made more difficult or to become a copy cat of UFC or a copy cat off of any other game for that matter.

I want the game to Fun & Accessible. and feature Quasi Realistic Martial Arts. It is not necessary for the game to include Tekken Skins, Tekken Music, and a Tekken UI to achieve that.

I can think of at least a dozen ways to communicate counter hit, block on counter hit, blah, blah, blah without using Red, Purple, Blue, and Yellow Hit Sparks that BTW IMO obscure some of the animations

See here is the deal. I've been a Virtua Fighter fanboy since VF4. I've also been a U
FC Fanboy since K1 and Pride on the PS2 so I've played and play both franchises many hundreds if not thousands of hours. So as a fan of both games I have developed what I believe is an informed opinion of what would improve both franchises including what would make both more accessible. Since I play both and have competency in both I can legitimately comment

Virtua Fighter would benefit from the approach to tutorials, training, fighter statistics that the UFC and Boxing games have. In fact VF4EVO was actually approaching that direction with its User Profiles and Stats and its Training and Tutorials. Virtua Fighter would benefit as a concept by bringing attention to its World Martial Arts Tournament and lore and it J6 lore. Virtua Fighter can add all kinds of on screen cues that would give new players, casuals, and even advanced players more information without resorting to Hit Sparks. This is another area where Virtua Fighter could learn from the UFC games. Those games are far more complex than VF because they really do have a complete ground game combat system, and a complete grappling combat system, a complete throw system , in addition to High, Low, and Mid Attack System. And those games have found a way to communicate whats going on both to the casual player as well as to the average spectator without using hit sparks and fireballs.

When I post about VF innovating more toward realism that is what I'm referring to. More towards realistic tutorials, realistic animations, realistic player statistics. A more realistic Dojo. I am not interested in changing the Virtua Fighter Engine (IMO its perfect). I am not interested in changing Virtua Fighter Balance (IMO they've got it as close to perfect as you can subjectively get) I think the Virtua Fighter Roster is only missing a few styles (Wing Chun being one of them). I do not want RGG to slow down the game so that it plays like UFC, or make Virtua Fighter a UFC game, or as complex as UFC a UFC game. Which BTW although more complex than VF. It is also relatively easy to pick up but hard to master.

However, I do want any questionable animations in any characters move set in VF to be revisited and possibly replaced with more authentic, more believable animations (without changing the underlying controls, mechanics, or balancing) . And this actually only involves a few animations for a few characters (I won't get specific here)

Of course! But making it simple , easy, or accessible does not require that Hit Sparks, Tekken Meters, Tekken Skins, Tekken Music, Tekken UI, or Power-Ups or Super Moves be added to the Virtua Fighter universe.

@GustavoHeisenberg is exactly right. And please folks keep this in mind. Mortal Kombat was launched in 1992. Street Fighter launched in the late 80's. Yu Suzuki was clearly aware of these two games. If he believed Fireballs, Projectiles, Super Moves, Hit Sparks, Punch Explosions would make Virtua Fighter easier or more accessible to the masses he could have added all of that to Virtua Fighter 1, 2, 3, 4, 4EVO, 4 Final Tuned, Virtua Fighter 5, 5R, VF5FS. But he did not!. He was aware of the success of Tekken 2 and Tekken 3 by the launch of VF4 EVO and he could have added Tekken Style Hit Sparks to VF4 EVO, VF5, VF5FS but he did not. If Yu Suzuki thought that the way to a better, easier, more accessible Virtua Fighter was to copy off of Tekken, he had many many opportunities to do that. But he did not

Now, here comes Seiji Aoki and for the first time in the history of the Virtua Fighter Franchise Virtua Fighter gets Red, Blue, Purple, and Yellow Hit Sparks, and we get Tekkenized DLC. and an explanation that says the Hit Sparks makes Virtua Fighter more accessible and easier to understand.

Since I have made this Argument maybe over a dozen times now. A Dozen + 1 won't hurt.

The Virtua Fighter series needs to innovate more in the direction of authenticity and realism (think Enter the Dragon, IP Man, or the Kung Fu Master TV series). It does not need to copy off Fantasy based Tekken and SF. (VF is a different game and should stay a different game). High flying animations and floating animations need to be changed to stumble, stagger, stun, and fall animations (this would only result in minor changes). Game mechanics, balancing, speed of play, need to remain the same There is a lot that the Virtua Fighter series can learn from the UFC games, the Absolver game, the SIFU game, the Sleeping Dogs game, the Fight For New York game. There is virtually nothing that Virtua Fighter needs to learn or copy from Tekken, Street Fighter, MK, Guilty Gear, King Of Fighters, or Blaze Blue. Virtua Fighter could learn a lot from Project Soul and their expansive training and dojo mode and their approaches to story mode , single player modes, and character back stories.

Of course this is my opinion. Of course my opinion is subjective. But I have been playing Virtua Fighter, the UFC games, the SC games, the Tekken games, for over two decades and I played many many hundreds if not thousands of matches in all of these games. So I at least have a somewhat informed opinion on the matter.

@Dragonps and others can disagree and I respect their opinions.

But we shall all see what the future holds for the next Virtua Fighter and what direction Aoki and RGG take with the franchise. My crystal ball says that if they continue to suck Tekken's D#ck the next version of VF will fail. If they take the route I'm suggesting the Virtua Fighter franchise will grow and eventually thrive. I believe (call it an educated hunch) that quasi-realistic martial arts in video games is going to be a thing over the next decade. I also believe (call it an educated hunch) that the popularity of fantasy based 3D arcade fighters is going to dwindle. It may have already peaked with Tekken 7

Only time will tell. In the mean time

Viva La Vida for VF4, VF4EVO, VF5, and VF5FS