After an agonisingly long hiatus Sega’s much-loved fighting series Virtua Fighter is back, with a remaster of the most recent game coming to PlayStation 4 next month.
Virtua Fighter: Ultimate Showdown looks to be a remaster of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, the last installment which hit arcades way back in 2010. Final Showdown was itself the last iteration of Virtua Fighter 5, folding in new characters Taka-Arashi and Jean Kujo as well as introducing a more athletic moveset for its cast. We wrote some nice things about it in our Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown review upon its console launch in 2012.
Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown saw the series bow out at its peak, although it’s been kept alive in some way via appearances in the arcades of Sega’s hugely successful Yakuza games. Is this the mark of a grand return for Virtua Fighter? The trailer – exclusively hosted on IGN – suggests perhaps not, declaring that the ultimate 3D fighter is back for the final round, with this remaster coinciding with Sega’s ongoing 60th anniversary celebrations. Still, there remains hope and it’s a delight to see the series back in any form.
