Sega teased something new was happening with the Virtua Fighter franchise last year, and recent leaks spoiled the surprise, but today the company officially unveiled Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown. While this may sound like just another repackaging of the fan-favorite 2006 fighter, it’s actually a full-on remake, with IGN reporting that it’s being made by an “all-star team” of developers from the original Virtua Fighter arcade team and the Yakuza creators at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. So yes, that means the game is being rebuilt using the Yakuza/Judgment Dragon Engine. You can check out the first trailer for Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, below.
Yup, definitely a Yakuza-like flavor to the new visuals (not that that’s a bad thing). Once again, according to IGN, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is keeping the same basic roster and gameplay as the original game, but will boast updated visuals, a redone soundtrack, revised UI, and a few other goodies, like a new opening cinematic. Modern online features are also being added, including public lobbies and the ability to spectate matches. No word on if Sega will be using rollback netcode for online play, although considering the game is being made with esports in mind, I would hope so.
Interested in trying out Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, but not sure if you want to shell out full price? Well, if you’re a PS Plus subscriber you may be in luck – rumor has it, VF5 Ultimate Showdown will be one of this month’s free games. That’s yet to be confirmed by Sony, but it seems pretty likely considering the timing of this announcement.
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown hits the ring on PS4, and PS5 via backward compatibility, on June 1. What do you think? Excited to start chaining some combos again or has the fighting game world passed Virtua Fighter by?
