Why I Never Warmed Up To The Virtua Fighter Franchise

It's no secret that Virtua Fighter came before Tekken -- so saying that Sarah is the clone of Nina is right dead wrong! Virtua Fighter started the 3D fighting game genre but what came first or what's new doesn't always mean it's the best. Back then, there were two games that actually competed for arcade liner ups namely Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Both Tekken and Virtua Fighter had no character endings for the arcade games -- all the while Tekken had character endings for most of its run!

I keep hearing praise of how "deep" Virtua Fighter is and how accessible to deep Tekken becomes. I remembered reading in a Playstation Magazine article where Edward Boon of Netherrealm Studios expressed he prefers Tekken over Virtua Fighter. Virtua Fighter like Tekken had its mechanics on pre-programmed combos. However, the controls were somewhat more basic with just the Punch, Kick and Guard buttons while Tekken took a one button per limb control for intuitive learning process!

I tried playing the first Virtua Fighter game and first Tekken game at the arcade. Both of them had the problem of stiff controls but one was truly superior. For one, Tekken had better graphics and better gameplay. Eventually, Tekken 2 added more content than its predecessor by giving everyone character endings plus we had a new boss in Devil. Virtua Fighter just keeps getting stuck with Dural and more Dural for years to come. Plus, why doesn't Virtua Fighter even bother to invest in giving character flesh-outs such as WHY IS VIRTUA FIGHTER KIDS THE ONLY VIRTUA FIGHTER GAME WITH CHARACTER ENDINGS?

If there's anything that should go with innovation -- it's all about adding some good content. One could think of how its rival Tekken presents so much value for most of its run. Tekken kept giving newer bosses and didn't get stuck with Heihachi all the time. I couldn't help but think how Devil Kazuya is probably one of the best additions ever. You can think of True Ogre, Unknown (who almost serves as the Dural of Tekken except she's not canon), yet another return of Heihachi as a more balanced boss, Jinpachi Mishima (who was unplayable due to his SNK Boss syndrome), Azazel and maybe Tekken 7's hidden boss fights such as Devil Kazuya, Devil Kazumi and Shin Akuma. You know there's diversity.

It's no secret that I may not like Tekken 7 so much compared to Tekken 6 or Tekken Tag Tournament 2. However, I even think Tekken 7 could have just allocated the budget which they made for gallery mode for richer stuff such as Survival Mode, making Arcade Mode longer with up to ten characters (and get endings unlocked through the endings) or even a Faction War Mode similar to Mortal Kombat X. However, Tekken 7 still looks perfect over Virtua Fighter 5 for the PS3. I mean, sure I do have to play the stupid character episodes or that well paid DLC may not get character episodes -- however, there's still more rich content even if Katsuhiro Harada just feels like he's getting intoxicated with his past successes.

As said, with that in mind, I just can't find myself as a fan of Virtua Fighter as a result!