It’s been about five years since the North American release of Virtua Fighter 5 and in that time Sega released a new arcade version, Virtua Fighter R. Sega has now brought it to home consoles with Final Showdown, with new character costumes, a new karate fighter Jean, the return of the Sumo wrestler Taka-Arashi, and online for both consoles.
Arcade works just like every other fighter, pick your character and fight a number of other characters until you reach the last boss, beat him, and that’s about it. There’s also challenges which have you perform certain tasks, then beat the opponent. The more tasks you complete the more you unlock. Besides online and versus, those are the only two game modes. No sign of Quest Mode, which to me has always been the bread and butter of Virtua Fighter. It kept me coming back, it was addicting, and the loot was fantastic. Final Showdown was dealt a heavy blow by keeping this out of the release.
Online works fine, there’s a ranking system much like in Quest. For people who like to play fighting games competitively, the online is a blast, but for weirdos like me who like to play alone, it’s just another mode that’s sitting there. The gameplay is as good as ever, it’s easy for newcomers and complex enough for veterans. Lovers of fighting games, look no further. Final Showdown is as good as any other when it comes to gameplay and online.
My one and only issue with Final Showdown, is it’s biggest flaw, No Quest Mode. VF needs quest mode for those who don’t care to get competitive. After I was done with a few arcade playthroughs, a few challenges, and a few matches of online, I was done with Final Showdown and have yet to play it again. For fighting game buffs there’s ton to do, but for the general audience, the replayability is minimal.
I love the improvements, but the lack of Quest mode really ruined it for me. The $15 price tag isn’t too step, considering a few years ago this was a full retail release. Fighting game buffs will surely love Final Showdown, and will be all over the online. However, as I said before, the lack of Quest mode really hinders the replayability for those who aren’t into competitive fighting games.
- Jean is a great addition, and it’s good to see Taka back
- Great game for any fighting buff
- Great price tag for a once retail game
- No Quest Mode
- Minimal replayability for those who don’t play competitively
score: 3/5
