Virtua Fighter 4 Revealed

Yu Suzuki has shown off Virtua Fighter 4 in public for the first time. IGNDC was at the event:

Suzuki mentioned the added layer of complexity in Virtua Fighter 3, and his desire to make a game that returned to the series’ “simple” roots. In any case, the “Evade” button has been axed, leaving players with an easily-learned three-button setup. Suzuki also mentioned that VF4 will make use of Sega’s new Club Card standard, where game stats and various player information can be stored on a card and popped into the machine before each round.

…Fortunately, all of the classic VF characters are back in full force, and the first rolling demo showed off the cast in fancy new duds. Notable standouts include Lion’s latex-heavy purple getup, Kage’s Edo-Era Ninja Armor, and Sarah’s ever-so-sultry catsuit. Two new characters will be added into the gaming brew: one is a robe-clad monk, who fights with a graceful, high-flying style of kung fu.

As far as the graphics are concerned, VF4 is a marvel of polygonal art, and once again, redefines the concept of cutting-edge visuals. Sega’s NAOMI2 hardware puts a huge emphasis on its T&L; engine, and VF4’s luscious textures show off the system’s 128MB of allocated texture memory. The amount of geometry utilized in the characters is most impressive, showing off a level of detail unmatched by any other fighting game…Notable standouts included a rooftop stage, with a helicopter buzzing by overhead and multiple spotlights dancing over the fighting surface. VF fans also oohed and ahhed at the aquarium stage, where the fighters do battle with schools of fish darting by in the background.

VF4 screenshots have been revealed, but they’re at IGNPS2 (Grrr…). You can check them out by clicking here. For some reason, the quality of the shots, considered hi-res, make me think that VF4 can be done on a PC…now would be the time for movies to be released, but that won’t happen for a while.