For many Virtua Fighter fans, the surprise announcement of a (sort of) new Virtua Fighter game was like mana from heaven. The last time western fans saw any signs of life from the series was 2012. We got a chance to play the game over this past week, and had mostly good things to say. Hopefully SEGA can improve the online performance in the future.
For Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada, he believes SEGA could do so much more. Harada created a special YouTube channel where he discusses his thoughts on Tekken and everything in between. He describes his channel as a sort of “variety show.” In his latest episode, Harada discusses his relationship with the Virtua Fighter series.
According to Harada, Virtua Fighter was the gold standard of fighting games when he started. He made it his goal in life to surpass Yu Suzuki’s creation with the Tekken series:
“Virtua Fighter was like that at the time…When I told them it’d take at least 10 years, they said, ‘Then keep making it until then.’ I made up my mind. I was helping other titles too, but I could make Tekken for 10 years. I thought, ‘I’ll do my best to beat them!’ [Beating Virtua Fighter] was a target for me.”
Katsuhiro Harada
With the release of Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, Harada hopes to see a full sequel from SEGA. He thought about this rivalry for a long time, ever since he took over the director’s chair for Tekken 3. According to Harada, he did not feel like Tekken had any true competition in the 3D fighting game realm.
“There was an 11-year gap [between releases], but I’ve been thinking about [Virtua Fighter] for over 25 years…“I’ve been making fighting games for about 27 years. So, the whole time, you know? I’ve been thinking about it for a long time…In a few years, I hope I’ll be saying, ‘Man, they made that?! I won’t let them win. I will surpass them next time. Let’s have a showdown. I don’t want to end my career as a developer without it. There’s not much time left for me as a developer. So, SEGA, please do me a favor: Let’s play one last game.”
Katsuhiro Harada
We’re right there with you, Mr. Harada. There would be nothing cooler than seeing a brand new Virtua Fighter game. Hopefully, there’s already some talks happening behind closed doors. I’m sure it will depend on the success of Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown. If enough people show interest in the latest release, perhaps there’s a chance to reignite that rivalry one last time.
