Katsuhiro Harada, Bandai Namco’s Tekken series producer, was displeased by Sega’s announcement at The Video Game Awards a few nights ago. Sega finally revealed what they will be working on for the next while as a reboot for dormant franchises they have. Among them, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Jet Set/Grind Radio, Shinobi, and Crazy Taxi, seem to be getting new games in the form of reboots. Before the event, content creators had been sent envelopes from Sega hinting at an New Era. However, many people speculated that a new Virtua Fighter (VF) game, namely VF6 would be forthcoming. Harada was one of them.
Ok where is VF6 !? https://t.co/mvb57Haz6P
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) December 8, 2023
Yeah, Where IS VF6?
After the reveal, Harada took to Twitter to ask Sega his burning question. Harada and Virtua Fighter have a history. If Virtua Fighter had not arrived on the scene, there’d be no Tekken. Thanks to said history, Harada has even shown interest in creating a Virtua Fighter game. This more times than to have a situation where Virtua Fighter and Tekken characters would coexist in an actual fighting game.
Tecmo’s Dead Or Alive 5 had done this with VF roster members Pai Chan, Akira Yuki, Jacky Bryant, and Sarah Bryant, being brought in as playable characters. They also received some DOA rules, such as free movement and a super-style attack known as Power Blows. Seeing how Kagemaru would have fared against the Mugen Tenshin ninjas would have been cool, yet he wasn’t included. The ninja of VF was not invited to a game that has protagonists who are actual ninjas. Make that make sens, please?
Harada has been vocal about his admiration of the Virtua Fighter series and showed enthusiasm when PlayStation Exclusive Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown was released 2 years ago.
“Come, Virtua! I’ve waited 11 years!” — Harada during an episode of his youtube series Harada’s Bar.
Harada has stated that he has been thinking about the series for 25 years. Sometimes, the best rivalries are the longest, especially when your companies are rivals.
When will we get a New Virtua Fighter?
Virtua Fighter has garnered some attention after its’ revival through its’ “remastering” of Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown in 2021. It even led to its’ own Esports league in Japan. However, it might be only a matter of timing and the “show and prove” that Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown needed to procure inorder to secure a reboot. In a previous interview through Harada’s Bar, VF5US Producer Seiji Aoki discussed this point when asked by Harada himself.
“Sega has talked about rebooting old titles, but rebooting is difficult,” said Aoki. “It’s less likely to work. Not only for Sega. However, because of that, what we’re doing this time is taking a potential reboot and just going one step at a time. I can vaguely see the answer to rebooting something now.” — Aoki.
Virtua Fighter has been coveted as a highly technical fighting game series with a tremendously difficult learning curve. Protagonist “Karate Man” Akira is the opposite of many title characters before him. Akira has one of the most difficult strings and moves to utilize in any title. Perhaps in a world where automatic high-damage combo strings, through single button presses, and huge yet thorough guides exist, there’d be a place for Virtua Fighter 6. If Sega ever decides to get there, of course.
