Virtua Fighter’s impact on video games is in many ways underestimated, if not completely ignored. Most gamers remember it as one of Sega’s big franchises, and then on a lesser degree, a big game that would eventually be available on PlayStation and Xbox. But its arrival raised the bar on realism in video games, as well as the normalization of 3D CG graphics from high end computers to the mainstream.
Virtua Fighter’s comeback with Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. was just as welcome as it was unexpected. While fighting games continues to find their path as an esports-centered genre, older gamers have been calling for a Virtua Fighter revival for far longer. Perhaps this is partly from Sega’s struggles to become financially successful enough to dip back into their old games, but now that we knew that the franchise had been truly back, there was another question that fans had been seeking an answer for. Finally, Sega said yes.
As reported by Gematsu, Sega announced in EVO Japan that Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.will be coming to the Switch 2, alongside the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. They shared this statement from the franchise’s director, Seiji Aoki:
I know we’ve kept you waiting, our Steam release Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. is finally coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2! Since Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.‘s launch, we’ve heard your requests for multiplatform support via the official Virtua Fighter Discord and other channels. We on the development team want to give users on all platforms the opportunity to enjoy Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O., so we are happy to bring you this announcement.
Also, in bringing this title to multiple platforms, we’re planning to include cross-play support. And to make your cross-play experience even smoother, the rollback functionality used in the Steam version will be supported on all platforms. We’re going to include even more content to make this much more than a simple port, which we’ll tell you about in future updates.
This is certainly great news for Virtua Fighter fans, but it’s particularly sweet for Nintendo fans. This is the first proper Virtua Fighter game to come to a Nintendo platform since the franchise launched in 1993, 32 years ago. One could argue that technically, the Sega Genesis version of Virtua Fighter 2 came to the Nintendo Switch as part of the Sega Genesis Collection first, but that’s clearly not what we mean.
Sega may have unintentionally limited the potential player base for Virtua Fighter by snubbing Nintendo platforms even years after they started publishing games on Nintendo’s platforms. This move is an informal endorsement of the Switch as a real proper platform for fighting games, coming weeks after Street Fighter 6 was announced for the Switch 2.
Every fighting game developer saw the success, not only of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the many fighting game anthologies, but of Dragon Ball FighterZ on the Switch. It became clear then that there’s a real untapped market for fighting games among Nintendo fans, and now developers are hoping to see them increase the chances of their games being successful moving forward.
