Virtua Fighter 6 needs these five things to be a natural fit for esports

Virtua Fighter 6 is finally in development, something that fans of the series have been hoping to see for years. Considering that the series began in 1993 as one of the very first 3D fighting games, it’s been lost to time in recent years.

Developed by AM2 and Yu Suzuki, known as the creator of other SEGA games such as Outrun, Space Harrier, Shenmue, and lots more, Virtua Fighter made a massive impression in arcades in the early 90s, and with its home release on the Sega Saturn in 1994. Its graphics were ahead of anything at the time, and its music and gameplay were unparalleled before games like Tekken and several Street Fighter games put the series on the back burner.

The latest game, Virtua Fighter 5, was released in July 2006 to an average critical reception. It was seen as a game that didn’t move with the times, and although several updates were released over the years with balance improvements and support for newer platforms, it’s still not been a staple in the esports scene. This can be put down to several factors: net code when in online matches has been unreliable, and the game’s presentation lacks the flair that Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 have, earning it a reputation as a somewhat boring game.

It’s why Virtua Fighter 6, announced by SEGA in December 2024 as the ‘Virtua Fighter Project’, has the potential to reverse the series’ floundering reputation and make it an essential title for esports. With this in mind, here are five ways Virtua Fighter 6 can thrive in esports.

In the past, some fighting games like Street Fighter V launched with a small handful of fighters, limiting the variety and the fun of the game. With Virtua Fighter’s long history of countless fighters, there’s plenty of opportunity to bring its roster to a modern audience. Characters like Akira, Kage, and Dural can be a prime showcase of how Virtua Fighter 6 can appeal to esports.

Another factor is to introduce new and hidden characters via a time-based feature. When Tekken 2 hit arcades in 1995, secret characters would be unlocked after a certain amount of time had elapsed, keeping the game fresh in arcades, as well as the excitement as to who was appearing next. Virtua Fighter 6 would do well to take inspiration from this, as it’d be refreshing to bring this back, instead of seeing Virtua Fighter 6 characters be pre-announced via trailers and at events, similar to how Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 have been doing it recently.

Although Virtua Fighter 5 has a tutorial mode where players can practice with their favorite characters, it’s more important than ever to have a mode that offers an incredible amount of detail when training with a fighter, such as hitbox overlays, combo recording, frame data info, and more.

In any sport, training is crucial to keep up with opponents in upcoming matches. The same applies to esports. In practice modes, these are great for players to analyze which moves work best, as well as counterattacks, combos, and hitboxes. Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 have fantastic training modes that offer all kinds of settings that can help esports players look into how characters work best against others. Virtua Fighter 6 should include a similar practice mode that offers all sorts of options for novice and professional players.

After the mess of Tekken 8 Season 2, it’s more crucial than ever for developers to be completely transparent in their plans for games going forward. Bandai Namco, the proprietors of the Tekken series, hasn’t had a great year with Tekken 8, with a strange return for one of the game’s antagonists, Heihachi, as well as the release of Season 2 breaking several characters, transforming them into underpowered fighters.

For Virtua Fighter 6, SEGA should lay everything out via a dedicated site and several social channels, in order to clearly explain its plans for the game over the next 12 months. This can include several patches and passes that may include several Virtua Fighter 6 new characters and stages. But if there are any planned changes to characters by way of attack damage and more, the community should be informed first before SEGA details these changes.

This way, the developers and experienced players understand why and how the changes are being made to improve the experience, and should carry on through until support for Virtua Fighter 6 winds up. 

Virtua Fighter is a series that’s 32 years old, with the first two games being released for the SEGA Saturn in the mid-90s. In 2025, nostalgia is a powerful business, such as classic skins being available in Mortal Kombat 1, which can awaken some childhood memories for many players via content packs and remastered games.

For Virtua Fighter 6, SEGA should leverage this with features to harken back to the series’ early days. For example, the early 3D graphics of the first two games are iconic, so to have that as an option in VF6 would be a great touch. In addition, giving players the option to play tracks from previous games within stages, much like how Tekken 8 does this, could attract older fans of the series to try out Virtua Fighter 6.

Seeing these features at esports events would be a great boon for the series, as it would not only showcase how far the series has come, but how Virtua Fighter 6 honors its past.

Back in 2023, SEGA began to notice that there was a growing fanbase for Virtua Fighter 3TB, the series’ third entry released in arcades back in 1997, and for the SEGA Dreamcast as a launch title the following year.

This spurred the company to re-release the game in arcades with an online component, which is still very active and very successful to this day.

EVO Japan even hosted a VF 3TB tournament in 2024, showcasing how popular Virtua Fighter 3TB still is in esports. For Virtua Fighter 6, SEGA would be wise to look into this further to find out why the third game is seeing a huge resurgence in Japan.

Perhaps look into how the online mode is still prevalent in esports in Japan, as well as the gameplay, matchmaking, and what fans love about it, then apply it all to Virtua Fighter 6. As a bonus, it could be a good touch to include this version of Virtua Fighter 3TB in the home versions of Virtua Fighter 6. This way, players can easily access this entry, and on multiple consoles. And it would be even better if the version includes crossplay.

Virtua Fighter is arguably the grandfather of 3D fighting games. It’s Yu Suzuki’s brainchild before he took on Shenmue in the late 90s, but many players still look back on Virtua Fighter as a beloved fighting game that, in some ways, was ahead of its time.

From the three-button layout to the basic combo system, these attributes and many more set it apart from the others in the fighting game genre.

It’s why this, and the five points above, can help carve Virtua Fighter 6 into a unique niche for several esports tournaments, and in turn, give SEGA a huge standing in the industry.

The fighting game genre has had a bunch of titles that have changed with the times, but for Virtua Fighter, perhaps it’s time to look back on what worked with its previous games and see how its sixth entry can make its mark in esports for the next several years.