Dark and gloomy - just how an arcade hall should be!
At the AOU 2010 half a year ago (a Japan-based expo for manufactures of arcade parts, arcade games publishers and developers) SEGA introduced a new Virtua Fighter 5 to the public, suitably subtitled Final Showdown.
For two weeks the location tests in Tokyo’s arcades have rolled on, submitting the latest installment of the renowned beat-em-up franchise to the rigorous scrutiny of a (mostly) Japanese audience.
From what can be anticipated already, the guys at AM2 went for some rather drastic changes in developing Showdown, going well beneath the usual formula of adding new gameplay-irrelevant stuff to their new iteration. Apparently, you will see new costumes, new stages, new items and costumes in Showdown too but there is more to be unveiled underneath.
With Showdown, AM2 did a quite remarkable balance act: while preserving the hallmark of the franchise (depth), they opened the game for a potential new audience by cranking up the level of accessibility.
Showdown could become a tidbit to both beginners and pros–that is, should it ever be released on home consoles, which, I surmise, considering SEGA’s response to a fan petition, seems rather unlikely.
Not a Pretty Baby?
The character select screen: sumo-wrestler Taka-Arashi and karateka Jean, (re-)introduced in Revolution, are most likely new to you.
Capcom surprised the game world not only with the unexpected resurrection of their Street Fighter franchise but also with a new and compelling way to invigorate Street Fighter IV with a visual style–polygonal this time around–whose outstanding attribute is but unique and eye-catching.
Showdown does not leap quite that far. There is no new look exclusively invented for Showdown. In fact, its visuals have evolved only minimally from the original console release of Virtua Fighter 5 in 2007.
Some arcade gamers at the location tests even had to double-check whether they were not in fact playing on one of the old machines, because Showdown looks very much like a copy-and-paste of its arcade-only predecessor Revolution.
Showdown‘s new lighting system, however, is an appealing surprise. Not only are the characters cast in a much more natural light, without that “plastic” look anymore, but gameplay is also pleasingly affected by it. Now a bright yellow flash, much more noticeable than before, signals a counter-hit. If you want to ready yourself for pulling off that counter-hit-specific combo, you will be grateful for every visual clue.
A clear advantage, even over Revolution, then, concerns the new animation system, a field in which the series has always excelled at, but which seems to have been completely overhauled in Showdown. A powerful sidekick really knocks your opponent off his feet now, while some throws unlock a new degree of joyful violence (see Goh Hinogami’s, for instance).
With the new animations, the developer also want to give players as many visual hints as possible as how to react to certain attacks. A full circular attack is now visually stopped by the block, as in Virtua Fighter 3. “We really want people to better understand visually,” says AM2′s Katagiri, “if their attack was blocked or if they blocked an attack successfully.”
Risky moves truly animate as being risky now. If your powerful launcher is blocked, your character will, visually clearly recognizable now, enter a vehement recovery animation phase, hinting the other player at how hard he will be able to punish you.
For new players this holds another advantage. You are no longer required to learn the special properties for each move in the game; rather, you can now react on sight.
Throw-Escaping Is for Everyone
Sarah Bryant on one of the wallpapers AM2 fed their hungry fans with
The second big overhaul was unloaded onto the control scheme. Inputs for moves and throws have been coherently streamlined, demanding less joystick acrobatics than before.
The throw system, in particular, benefits from the new controls. Every throw, whether high or low, ends on Punch plus Guard now, and the possible throw directions have been reduced as well (lest you do not know: you can only escape a throw by entering its last directional input), and it is no longer possible to buffer multiple throw escapes; in Showdown, only one throw escape at a time.
While the overhaul of the throw-escape system may seem like a watering-down at first, it really caters the new uninitiated players in their play while retaining about the same depth of guessing games for players who want to indulge themselves in competitive play.
It is also noteworthy that throws execute a tad quicker now (10 frames instead of 12) and that instant throwing and throw clashes (an attack could cancel out a throw attempt, resulting in a status quo for both players) have been abolished altogether. Under the bottom line, throws become less powerful in Showdown than this has been the case in, say, vanilla VF5.
Considering that escaping throws is one of the bread-and-butter techniques for surviving in Virtua Fighter, one that had always required time-consuming training, the streamlining of the throw-escape system seems all in all a good thing for those who eventually dare the plunge into the franchise.
As Swift as a Fox
Goh vs. Pai, or: grim Judoka against punch-happy girl
Friends of swift stepping may feel at peace with Virtua Fighter again. Movements cancel much faster now, allowing for a more seamless blending of maneuvers than ever before in VF5. Stringing together dashes, crouch-dashes, and evades feels much swifter, and I would not be surprised if, in the forthcoming weeks, fancy new stepping techniques would reach us from overseas.
The backdash deserves special mention here. It is like a enitrely new movement, with more evasive properties, as the characters even lean back a little while performing it. Once you are getting caught in your backdash, though, it will knock you down–just a further proof that Virtua Fighter not only stands for depth but also rigorous game balance, every upside coming with a downside.
The new evade, or dodge, can shine as well. This time around AM2 opted for a high-risk/high-reward guessing game. If you manage to successfully dodge, you move to your opponent’s side and, thus, as being side-turned takes longer to get into a blocking state, gain the opportunity to cause some damage. If, however, you are hit in your dodge through, say, a roundhouse kick, it will count as a counter-hit, leaving you wide open for hideously damaging combos.
It seems that with the new level of responsiveness in Showdown, the emphasis of the series could be much more on movement now than before.
Conclusion
Showdown is much more a revolution than its predecessor, VF5: Revolution, even though the latter one introduced two new characters, sumo-wrestler Taka-Arashi (from VF3) and karateka Jean. But the filigree work AM2 pulled off on even the most sacred game mechanics let Showdown shine with ease over any of its predecessor.
When asked whether he would play Showdown if it ever came to consoles, a die-hard Street Fighter player replied that it depended very much on the game’s community. “A good game is good and all,” he said, “but without a lot of support, then it is no good.”
Unfortunately, SEGA seems to lack in exactly this area, in the support of a western community, in order to market their game on a larger scale than just the niche of arcade gaming that they have reserved for the VF franchise for now.
Word has it that Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown will hit the Japanese arcades in a few weeks, on July 29.
Posted on July 9, 2010
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