History YMMV / VirtuaFighter

** ''[=VF2=]''[='s=] OST and the arrange tracks from its UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn port.

* OnceOriginalNowOverdone:
** It can't be underestimated just how much of a graphical showcase the ''Virtua Fighter'' series was for the first three entries. 3D gaming hadn't taken off yet in 1993, and yet even in their blocky designs, the cast of the first title had fully rendered fingers and smooth movements. By the time the third game launched in '96, it was the pinnacle of real-time gaming graphics in the arcades, in a year where ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}'' and ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'' made their home debuts. By the time ''4'' finally came around [[SequelGap after a five-year release gap]], [[TechnologyMarchesOn the competitors had finally caught up]] and games like [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco's]] [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} own]] [[VideoGame/SoulSeries fighting franchises]] had closed the gap significantly. By today's standards, it all seems rote in comparison to what the following home console generations would proceed to put out.

** The [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 PS3]] and UsefulNotes/Xbox360 ports of ''Virtua Fighter 2'', which thankfully port the arcade version instead of the inferior UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis version.

** While the [[UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn Saturn]] version of the original ''Virtua Fighter'' is perfectly playable, it's a graphical mess, due in no small part to Sega rushing the game for the system's stealth launch. Fortunately, the situation was rectified six months later when Sega released a free update to the game titled ''Virtua Fighter Remix'' via mail order.
** While the game isn't unplayable and it is quite decent, the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis]] port of ''Virtua Fighter 2''. The game was 2D obviously, but you can tell by gameplay footage that the magic is lost. Clunky animations and very basic feel makes this game compare very poorly to the 3D arcade version. Made worse by the fact that inevitably when porting ''Virtua Fighter 2'', this is the port Sega uses, ranging from online game services like [=GameTap=] to iOS, both of which are easily capable of handling 32-bit graphics and gameplay.

### The online netcode is considered by even the most casual fighting game fans to be the best netcode for fighting games at the time of its release, with practically no lag except in the most extreme conditions. [[labelnote:note]]Keyword: '''at the time'''. When ''Ultimate Showdown'' was released almost a decade and a half later, it would retain the exact same delay-based netcode infrastructure that was used ever since the original ''[=VF5=]'' (plus some aid by way of Google relays), to less than stellar results.[[/labelnote]]

### The online netcode is considered by even the most casual fighting game fans to be the best netcode for fighting games at the time of its release, with practically no lag except in the most extreme conditions. [[labelnote:note]]Keyword: '''at the time'''. When ''Ultimate Showdown'' was released almost a decade and a half later, it would retain the exact same delay-based netcode infrastructure that was used ever since the original '''[=VF5=]''' (plus some aid by way of Google relays), to less than stellar results.[[/labelnote]]

### The online netcode is considered by even the most casual fighting game fans to be the best netcode for fighting games at the time of its release, with practically no lag except in the most extreme conditions. [[labelnote:note]]Keyword: '''at the time'''. When ''Ultimate Showdown'' was released almost a decade and a half later, it would retain the exact same delay-based netcode infrastructure that was used ever since the original '''''[=VF5=]''''' (plus some aid by way of Google relays), to less than stellar results.[[/labelnote]]

### The online netcode is considered by even the most casual fighting game fans to be the best netcode for fighting games at the time of its release, with practically no lag except in the most extreme conditions. [[labelnote:note]]Keyword: '''at the time'''. When ''Ultimate Showdown'' was released almost a decade and a half later, it would retain the exact same netcode used ever since the original release of '''[=VF5=]'' (plus some aid by way of Google relays), to less than stellar results.[[/labelnote]]

### The online netcode is considered by even the most casual fighting game fans to be the best netcode for fighting games at the time of its release, with practically no lag except in the most extreme conditions. [[labelnote:note]]Keyword: '''at the time'''. When ''Ultimate Showdown'' was released more than a decade later, it would retain the exact same netcode from ''Final Showdown'' (plus some aid by way of Google relays), to less than stellar results.[[/labelnote]]

### The online netcode is considered by even the most casual fighting game fans to be the best netcode for fighting games at the time of its release, with practically no lag except in the most extreme conditions. [[labelnote:note]]Keyword: '''at the time'''. When ''Ultimate Showdown'' was released more than a decade later, it would retain the exact same netcode from ''Final Showdown'' (plus some aid via Google Relays), to less than stellar results.[[/labelnote]]

** [[https://twitter.com/gyarugarou/status/1399488956308201474 "Racist netcode."]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]It was discovered that ''Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown''[='s=] netcode utilized serverside delay-based netcode via Google relays, with several countries getting an outright broken online experience, leading to this comment.[[/labelnote]]

### The online netcode is considered by even the most casual fighting game fans to be the best netcode for fighting games out there, with practically no lag except in the most extreme conditions.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Like with most of the ''Virtua'' titles, each game was a visual poster child of its release period to the point that no console versions of the games ever quite matched up with the arcade (at least until the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' games emulated the arcade releases). One of the best examples is ''3'', where the character models were almost an entire gaming generation ahead and various effects and rendering techniques were flat out the best in the industry. In ''1996''.

** The games are commonly used as [[ShowWithinAShow games-within-the-game]] in the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' series. That said, ''Virtua Fighter 5'' was given to the ''Yakuza'' devs and remade in their proprietary Dragon Engine in the transition to ''Ultimate Showdown'' and an entire [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack was dedicated to giving the cast costumes inspired by the series.
** Speaking of ''Yakuza'', series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu was highly requested as a DLC character for ''VideoGame/Tekken7'' due to it and ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'' being released around the same time in the west. With the ''Yakuza'' and ''Tekken 7'' DLC outfits in ''Ultimate Showdown'', those dreams are somewhat realized.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** It can't be underestimated just how much of a graphical showcase the ''Virtua Fighter'' series was for the first three entries. 3D gaming hadn't taken off yet in 1993, and yet even in their blocky designs, the cast of the first title had fully rendered fingers and smooth movements. By the time the third game launched in '96, it was the pinnacle of real-time gaming graphics in the arcades, in a year where ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}'' and ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'' made their home debuts. By the time ''4'' finally came around [[SequelGap after a five-year release gap]], [[TechnologyMarchesOn the competitors had finally caught up]] and games like [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco's]] [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} own]] [[VideoGame/SoulSeries fighting franchises]] had closed the gap significantly. By today's standards, it all seems rote in comparison to what the following home console generations would proceed to put out.
** This also applies to the gameplay. At the time, most fighters were still competing with ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' and ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', so ''Virtua Fighter'' was the first proper 3D fighter and, as many fans tend to hold it, still one of the most pure and refined examples of [[FightingGame the genre]]. However, it was also incredibly ''bare''; early home releases at best added tournament modes, whereas other series were adding thorough training modes and often basic stories. Each successive game added a couple characters and tweaked or added a couple mechanics, all while numerous other franchises within the genre rapidly expanded and underwent alterations within the increasing gap between releases. Nowadays, ''VF'' still packs an ExcusePlot as an arcade-focused experience with a cast that is still fairly compact, while the competitors surrounding it focused far more heavily on home experiences and evolved drastically with a large cast; for hardcore fans, this kept that raw purity, but for casual fans this made ''Virtua Fighter'' stand out far less.

** The description "[[AmazonianBeauty well-muscled]] and [[BoobsOfSteel correspondingly endowed]] dark-skinned blond" fits not only Vanessa, but villainous CanonForeigner Nyon from Season 2, to the point it's speculated Vanessa was inspired by Nyon's design.

* SelfFanservice: A strange example in that this is used to revert a canonical design change between games. In ''[=VF4=]'' and ''VideoGame/VirtuaQuest'', Vanessa was shown to be dark-skinned and [[AmazonianBeauty rather buff]], accentuated by her wearing only a sports bra and shorts as combat attire. Her first outfit was swapped out for a differently colored version of her far less revealing special forces uniform in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Evolution]]'', though it returned in the Japanese arcade-only ''Final Tuned'', but the real point of contention came in ''5'', where Vanessa suddenly lost most of her muscularity and [[ButNotTooBlack had a progressively lighter skin tone]]. While some fans originally complained that Vanessa [[HollywoodHomely looked mannish]] in ''4'' because of her physique, many more disliked the unexplained changes for ''5'' and continued to portray Vanessa in fan art as she appeared in the previous game. Sega [=AM2=] must've caught wind of this, as ''[[UpdatedRerelease Final Showdown]]'' has [[CharacterCustomization customization items]] [[AuthorsSavingThrow that bring Vanessa's skin color and build more closely in line with how they were originally]].

* FoeRomanceSubtext: Between Aoi and Brad. Aoi lost to Brad in the fourth tournament because his flirting threw off her game; feeling conflicted, Aoi finds that she can hardly think of anything else ''but'' Brad as she trains in the hopes of settling the score in their next match. The developers even seem fond of poking fun at the development, judging by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnwuyHMhigs#t=39s their brief scene together in one of the fifth game's arcade intros.]]

* TierInducedScrappy: Jacky in ''Final Showdown''. While it is a very balanced game, and Jacky isn't even considered the best character, he is still high up thanks to a lot of very good moves. This combined with him being one of the easiest characters to learn and [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome one of the most used]] makes him unpopular with some competitive players.

** The description "[[AmazonianBeauty well-muscled]] and [[BoobsOfSteel correspondingly endowed]] DarkSkinnedBlond" fits not only Vanessa, but villainous CanonForeigner Nyon from Season 2, to the point it's speculated Vanessa was inspired by Nyon's design.

** It can't be underestimated just how much of a graphical showcase the ''Virtua Fighter'' series was for the first three entries. 3D gaming hadn't taken off yet in 1993, and yet even in their blocky designs, the cast of the first title had fully rendered fingers and smooth movements. By the time the third game launched in '96, it was the pinnacle of real-time gaming graphics in the arcades, in a year where ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}'' and ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' made their home debuts. By the time ''4'' finally came around [[SequelGap after a five-year release gap]], [[TechnologyMarchesOn the competitors had finally caught up]] and games like [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco's]] [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} own]] [[VideoGame/SoulSeries fighting franchises]] had closed the gap significantly. By today's standards, it all seems rote in comparison to what the following home console generations would proceed to put out.

** Pai has slight undertones of this, particularly in her [[CryCute more emotional moments]].

* UncannyValley: Most of the character models and faces in ''3'' look rather off by today's standards. Dural in general also invokes this.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Like with most of the ''Virtua'' titles, each game was a visual poster child of its release period to the point that no console versions of the games ever quite matched up with the arcade (at least until the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' games emulated the arcade releases). One of the best examples is ''3'', where the character models were almost an entire gaming generation ahead (albeit in the UncannyValley) and various effects and rendering techniques were flat out the best in the industry. In ''1996''.

* BrokenBase: Ultimate Showdown has been divisive to say the least. On one hand, longtime fans are happy to have Sega finally acknowledge the franchise after so many years of dormancy with a fresh coat of paint and added online features, with it being free with [=PlayStation=] Plus on launch potentially helping to build a new audience. On the other hand, people were dismayed by the remaster not doing enough to improve the presentation for casual fans (the sound effects in particular being a sticking point) and the netcode solution being way below par, especially in the midst of a pandemic keeping people out of local events.

* GameBreaker: [[AIBreaker Against the A.I.]], Jeffery's AssShove in ''Virtua Fighter 2'' is the strongest move in the game. It's easily punishable during both startup and recovery, but the A.I. gets hit far more often than they should, and two consecutive ones from round start pushes them out of the arena for an instant win. Even if you don't push them out, it still deals a lot of damage and can K.O. them surprisingly quickly.

** Brad bears many similarities to [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], to the red clothes, black hair and goatee, arrogance and playboy attitude. Granted, Tony's been around since the '60s, but Brad was around before [[Film/IronMan the films]] made the character massively popular outside of comic book aficionados.
** The games are commonly used as [[ShowWithinAShow games-within-the-game]] in the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' series. That said, ''Virtua Fighter 5'' was given to the ''Yakuza'' devs and remade in their proprietary Dragon Engine in the transition to ''Ultimate Showdown'' and an entire DLC pack was dedicated to giving the cast costumes inspired by the series.

** The [=PS3=] and Xbox 360 ports of ''Virtua Fighter 2'', which thankfully port the arcade version instead of the inferior UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis version.

** While the Saturn version of the original ''Virtua Fighter'' is perfectly playable, it's a graphical mess, due in no small part to Sega rushing the game for the system's stealth launch. Fortunately, the situation was rectified six months later when Sega released a free update to the game titled ''Virtua Fighter Remix'' via mail order.
** While the game isn't unplayable and it is quite decent, the Genesis port of ''Virtua Fighter 2''. The game was 2D obviously, but you can tell by gameplay footage that the magic is lost. Clunky animations and very basic feel makes this game compare very poorly to the 3D arcade version. Made worse by the fact that inevitably when porting ''Virtua Fighter 2'', this is the port Sega uses, ranging from online game services like [=GameTap=] to iOS, both of which are easily capable of handling 32-bit graphics and gameplay.

** Kage-Maru's frontkick in ''Virtua Fighter 4'' and ''Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution'' is an absolute nightmare to play against. He can launch it when his combo appears to be over and easily intercept your counter attacks or throw attempts (it has a small time delay just to trick you into an attack). Whenever he hits, the player is completely defenseless against another devastating combo.

* ToyShip: Lion/Elieen for some. Granted, both of them are teenagers, but they're still the youngest in the cast.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Like with most of the ''Virtua'' titles, each game was a visual poster child of its release period to the point that no console versions of the games ever quite matched up with the arcade (at least until the ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza}}'' games emulated the arcade releases). One of the best examples is ''3'', where the character models were almost an entire gaming generation ahead (albeit in the UncannyValley) and various effects and rendering techniques were flat out the best in the industry. In ''1996''.

** When Akira tells Pai that she's going to use her body to get money for Jacky's bail, she's naturally horrified, but it ends up being a BaitAndSwitch as the next shot shows them working in construction. The same gag would appear again in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' in one of Akiyama's substories where he makes a similar demand for a woman looking for a loan, only for her to be shown in a hard hat later on. [[spoiler: Not so hilarious when he also put Mirei Park through the same thing and it's PlayedForDrama.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: [[spoiler: When Liu Kowloon sacrifices himself to save Lau in the climax of Season 1, it's treated as an AlasPoorVillain moment. But Liu has done nothing all season to warrant such sympathy, beyond internally revealing a [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse flimsy, at best, backstory about how he and Lau met.]] Which just further paints him as an UngratefulBastard for trying to kill Lau and take over his empire after Lau took him in when he had nothing. And right as he dies, he claims to have "missed" his master with tears in his eyes. The climax tried to paint him as a troubled and tragic character, when in actuality, he was nothing but a selfish, power-hungry sociopath only out for his own ends, and murdered and ruined countless lives in order to achieve them.]]

** Taka-Arashi's size was a literal example as his implementation in ''3'' was buggy and Sega [=AM2=] was forced to leave him out of the following games until ''5: Ultimate Showdown''.

** This also applies to the gameplay. At the time, most fighters were still competing with ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' and ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', so ''Virtua Fighter'' was the first proper 3D fighter and, as many fans tend to hold it, still one of the most pure and refined examples of [[FightingGame the genre]]. However, it was also incredibly ''bare''; early home releases at best added tournament modes, whereas other series were adding thorough training modes and often basic stories. Each successive game added a couple characters and tweaked or added a couple mechanics, all while numerous other franchises within the genre rapidly expanded and underwent alterations within the increasing gap between releases. Nowadays, ''VF'' still packs an ExcusePlot as an arcade-focused experience with a cast that is still fairly compact, while the competitors surrounding it focused far more heavily on home experiences and evolved drastically with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters; for hardcore fans, this kept that raw purity, but for casual fans this made ''Virtua Fighter'' stand out far less.