Game:

Virtua Fighter 4 (2001)

Duration: 9:10

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Before Tekken 5, Virtua Fighter was easily the best fighter on Playstation 2 though perhaps also one of the most obscure fighters I've played too. When I originally bought it, a few months after the 2002 PAL release, I had to move between stores just to find it. Even the specialist stores such as GAME lacked VF4, but I finally got a used copy from EB Games after much deliberation. It was one of the first games I bought pre-owned infact.

If you haven't encountered Virtua Fighter before, it is arguaby the most realistic one on one fighters on the market. There are no demonic or cybernetic enhanced attacks (Tekken), no silly projectile moves (Art of Fighting) and none of the hyper combo bullcrap either (MVC2). Virtua Fighter is pure martial arts where timing and execution are imperative to victory. Despite this, there are still lifebars, ringout rules and the token over-powered boss at the end also (in this case, Dural).

What I really like about Virtua Fighter 4 is the inclusion of Kumite mode. This arcade style affair allows you to have your own unique handler where you can progress from the grasshopper Kyu ranks to shihan levels of the Dan grades. Though the heart of it would be in the ability to customise of your characters - a feature refined in later games and Tekken itself. I also really like the soundtrack of Virtua Fighter 4 which features some of the best Yuzo Koshiro inspired electronic music in a long while.

Because of that, VF4 to me is AM2's definitive effort into the entirety of Virtua Fighter. I don't necessarily believe the successor, Virtua Fighter 5 on PS3, made the franchise worse but it didn't add much else to the fighting genre like any other game in the series. Anyway, I implore you to BUY Virtua Fighter 4. If you're a fighting fan, you won't regret picking this game up.

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