Nvidia Shows Off Precious Crumbs of Virtua Fighter Footage

Who could've expected that NVIDIA's Consumer Electronics Show would be the place where we get to see new information about a fighting game?

Between all the talk of how 50 series cards will give you the power to yassify video game characters and burn down most conventional power supplies, NVIDIA had a short teased, or what SEGA calls a "pre-development concept video" for the new Virtua Fighter sequel.

As the text on the bottom proclaims, none of this is real gameplay, so take what you see with a grain of salt. However, it still exists for a reason, and we can start drawing at least some conclusions from this footage.

First of all, no meters. This has been a concern after people scrutinized the previous glimpse of the game and noticed suspicious looking bars, but no. Virtua Fighter is still focused on grounded, more or less realistic combat.

If anything, they might be aiming to amp up the realism with the new entry. While the fight looks like it was heavily mocapped and choreographed, perhaps there is an intention to make the fighting look more fluid and natural, especially in regard to how characters react to getting hit or blocking attacks.

Destructible environment also makes an appearance, and you might recall that the original trailer started with Akira blowing up a wall by launching his opponent into it. In this video it's just breaking some boxes, but perhaps it could play a larger role in some stages.

Finally, the last potential piece of information could be a stretch, but still. When the video starts, we see Akira walking through this environment before encountering another Akira. Any good zoologist already knew this would result in a fight, but was this intro merely meant to show off the environments? It feels like there's more to this, perhaps a glimpse into a World-Tour-like mode for the game, where you could similarly initiate a fight from the open world. After all, RGG studio did that well before World Tour was even a thing, so why not reprise that for Virtua Fighter?

No doubt there are some other details that people will pick up over the days, and it feels great that we have so much to look forward to. Hopefully SEGA doesn't go silent for too long, and we continue to get these short peeks into the future of Virtua Fighter.