The Importance of Offline Virtua Fighter Events

Before I begin this blog, I just want to say that I usually plan out my topics for Virtua Fighter Month sometime around September-October in which it gives me time to find out what to discuss. This is one of them since this was planned before Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown was announced at EVO Japan 2023 as one of the main lineups. 

I’ve talked about Offline Virtua Fighter tournaments for years, especially during Virtua Fighter Month. I’ve covered several topics such as the history of the Beat-Tribe Cup series under Virtua Fighter Relationship, the Tetsujins and Star Players, and also the storied rivalry with BunBunMaru and Daimon Lau. But honestly… I don’t think I’ve talked about the importance of offline Virtua Fighter tournaments and events.

Let’s be real here: Fighting game tournaments have been around for a very long time since the 1990s. One thing that I enjoy watching these kinds of events is that I get to see two players showcase their skills in the games they play, whether it’s Street Fighter, Tekken, Dead or Alive, or KOF for example. For Virtua Fighter tournaments, it doesn’t get much love because it’s not considered as a flashy fighter compared to the games that I listed, but I do my best to provide high-level matches to newcomers just to give them an idea on how the game is played.

And speaking of Tekken, we need more 3D fighting game representation in FGC tournaments. I understand that Tekken is the #1 3D fighting game in the world, alongside the fact that Tekken 8 will be coming out soon, but I’ll be honest here: Being #1 can get really lonely. I remember when I was reading an interview that Katsuhiro Harada did with SEGA’s Virtua Fighter 20th Anniversary stuff, Virtua Fighter and Tekken would always have a friendly rivalry together since both games would begin adapting from one another. But with DOA going for a revival, Bloody Roar on a long hiatus, SoulCalibur VI being on the backburner while Tekken 7 shines, and 

When I did the History of the Beat-Tribe Cup series, I did my best to showcase high-level VF gameplay from the tournament, starting with Virtua Fighter 2 onwards.The blog about the rivalry between Daimon Lau and BunBunMaru was a prime example of discovering a new tech that would allow you to bypass a problematic tactic from a player who specializes in ring out victories. It was a way to tell a story about the actual rivalry itself. In addition to that, I’ve been sharing a lot of past Best Bout matches on Twitter to gain interest.

Now I’ve been hosting online tournaments since 2020 when I started doing Virtua Fighter Takeover. Then again, I’ve talked about it two years ago in a previous blog about the concept behind the idea and I remember creating something from nothing because it allowed me to showcase several fighting game players from the VF community. Hell, it even attracted players from other communities as well.

Last month when I went to Sonic & SEGA FanJam Remix, I entered the VF5US tournament hosted by SixFortyFive. I made it to the Grand Finals, which was streamed on Twitch and I won the entire tournament coming from the Winners side. During that match, I remember hearing the crowd being amazed at what I could do with Goh, a character who I mained since I began VF Takeover while VF5FS was out. I also invited people from the convention to watch my tournament for VF5US because I wanted them to get a taste of high-level VF play.

In most recent events, I took part of NEC 2022 a few weekends ago and I had an hard fought battle against KDQ|WR3CK in the Losers bracket. I literally had one of the best matches in my entire life and it made me love the game even more because of the excitement that we put together. I’m hoping that by the time this blog gets released, GriffyBones would have uploaded our match by now.

The point I’m trying to make is that we need more offline VF events as a way to show newcomers and other fighting game scenes how our game is truly played. We want to show everyone what makes our game unique in tournaments and pretty much attempt to grow our community more. I know Japan has been on it, but the West could use some love as well. No matter what, I’ll do my best to provide tournaments and sessions to the best of my ability.

Now that VF5US is one of the main games at EVO Japan 2023, the world will get the true experience of high-level VF gameplay. If you’re curious about the high-level gameplay of Virtua Fighter, there’s a lot to go around. We do our best to showcase VF players in the tournaments we host. 

VF Month is almost over. Join us next time where we talk about my expectations for Virtua Fighter in 2023 since it’ll be their 30th Anniversary.

Until then… Train Up, Fighters!