Hype recently hit the Virtua Fighter franchise thanks to the recent announcement from Sega concerning the series. During the Tokyo Game Show, the company released a trailer announcing Virtua X Esports. It's still anyone's guess as to what the next project related to the series actually is, but nonetheless fans are excited that something new is brewing from the fighting game series.
Many are hoping that the announcement is for a new main game in the series, or at the least a retrospective collection of past titles with online play like the recent Samurai Showdown Collection. Virtua Fighter is deep with games, including numerous spin-off titles in the series that even longtime fans might not be aware of
10 Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series (1996)
There's a general misconception about the Virtua Fighter series that it has no lore. Most of the main games in the series didn't have a story mode or endings to the arcade mode. However, Virtua Fighter is a series actually brimming in lore.
One of the the ways Sega tried to expand on that was through their Virtua Fighter CG Portrait series for the Sega Saturn. It wasn't so much a game as it was a series of photos and music dedicated to each character in the series that attempted to show off more of their life and personality.
9 GG Portrait (1996)
Speaking of portrait games, the series had another spin-off title in this genre with GG Portrait. The "GG" stood for Game Gear, Sega's handheld Game Boy competitor. The game has two cartridges, one featuring Akira Yuki and the other featuring Pai Chan.
GG Portrait had two major differences from its Saturn sibling. For one, there were actually a couple of mini-games and it wasn't strictly a showcase of non-interactive media. In addition, the game featured super-deformed versions of Akira and Yuki, who would later make their appearance in other spin-off titles.
8 Virtua Fighter Animation (1996)
One of the major spin-offs for the franchise was an anime. Released in 1995, the anime was a 36 episode series that was fun but seemed to take the characterizations of the series' roster into anime trope territory. For instance, series poster boy Akira Yuki, who was usually seen as more serious, was more of a lighthearted fighter who always had a huge appetite in the anime.
In 1996, a game based off the anime series was released for the Game Gear. Unlike previous spin-offs, this was a traditional fighting game, but it moved to 2D instead of 3D much like the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive port of Virtua Fighter 2.
7 Virtua Fighter Kids (1996)
For a series that emphasized on a more realistic fighting style devoid of flashy fireballs and the like, Virtua Fighter knew how to drive itself into some wacky territory. And Virtua Fighter Kids is the perfect example of that. The fighting game is a super deformed version of Virtua Fighter 2 that was released in arcades and the Sega Saturn in 1996.
It has each of the roster in chibi form. Although it might take some getting used to the big heads and small bodies, the game was still fun, and played almost as tightly as Virtua Fighter 2. Also, there were actually character endings, marking which was a rarity of for the series— though the endings anything but serious.
6 Fighters Megamix (1996)
When gamers think about crossover fighting games, the major ones that come to mind are Super Smash Bros. and Marvel Vs. Capcom. But Sega produced one of the earliest and also craziest crossover titles with the Saturn's Fighter's Megamix.
The fighting game was a title that primarily combined Virtua Fighter 2's roster with Sega's other major fighter at the time, Fighting Vipers. However, it took things further by also including characters from Sonic The Fighters, Virtua Fighter Kids, Virtua Cop, and even the Hornet Car from Daytona USA. The roster is weird and the balance is broken, but overall the spin-off title is chaotic fun for Sega fans.
5 Shenmue (1999)
Shenmue is its own title, but given its origins as well as its Virtua Fighter DNA, is also a spin-off of the Virtua Fighter series. For one, the game started off in development as the Sega Saturn's Virtua Fighter RPG, with series creator Yu Suzuki originally having Virtua Fighter's main character, Akira Yuki, as the protagonist for the series.
The game instead went to the Dreamcast and changed to being about a new character named Ryo Hazuki and his story. Yet, Virtua Fighter's shadow still looms. Fighting styles and moves from Virtua Fighter are practiced by Ryo and the enemies he encounters, and he looks like he would be right at home as a VF character. And fans can find little nods to the fighting game series via posters and little figurines that can be collected in-game.
4 Virtua Quest (2004)
By 2004, the series was still in full swing with the release of Virtua Fighter 4 and its two update titles, Evolution and Final Tuned. In addition, the PlayStation 2 and GameCube received Virtua Quest, and action-adventure spin-off title from the Virtua Fighter series.
In the game, players took control of Sei who who collects Virtua Souls, which are the data/ghosts of those from the Virtua Fighter roster. With these, Sei is not only able to interact with series characters, but learn some of their signature moves. Although the title received mixed reviews after its release, the game is still an interesting take on the franchise.
3 Pachinko Mini-Game From Yakuza 4 And 5 (2009, 2012)
Virtua Fighter has an interesting relationship with the Yakuza series, managing to appear in some form or another in various titles. Some of the most recent titles titles and remakes have contained emulated ports of main series titles in the Club Sega locations within the games. Yet Yakuza 4 and 5 are more unique with their series inclusion.
Yakuza 4 doesn't have any of the main games, instead having its own original mini-game "Boxcelios"— but it does also have a Virtua Fighter pachinko mini-game, featuring cutscenes that play out some potential lore-based fights between characters. Yakuza 5 not only has the pachinko mini-game, but also a port of Virtua Fighter 2.
2 Virtua Fighter: Cool Champ (2011)
The good news about Virtua Fighter: Cool Champ is that it was another spin-off entry overseen from a company lead by Yu Suzuki. The bad news is that it was only a mobile game, rather than a major console release.
Cool Champ was developed for for the Japanese-based Mobage social network, which had a multitude of mobile games in its library. This included Cool Champ which placed the roster of Virtua Fighter into a card battle game.
1 Virtua Fighter: Fever Combo (2014)
Virtua went for another round on the mobile front with Virtua Fighter: Fever Combo. Rather than Mobage, the game was released for free on iOS and Android smartphones this time. The name would make fans think that this perhaps a an action title or mobile version of the main fighting games.
Instead, the game is another card battle title, building from the previous Cool Champ title. Besides a recent entry as a slot machine, Fever Combo marks the final spin-off title in the series thus far. However, the game series continued to live on through various character guest appearances in other games like Dead Or Alive and Project X Zone.