What is a legacy? I’ve struggled with that question as I’ve tried to write about Virtua Fighter 5 REVO, the latest entry in the series that invented 3D fighting games before eventually fading from the public consciousness. REVO, a new version that hit Steam in late January, is a chance for one of the most beloved fighting games ever made to find a new worldwide audience.
The first thing you have to understand about Virtua Fighter 5 is that it’s old. The original game released in Japanese arcades in 2006, a year after the Xbox 360 launched; Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare were still a year away, Street Fighter IV was two years out and Apple’s App Store didn’t yet exist.