Virtua Fighter 5 Online

We never thought Sega would release an online Virtua Fighter. Years of denials from the game’s developers, unwilling to tarnish the split-second precision of the series with stuttering bursts of lag, made it seem impossible. But here it is: the finest version of the finest fighting series, and with spot-on Xbox Live play.

If you’ve been reading about games for any length of time, you’ve probably encountered a lot of meaningless talk about how Virtua Fighter is the best fighting series around. But what actually makes it so damn good? It has to do with a lot of things. Yes, the visuals are pristine. The action is fast and smooth.

What lies at the core of its appeal, though — since other fighters have those things, too — is the responsiveness and flexibility of its fighting. Each character has a lot of moves, but none are big and flashy. They’re quick, and simple. It’s the way that you can string and staple them together, interrupt one with another, and play them off of your opponent’s own personal style that makes the game so fantastic.

Though the series is almost always depicted that way, Virtua Fighter 5 doesn’t take much more effort to enjoy than other fighters. New, easy-to-learn characters like luchador El Blaze take the edge off. So does the Quest Mode, which is nothing new but still works perfectly: it’s an endless series of battles against A.I. opponents, with upgrades as a reward. The tournaments and power-ups are well paced, and though you can cheap out the computer if you want to win, there’s no incentive to do so. The sturdy A.I. makes it fun to fight honestly, and you’re not trying to get to the end of a story. You’re fighting for fun and for practice. Those are meaningful rewards.

So what’s left? Nothing, really: If these words and these screenshots don’t convince you, there’s no hope. The age of the one-on-one arcade fighter lies behind us, it’s true. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy Virtua Fighter 5’s intensity. With Xbox Live support up and running, there’s no better time to try.