Virtua Fighter 3
1996
- fighting
- arcade
- action
- single player
- multiplayer
The story
Virtua Fighter 3 is the third fighting game in the Virtua Fighter series. Two new Japanese characters were added to the roster of fighters: Aoi Umenokoji, a beautiful Japanese woman and a childhood friend of Akira Yuki who used a nimble form of Aiki-jujutsu as her fighting style of choice, and Taka-Arashi, a Sumo wrestler from Japan. Taka Arashi would not make another appearance in the Virtua Fighter series until Virtua Fighter 5 R; the series' current producer, Hiroshi Kataoka explained that the removal of Taka in subsequent installments was due to the technical implications of having a substantially larger character.
What it’s like
Crisp, angular polygons on bright, flat-lit arena floors, with a bit of motion blur smearing the limbs during fast strikes. Sound comes from arcade-era electronic music, punctuated by heavy thuds and the clack of grapples, and the stages feel open and daylit rather than dim. Sessions run in short, sharp bursts: a quick match against the computer, a run through survival mode, a long stretch of trying out the roster. The pace is rapid and precise, built on timing, footwork and reading an opponent's rhythm, with rounds that end abruptly and a restart always a button press away. The mood is energetic and focused rather than tense, with an underlying calm in the disciplined, almost geometric movement of the fighters. Violence is stylised and impactful but bloodless: strikes, throws and knockdowns with no gore. It suits a lazy afternoon at a cabinet, a pickup session with a friend, or solo practice on a quiet evening, and it appeals to people who enjoy martial arts choreography, retro arcade aesthetics, and the satisfaction of mastering a fighting system step by step.
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