How and when did you find (yourself playing) VF?

VF4:E on PS2.

But I couldn't get into it until I was in the competitive Tekken 5 scene. And even then, I was kinda difficult.

But hey, I got there now.

 

I remember when I first played VF4 how slow it felt and quite a lot of other people felt the same way. Removing the dodge button from VF3 and introducing failed evades made fast movement very difficult. When I watched the replays on the disc though which included matches with Kyaso and Chibita I was amazed at how much faster the game looked. I noticed my own play speeding up gradually as I improved.

Having good defensive and offensive flowcharts (instead of pausing not knowing what to do all the time) as well as chaining movement cancels together is what can make the game really fast. I had no real idea about this until Evo though. At high levels I think the VF4 games were actually the fastest 3d fighters around.

 

I remember playing VF1 and 2 in the arcades way back in the day and wishing i could play it at home. Alas, all i had in those days was a snes so it was just street fighter and mortal kombat for me. Virtua Fighter was forgotten.

in the Ps2 days I really got into soul caliber 2, which got me back into fighting games. I still played it after i got my 360, but wanted to try out something new. I only picked up VF5 about a month ago but have been solidly hooked just playing the computer. i can't wait to get my xbox live sorted out.

 

I remember playing it for the first time in Houston in 93 at the arcade. Ever since then, I was waiting for the day to come on console. I managed to buy a Saturn in December of 96 with VF2, played it, and was my favorite 3d fighter ever since.

 

When I was younger, I used to watch my Uncle play VF 2 in the arcades all the time(When they still existed around here...) and I used to always wonder why the people were soooo blocky...lol

However, we never owned it on console, but we did have the Tekken series...and that was almost all that I played(fighting game wise) coming up...Besides SF mostly...

It wasn't until VF IV came out for PS2, that I'd have a chance to try out VF again...and after renting the game, I was blown away...The fighting seemed alot more fluid, and the graphics...Oh man, the graphics were insane back then...VF had come a long way by that point...

Still, I was hesistant to purchase the game, so I went back to Tekken, or SC, or whatever I was playing during that time...but, I decided to check out EVO when I heard about that...Not to mention, the fact that it was $20 didn't hurt at all. lol

The game was a vast improvement over a game that had already impressed me, it was so awesome...and I was so bad at the game back then, or at least the A.I. made me feel that way. lol

Even so, I loved every moment of it, so when I got my PS3...The first game that I purchased was V, and it hardly ever leaves my system...The only other game I see that'll get as much play time as VF, is SF IV...Anyways, long-live Virtua Fighter! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

Somebody from church let me have all of their pc games when i first got a computer, i was about 11 or 12... Virtua Fighter and Rayman were 2 of the best games i ever played back then...years later i saw VF4 was out on the cover of official playstation magazine... and i picked it up again.

 

Man, that was around late of 1993 when I spotted the first one at a local arcade. I tried out Akira because some of us obviously find him too "Ryu-like," but he was of course very different from Ryu. Eventually, I fell for the game. However, as the years went by, I started to drift away from the series, forgetting about Virtua Fighter 3. Around middle of 2002, I decided to read some video game magazines, and I rediscovered the series when a preview of Virtua Fighter 4 was published. Finally bought a Playstation 2, and bought Evolution. As of now, I had been buying and playing the series.[/size]

 

I think my first experience with it was when the Sega Saturn was launched and Europe and it came bundled with VF1... been a fan ever since, maybe I played in the arcades a little before that though. Can't remember too well it was a quite a while ago

 

My first time with the series i think it was in 1996 in a arcade room in the mall. VF1 was the most advanced graphics i had seen in a fighting game. i remember i couldnt get into it cause i was to much into street fighter with the whole projectile thing. but i always kept an interesting and i really didnt get to play it until i bought the dreamcast with VF3tb which was my fav. but i stopped playing it after the dreamcast was ceased. i never got to play vf4 but i heard it was good and everyone was talking about vanessa and lei fei. especially fei. i am glad sega released on the it out on the 360 . good game

 

haha great topic!
i started playing when 4 came out for the PS2.
first game I got for it and the customizations are what grabbed ahold of me.
also the graphics were amazing at the time. VF4:Evo is my all time favorite. I loved the customizing, again, but quest mode got me so addicted! quest orders were so fun...i wish they were back for the console versions. hopefully 5R comes to ps3 with quest orders and ONLINE!!!!!

 

the first time i played vf1 was in a game store that id waste my youth hanging out all the time. i used pai, jacky and sarah back then.

i never played a vf game for a long time, in fact the next game i played was fighters megamix where i started to enjoy playing as akira.

yet again several years passed then i bought myself vf5 with an arcade stick. only this time im gonna continue playing it.

(if i recall jacky and sarah were very similar in vf1, now they are very different)

 

Well for me, I played VF2 a little. Then Fighters Mega Mix came out. They had some of the moves from VF3. I thought the wall throws were awesome. I played 3 and did some learning but it wasnt until VF4 and Evo that got me serious enough to join VFDC.
That was in 2002, I lurked for about 2 years here prior to that.
And to this day I relish the encouragement that Jerky and Konjou Akira gave me back then. And now when someone seeks the VF knowledge that I have, I feel compelled to 'Pay it Forward'.

 

crazy, but just last week. my elder brother's been in it his whole life but i never bothered to poke around VF until that fateful day i came across wannafightus's account in youtube. there was something about the way shou played that made me want to try it out.

yeah, i thought i sucked big time when i learned what i had been missing the whole time i ignored VF. right now i'm just taking my time learning more about the game.

 

Ive been on this VF shizz since conception hahaha.
I started in VF2. I fell in love with Lion (I don't care what anyone says he was fly as hell in that game). I was a ppp and 2kk spammer . I didn't truly fall in love w/ the characters until Fighters Megamix debuted in the Saturn. I can't count the hours i spent playing it. I never stuck to one char though... and then I bought VF3TB for DC to emulate that same experience.
When VF4 came out my first char was Vanessa. I didn't get good at the game until I started picking up an interest in eveyone's combos, then I forced myself to pass the tutorials. I bought VF4evo ten seconds before I got 5. I'm kinda mad I got VF5 so late but I'm here though.

 

I first started playing as soon as VF4 was released on console. It was kind of a challenge from a friend: I was good at Soul Calibur, Capcom Vs SNK 2, and Third Strike, and he claimed that I would never beat him at a "real" game like VF. Since 4 had just been released, I felt it would be a good introduction to the series (and boy was I right!) and it just so happened that my friend was totally, totally wrong. I mesh better with VF than any other fighting game I've ever played (except, perhaps, the original Soul Calibur. The emphasis on technical skill, timing, and frame data really clicks with me.

 

Heh, I'm surprised Air Jacky hasn't jumped on this topic yet. I thought for sure he'd be all over claiming his dominance over me when he started playing VF2 before me.

Actually my first experience was luckily during my first trip to Japan in December of 1993. Off topic I still look back to that time as the Japan pre-internet days. I could be wrong but it just felt different there. I loved it!

Anyway, I was lucky enough to find VF1 on test location at Sega in Akihabara. Matches were even being displayed on a huge big-screen outside the arcade. I played a few matches and although it was fresh and new, it didn't quite pull me in. I did however play from time to time back home in Minneapolis at my local arcade, which was by far the best arcade in the state. I remember not having a clue how to do some of the moves and thought that Jacky's flipkick was a rolling semi-circular motion. Little did I know it was a single direction plus K. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't do it all the time. Fast forward to VF2...

Since VF1 wasn't exactly exhilarating, when VF2 arrived I didn't even really notice or care for probably about three months. I was still heavily playing Street Fighter (Championship Edition I think or maybe Hyper Fighting) and Samurai Shodown 2. Here is where I give all credit to Air Jacky - he got me to play the game. It's funny because if you look at VF1 and VF2 side by side the difference is breathtaking. But as I just mentioned above, because VF1 didn't leave a lasting impression on me, even though I knew VF2 was in our arcade, I simply didn't even look at it, or even if I did I didn't think twice about not caring.

I'm trying to think of some of the major factors that brought me back. I know one for sure was seeing Jacky's ground kick. I thought it was hilarious and couldn't get enough of it. Other things like the combo, elbow stagger, knee, flipkick, pounce for 70% damage was sweet. Or elbow stagger, P P elbow kick, pounce.

Then what really turned me on was the competition. I'm all about that! More and more people were starting to play and Boyd and I were waxing the floor with them. I remember one day, and Boyd remembers it well also, where we both worked at the arcade, and on one token we lasted about five hours switching off rounds.

We had nicknames for people who just couldn't grasp the game, but kudos to them for trying. One guy we called Kicky, because he couldn't resist doing a rising kick. You'd think after getting FF K'd with Jacky after every attempt would make him stop, but nope.

Then there was of course the fun tricks - freeze frame, Akira's leveling trick with reversals, floating, bird fun, or Akira's convulsing to death after a loss... ahhh so much fun. My favorite thing with Akira was leveling one story up against Akira, KO'ing him, then pouncing to the ground. This resulted in the winning stance with the computer Akira above you lying on thin air with his belt dangling in your face. It looked pretty sweet! And for some reason SToD was never more satisfying than in VF2. Akira in general was never more satisfying to me! I so miss the animation where he single palms a non-defending ducking opponent. Or also how smooth the guard break looked.

When VF3(TB) came along it was even more popular at our arcade. This was the pinnacle of Boyd's and my VF days. We were in Japan for three months and got to play all of the elite players, including Chibita. When we came back to America it wasn't even funny how bad we were slaughtering people. I still am pissed to this day about a night Boyd got to go alone to the Mall of America arcade right after we got back from our Japan trip. I unfortunately had to visit my father the first weekend I was back so Boyd got a run at everyone alone that night and racked up something like 60 or 70 wins in a row. Damn I was jealous!

Unfortunately when VF4 came along not only was our arcade gone, but they were dying all over. We did manage to get to play a little at the Mall of America arcade but competition was stagnant at best. So the rest of our experiences have been with console versions (minus brief playing in Japan). With VF4 and EVO we could only play against a few people, so my experience against characters other than Jacky, Lion, and Akira, were nonexistent until VF5 online came along.

Ahh the gold ol' days!

 

My life experience exactly!

I started with VF1 at my local arcade with SuperDoug. One day we threw some in some coins in between rounds of Dark Stalkers and we were hooked. Soon afterwards, that same arcade hosted a tournament (my first arcade tourny ever) and I won that. Soon afterwards VF2 was released.

After that it all VF2 all the time. Doug and I would post to usenet (rec.games.video.arcade)about moves, strategy, and the community just took off at that point. We started making every major tournament after that and we never looked back.

 

Man you people are OLD! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shocked.gif

I started playing VF, when VF5 came out on the 360.
How exactly I got into it is kinda hard off the top of my head.

I used to see a VF4 cab in Casino Arcade, London. And back then I didn't know a thing about the game except that it was a 3D fighter like Tekken or DOA. I remember trying out VF4:Evo for the PS2 in a CEX (game exchange store) and I thought the characters and environments were impressive. But when I tried to play is, you can guess nothing spectacular happened.

My main 3D fighters were Soul Calibur and DOA, and I used to play Tekken until 5 came out.

I played the hell outta DOA2:Ultimate and DOA4 online, and even entered a few tourneys. But I got tired of playing those games and I wanted something more hardcore.

That's when I did some research on fighters out on the market, and VF was one of the popular 3D Fighters. VF5 was coming out and people were hyping it as the best 3D out there. You'd be a real master if you could play it. So of course I was curious cause I was looking for something challenging.

Back then the arcade release had come out and was Ver. B. And I watched a couple of matches (I mean 100s of matches /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif ) and what made me hooked was that it looked like every match was a strategic battle of evading, breaking grabs and landing sick combos.

When I heard about the PS3 version coming out, I was thinking OMG I might have to get a PS3 just to play this game cause it looks so good. But there wasn't any online, and that kinda made me delay my purchase. Cause I was hoping either a patch or a 360 release would come out with online play. And the later happened.

I was sooo happy, to hear the news. Then I heard you if you really wanna get good, you must have an arcade stick to full take advantage of it. So I geared up to get one, and while that happened, the 360 demo came out and it had Akira in it too. (he's who I wanted to learn)

The stick was a challenge since I never went to arcades much and never took it seriously, but after 2 weeks practicing on the demo, I thought I was getting somewhere, and I couldn't wait to play this game with some people online, since I didn't know anybody who played VF, and that's when I found VFDC and NeoEmpire.

And of course I lived Happily Ever After. The End ^_^

 

First post!

Well the first time I played Virtua Fighter was when the Sega Saturn came out...I bought the system at 20/20 Video on La Cienega and Pico in Los Angeles. I didn't have a car back then so I took the bus over there, then walked 3 huge blocks to my friend's house and played VF for who knows how long...I think the system cost me $300 bills back then. It was so cool because it was 3D. Soon after or maybe around the same time, the Playstation came out and I remember all these people saying Battle Arena Toshinden this, Toshinden that...ah well, they were half right, the system died but the game stayed, now I have a PS3 and VF5.

In between those two systems I owned, my memory is a bit fuzzy:

VF2 on Saturn with the 2D backgrounds!! Thats when I started learning my main guy, Akira. Honorable mention to Fighting Vipers and Fighters Megamix!!

VF3 on the Dreamcast.

VF4 and VF4:Evo on PS2

I love me some VF!!!

 

i go where VF goes...

i bought a sega saturn with VF as my first game. bought vf2 when it came out.

sold the saturn and bought a dreamcast with vf3 with 2 dreamcast sticks. of course, i also bought other games simply because dreamcast was a TRUE next gen system IMHO.

sold the dreamcast and bought ps2 with VF4 and two VF4 hori sticks, then VF4 EVO. these are the only titles i purchased for myself. other games came and went from xmas gifts, bday, etc...

sold the ps2 and bought ps3 with VF5 and 2 hori sticks.

sold the ps3 and traded for xbox 360 with vf5 and 2 hori sticks.

all this time and money spent, and still learning the game...SO A BIG FUCK YOU TO SEGA FOR NOT BRINGING VF5R HOME! >=O

i go where VF goes...

/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif