Yu Suzuki Mini-Interview: "Similarities with Shenmue" | 30th Anniversary of Virtua Fighter Video

Together with the announcement of a new Virtua Fighter game at The Game Awards, Sega released a mini-interview with Yu Suzuki to commemorate the "30th anniversary" of the Virtua Fighter franchise.  As part of this, a short video interview with Yu Suzuki was released.

(Technically, Virtua Fighter premiered in the arcades in 1993, with the December 1994 timing most closely tying in to its release on the Sega Saturn console in November 1994). 

Within the interview, in which Suzuki recalls development of the original Virtua Fighter, Shenmue also gets a mention in relation to the background graphics:

"The backgrounds in particular are a variety of Asian themes, which I like. The detailed renditions were quite noteworthy to me. I faintly* feel some similarities with Shenmue".

- Yu Suzuki (official subtitles)

*Note: Suzuki's words don't actually imply "faintly"; a closer translation would simply be: "I feel some similarities with Shenmue". 

In a past interview with 4Gamer in 2017, Suzuki declared "Going forward, I'm aiming for graphics you can smell". And so we can take his comment about the background and scenery graphics seen for the new Virtua Fighter as high praise:

"They've grown more and more realistic, so much that you can almost smell them."

Suzuki praises the realistic background graphics (image grab from the new Virtua Fighter trailer)

Suzuki is also impressed by the battles seen in the footage for the new Virtua Fighter game, especially its collision detection as seen by the following line. Note: this is a full translation of his words; the video subtitles are incomplete:

"[In particular,] when your punch lands on your opponent, there's a moment where the hit is absorbed by the flesh, and then the power is transmitted, sending them flying".

Achieving this level of detail into battles echoes something Yu-san mentioned he wanted to achieve himself (and demonstrated with a slow-motion punch to his own face!) during the Shenmue community interview by the Shenmue Dojo and Phantom River Stone earlier in the year. 

View the Video

A transcript of the interview subtitles follows below.

Video Transcript: Sega Mini-Interview with Yu Suzuki

Q: Now that Virtua Fighter is looking at its 30th anniversary, could you say a few words?

Yu Suzuki: Happy 30th anniversary! I'd like to thank everyone for these 30 years, building the Virtua Fighter brand into what it is now. When we developed the world's first full 3D fighting game, I can still remember working on it, and excitedly wondering how it would be received by the public.

Q: Could you share your feelings on Virtua Fighter?

Yu Suzuki: The Virtua Fighter characters back then were built out of what looked like cardboard boxes.

They didn’t look anywhere near human. Internally, we called them names like Robo 1 and Robo 2,  since they looked like robots. Virtua Fighter has evolved since then, and now the characters finally look human. Thinking about it fills me with emotions.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about your thoughts on the announcement of a new Virtua Fighter game?

Yu Suzuki: These are just my feelings after watching the footage, but the backgrounds in particular are a variety of Asian themes, which I like. The detailed renditions were quite noteworthy to me. I faintly feel some similarities with Shenmue.

They've grown more and more realistic, so much that you can almost smell them. That's how believable they look now. The part that leaves the biggest impression on me is the battling. Even just the demo looked really good. I get the feeling this one is going to be a big hit.

The main point of focus is the "collision detection". When your punch lands on your opponent, there's a moment where the hit is absorbed by the flesh, and then the power is transmitted, sending them flying.

It feels incredibly realistic, and I feel like the battle systems have gotten really close to what I've always envisioned.

Q: Could you say a few words about the future of the Virtua Fighter series?

Yu Suzuki: Now that I've heard that the RGG [Ryu Ga Gotoku] team is going to be working on Virtua Fighter, I'm very excited. I hope I can play it soon.

That's all from me!

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