That clip up top is the real Virtua Fighter 3 — the actual 1996 Sega Model 3 game from its publisher. Grab the free RetroPlayers.Club Player and it runs full-speed on your PC, no cartridge required.
The RetroPlayers.Club Player is a Premium perk. Go Premium or sign in to play Virtua Fighter 3 at full speed on your own PC.
Virtua Fighter 3 can be relived on your own PC through the free RetroPlayers.Club Player app — full speed, with a controller and saves just like your hardware. You confirm you own the game from your library, and no need to connect your console.
🎮 USB or Bluetooth controller? Plug it in, Once Detected Click Here to Open Your Controller Options
| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| D-Pad Up | ↑ | D-Pad up |
| D-Pad Down | ↓ | D-Pad down |
| D-Pad Left | ← | D-Pad left |
| D-Pad Right | → | D-Pad right |
| B (bottom) | X | Bottom face |
| A (right) | Z | Right face |
| Y (left) | S | Left face |
| X (top) | A | Top face |
| L | Q | Left shoulder |
| R | E | Right shoulder |
| Start | Enter | Start |
| Select | V | Select |
These are the keys the RetroPlayers.Club Player app uses for Sega Arcade, shown for reference. Your controller still lights up below so you can confirm it is detected — Premium members can remap here (keyboard or USB controller) and the app applies the map at the next launch.
No controller detected yet — plug one in and press any button.
Press buttons — your controller lights up here so you can see it is detected. Go Premium to save a custom map.
| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Up | W | Stick up |
| Down | S | Stick down |
| Left | A | Stick left |
| Right | D | Stick right |
| Punch | J | Arcade button 1 |
| Kick | K | Arcade button 2 |
| Guard | L | Arcade button 3 |
| Escape | U | Arcade button 4 |
| Start | F | Start |
| Coin | Shift | Arcade coin |
First registered run claims the top spot. It won't stay easy for long.
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Virtua Fighter 3 is a 1996 fighting video game developed and published by Sega, the sequel to 1994's Virtua Fighter 2 as part of the Virtua Fighter series. Two new characters were added to the roster: Aoi and Taka-Arashi, both of whom are oriented around traditional Japanese martial arts.
How to Play Virtua Fighter 3
The app maps Virtua Fighter 3 for you out of the box; the table below is the starting point, and Controller Mapping tunes it to a keyboard or any USB / Bluetooth pad.
The Story Behind Virtua Fighter 3
A playable demo with just two characters, Jacky Bryant and Dural, was shown to a select handful of individuals at the show. Characters' eyes appeared to track the opponent's position, their muscles could flex and relax, and the fighting arenas featured stairs and slopes. Sega displayed non-playable demos of Lau Chan, Dural, and new character Aoi Umenokoji, who was unveiled for the first time at the show.
During the game's beta testing at the Sega Joyopolis Arcade in Tokyo, players waited in line six to eight hours for one round of combat. Developed by Yu Suzuki's Sega AM2, it was a revolutionary game from a technical standpoint, with its detailed graphics earning widespread praise. Sega officials nonetheless stated that Virtua Fighter 3 would be ported to the Saturn with or without the upgrade cartridge.
What You'll Play
Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the Dreamcast version of Virtua Fighter 3tb for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated: "A peek beneath the exterior shows that it's still got all the right moves – the question is, will you look?" In a 2019 retrospective, German magazine MAN!AC ranked Virtua Fighter 3tb 12th among its 25 best Dreamcast games. It was more successful than Namco's rival Tekken 3 (1997) in Japan, although Tekken 3 was more successful worldwide. In North America, Virtua Fighter 3 had a successful launch in September 1996, drawing large crowds at the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show, where it was the most anticipated game.
Two new characters were added to the roster: Aoi and Taka-Arashi, both of whom are oriented around traditional Japanese martial arts. It also won the 1996 Spotlight Award for Best Arcade Game and was a runner-up for Electronic Gaming Monthlys Arcade Game of the Year, behind Street Fighter Alpha 2. He said that both the graphics and the combat innovations fully lived up to the high expectations for the Model 3 board, though he was somewhat disappointed that the game did not significantly diverge from the style of Virtua Fighter 2.
Why It Still Hits
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. Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the Dreamcast version of Virtua Fighter 3tb for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated: "A peek beneath the exterior shows that it's still got all the right moves – the question is, will you look?" In a 2019 retrospective, German magazine MAN!AC ranked Virtua Fighter 3tb 12th among its 25 best Dreamcast games. A Next Generation critic instead described the game as "uniquely engrossing and technologically advanced in every way, from its gameplay, to its graphics, backgrounds, characters, and sound effects." He opined that the two new characters were not interesting enough to attract newcomers to the series, but had depth, playability, and uniqueness on par with the well-regarded returning cast.
is a 1996 fighting video game developed and published by Sega, the sequel to 1994's Virtua Fighter 2 as part of the Virtua Fighter series. It was more successful than Namco's rival Tekken 3 (1997) in Japan, although Tekken 3 was more successful worldwide. It hit the top of the arcade charts in Japan upon release, despite initially appearing almost solely in arcades owned by Sega itself, due to the cabinet's high price.
Virtua Fighter 3 — Frequently Asked Questions
How do I play Virtua Fighter 3?
Grab the free RetroPlayers.Club Player linked on this page and launch Virtua Fighter 3 in it. It plays the genuine Sega Model 3 game natively on your computer; the clip above is a live preview.
What console was Virtua Fighter 3 released on?
Virtua Fighter 3 was released for the Sega Model 3 in 1996.
Can I save my progress in Virtua Fighter 3?
Yes, with Premium: the app lets you save a state at any point in Virtua Fighter 3 and resume from exactly there.
Where can I buy the original Virtua Fighter 3?
See the "Other Places You Can Get This Game" section below the article for legitimate places to buy real-world versions.
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