After 24 years of waiting, fighting game fans can look forward to a new Virtua Fighter.

Sega has revealed (via a Video Games Chronicle interview) that a new Virtua Fighter is in the works. According to Sega’s Global Transmedia Group Justin Scarpone, he talked in great detail about the slew of revivals happening from Crazy Taxi to the lovely-looking Shinobi.

“So we have a suite of titles in development right now that fall into that legacy bucket, which we announced last year at The Game Awards; Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, and we have another Virtua Fighter being developed. And so all that’s very exciting. And then in certain instances, we’re also doing animation series, or live-action films to augment that and be part of those roadmaps.”

Apart from that, no new details about the next Virtua Fighter (most likely dubbed Virtua Fighter 6) have been revealed.

Why A New Virtua Fighter Is A Big Deal

This is great news, as so far the 3D fighting game space has been dominated by Bandai Namco’s Tekken series since Tekken 6, and that was more than a decade ago. The last Virtua Fighter game is Virtua Fighter 5 Showdown, which actually is the start for many pro fighting game players like Fuudo before he jumped ship to the Street Fighter series.

The first Virtua Fighter in 1993 was the game that cemented the foundations of a 3D fighting game, alongside Battle Arena Toshinden in 1994 (which introduced sidestepping and proper use of the Z-Axis). So hearing about the pioneer of 3D fighting coming is definitely good news for those waiting for a contender to go against the Tekken franchise.

Check out our Main Game episode on how 3D fighters came to be.