Sega has revealed another playable character for its upcoming new Virtua Fighter game: Wolf Hawkfield.
Wolf is a Canadian professional wrestler of Native American descent who debuted in the original Virtua Fighter game in 1993 and has appeared as a playable character in every installment in the series since. His inclusion in the upcoming new Virtua Fighter comes as no surprise, but what has raised eyebrows is his new look.
This new Wolf looks a lot older than his previous versions, and, as many fans have pointed out, he also looks a bit like Ganondorf, the main villain from The Legend of Zelda games.
Sega’s announcement video shows Wolf’s walk-out scene, which fans are joking offers more story than he’s ever had before in a Virtua Fighter game before. The announcer’s intro touches on Wolf’s dramatic return to the world of fighting after his “controversial retirement that shocked the world.” Perhaps this new Virtua Fighter will offer a proper, fleshed out story mode.
The video lacks gameplay, but it does show just how detailed the character models are even now, seemingly years away from Virtua Fighter’s release. As Wolf walks out we see quite noticeable muscle jiggle physics at play. Clearly, Wolf has kept himself in good shape over the years.
Virtua Fighter 6, as it’s being called by fans in lieu of an official title, is in development at Yakuza / Like a Dragon studio Ryo Ga Gotoku and is without a release window or target platforms. Virtua Fighter hasn’t seen a mainline release in years, leaving mini-game appearances in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza games and the 2021 release of Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown to tide fans over.
In January, Sega released what it called a “pre-development concept video” for Virtua Fighter 6, but made clear it does not reflect how the upcoming fighting game will look and play when it eventually comes out.
The video, shown during Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech at CES 2025, features incredibly realistic and fluid animations for a fighting game. We see an Akira mirror match with the kind of combat usually reserved for a martial arts movie.
Virtua Fighter, which includes characters such as Akira Yuki, Pai Chan, and Wolf Hawkfield, is on the hardcore end of the fighting game spectrum, with slower-paced gameplay that challenges players to master its mechanics in order to enjoy success. Virtua Fighter 5, which first released in 2006, is considered one of the greatest fighting games of all time.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
