Shacknews Best Fighting Game of 2025 - Virtua Fighter 5 REVO World Stage

Learn why Sega's likely farewell chapter to the illustrious Virtua Fighter 5 made for our favorite fighting game of 2025.

Virtua Fighter 5 has been a gift that kept on giving since 2006. Sega just keeps making new versions of it. However, it isn’t for lack of reason. Virtua Fighter 5 has been one of the most technical and by-the-book fighters for over a decade, and fans keep flocking to play the latest iteration.

Sega put out yet another version of Virtua Fighter 5 this year, Virtua Fighter 5 REVO World Stage, and this might be the most consequential of them. At this point, the next Virtua Fighter game has been announced, and we’re chugging along towards the next generation. REVO World Stage isn’t just a curtain call on Virtua Fighter 5. It’s the transition to Virtua Fighter’s next big thing.

That isn’t to say this is just a bridge to be walked over on the way to whatever Sega wants to call the next game. This was the most complete version of an already good game. It brought rollback netcode to consoles and crossplay to all available versions of the game. Moreover, it offered a proper single-player mode to let players test themselves against the roster in an enjoyable and challenging setting. This was also one of the latest major character adjustments for Virtua Fighter 5, making this the final balance of the game’s roster as we know it.

This year was light on major fighting game releases, but Sega stepped up to the plate and delivered another solid iteration of Virtua Fighter that teases fans with the excitement of what’s ahead. For that and more, it’s the Shacknews Fighting Game of the 2025