Virtua Fighter was created in 1993 by Sega studio AM2. Its first incarnation was as an arcade game. It was later released for the Sega 32X and the Sega Saturn in the USA in 1995.

Virtua Fighter is considered very influential, and a trailblazer for modern day fighting games. In 2008, the Guiness Book of World Records awarded the series 7 world records including: First Polygon Based Fighting Game, First 3D Fighting Game, and First Fighting Game for a 32-bit Console.