They’re the same game, just different names for different regions (eSports being the JP version) The game is a remastered version of Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown that uses Dragon engine (the engine used to power the latest Yakuza games). In good news for fans of the franchise, that is changing thanks to announcements like Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown / Virtua Fighter eSports. The franchise was often a leader in the realm of pushing the boundaries of graphics, from being the very first 3D fighter to later pushing the envelope on techniques such as lighting & shading, texture mapping, normal mapping, etc. It’s also kind of an anti-Mortal Kombat in that there’s zero gore. If you aren’t really familiar with VF, then it is more realistic than many fighting games out there, with no fireballs or magical attacks.

Unfortunately, the franchise hasn’t garnered the same level of attention that the likes of Street Fighter, Tekken, or Mortal Kombat have over the years, and after Virtua Fighter 5 was released in both arcades and on consoles back around 2006~11, Sega seemed content to give it a rest for a long while. Sega may not be known primarily for their 1v1 fighting games like Capcom or Namco happen to be, but they’ve always had one series in the genre that’s been a solid win for them, Virtua Fighter.

Virtua fighter arcade