A Dying Dad or a Rogue Monk? VF Fans Debate New Fighter

Pai Chan knocks the mask off. Her face drops. And then the trailer cuts away before we see a thing. SEGA and RGG Studio know exactly what they're doing with the Bakunawa Killer reveal for Virtua Fighter Crossroads, shown at Evo 2026 on Sunday, and the VF fanbase has been arguing about the fighter's identity ever since.

According to SEGA's official description, the Bakunawa Killer is behind a series of violent attacks on martial artists throughout Vilasapara, the island city where Crossroads is set. Pai Chan and new protagonist Cielo Salinas are hunting him down. The trailer shows off a fighting style that blends fluid kicks with raw power, and the character speaks Cantonese at the end of the clip. Two theories have dominated the conversation. The first: it's Lau Chan, Pai's father and master of the Tiger Swallow Fist style. The shock on Pai's face would make sense if she unmasked her own dad, and fans have pointed to previous father-daughter clashes in the series as a direct parallel. The problem is that Lau was dying of an incurable illness in previous games, and the Bakunawa Killer moves like someone in their physical prime.

The second theory, and the one I find more convincing, is Lei-Fei. A Shaolin monk who spent Virtua Fighter 5 trying to learn Lau's fighting secrets, Lei-Fei eventually snapped and tried to kill him. His clan's lore involves erasing martial artists, which lines up perfectly with the Bakunawa Killer's attacks across the city. The hybrid fighting style in the trailer looks closer to Lei-Fei's moveset than Lau's, too. One wrinkle: Lei-Fei should logically speak Mandarin, not Cantonese, which has some fans arguing this could be an entirely new character.

I love that RGG Studio is leaning this hard into mystery and narrative for a fighting game. Virtua Fighter Crossroads is due out in 2027 for PS5 and PC, with no specific release date announced yet.