Virtua Fighter 4/Items

Items are strictly cosmetic. They do not boost power, speed or defense in any way. They are just a way to customize your character.

Acquiring items
Items are won by performing various tasks in VS Mode. These tasks can range from very simple to extremely difficult. They also must be performed flawlessly in order to win an item, therefore, if things go wrong, there is a high chance that you won't win anything. If you do things right though, you will see a little treasure box in the corner of the screen appear. It can either be a red treasure box or a larger orange treasure box, depending on how difficult the item was to get.

Items can also be won another way; through Kumite Mode. Anytime you fight and defeat an opponent in a "mirror match" (where the opponent is the same character as you) and that character is equipped with an item, you will win it. Sometimes opponents are equipped with more that one item, and in that case, you have to defeat him/her multiple times in order to get all the items from them. In addition, certain items are equipped to either the 1P outfit or the 2P outfit. So, for example you want to win Aoi's Japanese Ponytail, you have to use her 2P outfit because the Japanese Ponytail is equipped only to her 1P outfit.

The third way is to collect Orbs from High Kings in Kumite Mode. Collecting your first set will yield your character's 1st Orb item. Some characters have more than one Orb Item. The more sets you collect, the more Orb Items you will win. Once your character has won all his/her Orb Items, then when you collect the next set, you will be granted basic items you may have missed or don't know how to obtain. There are seven colored orbs you need to collect:
 * 1) Black
 * 2) White
 * 3) Crimson
 * 4) Blue
 * 5) Green
 * 6) Orange
 * 7) Purple

You can win orbs from other Players in VS Mode as soon as you hit 2nd Dan as well.

The final way to get items is by losing or getting hit by certain attacks frequently. These are called Dunce Items and they attach themselves to your character until he/she performs a task in order to get rid of it. Each character has two Dunce Items, except for Sarah who yields only one. After accomplishing a task to get rid of the Dunce Item, it can usually be kept and can be equipped anytime you wish. Others, however, need specific conditions to be met in order to keep them.

The King Tut's Mask is a dunce item that all characters can get. If you lose three consecutive Excellent Rounds, then you'll find your character equipped with this mask. To get rid of it, simply win one Excellent round. None of the characters can keep this item, so therefore won't be included in any of the character sections.

Using items
You can equip your items by entering the Data Files Menu and going to Edit File. Here, you can edit the colors of each outfit as well as equip those goodies you have won. All characters have four sections of their body that an item can be equipped to. In addition, some items are either 1P or 2P exclusive.

There will be times when an item won't appear on your character and the item name keeps blinking. Just equip another item, then equip the one that was flashing, which works most of the time. Even if you don't do this, your character will look fine when you start a match. The flashing item is most likely a memory problem, and nothing really to worry about.