Dural (VIRTUA FIGHTER)

Dural is a fictional character in the video game series Virtua Fighter. She is the main antagonist of the franchise.

Dural appears as the final boss of the Arcade mode in all Virtua Fighter games. The player is given only one match against her; whether or not Dural is defeated, the game is over. Dural is playable in each game via an entered code or fulfilling set criteria, but has no officially published movelists.

Dural's fighting style is an amalgam of various moves taken from several fighters in each game. Consequently, she may string together unique combinations that cause incredible damage and defeat players very quickly. Her style also augments some of the original fighters' moves to make them even more damaging.

Dural was previously a human woman. Her name was Tsukikage and she was both Kage-Maru's mother and a Kunoichi. When the mysterious corporation J6 (Judgement 6) noticed her exemplary fighting ability and resilient body, they captured her and used her as their prototype for their terrifying Dural project. Arming her body with various cybernetic enhancements and brainwashing, she became a cyborg, immune to feeling.

Since then, Kage has attempted to retrieve Tsukikage and restore her to her former self, finally succeeding in Virtua Fighter 3. However, he needed parts to keep her inhuman body operational, and when he retrieved them, she became even less human than before. Now Kage enters the 4th tournament to end his mother's suffering and return her to normal.

Meanwhile, the J6 corporation has their eyes on Sarah Bryant as the subject for their next Dural project.

During the Fourth World Fighting Tournament, J6 released their true model; however it was defeated. This drove J6 to kidnap Vanessa Lewis. Although Vanessa escaped, her combat data was captured and transferred into a new model: V-Dural. J6 is now ready to test if their new advanced V-Dural is truly ready to defeat the world's best fighters - let the Fifth World Fighting Tournament begin...

Dural appears as a humanoid woman in all of her incarnations. Her skin is made of a reflective and solid chrome, making her the only character to produce metallic "clanking" noises when hit. As graphics capabilities improved with each successive game, her appearance became much more streamlined.

Virtua Fighter & Virtua Fighter 2
Dural assumes Sarah's profile and fighting stance, and silver or gold pallette swaps. The polygonal count is comparably low, giving Dural's body a jagged edged look. In the second game, she develops full facial features, including eyes, a nose, ears, and mouth. Virtua Fighter 2 also contains a video animation of Dural shedding her metal skin to reveal Tsukikage beneath, as a reward for completing the game without losing a match. Dural shares Akira's stage as the boss of the first game. She has a unique stage in Virtua Fighter 2 in the sunken ruins of Atlantis, where the underwater viscosity hampers the speed of her attacks and those of her opponent.

Virtua Fighter 3
Dural assumes Sarah's profile and Akira's stance. She wears a gold skin, or a silver skin which appears black under some stages' lighting. The polygonal count was greatly increased, giving her body a much smoother look that reflects light well. As the match progresses, Dural's body may gradually become transparent, making visual detection difficult. Her stage is chosen randomly from the other players' arenas, with a yellow haze cast over the field.

Virtua Fighter 4
Dural assumes Sarah's profile and a unique fighting stance. She sports a silver or light blue skin when playable. In Arcade mode, she may also feature a new "stealth" skin which bends the light around her body to camouflage her into the background, making visual detection more difficult. From this game onward, Dural can be heard breathing heavily when immobile. Her stage is set on a conveyor belt in a J6 warehouse, which moves down a corridor featuring other Dural models stored in niches in the walls.

Virtua Fighter 5
The new V-Dural model features Vanessa's profile and stance. She features four skins: silver, black, and stealth from previous games, as well as a new skin of durable stone, assimilated from her stage of stone ruins, the Sanctuary.