Despite some assumptions in the reactions to this post from last week, I truly am looking forward to Virtua Fighter 5's Feburary 20th release - and to stay somewhat flamebait free (although there is no escaping the Tekken fan) I'll say that I'm equally excited about the XBOX 360 release of the game later this year, although it remains to be seen if multiplayer will actually be included. Here's hoping.

If you're a fellow fan and are looking for something to tide you over for the next week, then maybe this free v-swag will work. And for you Tekken fans? You can grab it too, and then draw MS paint moustaches on the characters or something (post them so we can see).

Hit the jump to dive into a pile of free goodies from SEGA.

Sega's U.S. Virtua Fighter 5 page has a ton of goodies to download. Just roll over the "media" link to uncover them. Grab the zip files of VF5 icons and wallpapers, but skip the huge 320mb 'fan kit' unless you find yourself longing for high-quality Virtua Fighter images.

In a similar fashion, the Japanese VF5 download page features slightly different wallpapers, although there is a bigger selection and are offered in higher resolutions. On the right hand side you'll find several game play movies, commercials, and trailers to download.

Sony Japan has created their own very slick page for the game. Head over to the 'download' link in the main menu for a ton of downloadable wallpapers and goodies.

What is possibly better than all of this is SEGA Japan's VF5 beginners guide - it is in Japanese, but is picture-heavy enough to be manageable. There are also these two printable PDF guides that fold neatly into a sort of pocket guide, detailing moves and combos.  

Chances are, if you suck at Virtua Fighter at this point in the game, these guides aren't going to do much for you, but they're free - and who dosen't like 'free'?