Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution released as a PS2 Greatest Hits title, which means it was $20 when this version came out in 2004. It shouldn't be any more expensive than that.

Both VF4 and VF4 Evo on PS2 have quite a bit of gameplay value, though Evolution is a better package overall. In VF4 you can train your own AI fighter in a kumite mode and do various other things with the character customization (in terms of costumes and extras). In VF4 Evolution you go on a virtual tour of the major arcades around Japan. This mode uses real fight data from real Japanese people, complete with their own character customizations and their fighting data gathered from Sega's VF.Net service. In addition to having semi-real competition, in some of the matches you have special conditions in order to either gain more items/money (to use in your own character customization) or to improve your ranking. It also has the best training mode of any fighting game *ever*. Additionally, VF4 Evolution includes the original Virtua Fighter as an extra.

The thing is, the Virtua Fighter series doesn't need to rely on gimmicks to be interesting. The game is so self contained and deep. It's too bad that some folks are spoiled by the flashy antics of Soul Calibur and Tekken that by comparison Virtua Fighter looks a little boring. If any fighting game fan gives this game a serious try, you might be surprised (and maybe intimidated) by how deep it is. Virtua Fighter does a heck of a lot more with 3 buttons and a joystick than other games do with 4 or more. Virtua Fighter is still ahead of the pack when it comes to extra features as well (customizing characters, internet awareness, etc) which is only natural since VF started it all.

Yeah, I'm a VF fanboy--which is why VF5 is my 'get a PS3 NOW' game when it comes out.