Tekken
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| Tekken | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Release date(s) | (Tekken) 1994-1995, (Tekken 2) 1995-1996, (Tekken 3) 1996-1998, (Tekken Tag Tournament) 1999-2000, (Tekken Advance) 2002, (Tekken 4) 2001-2002, (Death by Degrees) 2003, (Tekken 5) 2004-2005, (Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection) 2005-2006 (Tekken 6) TBA |
| Genre(s) | Versus fighting game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, Dreamcast (as a part of Bleemcast!) |
Tekken (鉄拳? lit. Iron Fist) is a series of fighting games developed and produced by Namco. Originally an arcade game, versions exist for the PlayStation, the PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, and the PSP consoles, with a version for the PlayStation 3 to be released in the future.
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[edit] Information
The Tekken series is one of the earliest 3D fighting game franchises, with the first game releasing less than two years after Virtua Fighter. There are five Tekken sequel games: Tekken 2, Tekken 3, Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4, and Tekken 5. An update of Tekken 5 (dubbed Tekken 5.1 by fans), and a further update titled Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection have also been released. Tekken 6 is also announced to be in development for release on the PlayStation 3 console.
The Tekken series also includes Tekken Advance, which was released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance in 2001. However, Namco did not release any other Game Boy Tekken titles subsequently, due to the franchise's exclusive deal on the PlayStation platform. A PSP version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, retitled Tekken: Dark Resurrection, was released in Japan and the U.S. in summer 2006. The European version was released September 15, 2006.
As with many fighting games, players choose a character from a lineup, and engage in hand-to-hand combat with an opponent. It is primarily a competitive two-player series, but a human player can fight an AI-controlled character for practice or amusement.
In the original Tekken game, the characters would fight on arenas. The name of the location was displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen. The locations included Angkor Wat, Szechwan, Monument Valley, Chicago, Kyoto, Fiji, Windermere, Venezia, Akropolis, King George Island, and Chiba Marine Stadium. Subsequent Tekken games do not have real locations displayed in-game during fights.
Tekken differs from other hand-to-hand fighting games in some ways. Traditional fighting games are usually played with buttons which correspond to the strength of the attack, such as strong punch or weak kick. Tekken, however, dedicates a button to each limb of the fighter, making learning special attacks more of an intuitive process. The player could watch the animation on screen and figure out the appropriate command (if the character kicks low with their right leg, the move is likely to be executed by pressing down and right kick, or a similar variation). Traditional fighting games, such as Street Fighter, involve inputting commands as rapidly and accurately as possible, whereas Tekken slows the action down, emphasizing rhythm, strategy, and deception over speed.
The Tekken games are popular within the martial arts community thanks primarily to the fact that most of the characters' fighting techniques can be found in real life martial arts. However, there are questions as to the accuracy of the style labels ascribed to certain characters. For example, in previous releases of the game, the character Paul Phoenix is listed accurately as fighting using integrated martial arts based on judo, despite competition judo not generally allowing punching and kicking, especially in competition. Similarly, the character Marshall Law is listed as being a practitioner of "martial arts", which is not a specific discipline. Similarities exist between Marshall Law and Bruce Lee, including Jeet Kune Do as well as appearance. The misunderstanding concerning Marshall Law's "martial arts" is commonly attributed to the fact that in the manual for the American PlayStation release of Tekken 2, the translator for the manual missed a small pun where Marshall Law practiced 'Marshall arts', a reference to his own name. Other Tekken characters also draw heavily from real life action heroes, such as Lei Wulong and Craig Marduk, video game analogues of Jackie Chan, and large wrestlers/mixed martial artists, such as Bill Goldberg, Nathan Jones, and Bob Sapp, respectively. Namco themselves have stated that the styles in Tekken are not supposed to accurately represent real styles, but merely give the impression of them.
[edit] Gameplay
The Tekken series uses separate buttons for right and left limbs, resulting in four buttons, while most other 3D fighting games used two buttons. Other trademarks include throw escapes, and starting from Tekken 2, autoblock. Each iteration was improved upon both graphically and technically. Tekken 3 introduced the ability to move into the foreground or away from the background, commonly referred to as "sidestepping". Tekken 4 gave characters even greater mobility by adding true 3D movement while simultaneously including geometrically complex arenas with unlevel ground, obstacles, and walls. This differed from previous Tekken games, where one of the characteristics of previous games was that all of the arenas were level and had no boundaries, meaning the player could walk forwards or backwards without limit. Tekken 5 saw the return of both walled and infinite arenas, with the fluid mobility of Tekken 4 being toned down to appease many players who felt it made the game more focused on evasion. Tekken Tag Tournament, released between Tekken 3 and Tekken 4, is not a part of the Tekken storyline. The game allowed each player to control one of the two selected fighters, who could be swapped in and out of the fight by the additional fifth button, which can be used for tag team attacks and juggles, amongst other tactics.
[edit] Rounds
By default, there will be two rounds of combat. However, the players have a choice from one to five rounds, as well as options for the time limit of each round. If the winning character retains all his or her health without the time having run out, the announcer will say, "Perfect!". If the winning character is near knock out, the announcer will call, "Great!". Occasionally, both characters will be knocked out simultaneously, and the announcer will call "Double K.O.". If the time limit for the round expires, the character with more health will be declared the winner. If one does not exist, the round will be a draw. In other cases, the announcer will call "K.O." when one character is triumphant.
[edit] Characters in the first Tekken
[edit] Initial characters
[edit] Unlockable characters
- Lee Chaolan
- Armor King
- Anna Williams
- Kuma
- Kunimitsu
- Wang Jinrei
- Prototype Jack
- Ganryu
- Heihachi Mishima
- Devil Kazuya
[edit] Continuity
A few plot holes exist in the Tekken series.
- In the Tekken spin-off game, Death by Degrees:
- Nina Williams works in a joint operation by the CIA and the MI6. Anna Williams works in the Tekken Force, a privately owned corporate army run by the Mishima Zaibatsu. The Tekken Force was actually established after the events of Tekken 2 to give world leaders the impression that Heihachi wanted to maintain peace by masking his true intention of world conquest. The game also implies that the scenario was how the rivalry between Nina and Anna began in the Tekken canon, though an already-present sibling rivalry turned worse when their father, Richard Williams, seemed to favor Nina and taught her the assassin trade, making Anna jealous. Both also seem to blame the other for their father's death.
- Cutscenes show Nina and Anna's father, Richard Williams, being shot and killed in front of a young Nina. Originally, he was killed after the events of Tekken 2.
- Posters advertise many Tekken tournaments, from Tekken 3 to Tekken 5, including the non-canonical Tekken Tag Tournament.
[edit] Appearances in other media
- The Young and Dangerous series features scenes where the cast plays Tekken 3. Young and Dangerous was directed by Andrew Lau who also directed Kuen sun (a.k.a. The Avenging Fist), which is loosely based on the Tekken storyline.
- Tekken: The Motion Picture, an anime movie, was released in 1997.
- Charles Stone III is directing a live-action movie tentatively titled Tekken, which is said to only be loosely based on the Tekken series.
- One of the most popular Indonesian thriller movies, Tusuk Jelangkung, shows one of the actors playing Tekken 4 on a PlayStation 2.
- Tekken 4 is seen being played in the French-Canadian movie Les Invasions Barbares.
- In the movie Ichi the Killer, Ichi is seen playing Tekken Tag Tournament after he finishes killing his targets.
- In episode seven of the first season of Spaced, an argument between the two main characters, Tim and Daisy, is spliced with excerpts from Tekken 3. Daisy wins the argument and acts out Nina Williams's victory animation, complete with a superimposed game screen. A voice-over performed by director Edgar Wright proclaims in Tekken style, "Daisy Steiner wins!".
- In the movie Shaun of the Dead, a reference is made to a night in which Shaun, Ed, and Pete played Tekken 2.
- A television commercial by the Swiss Milk Producers Association aired in 2000 features the company's cow mascot, Lovely, fighting and winning against Tekken character Forrest Law.
- In the British soap opera Hollyoaks, numerous characters are seen playing Tekken regularly.
- In the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, actor Ben Affleck's character tries to get Jimmy Fallon's character to remember the good times they had sneaking into the arcade and playing Tekken until two in the morning.
- In the British gangster film Bullet Boy, a child is seen playing Tekken 4's Arcade mode, and later on, he is seen playing the first level of the Tekken 4 Tekken Force mode using Kazuya Mishima.
- In the Great Teacher Onizuka manga volume fifteen, Eikichi Onizuka endures an arm wrestling match with fifty people, one of them looking like Heihachi Mishima. The manga also features Onizuka regularly playing a Tekken clone, in which he usually plays a giant bear similar to Kuma.
- In the manga Love Hina, the female lead, Naru Narusegawa, is an accomplished Tekken player, and even has a trademark punch dubbed "Tekken Punch".
- One of the secret characters in Tekken 3 was Gon, who is the main character in the manga of the same name by Masashi Tanaka.
- The Cirrus video for the track "back on a mission" features a video game parody of the Tekken series complete with cliché characters.
- On The Fugees's album The Score, Wyclef Jean mentions Lei Wulong and his drunken style.
- Rapper Ras Kass mentions playing Tekken 2 in his lyrics for the song "Ghetto Fabulous".
- In the track "Samurai Showdown (Raise your Swords)" on the soundtrack to Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, RZA rhymes "hesitate for one second" with "break your back like big Jack from Tekken".
- Tekken Forever, a comic book published by Image Comics in December 2001 features a story that focused on the Kazama family and also the Unknown character from Tekken Tag Tounament. The comic only has one issue, with no reason given for the comic's cancellation.
- The comic Dane Cook talks about a man he saw doing flips through the air like Eddy Gordo after being hit by a car in a joke on his Retaliation CD.
- Media artist Eddo Stern created a video in 2001 of a performance entitled "Tekken Torture Tournament", where willing participants play Tekken and receive electrical shocks that correspond to the injuries of the characters. The video documentary of this is considered video art and addresses the issues of violence in the media. [1]
- Tekken 5 can be seen in the Tommy heavenly6 music video "Ready?"
- Tekken 3 is mentioned in an episode of The Venture Bros..
[edit] Games
The following is a list of titles in the Tekken series:
- Tekken - Arcade (1994), PlayStation (1995)
- Tekken 2 - Arcade (1995), PlayStation (1996), PlayStation 3 (2006)
- Tekken 3 - Arcade (1996), PlayStation (1998), Dreamcast (2001)
- Tekken Tag Tournament - Arcade (1999), PlayStation 2 (2000)
- Tekken Card Challenge - Wonderswan (1999)
- Tekken Advance - Game Boy Advance (2002)
- Tekken 4 - Arcade (2001), PlayStation 2 (2002)
- Tekken 5 - Arcade (2004), PlayStation 2 (2005)
- Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection - Arcade (2005), PSP (2006)
- Tekken 6 (working title) - PlayStation 3 (2007)
[edit] Trivia
- The characters Paul Phoenix, Nina Williams, Yoshimitsu, and Heihachi Mishima have been in all Tekken games.
- Although Jin Kazama has emerged as the main protagonist of the series, he does not make his first appearance until Tekken 3.
- The game Karateka is misattributed to Tekken on the Power Player Super Joy III albeit lacks technological advances that Tekken has.
- Creator of Mortal Kombat Ed Boon revealed in one of his recent interviews with GameDaily, that his favorite fighting game is Tekken, and he likes to play it in his free time.
- It has been announced that Tekken will be the next fighting game series to be featured in the trading card game Epic Battles, which currently features Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.
- Heihachi Mishima was featured in PacMan Worlds 2 for the Nintendo Gamecube as a chibi/deformed character as well as other Namco characters
- Yoshimitsu appears in all of the games from the Tekken series and in Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur II and Soul Calibur III (though they are usually represented as different characters), and one of Tekken's main villains, Heihachi Mishima, appears as a "guest character" on the PS2 version of Soul Calibur II. Furthermore, both Tekken and Soul Calibur characters appeared in Namco x Capcom, a crossover RPG involving various Namco and Capcom franchises.
- Apart from Yoshimitsu and Heihachi, there are many cross-overs between Tekken and Soul Calibur series, such as King's mask available for custom characters in Soul Calibur 3, Isabella "Ivy" Valentine's hairstyle for Anna in Tekken 5. Yoshimitsu and Heihachi, being originally Tekken characters, obtained many new moves when brought to the Soul Calibur series. In later Tekken versions, some of these attacks were added to their moves lists.
- Tekken 5 celebrates the 10th anniversary of the original game and includes the first three games in the Arcade History mode of the PS2 version as well as the Star Blade arcade game (a portion of this is playable while the game loads right after it’s turned on), later also unlockable for Arcade History. It is also the first in the series to feature character customizations, color palette choices and additional items that can be added to give an extra degree of individuality to player's characters.
- The PlayStation version contained two sets of soundtrack; arcade and remixed. Namco kept the tradition with Tekken 2 and Tekken 3. However, due to the decision to put Tekken Tag Tournament on a CD-ROM for the PlayStation 2, that version only contained a remixed soundtrack, which wasn't favored by many fans to the original arcade soundtrack.
- IGN awarded Tekken 5 the "Best PlayStation 2 Fighting Game For 2005" award.
- GameSpot awarded Tekken 5 the "Best Fighting Game For 2005" award, and nominated the game for the "Best PS2 Game For 2005".
- Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law both make guest appearances as unlockable characters in the Playstation 2 game Urban Reign.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Tekken Official Website
- Tekken Zaibatsu
- Tekkenomics
- Tekken Wiki
- Tekken Portal Site
- Tekken at The Killer List of VideoGames
- Former GamesMaster commentator Derrick Lynch on a UK television in 2001, giving his thoughts on the Tekken/Virtua Fighter rivalry
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy entry on the first 5 Tekken games
- PSPeeps.com's Tekken: Dark Resurrection PSP GHOST FILE ARCHIVE
- *Tekken Zone*
[edit] Regional
- Arcadepimp (Australia)
- Tekken Australia (Melbourne, Australia)
- TekkenChile (Chile)
- Tekken Forces (France)
- Tekken Central (Korea)
- Tekken Poland (Poland)
- Tekken Smash (Poland)
- Fighting Connection (Unknown)
- SDTEKKEN (San Diego)
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| Tekken • Tekken 2 • Tekken 3 • Tekken Tag Tournament • Tekken 4 • Tekken 5 • Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection • Death by Degrees Characters |
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