Back in the mid 90's Namco released Tekken, one of the first 3D fighting games to the Arcade scene. It was the early years of the third dimension in gaming so graphically it's weak by today's standards, but back then it was state of the art. Soon there after it was ported to the PlayStation where players could enjoy the full excitement of the arcade experience with their friends and family without having to shovel out tons of quarters.
Currently there are eight Tekken games including Tekken through Tekken 6 (including Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion), Tekken Tag Tournament, and Tekken Advance. They've appeared on every PlayStation system to date, and Tekken Advance was released on the Game Boy Advance. Even the Dreamcast had an unofficial port of Tekken 3 if you used the Bleem! boot disk.
One thing I've always praised about the games is that you can just pick up and start playing without having to suffer through learning moves. It that respect it's much like the Street Fighter series, but without being limited to the same moves in different variations. You move with the directional pad (or arcade joystick) and use four buttons to attack, one for each limb. Different combinations of punches and kicks possibly combined with holding, tapping, or double tapping a direction result in a wide variety of attacks and throws.
Each fighter has their own move set, ranging from straight forward to zany and unorthodox. Each move set is, for the most part, based on a real life fighting style (if not embellished upon like in the cases of Paul Phoenix's Judo and Mishima Style Karate in general). As the series goes on the motion acting improves vastly giving you a very fast paced, intense experience as both the player and the spectator. Two skilled players can very literally beat each other to a draw consistently.
My first experience with Tekken was Tekken 3. This was the first game where the player had the ability to move into the third dimension at will (Tekken and Tekken 2 only allowed moving around the arena in certain moves or combos). As a result of this enhanced mobility, the balance was to end characters' "moon jumping", replacing insane vertical leaps with realistic hops. It was a solid fighter, especially as someone who's previous fighter experience was Super Street Fighter II on the SNES.
Back then I would have believed that Tekken games would only go up from there. I'd have never imagined that over 10 years later I'd still feel that the third installment was the best of them all.
That's not to say that everything from Tekken Tag Tournament to Tekken 6 was awful. Each is a satisfying experience. What I am saying is that the games started to trade innovation in favor or lame, gimmicky improvements that Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter, and basically every fighting game today falls into (Soul Calibur IV is a prime example in the extreme, but that's a whole other story for another time).
This is an accounting of each of my experiences with the newer games. I'm not going to try to explain the stories or anything, but give you my impressions as a gamer.
When the PlayStation 2 launched Tekken Tag Tournament was right there waiting in it's next-gen glory. While not a canonical game (as it has the full roster of all characters up to Tekken 3 whether they were alive or dead) it was a great fighter. It was a fine example of the PS2's abilities early on and was definitely the easiest Tekken to pick up. The engine was exactly the same as that of Tekken 3 right down to move timings and character speed. The only change made in this iteration was the Tag mechanic. Two fighters were selected before a fight and the player could change between them at will, giving the reserve character a chance to heal slightly if injured.
It was just as fast, just as fun, but nothing really new. It left me wanting to see Tekken 4, believing that it would blow my mind in the same way Tekken 3 did.
It blew, I'll say that.
Tekken 4 came out in 2002, two years after Tekken Tag Tournament. I was excited to finally get to see the game I'd been waiting so long for. My excitement didn't take long to turn into frustration. Lots of things changed in this update, and not for the better.
Before I get into what went wrong I'd like to talk about what went right, the stages became more involved. In all previous Tekkens stages were just a never ending expanse that was surrounded by a background that didn't really seem to move right with the battle (imagine walking toward a building a mile away from you that never gets closer no matter how long or how fast you go). Tekken 4 introduced uneven terrain, walls, pillars, and all kinds of things one might find if they were to actually be in a world in which people lived. Characters could dodge around parked cars to avoid a hit, or smash the enemy into a wall for extra damage. The environment was very immersive and satisfying.
That brings us to the bad part. As a result of this they changed move speeds and timings drastically. Remember how I said Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag had the same game engine? For five years since Tekken 3's release in 1997 avid players had been practicing and refining their moves with their favorite characters. Then Tekken 4 comes along and just pulls the rug out from under you and makes you feel like you have never played Tekken before.
Combos have always been a strong part of Tekken games. To be good you really need to be able to take advantage of a momentary weakness in the enemy's defense and then exploit it as much as possible with a combo. Tekken 4 instead seemed to favor a single strike style, where hitting an opponent every now and again would get you farther than trying to combo, as most parts of combos (should you ever get the new timing back down to actually perform one) hit absolutely nothing.
This was all we had for three more years. I was heart broken by how much I didn't enjoy Tekken 4 (which is what I feel fueled my love affair with the Soul Calibur series until it too betrayed me with it's own number IV). Tekken 5 was released in 2005, and as a loyal fan I wanted to play it. It harkens back to 3 in that timing was properly restored and combos mattered again. However, that also meant that complex stages had to go too. Why? Instead of awesome stages like the underground parking lot or the mall in 4 we're back to battling across the planes of infinite space. There were a few arenas with walls, but there was still no varied hight or any random objects to affect the battle.
Still though it was an improvement over Tekken 4. Fights were fun again, the characters were well balanced, and we finally got a chance to play Devil Jin (who has the fighting style of regular Jin Kazama from Tekken 3). One would just about be prepared to say that Tekken 5 put the series back on track. Then you get into a fight with the game's main antagonist Jinpachi Mishima (Heihachi's father apparently) and discover that this Tekken is probably one of the most frustrating games out there.
Looking back, each Tekken that I can remember had a character or two that had a cheap move. Tekken 2 had Devil who could shoot lasers and fly. Tekken 3 had True Ogre who could teleport, fly, and shoot fire as well as hit through block with a few moves. However, a good player could easily dispatch these characters as their cheap moves had negative consequences (for the most part). The challenge was reasonable.
Well then here comes Jinpachi in Tekken 5 to totally break your will to keep playing the series let alone the game. Beating him devolves from a test of skill to just dumb, blind luck. Everything he does seems to connect, most of it is unpredictable, and most everything you do to him is ignored. You only have small windows to attack, and usually even doing so opens you up to be killed immediately there after. Not even Devil Jin with his own lasers can out cheap Jinpachi. Your only hope to see all the character endings is to set the rounds to one, so if you do get lucky and beat him you only have to do it the one time.
As a quick aside, it is unbelievably frustrating to anyone who is a gamer when a game's difficulty is whittled down to having to battle a boss or enemy that does nothing short of cheat. Going back to Street Fighter II, battling M. Bison was a harrowing experience, but with refinement of your skills with your favorite characters you could eventually beat him. Or in Tekken 3 with True Ogre. That's because, while having special moves, they still have to play by the same rules as you did when it came to the laws of attack and defend. If I dodge your punch and punch you back while your attacking, I get a hit on you.
With that in mind consider how unfair Jinpachi was to everyone who faced him. He teleports, shoots fire from his belly that instantly crosses the screen, can hit you with the same move regardless of whether you are in the air, standing, or ducking, and in some cases when you are no where near him. He can stop you in any move, and seems to only be vulnerable when not actually moving (as in he's not doing anything like if one was not controlling him so he just stood there). Eventually, if you are patient, you'll get lucky and defeat him, but you'll walk away from the fight with the sickening feeling that you have a long, long road ahead of you if you intend to beat the game with every character.
Sadly, this ridiculous final boss crap stuck around for Tekken 6, though in every other way it's a massive improvement over Tekken 5. Whatever version you've played (as the first arcade version was released in Japan in 2007, the XBox 360/PlayStation 3 version in 2009, and the PSP version in late 2009 or early 2010 depending on where you live) you are treated to an amazing roster of about 40 characters. The endless plane battle areas are gone again, though complex arenas are still absent. Instead some areas have break thru points which take you to another area or expand the current area if you beat someone into the ground or wall enough.
Battle timing is still spot on, and even for having so many characters there is hardly any overlap that didn't already exist (like Nina and Anna, or King and Armor King). Even the Scenario Campaign is a massive improvement over Tekken 5's The Devil Within or Tekken 3 and 4's Tekken Force modes. Combos have just as much of a place as single strikes, and both a patient fighting style and an aggressive one will be as successful. The pick up and play is right where it needs to be, though it's still not where it was in Tekken 3. Only Yoshimitsu fans probably complained about the fighting system as his move set seems to have completely changed to be a blend between his Tekken style and his Soul Calibur style.
In the Arcade Mode you are faced with three tough opponents. The first is a giant robot that goes by the name of NANCY (which I think stands for something, but you never learn what it is). Nancy does not respond to hits, though it does take damage. It has missiles, machine guns, and a laser that will cut a hole in the floor to make you fall out and lose. This would be insanely frustrating except for it's only a bonus round, so you don't have to win to continue. As of yet I haven't beat it, so for that I'm grateful.
After than you are engaged in battle with Jin Kazama (not to be confused with Devil Jin). He is always in Rage Mode, a new mechanic that enhances your attack and defense slightly (when near death for players). He's fast, and he hits hard, but he's beatable. The fight against him usually ends fast one way or another, and it's not anything frustrating. That's yet to come.
Once Jin is down, you go on to face the final boss Azazel. Guess what? He's almost as cheap as Jinpachi. The main difference here is while Jinpachi had a lot of unblockables, Azazel only really has one in his sweeping laser. However, while Jinpachi was vulnerable when not moving, Azazel seems to have an auto guard function that just protects him like there is a force field around him. He doesn't even respond to the hit. And this will exist even if he is in mid attack. You never know what attack is coming up next, and once you are knocked off your feet you will die. He will not let you get up again so you might as well just let him finish you off. Azazel also appears in Scenario Mode, but he's easier because you can surround him by having yourself on one side and the other character (whether it's the CPU or a second player) at his front to distract him.
I'm not sure why it is that a good challenge anymore has been broken down into just having a nearly impossible boss. Or why you can either have complex levels, or good fighting mechanics, but not both. In conclusion though, Tekken games as a whole are still very satisfying experiences for fighting game fans. Every game has had it's improvements, and it's pit falls, but none of them have quite been as good as Tekken 3. None the less each was a memorable experience that kept me coming back for more. Not every fighting franchise has that luxury (Virtua Fighter and Mortal Kombat are two examples that pop to mind of fighters that just don't keep you interested.).
All in all, I do recommend the games. Even if you are new to the series, you can rest assured that the basics of what you learn in one game will carry over to the next, even if the timing is off. Hopefully when Tekken 7 comes out there won't be an even cheaper boss waiting at the end between you and being declared The King of Iron Fist.
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