Tekken

Tekken (鉄拳, "iron fist") is a series of fighting games developed and produced by Namco. Originally an arcade game, it has been ported to the PlayStation and later the PlayStation 2 consoles.

Information

The series is one of the earliest 3D fighting game franchises, with the first game released 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. A revision of Tekken 5 dubbed Tekken 5.1 is now out in arcades. One can differentiate it by the red spotlights in the character selection background and green lifebars. According to rumors, a second more major revision is in the works for an arcade release in late 2005. Also, Tekken 6 is thought to be in development for release on the PlayStation 3 console and possibly a version for PSP.

As with many fighting games, players each choose a character from different, exotic worldwide settings and fight hand-to-hand with each other. It is primarily a competitive two-player series, but a human player can fight an AI-controlled character for practice or amusement.

Tekken differs from other hand to hand combat games in some important ways. Traditional fighting games are usually played with buttons that correspond to the strength of the attack (for example, 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 his right leg, the move is probably executed by pressing down and right kick, or some variation thereof). Whereas traditional fighting games, such as Street Fighter, involve inputting commands as rapidly and accurately as possibly, Tekken slows the action down, emphasizing rhythm, strategy, and deception over speed and reaction. The Tekken games are considerably 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 of various styles. However, there is some question 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 as fighting using judo in spite of the fact that pure judo does not generally include punching and kicking. Similarly, the character of Marshall Law is listed as being a practitioner of "martial arts", yet in fact the fighting techniques of fellow characters Nina Williams, Hwoarang or Eddy Gordo are as much "martial arts" as anything Marshall Law does. Indeed, one who is familiar with the work of Bruce Lee would not fail to see the similarity between the jeet kune do founder's fighting in movies, and the techniques of his fictional counterpart in the game series, as well as the similarities in physical appearance. One can only speculate as to why Law's fighting style isn't labelled accordingly! Regardless of the specifics involved, the game is popular in the martial arts community, as stated, and many young martial arts students and enthusiasts enjoy practicing and learning the characters' moves in real life.

Gameplay

Tekken shares some gameplay mechanics and characters with the other Namco-produced 3D fighter series, Soul Calibur. Yoshimitsu appears in all of the games from the Tekken series and in both Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur II (though they are different characters), and Tekken's main villain Heihachi 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 mega-crossover RPG involving various Namco and Capcom franchises.

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Tekken 5

The original Tekken bears little resemblance to the most recent release, save for cosmetic similarities. Each iteration was improved upon both graphically and technically. Tekken 3 introduced the ability to move into and away from the background, commonly referred to as "sidestepping." Tekken 4 gave players even greater mobility, and added geometrically complex arenas complete with obstacles and walls to the series. This was a large break from Tekken tradition, as one of the characteristics of previous games was that all of the arenas had no boundaries - the player could walk infinitely far in any given direction. Tekken 5 saw the return of both walled and infinite arenas, while the very fluid mobility of Tekken 4 had been toned down to appease many players who thought it made the game too evasive. Tekken Tag Tournament was not a part of the normal franchise, but it is considered by many to be the pinnacle of Tekken development. It involved each player controlling one of two fighters which they could swap in and out of the ring at will, and tag team attacks and juggles which were both damaging and visually appealing.

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. It is also the first in the series to feature character customizations, color palette choices and additional items that can be added to give a degree of personality to characters. These customizations allow for a surprising number of famous characters to be remade in the Tekken universe - Raven can become Mortal Kombat's Raiden, one of Nina's two costumes can easily be edited to be "The Bride" from Kill Bill, Jin Kazama can become Doctor Doom if given enough time, and Lee's purchasable punk-rock hairstyle bears similarity to Iori from the King of Fighters series.

Continuity

The Tekken storyline tends to leave an amount of plot holes, which grow even bigger with the introduction of newer releases. In the Tekken spin-off game Death by Degrees for example, Nina Williams works in a joint operation ran by the CIA/MI6. Anna Williams works in the Tekken Force, ran by the Mishima Zaibatsu. The Tekken Force was actually established some time after Tekken 2 to give world leaders the impression that Heihachi Mishima wanted to keep peace, masking his true intention of world conquest. What's even more confusing is that this game implies that this was how the rivalry between Nina and Anna started in the Tekken canon, though an already-present twin sibling rivalry turned worse when their father, Richard Williams, seemed to favour Nina and taught her the assassin trade, making Anna jealous; both also seem to blame each other for their father's death.

Everything written above assumes that Death By Degrees is an actual part of the continuity. However, it is strictly a spinoff; a self-contained, stand-alone story and game that, like Tekken Tag Tournament, does not fit anywhere into the main Tekken continuity, and thus is neither a prequel, nor a sequel.

Appearances in other media

Tekken: The Motion Picture [1], an anime film, was released in 1997.
Charles Stone III is directing a live-action film tentatively titled Tekken which is said to only be loosely based on the games. There is no conclusive information, but it has been suggested that movie will focus on the ultimate fighting competition, and the sports industry, and will focus less on the original story of the games.

Games

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Screenshot of Tekken 2

The following is a list of titles in the Tekken series:

Tekken - Arcade, PlayStation (1994)
Tekken 2 - Arcade, PlayStation (1996)
Tekken 3 - Arcade, PlayStation (1998)
Tekken Tag Tournament - Arcade, PlayStation 2 (2000)
Tekken Advance - Game Boy Advance (2001)
Tekken 4 - Arcade, PlayStation 2 (2002)
Tekken 5 - Arcade, PlayStation 2 (2005)
Tekken 6 (working title) - PlayStation 3 (2006)

A Tekken 5 upgrade, entitled "Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection" has been announced. It will feature two new characters, Dragunov & Lili, a host of balance tweaks and newly-rendered backgrounds. It is expected to hit Japanese arcades sometime during the winter. It is currently unknown as to whether this upgrade will be released on console.

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