Tekken

From Free net encyclopedia

}} }}{{#if:{{{distributor|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Distributor(s)<td>{{{distributor|}}}}}{{#if:{{{designer|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Designer(s)<td>{{{designer|}}}}}{{#if:{{{engine|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Engine<td>{{{engine|}}}}}{{#if:{{{version|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Latest version<td>{{{version|}}}}} }} }}{{#if:{{{requirements|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">System requirements<td>{{{requirements|}}}}}{{#if:{{{input|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Input<td>{{{input|}}}}}{{#if:{{{preceded by|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff; white-space: nowrap;">Preceded by<td>{{{preceded by|}}}}}{{#if:{{{followed by|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff; white-space: nowrap;">Followed by<td>{{{followed by|}}}}}

Tekken {{#if:{{{image\|}}}\|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image\|}}}
Developer(s)	Namco {{#if:{{{publisher\|}}}\|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher\|}}}
Release date(s)	(Tekken) 1994-1995, (Tekken 2) 1995-1996, (Tekken 3) 1996-1998, (Tekken Tag Tournament) 1999-2000, (Tekken 4) 2001-2002, (Tekken 5) 2004-2005, (Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection) 2005, (Tekken 6) TBA, (Tekken PSP) TBA
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer {{#if:{{{ratings\|}}}\|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings\|}}}
Platform(s)	Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable {{#if:{{{media\|}}}\|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media\|}}}

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 the PlayStation 2 consoles with a version for the PlayStation 3 in the works.

1 Information
2 Drawbacks
3 Gameplay
4 Continuity
5 Appearances in other media
6 Games
7 Trivia
8 See also
9 External links
- 9.1 Regional

[edit]

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. An update 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. A second more major update named Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection was released in arcades in late 2005. Also, Tekken 6 is thought to be in development for release on the PlayStation 3 console. The series also has one game for a non-PlayStation console called Tekken Advance which was released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance in 2001; however, Namco did not release any more Game Boy Tekken titles after this due to the franchise's exclusive deal on the PlayStation platform. A PSP version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection simply called Tekken: Dark Resurrection is due sometime in June of 2006. [1]

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 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 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 accurately as fighting using judo in spite of the fact that competition judo does not generally include punching and kicking (striking is known in Judo as Atemi-waza, but it is not allowed in competition). 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. Other Tekken characters also draw heavily from real life action heroes, such as Lei Wulong, a video game analogue of Jackie Chan.

[edit]

Drawbacks

The criticisms of the franchise are few. Many reviewers have noted that the overall selection of fighters has suffered from somewhat poor balance throughout the existence of the series. For example, Kazuya Mishima in Tekken Tag Tournament had the "Wind Godfist," a move so powerful and easy to execute that few other characters could match it (except those characters who also possessed this move); the Wind Godfist was then weakened in Tekken 4, leaving Jin Kazama to fill the power vacuum with similarly unbalanced moves. These kinds of problems are very difficult to detect during character design, so they will probably remain not only in future versions of Tekken but in all fighting games for the forseeable future.

Tekken's play mechanic also allows "juggling," a process where players may repeatedly attack opponents after knocking them into midair. This gimmick has proven to be a selling point for the game, as fans struggle to outdo one another in discovering and applying longer and more damaging juggles than their contemporaries use. Yet while a character is in midair, it's impossible to block or guard against hits, and juggling therefore has a tendency not only to provide one player an unfair advantage over another (especially if he becomes trapped in a corner) but to momentarily break gameplay for the player being juggled, who has no real option except to wait patiently until his character lands. Although juggling is likely to remain forever a part of Tekken, the general trend has been for more and more options to be introduced on the defense, including reversals in Tekken 2, parries, special throw escapes, universal sidesteps, and rolls when hitting the ground in Tekken 3, and rolls from hitting the wall in Tekken 4 (the first Tekken game to introduce an interactive background).

Lastly, the Tekken series has yet to allow online play over the Internet. No details are known if Tekken 6 will remedy this.

[edit]

Gameplay

Tekken shares some gameplay mechanics and characters with the other Namco-produced 3D fighter series, Soul Calibur. 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 is not a part of the normal series, but it is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the Tekken series. 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.

[edit]

Continuity

The Tekken storyline tends to leave a decent amount of plotholes. For example, in the Tekken spin-off game Death by Degrees, Nina works in a joint operation run by the CIA/MI6. Anna works in the Tekken Force, run by the Mishima Zaibatsu. The Tekken Force was actually established some time after Tekken 2 to give world leaders the impression that Heihachi 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 favor Nina and taught her the assassin trade, making Anna jealous; both also seem to blame each other for their father's death.

[edit]

Appearances in other media

The Young and Dangerous series featured scenes where the cast played Tekken 2. The Young and Dangerous series was directed by Andrew Lau Wai Keung who also directed Kuen sun (a.k.a. Legend of Tekken) which is loosely based on the Tekken storyline.
Tekken: The Motion Picture, an anime movie, was released in 1997.
Christian, from Little Gamers, loves playing Tekken Tag Tournament.
Charles Stone III is directing a live-action movie tentatively titled Tekken which is said to only be loosely based on the games.
Comedian Dane Cook acknowledges Eddy Gordo's kicks on his comedy album Retaliation released July 26, 2005.
One of the most popular Indonesian thriller movies, Tusuk Jelangkung, shows one of the actors playing Tekken 4 on a PlayStation 2.
The british comedy-series Spaced parodies Tekken in one episode, even showing one of the Spaced-characters doing Nina Williams' win-animation.
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 when he's finished killing his targets.
In the movie Shaun of the Dead, a reference is made to a night in which Shaun, Ed and Pete played Tekken 2.
A TV commercial by the Swiss Milk Producers Association aired in 2000 features their 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 sneeking into the arcade and playing Tekken untill 2 in the morning.

[edit]

Games

Image:PSX Tekken 2.jpg

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 (1999)
Tekken Card Challenge - Wonderswan (1999)
Tekken Advance - Game Boy Advance (2002)
Tekken 4 - Arcade, PlayStation 2 (2002)
Tekken 5 - Arcade, PlayStation 2 (2005)
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection - Arcade, PSP (2005, 2006)
Tekken 6 (working title) - PlayStation 3 (2006)

[edit]

Trivia

The characters Paul, Nina, Yoshimitsu, and Heihachi have been in all Tekken games. However, both Forest Law and Marshall Law have the exact same fighting style and both look the same, but are father and son so therefore Law cannot be accounted for, in which the same goes for King
The game Karateka is misattributed to Tekken on the Power Player Super Joy III albeit lacks technological advances that Tekken has.
Currently the only popular 3d polygon fighting game out from Japan that has the concept of 2 Punch buttons and 2 Kick buttons. Other popular 3d polygon fighting games such as Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive series use different concept of 1 punch button and 1 kick button.
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.
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 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.
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 (playable while the game loads right after it’s turned on). 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.
Tekken characters Law and Paul make appearances as unlockable, usable characters in the Namco made Beat-'Em-Up game Urban Reign.