The Rise or Fall of the Tekken Series

By Arnold Francisco

After its inception on the Playstation in 1994, the Tekken series has taken over as the premiere 3D game on the gaming market today. Currently developing its 6^th game and spawning various games from its name sake, the series I’m afraid is heading into the world of repetitive fighting games joining the likes of Street Fighter. Sorry to all you fighting game enthusiast who believe ‘if it isn't broke don’t fix it mentality.’ There is just so many ‘hadoukens’ I can take ringing through my brain in an afternoon. When the Playstation came out, everyone was going, ‘wow, these graphics are amazing.’ The jump from 16 to 32 bit was like night and day. 12 years later we are up to system 3 which is basically life like so the advancement is enormous. The systems are just too advance to stay stagnant. Graphics are not enough nowadays as all game look good.

There are many reasons why the Tekken series has stood out over the other fighting games in the market. One, the number of selectable characters, two, the fluidity of movement that the Mortal Kombats and Virtua Fighters could not compete with., three: the little hidden games besides the solid fighting game, and four, the extra recognizable characters inserted into the games.

We can only speculate on what recognizable character to be used. We’ve seen Bruce Lee, Jackie Chang, Wesley Snipes. What big name stars from the martial arts world are out there? If we had a choice we would like to see Jet Li. How about Donnie Yen? Maybe a comedic character of Stephen Chow. How about a female for a change? I would love to see the beautiful Maggie Q in tights. You can’t go wrong with Michelle Yeow. She deserve it more so for her years of dedication in the mainstream. Zhang ZiYi would be most perfect for her prominence and recognizability today. How about one of those Twins? Preferably Gillian Chung. Maybe both as hidden characters. How about an American character? Keanu Reeves as Neo in an exclusive 360 version. The before mentioned Jet Li on a PS3 version. How about a luscious vampiress Kate Beckinsale in those black tights? I fail to want a game on the Revolution due to that goofy controller. I meant unique controller. Yeah. The very unique controller that caters once again only to first party games. Guess which system is last on my Christmas list.

I miss the little extras like Tekken Bowling. The greatest bowling game ever. Take that PBA Bowling. How about a hidden volleyball game of our favorite heroines in bikini thongs? More pillow covering nights for all geeks. I mean gamers. I can’t seem to hit that delete button. Remember where you heard it first Namco.

All I know is that Tekken 6 needs a swift kick in the butt. Even the juggling introduced in 4 was a step backwards. When was the last time you were tossed in the air in a real fight ? Juggling in the air is innovative but there are no counters once you’re up there. All you can do is grin and bear it. How about making it Soul Caliburish? Free character movement. I’m tired of the limited range of movement. How about a Soul Calibur vs. Tekken game where we have two modes? A weapons mode and a non weapons mode with free roaming and non roaming. You hear me Namco. Just remember where you heard it first. I just want a character made after me. Doesn’t have to be the end boss, just a mid boss if you don’t mind. No royalties needed. Shouldn’t be too much of a port using both engines from both games and all-powerful systems.

We all live in the real world. At least most of us do and speculating video games is fun if we had the choice to do the games and play game designer and tester. This coming from someone whose been surrounded by video games for a while and seeing it hit a wall in the genre market. Never mind graphics which is nothing but getting better but then again every game looks good. It has to, to compete… How about a adding a RPG mini game for one of the new characters. I’m tired of seeing the Mushima Clan game in, game out. The game has to head in a fresh new direction. You did the fatal mistake in the world of fiction. You aged characters. Bart Simpson is still a kid. Even Spider-Man is still young in years. I don’t want to see Heihachi find the fountain youth or pull a Chucky and possess another body. No cheese for my second favorite fighting game.

Namco has to take a stand to evolve an aging game that has change. If Namco actually takes and do my suggestions, I think the game will gain back it’s momentum from its brother game Soul Calibur, a true 3D game, which to me has taken over as the premiere 3D game. To coin the phrase. Change is good. And in the case of Tekken, it’s inevitable.