Lookback: Tekken Arcade-to-Home Retrospective

Hopefully sooner, rather than later.

While the arcade version has been out in Japan for almost a couple of months, everyone else is wondering when Tekken 6 will be out in arcades elsewhere. But of course, if you’re not in Japan, the arcade scene just isn’t the same- we’re all better off with pining for the PS3 version to get our Tekken 6 Fix.
Namco (and now Namco-Bandai) has always been known for superb home ports of their flagship fighter, almost always better-than-arcade-perfect in one way or another.

The original Tekken, AKA Rave War (Arcade release, December 1994), was Sony’s big fighting game laid out against Sega’s Virtua Fighter on the Sega Saturn. With a more comic book, fantastic feel as opposed to the more authentic martial arts simulator schtick of VF, Tekken presented a new control scheme (one button per limb), cool fighting styles and unblockable attacks, and a cast of fighters that kicked virtual butt. Fighting their way up the tournament in ‘Death Matches’ held in exotic locales like Angkor Wat, characters had to face a formidable sub-boss near the end before matching fists with the current King of the Iron Fist Tournament, the horn-haired Heihachi Mishima.

The home version of Tekken (March 1995 in Japan) appeared on the original Playstation several months after the arcade release, looking almost perfect graphically thanks to the arcade System 11 board very similar to the PS. Namco upped the ante by adding the game’s bosses as unlockable characters as well as FMV CG endings for each of the original fighters. Of course, there’s no ending creepier than Kazuya’s smile at the camera after dropping the unconscious Heihachi off a cliff to his apparent death. Well, actually the creepiest was King’s ending with the live-action kids, but that’s perhaps just me…

Tekken 2 arrived in arcades on August 1995, adding in more characters and upping graphical detail a couple of notches. Chief among the new faces were Jun Kazama, a pure-hearted environment protection agent and martial artist, and Lei Wulong, a kung-fu detective based on Jacky Chan. Gameplay got deeper and more detailed as fighters’ repertoires got larger and the fighting got more action-packed. The sub-bosses returned but the balance had been reversed. Former end boss Heihachi was now the hunter, his evil son Kazuya the hunted but powerful Boss at the end of the tournament. Someone was getting thrown off a high place again at the end of the whole thing, that was for sure.

The home version of Tekken 2 arrived in March 1996, adding in yet more awesome (for the time) CG cinematics and endings, as well as unlockable characters aplenty. It was yet another awesome port and in many ways a better-than-perfect translation of the arcade game thanks to the many extras. And an Anna shower scene.

Tekken 3 for the arcade arrived in the summer of 1997, briging with it a massive graphical overhaul. Character models were now highly detailed, albeit the roster had quite a few changes thanks to the new storyline with a monstrous entity known as Ogre apparently killing off many veteran characters. The new generation of Tekken heroes included Jin Kazama, the son of the now-MIA Jun Kazama, seeking revenge for the disappearance and assumed murder of his mother. Then there was Ling Xiaoyu, the feisty and cute kung fu schoolgirl whose graceful martial arts stances made her an instant favorite. Eddy Gordo introduced Capoeira into the game and since then button mashers have been breakdancing to victory. Then there’s Julia Chang, who takes over her adoptive mother Michelle’s spot in the roster. Many fighters from T2 didn’t return, but the large roster pleased most fans and Tekken 3 was a certified hit with even deeper fighting and addictive action.

Tekken 3 was the last game in the series that appeared on the original PS, and many thought it couldn’t be done on the aging console. But arrive it did on March 1998 with customary excellence. Awesome cinemas, far more spectacular and realistic than ever before, presented the multi-faceted action-soap opera like never before. The game also gave players cool surprises like the hidden characters Dr. Boskonovitch and Gon.

Tekken Tag Tournament burst into arcades in summer of 1999, a pleasant break from the series’ canon by bringing EVERYONE into a big free-for-all, even those presumed dead since Tekken 3. Tag team play allowed for awesome team-ups and even more impressive, fast-paced play.

Debuting in March 2000, the PS2 version of TTT impressed everyone with it’s debut as the first PS2 Tekken, thanks to highly-upgraded graphics from the arcade game. Character models were smoother and more detailed. Every character had CG endings, although several shared endings and almost all used ONE music track which could get very tiresome after the twentieth time you hear it. Still, it was all awesome and Unknown, the female end boss, was the hottest babe in black goo to ever grace a Tekken game.

Tekken 4 arrived in arcades in July 2001, with improved graphics over previous games that gave everything a new look- really, some of the returning fighters really didn’t look at all like their previous incarnations (Paul with flat hair??!). Adding in environmental hazards and new gameplay mechanics, the game didn’t please all the fans and is most widely regarded as the series’ low point.

Still, it was an excellent home port that graced the PS2 in March 2002. Characters spoke more, the fighting was more gritty and graphics were impressive. Aside from just CG endings, prologues and epilogues presented in english by a new narrator with nifty artwork told the Tekken story clearer than ever before.

Arriving in December 2004, Tekken 5 picked up literally seconds where the previous chapter left off. Opening with awesome CG cinematics that have now since become the series’ benchmark look, T5 added in far more detailed and impressive character graphics and revitalized gameplay and animation that called back fans who had abandoned the franchise after T4. Debuting as well was a wave of cool new fighters along with many returning favorites long thought dead. Asuka Kazama succeeds the vanished Jun. The brutal Feng Wei brings his beautiful but fierce kung fu, and the Blade-lookalike Raven finally introduced a more conventional ninja into the Tekken mix.

The PS2 version of Tekken 5 arrived relatively quickly, actually coming in earlier to the US in February 2005 as the Japan game made it’s usual March debut that same year. Arguably the best home port of the series, the PS2 game brought in almost arcade-perfect graphics and gameplay, more CG movies than you know what to do with, a cool mini-game called Devil Within that fills in the gaps of Jin Kazama’s adventures, AND it added in a Museum Mode with arcade-perfect versions of Tekken, Tekken 2 and Tekken 3… All in one disc! Simply superb.

Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection AKA Tekken 5.5 was an arcade upgrade that arrived in December 2005. Introducing even more balanced and tweaked gameplay and two new competitors- rich girl Lili and creepy Spetsnaz operative Sergei Dragunov- it was a welcome addition to the franchise for hardcore players who found Tekken 5’s gameplay a bit unbalanced.

Dark Resurrection came home in two forms- an excellent and seemingly flawless PSP version (simply entitled Tekken: Dark Resurrection) that arrived in July 2006, and an arcade-perfect, HD version downloadable to the PS3 in December 2006 for Japan and March 2007 for the US. Online play was later added, bringing the Iron Fist tournament into the worldwide arena.

And now… Tekken 6. The arcade version was released in Japan in late November 2007. An international arcade release is expected in early 2008. What of the PS3 game? Logic dictates that we may see it as early as perhaps March 2008, given that Tekken home ports have almost always been released at this time in Japan. Given that the arcade board is basically a PS3, a quick home port is possible. And given how Tekken 5 DR is already working online, it shouldn’t be hard to set up the online play component touted to grace the home version.

Still we can only hope that the PS3 version of Tekken 6 is announced soon. Judging from all the videos online, it is a no-brainer that THIS is the fighting game PS3 owners bought their consoles for. On HDTV, in full resolution and blazing-fast 60 fps, this game is going to OWN. Cross your fingers, gamers. Fighting Game Nirvana is coming this year. Let’s just hope it comes sooner rather than later.