With Season 2 kicking off and the beginning of the Tekken World Tour proper across the nook, 2025 seems to be prefer it’s going to be one other superb yr for followers of Bandai Namco’s legendary Tekken collection. As one of many earliest preventing video games on the unique PlayStation, Tekken has a singular hyperlink to the consoles, with the collection evolving its gameplay and narrative alongside the platforms. Let’s have a look again on the saga of the Mishima household and all of the havoc they’ve brought on all through the years for PlayStation gamers.
Bloodline beginnings
The unique Tekken was one of many first preventing video games to debut on the unique PlayStation, launching in early 1995 in Japan and in fall elsewhere. Moreover introducing the diabolical Mishima household and establishing most of the collection’ base mechanics, such because the four-attack-button management scheme, Tekken additionally set a brand new excessive watermark for future house ports. Up till this level, gamers had been used to house ports of arcade video games compromising for weaker {hardware} with downgraded visuals and sound and lacking content material. Nevertheless, since Tekken’s arcade launch was on superior {hardware} similar to the PlayStation, the port was arcade excellent. However Namco went the additional mile and added content material not within the authentic: Ending motion pictures, playable sub-boss characters, even a hidden unlockable character who would play a really huge function in future video games–that you simply’d have to grasp Galaga as the sport loaded to find.
Tekken 2, which got here to arcades in late 1995 shocked gamers by shifting the main focus to the deposed patriarch and former villain of the unique Tekken, Heihachi Mishima, whereas additionally bringing in contemporary faces Jun and Lei. It additionally launched a wealth of extra characters that unlocked over time, encouraging gamers to return again and check out newly-debuted characters. In 1996, Namco introduced the sport to PlayStation with a port that was a marked enchancment. Tekken 2’s PlayStation-exclusive CG intro film and endings had been gorgeous and established the collection’ fame for high-quality cutscenes. It additionally added new gameplay modes: Group Battle, Time Assault, Survival Mode, and a Follow Mode.
For a lot of followers, Tekken 3 was their introduction to the collection. It was each massively fashionable in arcades and a best-selling smash hit worldwide when it debuted on PlayStation in 1998. Transferring the story forward 20 years, the mantle of main man switched to Jin Kazama, the son of Kazuya and Jun, and plenty of returning characters had been both older (although not at all times wiser) or changed by a successor. New characters had been launched that may shortly turn into fan favorites going forwards, together with Hwoarang, Bryan, Eddy, and Xiaoyu. To higher make the most of the 3D arenas, Tekken 3 added sidestep dodges for all characters to make use of. The PlayStation model added two gameplay modes: The sidescrolling beat-em-up type Tekken Pressure, and beloved celebration favourite Tekken Ball, in addition to extra characters: Anna Williams, Dr. Bosconovich, and Tekken’s first-ever visitor character, the tiny dinosaur Gon.
Vengeance, powered by Emotion Engines
When it got here time to debut the PlayStation 2, it felt pure {that a} Tekken title would launch alongside it. Tekken Tag Event got here to the console in 2000 with massively improved visuals over its arcade counterpart, showcasing the visible constancy that gamers might come to count on from the PS2. TTT modified up fight the formulation: fairly than taking part in one character, you’d type a staff of two fighters and have the ability to swap between them in battle. The roster was additionally considerably expanded to comprise a number of characters from throughout the collection, together with pre-story-timeskip characters. Lastly, we received one other wild mini-game within the type of Tekken Bowl.
Tekken 4 would emerge somewhat over a yr after TTT’s PS2 debut, reintroducing Kazuya to the story and altering gameplay up fairly a bit. Beforehand, all levels in Tekken had been “infinite” levels with no set boundaries. Tekken 4 switched issues up by introducing levels with uneven floor, partitions, and different obstacles–which might bestow further harm and combo alternatives when opponents had been slammed in opposition to them. Motion was additionally adjusted, altering some fashionable motion methods seen in T3 and TTT. Tekken 4 additionally emphasised the story to a larger diploma than earlier video games: console additions had been a full-fledged Story Mode in addition to a significantly expanded Tekken Pressure sub-game.
It might take a number of extra years earlier than Tekken 5 would step into the ring. Choosing up instantly the place Tekken 4 left off, with Heihachi Mishima seemingly useless and Jin’s satan aspect extra distinguished, Tekken 5 would turn into a fan favourite. Namco dialed again a number of the motion and stage design adjustments of Tekken 4 in response to participant suggestions. Asuka, Feng, and Raven joined the roster, together with the flexibility to customise characters with beauty gadgets earned and acquired in-game. The unique Tekken 5 would see a PS2 port, the place the boss Jinpachi was made playable and Jin Kazama’s battle took middle stage within the action-based, story-driven Satan Inside mode–together with playable ports of the arcade Tekken 1, 2, and three. This wouldn’t be the final we’d see of Tekken 5, nonetheless.
Devils rising from a CELL
A 2006 arcade revision of Tekken 5, Darkish Resurrection, would introduce gamers to combatants Lili and Dragunov, change up some visuals, and additional fine-tune the gameplay. The primary port of Darkish Resurrection would really come to the PSP in mid-2006, bringing with it the brand new Tekken Dojo mode, which let gamers share AI-controlled “ghosts” of their gameplay on-line for others to obtain and battle in opposition to. Whereas the sport was properly acquired on PSP, gamers nonetheless needed a console model, so some months later T5DR was made a downloadable recreation on the PlayStation Community. An replace would comply with in mid-2007 permitting for on-line matches to be performed. To at the present time, T5DR is likely one of the most beloved Tekken titles amongst followers.
Later that yr, Tekken 6 would emerge in arcades, introducing new faces Bob, Zafina, Leo, and Miguel. Issues had been now getting wildly out of hand among the many Mishimas, with Jin and Kazuya each in charge of huge firms waging all-out-war in opposition to one another and Heihachi unaccounted for. Bloodline Revolt, a late 2008 replace, would additional complicate the household battle by introducing Heihachi’s forgotten son Lars and weapon-wielding mecha-maiden Alisa to fight. Gameplay additions embody the Rage mechanic–the place gamers deal extra harm when at low life–in addition to the combo-extending Certain system and interactive background components like breakable partitions and flooring.
The PS3 model, based mostly closely on Bloodline Revolt, launched in 2009 and featured the most important story mode but within the type of State of affairs Marketing campaign. It adopted the duo of Lars and Alisa as they lead a band of rebels in opposition to the Tekken Pressure and the Mishima Zaibatsu. Tekken 6 additionally launched on the PSP, and whereas it lacked the State of affairs Marketing campaign, it did provide a number of the greatest visuals on the platform and ad-hoc multiplayer.
It might be a number of years earlier than Tekken’s return, and within the meantime, Bandai-Namco launched Tekken Hybrid in 2011. This set supplied an HD remaster of Tekken Tag Event with an authentic CG movie, Tekken: Blood Vengeance, and a demo of the then-new arcade title Tekken Tag Event 2. True to its title, TTT2 introduced again the tag-match gameplay and expanded the selectable roster. The PS3 port, which launched in late 2012, added a number of legacy characters, a brand new stage and music monitor from famed musician Snoop Dogg, CG ending cinematics for the entire solid, and a few extra solid members and character variants.
One other fascinating spin-off emerged after TTT2: Tekken Revolution, a free-to-play model of Tekken centered on on-line matches. By taking part in, gamers might earn in-game foreign money to unlock additional characters, in addition to use earned Ability Factors to reinforce character attributes. Tekken Revolution acquired frequent updates so as to add characters and gameplay options all through its life, finally ending service in 2017.
The battle continues
Tekken 7 took its time coming to the PlayStation 4, lastly reaching gamers in 2017, two years after its arcade launch. Throughout that point, arcade Tekken 7 acquired updates–together with Fated Retribution, which famously introduced Avenue Fighter’s Akuma into the roster. He wasn’t alone, nonetheless–Fortunate Chloe, Josie, Katarina, Claudio, and Shaheen all joined the fray as properly, alongside a number of new levels and system adjustments. Taking into consideration a number of the suggestions from Tekken Revolution, T6’s bounds had been adjusted and decreased, being supplanted by new screw combo starters. The Rage system was additional developed as properly, creating new Rage Drive and Rage Artwork abilities that could possibly be used at low well being–however solely as soon as per spherical, and at the price of Rage’s harm increase.
Upon reaching the PS4, Tekken 7 acquired a console-exclusive, prolonged story mode–however, maybe extra importantly, it was given a full slate of DLC updates for years afterwards, tweaking character abilities and including loads of new levels, music, and characters over time. Moreover re-introducing previous favorites disregarded of the unique roster, the Tekken 7 DLC additionally introduced in new characters Leroy and Lidia–and, most memorably, a number of extra shock visitor characters: Geese Howard from Deadly Fury, Noctis from Remaining Fantasy XV, and Neegan from The Strolling Useless.
As Tekken 8 marked its first anniversary on PS5 this previous January, followers can look ahead to loads of additional surprises. Season 2 of DLC guarantees that much more new, beloved, and sudden characters can be becoming a member of the roster, and the newest free story replace leaves off on a cliffhanger that guarantees but extra high-stakes inter-family drama between the Mishimas sooner or later.
