633: Tekken series

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for the Tekken series for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[Sage + Onion Knight]

I don't have a great deal to say about the Tekken series, beyond them being something of a mainstay of my childhood gaming life. Tekken 2 was one of the first PlayStation games I played courtesy of the demo disk, and the future entries into the series were always at friends' houses. My overriding memory is that my sibling (with that unshakeable authority that an older sibling has when you're a kid) told me that all of the Tekken characters were real people who had given the license for their likeness to the games, like how footballers would for a FIFA game. I believed this unquestioningly for a much longer time than I can justify.

[NoMoreSpearows]

If Michiel's on this one, I imagine he could guess that my TEKKEN main is Bob. I don't know what pulls me to these round fighters, but I played Birdie in Street Fighter V and Wario in Super Smash Bros. from Brawl onwards, so the pattern continues.

Unlike Birdie and Wario, I'm not actually able to do much with Bob. A lot of it is my lack of TEKKEN experience, given that I'm more accustomed to 2D fighters, but Bob's also not terribly easy to pick up and play. He's got follow-up attacks to his follow-up attacks, he's got pretty thorough combos that requires practice I don't have time for, and he's lacking the one thing I turn to obese brawlers for: a big dumb attack that feels satisfying to land.

But he's rotund and silly and says things like "speed and WEIGHT!" with deathly seriousness so I can't see myself playing as anyone else. My fingers are crossed he'll show up in TEKKEN 8 eventually, but for now we'll have to (speed and) wait.

[Alex79]

Given the fact that fighting games are one of my lesser preferred genres, and even within that Tekken ranks pretty low on my list of those games I do still enjoy, it's fair to say I'm not the biggest Tekken fan in the world.

This wasn't always the case. Tekken 2 was the game I got along with my PS1 back in the 90s, a time which coincided perfectly with the proliferation of games consoles in nightclubs. I spent so long playing that game at home that even in a club, at 4am, barely able to see the controller in my hands as reality warped around me, I was still able to remember various ten hit combos and obliterate anyone who challenged me on the game. Good times. The best times, in fact.

When Tekken 3 came out and was almost, to my eyes, arcade perfect, I bought it immediately and really enjoyed that game too, along with all the new mini-games included in the package. I particularly enjoyed the scrolling brawler style variant of the game, Tekken Force.

Over the years I became a bit bored with the series. It never seemed to evolve in the same way Street Fighter did, but I did quite enjoy the Street Fighter X Tekken game I had on Vita for a while. It's not a series I still play, and although I would never consider buying any of the new games, I do have a lot of nostalgia for those early titles, particularly on the PS1. A combination of right place, right time, and a lot of fun memories right there.