Monday, March 5, 2012

Tekken 1

Hey gang. I finally caught a moment to update this silly thing. I know I'm going to be busy with schoolwork, and Mass Effect 3 within a few hours, but inspite of this we're going to take a look at the Tekken series game by game for the next few post. To start things off we're going to talk about what else, but Tekken 1.

If you introduced anyone to Tekken 1 today, and they had only played today's fighting games, they might be a little less than impressed to say the least. Tekken as an arcade game had 8 playable characters, a cgi intro a few seconds and on the surface that was it. Each character had their own subboss character, but in the arcade version they were all unplayable, and so was series favorite Heihachi, who functioned as the game's last boss.  Despite its lackings and sometimes awkward blocky graphics the original Tekken did alot of things  right.  Tekken was one of the first 3D fighters to incorporate the endless background. If you look at alot of the first successful 3D fighters (things like Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers, Last Bronx etc) they all had you stuck in a cage, or in some sort of ring with leaving it either meaning a loss via ring out, or being stuck on the wall. The original Tekken and later entries in the series utilize stages with a scrolling floor that means you never get to the end of the map. It looks semi bizzare in the earlier entries in the series, but it kind works, and you'll be focused more on the action than the ground anyway.

I won't go into Tekken's sometimes out there storyline too much, but I will say that the first Tekken involves head of the Mishima Financial Group, Heihachi Mishima putting out a tournament who's rules say that whoever wins gets the company. The events of Tekken follow those who have made it to the final. As stated earlier 7 characters, their own nemesisies, and Heihachi himself. This cast ranges from everything from Heihachi's own son Kazuya, to a Bear named Kuma entering the tournament. 

The playstation version uses inferior hardware to its arcade counterpart, but this can easily be forgiven because of all the added content.  Not only did they make everyone playable, but sub bosses had their movesets updated to make them worth using in the first place as well. If you hack the arcade game(which I've done) to play as boss characters in the arcade version, you'll find their movesets are quite lacking compared to the playstation version. I can guess this is part of the reason why they were not made unlockable.  Also exclusive to the PS version of the game is a complete sound remix, which can be toggled on or off in the options menu. Remixed and Original soundtrack would go on to become a staple of the Playstation Tekken series, and the music in Tekken 1 both remixed and arcade style is excellent to begin with, so you'll likely find yourself mixing it up on occasion to hear both types of tunes.

Though sometimes quirky and graphically odd the first Tekken is an excellent start to the series. While not too technical in itself Tekken 1 introduced several longstanding traditions into the series, while at the same time cutting a path for itself in the 3D fighting game market.

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