Developed by Japanese company Bandai Namco Entertainment back in the mid-1990s, Tekken is one of the most iconic game franchises in history. Over the years, it has captured the hearts and minds of tens of millions of gamers around the globe. In fact, according to its publisher’s official factsheet, Takken has sold almost 50 million copies around the world.
Tekken is still a popular game among fans due to its fast-paced gameplay and iconic characters. This is especially true for those who enjoy martial arts. It’s because each character in the game specializes in a different fighting style, such as Muay Thai, Ninjutsu, Vale Tudo, and others. In this article, we will take a look at what’s driving this video game’s popularity, as well as what to expect from Tekken 8, which will be published next year.
Why Was Tekken a True 90s Game-Changer?
Wednesday, September 21, 1994, is one of the most important dates in the history of video games. That’s when Namco’s Tekken first saw the light of day. It was first released as an arcade game, but with the PlayStation console being released a few months later, the game developers decided to make it suitable for that platform a year later. That said, Tekken was one of the first PS1-compatible games. Another first achieved by Tekken was the use of 3D graphics. It was one of the first fighting games to ditch traditional 2D sprites, giving a greater sense of realism to the players.
Tekken was also one of the first fighting games to employ the sidestep method, which allowed players to slide their character to the side of the screen to dodge their opponent’s punches.
Tekken stood out from the competitors not just for its technological breakthroughs, but also for its wide roster of characters. Instead of employing the same move sets for each character, Tekken designers decided to give each fighter their own set of abilities. This essentially gave Tekken characters a personality, making players want to learn more about each of them. As a result, there have been numerous spin-offs, as well as several movies and comic books.
Tekken Outside the Video Game Universe
Tekken: The Motion Picture was released in Japan in 1998. Tekken got a live-action remake eleven years later with the release of the film of the same name. Despite the fact that both of the films were panned by critics, they did fairly well at the box office. Furthermore, each generated sequels that shared the same ethos.
Aside from Tekken-inspired films, there have been a few printed adaptations, the most successful of which is perhaps the 2009 Tekken Comic manga. In addition, there are various Thai casino games based on Tekken. For example, there is the Tekken Pachislot game which is a combination between Pachinko and a slot machine. This game was released in 2004, with three subsequent versions since then.
Another successful Tekken product is the Universal Combat System collectible card game. The game, developed by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG), includes Tekken characters as well as combatants from other prominent video games such as Street Fighter, Mega Man, and Darkstalkers, to mention a few.
Tekken 8 To Be Released By 2024
Tekken 8 was announced by Bandai Namco Studios in September. Many characters from previous iterations of the game, including fan favorites like Marshal Law (first appearance: Tekken 1) and Jun Kazama, will appear in the new release (first appearance: Tekken 2). The new game will also feature a few brand-new characters, most notably Jack-8, the franchise’s eighth iteration of the android fighter, who has been around since the 1990s.
The 2024 version of the game is also expected to have superior graphics than its predecessors, which is why it won’t be suitable for PlayStation 4. In fact, the game is expected to run only on PS5, as well as Xbox Series X and Series S. Tekken 8 will also be suitable for Windows, but only high-end computers will be able to run it. Tekken 8 is expected to be released sometime between April 2023 and March 2024.
