The main games in the series follow the events of the King of Iron Fist Tournament, hosted by the Mishima Zaibatsu, where players control a plethora of characters to win the tournament and gain control of the company; the conflict between the Mishima family serves as the main focus of the series' plot, while players explore other characters' motivations in aiming to control the Zaibatsu.
Gameplay focuses on hand-to-hand combat with an opponent, with the gameplay system including blocks, throws, escapes, and ground fighting. The series later introduced combos and special moves, with characters also able to stage break arenas. Tekken is noted as being one of the first fighting games at the time to use 3D animation.
Japanese video game developer Namco began the series in 1994, with the release of the self-titled first entry. As of 2017, it has nine additional entries, eight spin-off games, and has been adapted into three feature films and other media. Tekken 2, as well as the third game Tekken 3, are considered landmark titles; they received critical acclaim for their gameplay and more immersive experience. Subsequent titles have followed this concept and received generally positive critical responses. It has been mentioned as early as 2015 by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running story in video games without reboots, retcons, or revisions. The Mishima saga covering the first ten games until Tekken 8 was described as a story revolving around the Iron Fist Tournament and a family aiming to destroy each other.[1]
The series has been universally acclaimed and commercially successful, having shipped over 57 million copies by 2024, making it the third best-selling fighting game franchise. The main series has been widely credited by critics and video game publications for raising the standards of fighting games and praised for its gameplay mechanics and replay value.
All major installments of the series are originally arcade games, and the boards used to run them have traditionally been based on PlayStation hardware. Following their release in arcades, home releases in the series have mainly been for consoles in the PlayStation line.
The first game in the series, Tekken, was released in 1994, first as an arcade game and as a port for the PlayStation in 1995.[3] The game features eight playable characters, each with their own sub-boss. The PlayStation version features remixes of the stage themes and also made the sub-bosses playable for a total of eighteen characters, including a costume swap for Kazuya (Devil Kazuya). In addition, a cutscene is unlocked when the player finishes arcade mode with each of the original eight characters. The canon ending of the game consists of Kazuya exacting revenge on his father Heihachi Mishima, beating him in the tournament and tossing him off the same cliff that he was thrown off by Heihachi.[4]
Tekken 2 was released in 1995 in arcades and in 1996 for the PlayStation. A port was also made several years later for Zeebo. There are ten playable characters as well as fifteen to unlock, for a total of twenty-five characters. The home version features four new modes that would become staples to the series, which were Survival, Team Battle, Time Attack, and Practice. The game features remixes of the arcade versions' characters' themes, and a cutscene unlocked once the player completes the arcade mode. The canon ending of this game consists of Heihachi surviving the fall, entering the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2 and defeating Kazuya, throwing him into an erupting volcano and reclaiming the Mishima Zaibatsu.[4] During the events of the second King of Iron First Tournament, Kazuya and Jun Kazama were mysteriously drawn to one another and became intimate.
Tekken 3 was released in arcades and for the PlayStation in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Due to the 19-year storyline span between the game and its predecessor, the game largely features a new cast of characters, including the debut of staple main character Jin Kazama, the child of Kazuya and Jun, as well as now-staple characters Ling Xiaoyu and Hwoarang, with a total of twenty-three characters. The home version includes a mode called Tekken Force, as well as the bonus Tekken Ball mode, and also includes remixes to the characters' themes from the arcade version.[5] The canon ending of Tekken 3 consists of Paul Phoenix defeating Ogre and leaving victorious. After its defeat, Ogre transforms into a monstrous creature, "True Ogre". Jin Kazama faces True Ogre and defeats him, avenging his mother. With Ogre out of the way, Jin's grandfather Heihachi shoots him, leaving him for dead. However, Jin survives, being revived by the Devil Gene he inherited from his father.[4]
Tekken Tag Tournament was released in 1999 in arcades and as a launch title for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. Tekken Tag Tournament features tag battles and includes almost all of the Tekken characters in the series up until that point in time, for a total of 34 characters. The game ran on the same arcade board with an updated Tekken 3 engine, and thus saw major graphical upgrades when ported to the PlayStation 2. The home version features remixes of the characters' themes from the arcade version, and also features a bonus Tekken Bowl mode. A remastered version of the game, Tekken Tag Tournament HD, is included in the 2011 collection Tekken Hybrid,[6] which also contained a playable demo of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and the film Tekken: Blood Vengeance.[7]
Tekken 4 is the fifth installment of the series, released in 2001 in arcades and 2002 for the PlayStation 2. The home version includes a new Story mode that unlocks cutscenes when played, in contrast to previous installments in which such cutscenes were unlocked from playing the Arcade Mode. Gameplay revisions include the ability for the player to move about before the round begins, as well as walled-stages. For the first time, the themes used in the arcade mode are the same ones put into the home version. There are 23 characters to choose from. The story reveals that Kazuya survived the fall into the volcano from 20 years prior, and enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 to take back the Mishima Zaibatsu. In the canonical ending, Kazuya and Heihachi are both defeated by Jin. Jin unwillingly transforms into his Devil form, but after glimpsing a vision of his mother, Jun (whom he had not seen in six years), he refrains from executing Heihachi.[4]
Tekken 5 was released in arcades in 2004 and 2005 for the PlayStation 2, with a short period of time of transition from arcade to PlayStation, of two months in North America and four months in Japan.[8][9] There are 32 characters to choose from, including staple newcomers Devil Jin and Osaka's Asuka Kazama. Many of the characters who were removed in Tekken 3 returned in Tekken 5. The home version includes a mode known as Devil Within, a variant of the Tekken Force mode introduced in Tekken 3. In the canonical ending, Jin Kazama defeats his great-grandfather Jinpachi Mishima (who took over the Mishima Zaibatsu shortly after the ending events of Tekken 4), and inherits the Mishima Zaibatsu.[4]
Although Tekken games normally saw updates to the arcade versions, Tekken 5 was the first installment in the series that had a revision significant enough that it was rereleased, with the subtitle Dark Resurrection in 2005. The game was ported to the PlayStation Portable in 2006 and features two new characters: Emilie "Lili" De Rochefort and Sergei Dragunov. Armor King was also reintroduced as a playable character in this revision. The game also introduces a ranking system to the series. The home version featured new modes, such as Ghost Mode, Tekken Dojo Mode, and the two bonus modes, Gold Rush mode, and a revised version of the Tekken Bowl mode introduced in Tekken Tag Tournament. The Devil Within mode from the PlayStation 2 version however, was absent. Namco Bandai saw the fan demand for a console version and a port for the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network was released in 2007, in full 1080p HD.[10][11] The PlayStation 3 version also saw an update and was retitled Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection ONLINE, marking the first time in the series that online play was featured. The PlayStation 3 version also made Jinpachi Mishima playable (but not online).
Tekken 6 was originally released in arcades in 2007, followed by an updated version in 2008 titled Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion.[12] The home version was based on Bloodline Rebellion and was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, marking the first time in the series that a game was multiplatform.[13][14] The game features a Scenario Campaign mode, which follows gameplay from previous Tekken Force modes, which was playable online alongside standard versus. In the Scenario Campaign ending, after being defeated by Heihachi's illegitimate son Lars Alexandersson (who suffered amnesia at one point during the Scenario Campaign), Jin Kazama is revealed to have wreaked havoc and waged war on the world to fill it with negative energy and generate a physical manifestation of Azazel, so that he himself can face and kill him, as he believed that killing Azazel may purge Jin himself from the Devil Gene inside his body. After the battle, Jin's body is found by Raven, and the Devil Gene is still intact in his body.[4]
A teaser for a new mainline entry in the series was shown during Tekken 7's tournament at EVO 2022, before being formally announced on September 13, 2022 during Sony's State of Play presentation. It was released on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC through Steam on January 26, 2024. As a continuation from the seventh mainline game, it focuses on a conclusion of Kazuya and Jin's enmity.[20] In contrast to the seventh mainline game's utility of Unreal Engine 4, Tekken 8 will utilize Unreal Engine 5, making it the first fighting game to do so.[21] This game was announced on January 6, 2023 to be co-developed with Arika, who also handles the recent patch(es) for Tekken 7.[22]
795a8134c1