Grave Gamer News & Views — tekken

Tekken + Pokemon = Pokkén? The Pokemon Company Announces Pokkén Tournament

Have you ever played Pokemon, lamented at the turn-based battles and thought to yourself, “Holy hell, why can’t this just be like Tekken?”

On the reverse spectrum, have you ever listlessly slogged through Tekken’s character select screen and groaned, “I just want to play as fictional, dog-fighting animals whose only attempt at language is shouting their own names!”

Well, good goddamn, do I have a game for you that you’ve always wanted but didn’t know how to ask for. Introducing Pokkén Tournament – a 3D arcade fighter set to the tune of Tekken’s gameplay but featuring Nintendo’s beloved Pocket Monsters.

The game is being developed by Namco Bandai Games with involvement from Soul Calibur producer Masaaki Hoshino and Tekken’s own eccentric producer Katsuhiro Harada. This is far from Namco’s first foray into Nintendo trenches – both Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS are being created by Namco Bandai teams, which is likely how they got this unusual gig (saké probably played a big part too).

Before you mod your fightstick with a custom Pikachu inlay, keep note that no North American release has been announced. Nor is there any info on Pokkén making it to home consoles. So far, the fighter is only slated for Japanese arcades in 2015.

Watch the official teaser hereabouts.

What’s Up With Tekken X Street Fighter?

We’re approaching the year mark since the Capcom developed Street Fighter X Tekken released unto the fighting game scene.  Critics loved it, I was quite fond of it, but the community itself chewed it up and spit it out like spoiled milk.  More than a bit of that could’ve been inspired by Capcom’s eyebrow suspending business practices, but you’ll find most serious fighting players simply dismiss SFxT as “broken.”

Namco faired better in the FGC last year, however, having released the universally praised Tekken Tag Tournament 2.  Its success left many wondering what’s shaking on the other side of the crossover fence, Tekken X Street Fighter – where Capcom’s champs would fight Namco’s regulars on Tekken’s groundwork.

Well, the advent of next-gen consoles just may have pushed Tekken X Street Fighter back some until Namco can figure out whether or not the title should be multi-generational.  Longtime Tekken producer and face of the franchise, Katsuhiro Harada, took to Twitter to enlighten a fan on the game’s progress, saying it was still “under development” and that his team was “changing [and] considering platform strategy.”

The news is slighter than the sound of a quarter rattling in an arcade cabinet, yet it’s the most we’ve heard regarding Tekken X Street Fighter in months.  The original Tekken Tag Tournament was a flagship launch title for the PlayStation 2 over a decade ago, so it isn’t hard to imagine Namco would want the same for its crossover fighter during the PS4’s launch window.  Hopefully that means we’ll actually get to see footage of the illustrious title sooner rather than never.

JUN by J. Carroll

“I still have some characters left to be revealed that comply with some of your requests, even ‘bringing back’ several others. Even so, none of them are paid DLC. I will continue to sincerely comply with fan requests. However, I can’t continue to engage the negative ones that, without knowing what you are talking about, or even thinking about what you are saying, blindly repeat 'bring back, bring back, bring back…’ After this lengthy explanation, I will be quite surprised if there are still people who still don’t get [the game].

Thanks for understanding or not understanding. Whatever.”

Tekken Tag Tournament 2’s chief producer, Katsuhiro Harada, at the tail end of a rather long Twitter diatribe telling fans to shut the hell up about bringing back original voice actors and characters.

If you hop to his open letter, it’s an unpleasant, crabby read that’ll be sure to sour Tekken fans whose only crime was being annoyingly passionate about their beloved fighter.  I still feel absolutely justified in Tweet-bombing him about bringing back Alex.  Harada, you can’t just lash out at your fans unless you’re able to back up your talk with a boxing fucking raptor.

[By the way, if you seriously think I’ve ever gone as far as to bother Harada online about the inclusion of a boxing fucking raptor, I really don’t know how to help you.]

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Tagging In This September

Initially projected for this Holiday season, Namco Bandai’s sequel is finally making its way to home consoles a bit earlier, sometime in September – twelve years after the original Tekken Tag Tournament became a PS2 must-have.  Based on the Unlimited update made to the arcade version of the game, all features present in that title carry over to the Xbox 360 and PS3 with the added benefit of even more fighters to choose from plus a new Fight Labs mode that serves as an advanced training ground for Tekken probies and veterans alike.

I still submit Tag Tournament was the best of the bunch.  Series overseer and director Katsuhiro Harada calls it “one of the most beloved entries” for not only fans but also for his entire development crew, himself included.  Stranded on Western shores (and missing out on Prologue), I haven’t gotten to spend minute one with this sequel but my hopes are high.

How could they not be with awesome quotes shooting around like the one Harada fired when speaking on the amount of characters the game is receiving:

“Probably even more than you might imagine.  So much in fact that Itagaki from the Dead or Alive series said, ‘That’s a bit too much, isn’t it?’ I told him to shut up since his game is taking three years already.”

That about secures my purchase.  With Tekken Tag Tournament 2 hitting consoles and Tekken X Street Fighter underway, there’s quite a bit of Tekken for Tekken fans to Tekken on.