| Tekken | |
|---|---|
Front side of North American Tekken arcade flyer. |
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| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 (as part of Tekken 5 's Arcade History mode), PlayStation Network |
| Release date(s) | Arcade
PlayStation Network |
| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Up to two players |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system | Namco System 11 |
Tekken is a fighting game and is the first of the series. It was released at arcades in late 1994 and on the PlayStation in 1995. A simplified "arcade" version of the game was later released in Tekken 5's Arcade History mode. It was developed and published by Namco. It is succeeded by Tekken 2, which came in 1995.
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Tekken is one of the earliest 3D fighting game franchises, with the first game applying many of the concepts found in Virtua Fighter by Sega.
As with many fighting games, players choose a character from a lineup, and engage in hand-to-hand combat with an opponent.
Tekken differs from other hand-to-hand fighting games in some ways. Traditional fighting games are usually played with buttons which correspond to the strength of the attack, such as strong punch or weak kick. Tekken, however, dedicates a button to each limb of the fighter, making learning special attacks more of an intuitive process. The player could watch the animation on screen and figure out the appropriate command (if the character kicks low with their right leg, the move is likely to be executed by pressing down and right kick, or a similar variation).
By default, there will be two rounds of combat. However, the players have a choice from one to five rounds, as well as options for the time limit of each round. If the winning character retains all his or her health without the time having run out, the announcer will say, "Perfect!" If the winning character is near knock out, the announcer will call, "Great!" Occasionally, both characters will be knocked out simultaneously, and the announcer will call "Double K.O." If the time limit for the round expires, the character with more health will be declared the winner. If one does not exist, the round will be a draw. In most cases, the announcer will call "K.O." when one character is victorious.
In the game, the name of the location was displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen. The locations were all real places and included Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Szechwan (China), Monument Valley (USA), Chicago (USA), Kyoto (Japan), Fiji (Fiji), Windermere (Great Britain), Venezia (Italy), Acropolis (Greece), King George Island (Antarctica), and Chiba Marine Stadium (Japan). However, in later Tekken games the location names were removed and the locations themselves became more generic.
Heihachi Mishima, the powerful and ruthless owner of the multi-national Mishima Zaibatsu, has announced the King of the Iron Fist Tournament, a fighting competition with a one billion dollar cash prize. There are eight competitors, and one of them is an undefeated world champion who is apathetic towards the prize money and solely wants to take his revenge on Heihachi.
This man's name is Kazuya Mishima, the son of Heihachi. As history puts it, when Kazuya was five years old, Heihachi threw him off a cliff to see whether or not he was really his son (this would be determined by Kazuya's ability to survive the fall and climb back up). Kazuya did indeed survive the fall, but it left a deep and bloody scar on his chest which was slowly claiming his life. The Devil appeared before Kazuya, offering him the opportunity to retrieve his strength back to take his revenge on Heihachi in exchange for his soul. Kazuya, driven by anger and hatred, accepted.
The King of the Iron Fist Tournament takes place twenty-one years later, and by now Kazuya is an undefeated champion (the only blemish on his record being a draw against Paul Phoenix, another character from the game who wishes to win the tournament as well as defeat Kazuya). Kazuya enters the tournament, and ultimately makes it to the final round where Heihachi awaits him.
Kazuya and Heihachi clash in battle atop the same cliff from which Heihachi once tossed Kazuya, with the violent and bloody fight raging on for hours until Kazuya, powered by the strength given to him by the Devil, overpowers Heihachi and beats him into unconsciousness. Kazuya picks up his father's broken body, and drops it from the cliff. Smiling to himself in triumph, Kazuya is now the new owner of the Mishima Zaibatsu.
Note : Unlockable characters are only playable in home version
Tekken was later ported to the PlayStation. The PlayStation version allowed players to unlock mid-boss characters when the game was beaten and had FMVs.
While the game loads for the first time upon turning on the console, a version of Galaga plays. If the player is able to shoot down all ships before they fly off screen, a secret 'Devil' version of Kazuya Mishima becomes selectable by selecting Kazuya and pressing the start button.
The PlayStation 2 version of Tekken 5 features the arcade version of Tekken (being an emulated version of its arcade counterpart as well as the other two that were included in the arcade history mode).
In 2005, Namco re-released Tekken as part of the NamCollection compilation for the PlayStation 2 to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Allgame | Arcade: [1] PS: [2] |
| IGN | 7.5 of 10[3] |
Tekken was met with many positive reviews, with critics claiming it was a good start to the series. Its success and popularity has spawned six sequels. The Tekken games have been highly popular with the martial arts community due to moves of the fighters being close to the actual style of fighting.
Tekken was the first PlayStation game to sell over a million units.[4]
Guinness World Records awarded Tekken with multiple records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These include, "First PlayStation Game to Sell Over One Million Units", "First Fighting Game To Feature Simulated 3D", as well as a record for the entire series as "The Best Selling Fighting Series for PlayStation Consoles."
| Preceded by None |
Tekken Series 1994-1995 |
Succeeded by Tekken 2 |
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