Ogre (Tekken)

Ogre (Japanese: オーガ, Hepburn: Ōga) known in Japan as Toshin (闘神, Toshin, "闘" means "fight" or "war", and "神" means "God") is a character from the Tekken fighting game series released by Namco Bandai Games. Ogre is introduced in Tekken 3 as the final boss along with its other form True Ogre, and it has returned in Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Tekken Revolution (second form only), although the latter three games are non-canonical. Ogre is the Tekken series' first main villain who is not a member of the Mishima family. In the storyline of Tekken, Ogre is the war weapon which creatures from outer space left on earth in ancient times. It understands entire structures of all living and artificial beings, and absorbs them. It wanders the earth in search of strong souls. It is also worshipped by ancient Aztecs as the "God of Fighting".

Appearances

Tekken games

Ogre is the Aztec God of Fighting infused with mythical powers. It is able to do some form of telekinesis, mainly in grabbing enemies, and defy gravity by levitating, though it is unable to do the latter during gameplay. The most notable power of Ogre, however, is its ability to absorb souls, which would transfer all of the consumed souls' abilities and potentially increase its power.

According to Heihachi Mishima's Tekken 3 profile, Heihachi sends his own military group which he formed sometime after regaining control of Mishima Zaibatsu at the end of Tekken 2, the Tekken Force, to search an Aztec temple in Mexico. Soon after arriving there, Heihachi learns that his entire force has been obliterated by Ogre. Heihachi, having witnessed the power of Ogre, seeks to capture it in hopes of creating the ultimate life form. In the meantime, Ogre attacks various martial artists around the world, including King, whom it specifically kills, and Baek Doo San, who falls into a coma that lasts for a year, as revealed in Tekken 5. Ogre also goes to the forests of Yakushima, where it attacks Jun Kazama and her son, Jin. Despite the latter's attempt to fight it, he is outmatched and knocked unconscious, and when he wakes up, both his mother and Ogre are nowhere to be found. Ogre additionally compels Nina Williams, recently released from her cryogenics experiment, to assassinate Jin, while its appearance awakens Mokujin, a wooden dummy who comes to alive in the presence of great evil. As bait to lure Ogre into the open, Heihachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 four years later. Indeed, Ogre shows up and is defeated by Paul Phoenix. However, unknown to Paul, Ogre morphs into its true form and the tournament continues. Ogre eventually confronts Jin, who participates to avenge his mother's apparent death, and they clash in battle. Jin emerges victorious and Ogre is defeated.

Though it is only briefly mentioned, Ogre is ultimately the reason why Heihachi decides to hold the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 in Tekken 4. As revealed in his prologue, Heihachi has tried to inject Ogre's blood into himself, but he discovers that its genome could only be integrated with the "Devil Gene", which Heihachi did not possess. He knows that both Jin and his recently resurrected son, Kazuya Mishima possess it, so he announces the tournament to lure both to him. In Tekken 5, Ogre appears as the final boss of the "Devil Within" mini-game, set between Tekken 4 and Tekken 5, where it is apparently resurrected by the G Corporation. It battles Jin twice during the latter's search for his mother, the second time transforming into an ever bigger form than its second form, although it is ultimately defeated by Jin. Its Aztec shield is also available as a customization item for Devil Jin. In the Scenario Campaign prologue of Tekken 6, Ogre is briefly mentioned in Heihachi's prologue and when Jin recounts the disappearance of Jun.

Ogre also appears in Tekken Card Challenge, Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, the latter game as a DLC character in console versions under the name "Ancient Ogre".

True Ogre

True Ogre in Tekken Tag Tournament 2

True Ogre (トゥルー・オーガ, Tōrū Ōga) is the true form of Ogre, as well as its stronger form, introduced in Tekken 3. Once Ogre is defeated once in Arcade mode by the player, Ogre will absorb either Heihachi Mishima or Jin Kazama if the player defeats it using Heihachi, to transform into its second form. True Ogre has all of Ogre's moves, with the exception of "Ancient Power", but True Ogre has some extra moves, such as flying, breathing fire, and teleporting. In Tekken 3, whenever True Ogre fights, regardless if it is the opponent or the character the player uses, the arena surrounding it will dim to an eerie pitch black. The effect carries over to the arcade version of Tekken Tag Tournament, but it is removed in the console version and subsequent games. However, in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, the stage the player fights Ogre in (Naraku) seems to allude to this effect; it is almost pitch black, save for blue flames visible in the background.

True Ogre, as in its first form, also appears in Tekken Card Challenge, Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (serving as the Stage 8 boss), and Tekken Revolution (serving as the unplayable final boss), where a golden version of it exists, rewarding the player more if it is defeated. In Tag Tournament 2 , True Ogre is referred to as simply "Ogre", as it is the sole form available to play in the arcade version, with its original form later making appearance as "Ancient Ogre" in console versions. This carries over into Revolution, where it is the only form who appears in the game.

Other games

Ogre (in its first "ancient" form) appears in most of Namco Bandai × Capcom series games, first in Namco (prior the merging with Bandai)'s RPG Namco x Capcom as a non-playable boss character, then in Capcom-made crossover fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken as both a playable character and one of the final bosses (alongside Akuma). In his prologue, Ogre has been sleeping deep within an Aztec chamber, hearing voices from beyond its reach and the voices sounded much like the one who created it. Amidst the darkness, Ogre awakened, as if responding to the power given off by the Pandora that had recently crash-landed into the Antarctic. Standing tall, it states "It's finally time.". Its Swap Costume is modeled after Gill, the final boss of Street Fighter III. It elongates Ogre's hair to about the same length as Gill's and colors it blonde, as well as coloring Ogre's body to a two tone shade of red and blue much like Gill. According to the download blurb, Ogre's appearance changed after it defeated and absorbed Gill.

In other media

At the end of Tekken: The Motion Picture, Jun looks up in the sky and senses a strange presence in the distance before walking home with her young son, Jin. What she sensed is unknown, but, assuming the film follows the game canon, it is implied to be Ogre. Ogre also appears in three Tekken comics, Tekken Saga (1997), Tekken: Tatakai no Kanatani (2000) and Tekken Forever (2003).

Character design

Ogre's first form resembles a tall, muscular humanoid with dark green skin. It adorns various types and pieces of old Aztec jewelry and a large golden helmet/crown with very long orange hair. It also has a small round shield attached to its left arm. Ogre's second form stands not much taller than its first, but is hunched over to an extent due to the extreme metamorphosis. In this incarnation, it barely resembles a humanoid, sporting a large, grotesque frame, dark brown and gray fur, a monstrous face, wings, horns, and a viper in place of its new right arm. All of the jewelry Ogre wore in its previous form disappear, save for two leglets and one armlet. Ogre's non-canonical third form (from Devil Within mode) is less of a drastic change from his first to second, but is much larger overall, appearing to be several stories high. In this form, it has a golden and aqua color, and more closely resembles a large dragon or dinosaur. It features many more horns aligning his limbs and elongated head, and also has four large spikes protruding from the sides of its mouth. True Ogre gains a different appearance in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, in stark contrast to the mostly unchanged appearance of its first form. It now has black and grey fur and skin instead of brown, and its wings are crimson in color. Instead of the leglets, True Ogre retains the golden belt worn by its first form, and instead of a single large viper, its right arm is now composed of eight smaller vipers.

In its first form, Ogre bears many similarities to Cell from the Dragon Ball franchise. They are both genetically engineered bio-weapons, green, tall, possess alien DNA, and have similar personalities and attitudes. Also, they both absorb the other lifeforms to get more power and possess many moves from various fighters from their respective universes.

Gameplay and fighting style

Ogre's fighting style is a combination of seemingly random moves from various other Tekken characters, such as Anna Williams, Armor King, Baek Doo San, Bruce Irvin, Wang Jinrei, Jun Kazama, Lee Chaolan, and Kunimitsu. Overall, it only has three unique moves (Ancient Power, Serpent's Venom, and Azteca Shoot). Because Ogre "stole" most of their techniques, it is the only character with no string-combo, other than Gon. In Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Ancient Ogre adds many techniques taken from other characters (such as Julia Chang and Paul Phoenix), as its own. It is still a very basic character, but it is a great punisher because of its raw power and long limbs. A main tool of Ogre is its throws to its difficulty to be broken. True Ogre's fighting style is identical to Ogre's (excluding Ancient Power), with the addition a handful of moves involving its fire breath, teleportation and flying. In Tekken Tag Tournament 2, its moveset is overhauled: it now borrows moves from more recent characters like Alisa Bosconovitch and Steve Fox. It also has many more moves that utilize its flying potential.

Reception

In 2011, Computer and Video Games placed Ogre in their list "Tekken 's worst ever characters", adding "you're forced to fight this man, who'd look more in-character on a Mardi Gras float passing out flower garlands than he does being hit in the face by Paul Phoenix".^[1] In 2012, FHM listed Ogre and Akuma as one of the "10 Awesome Fantasy Fights in Street Fighter X Tekken", citing their similarities and concluding "They won’t be hanging out together at bars anytime soon".^[2] PlayStation Official Magazine ranked Ogre as the "4th best tag team finisher" in Street Fighter X Tekken, adding "His Super Art mashes foes in a pile of devastating fiery aerial punches, and looks so OTT you should only be able to perform it on Bonfire Night".^[3] In GamesRadar article for Street Fighter X Tekken, they stated "The Aztec God of Fighting, Ogre is a wicked beast beyond our understanding. First appearing in Tekken 3, this deity’s plot involved fighting the greatest combatants in the world, killing them, and then devouring their ki to become even stronger."^[4] In 2013, Complex ranked Ogre's true form as the "16th best Tekken character", stating "Heihachi + Ogre = Holy shit. When we first saw this beast in Tekken 3, we were intimidated, and that was before he started breathing fire".^[5] Complex also ranked Ogre as the "19th Most Feared God in Video Games", commenting "An Aztec deity, Ogre is the God of Fighting, which, obviously, makes him a pretty good fit for the Tekken series. Just take a look at him. What else needs to be said?"^[6] In Complex list "25 Best PlayStation 1 Video Games" in which they praised Tekken 3, they added "let's not forget the story, which featured an Aztec God apparently created by creatures from outer space."^[7] In the official poll by Namco, Ogre is currently ranked as the 47th most requested Tekken character to be playable in Tekken X Street Fighter, at 2.26% of votes.^[8]

References