Tekken

Tekken
New series logo first used by Tekken 8
Genre(s)	Fighting
Developer(s)	Bandai Namco Studios Namco
Publisher(s)	Bandai Namco Entertainment Namco Sony Computer Entertainment
Creator(s)	Seiichi Ishii
Platform(s)	Android Arcade Game Boy Advance iOS Microsoft Windows Nintendo 3DS PlayStation PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 PlayStation Portable Wii U Xbox 360 Xbox One Xbox Series X/S
First release	Tekken September 21, 1994 (1994-09-21)
Latest release	Tekken 8 January 26, 2024 (2024-01-26)

Tekken (Japanese: 鉄拳（てつけん）, meaning "Iron Fist") is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.

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.

Games[edit]

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.

1994–1997: Original trilogy[edit]

Tekken[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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]

1999–2004: Debut of team-battle oriented games[edit]

Tekken Tag Tournament[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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]

2005–present: Expansion and other projects[edit]

Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection[edit]

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[edit]

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]

Tekken Tag Tournament 2[edit]

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was released in Japanese arcades in 2011.^[15] Its console version was released the next year and is based on the updated arcade version called Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited that contained new features.^[16] The Wii U version, which served as a launch title for the console, includes a revised version of the Tekken Ball mode from Tekken 3 and exclusive Nintendo themed costumes for each character, as well as a new mode that makes use of the mushrooms from the Super Mario Bros. franchise. Like the previous iteration, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 includes nearly every character up to that point and a few exclusive characters. Lili's butler Sebastian, Eddy Gordo’s disco-oriented alter ego Tiger Jackson, a new female wrestler character named Jaycee, who is actually Julia Chang in disguise but was made to differentiate the play style of Julia and her mother Michelle Chang, and Slim Bob a slender version of Bob. A demo version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was released as part of Tekken Hybrid including exclusive designs for Devil and Devil Jin from the film Tekken: Blood Vengeance. American rapper Snoop Dogg was featured in the game with his own stage and an original song by the rapper titled “Knocc ‘em Down”.

Tekken 7[edit]

In early 2014, Katsuhiro Harada expressed interest in continuing the series on PlayStation 4.^[17] Tekken 7 was released in Japanese and Korean arcades in 2015. It is the first game in the series to be powered by the Unreal Engine.^[18] The game received an update, subtitled Fated Retribution and released to arcades on July 5, 2016, and featured the series' second, third, fourth and fifth guest characters, the guest characters appearing are Akuma from the Street Fighter franchise by Capcom, Geese Howard from SNK's fighting game franchises, Noctis Lucis Caelum from the Final Fantasy franchise by Square Enix and Negan Smith from The Walking Dead franchise. The PlayStation 4 version was confirmed at Paris Games Week 2015, and features exclusive content as well as virtual reality support. The Xbox One and Microsoft Windows versions were released on June 2, 2017, alongside the PlayStation 4 version, and are based on the Fated Retribution.^[19] In the canonical ending, considered the conclusion of the Mishima saga, Heihachi takes control of the Zaibatsu, and attempts to expose Kazuya of the Devil Gene, after a failed attempt on capturing a missing Jin, who was found safely by his uncles Lars and Lee. In their final battle, Kazuya permanently kills Heihachi and throws him into an erupting volcano, whereas Jin, who recovered from his coma thanks to Lars and Lee, declares that he must kill Kazuya to end the cursed Mishima bloodline. It was also revealed that Heihachi killed his wife Kazumi in self-defense because of her possession of the Devil Gene and the fact that she had gained a split personality because of it, shortly after Kazuya was born. Few side playable characters’ storylines have their endings from Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ties to this game.^[4]

Tekken 8[edit]

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]

Spin-off and crossover games[edit]

Tekken 3 was also ported to the Game Boy Advance as Tekken Advance in 2001.^[23] Tekken 6-based Tekken 3D: Prime Edition was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. A free to play version of Tekken was released in 2013 for PSN as Tekken Revolution. Tekken Card Challenge was released on the WonderSwan, a Japan-exclusive handheld, in 1999.^[24] A spin-off action adventure game featuring series' character Nina Williams as the protagonist, Death by Degrees, released for the PS2 in 2005.^[25] Two mobile Tekken spin-off games were released in 2011: a 2D fighting game Tekken Resolute, which was the first game not to include Heihachi Mishima,^[26] and Tekken Bowl, the bowling mini-game from Tekken Tag Tournament, for the iOS operating system. Tekken Bowl was first game not to include Yoshimitsu, Nina Williams, Paul Phoenix, or King.^[27] In 2013, a third mobile game titled Tekken Card Tournament was released by Namco Bandai to the App Store for iOS and Google Play Store on Android.^[28][29] That same year, Namco Bandai also released Tekken Arena to the Google Play Store on Android.^&#