Longtime Tekken director Kouhei Ikeda has announced his departure from Bandai Namco after 20 years at the company.

Tekken hasn't exactly been at its best over the last year or so, with a disastrous Tekken 8 Season 2 launch, followed by an also disastrous Tekken 8 Season 3 launch. On top of that, the development team has seen several departures.

Last September, Tekken 8 producer Yohei Shimbori left Bandai Namco Studios, then at the end of the year, longtime series producer Katsuhiro Harada – who many associate with the series more than series creator Seiichi Ishii – left Bandai Namco after 31 years to open VS Studio at SNK. Now, half a year later, Tekken 8 director Ikeda has announced he has left the company.

Ikeda – who worked on Soul Calibur 4 before moving onto Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as a designer and directing Tekken 7 and 8 – posted an announcement on Twitter, saying "I have officially left Bandai Namco Entertainment after many years with the company." He continues, "I am deeply proud that I had the opportunity to create games alongside such incredible people who poured their hearts into this work. While my role leading the team as game director is coming to a close, the values that both I personally and the Tekken project have always cherished – staying close to the fans and the community and building the game together with everyone – will never change.

"I have entrusted those values, and that baton, to the incredible team that will continue to shape the future of Tekken," he adds, saying, "As I look forward to the future of Tekken and the FGC, I will also continue taking on new challenges as a game developer. I hope our paths cross again someday."

Naturally, some are already speculating that he'll be joining Harada at SNK. While nothing has been announced, Harada has often said that he wants more 3D fighting games on the market to compete with Tekken, so working on a new one with Tekken 7's director could be a no-brainer. And of course, change is scary, so some are already worried that without Harada and Ikeda, Tekken is as good as dead, which I doubt will be the case given it's one of Bandai Namco's biggest series.

At the very least, Tekken fans seem to be a bit more excited about the game, as the post-launch updates for Season 3 have been received far better, and the announcement that the next DLC character will be Baki the Grappler villain Yujiro Hanma is so out there that people are hyped for another silly crossover after Negan showed up in Tekken 7.

Final Fantasy 7 icon Tifa is rumored to join the Street Fighter 6 roster, stealing Tekken fans' most-requested guest fighter away from the already miserable fanbase

Longtime Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada is leaving Bandai Namco at the end of 2025 after a 31-year stint at the company.

Harada, who has been with the series since the beginning and directed Tekken 3, Tag Tournament, 4, 5, and 7 – and produced a number of Bandai Namco titles – announced his departure on Twitter, saying, "With the Tekken series reaching its 30th anniversary – an important milestone for a project I've devoted much of my life to – I felt this was the most fitting moment to bring one chapter to a close."

Harada explains, "In recent years, I experienced the loss of several close friends in my personal life, and in my professional life I witnessed the retirement or passing of many senior colleagues whom I deeply respect. Those accumulated events made me reflect on the 'time I have left as a creator.'" He adds that he sought advice from original PlayStation lead Ken Kutaragi, whose words "quietly supported me in making this decision."

The Tekken team also shares a statement on Twitter, saying, "Rest assured that we are fully committed to the future development and content plans for Tekken 8. We will continue to take community feedback on the game and its content to heart to ensure that we uphold the vision and spirit built by Harada-san, dedicating our utmost efforts to ensure the legacy of the Tekken series continues as a fighting game franchise beloved worldwide."

Harada doesn't say what the future holds for him but adds, "For 30 years I kept saying, 'I’ll do it someday,' and never once performed as a DJ at a tournament event. So instead, I will be releasing – for the first and last time – a 60-minute Tekken DJ-style nonstop mix (DJ mix), personally edited by myself, together with this announcement." So perhaps a DJ career is next.

That being said, a major change isn't always the worst news for a series. Harada's influence may have helped shape Tekken's identity over the years, but he explains, "Over the past four to five years, I've gradually handed over all of my responsibilities, as well as the stories and worldbuilding I oversaw, to the team, bringing me to the present day."

First-time director Takayuki Nakayama absolutely killed it with Street Fighter 6, and considering Tekken 8 is having a turbulent time akin to Street Fighter 5, perhaps a new generation could result in a similar revival. It just means we won't be able to ask Harada "for shit" anymore.

Now that Kirby Air Riders is out, everyone is making the same joke about Nintendo immediately asking Masahiro Sakurai to work on Super Smash Bros 6: "Alright. We let you make Air Riders. You know what comes next…"

Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada has been dropping mad amounts of Tekken lore on Twitter, including more details about Tekken 8's mysterious newcomer Reina.

Tekken's lore is a magical thing, the 30-plus year saga of guys throwing their sons off cliffs, the sons then throwing their dads into volcanoes, the dads retaliating by sending his son, grandson, and father into space strapped to a rocket – you get the gist. But the fighting game genre has never been the most effective at telling stories, so a lot of the Tekken lore is found outside of the core gameplay, such as on series producer Katsuhiro Harada's Twitter account.

Over the last few days Harada has been sharing stories about the Tekken lore on Twitter, answering fan questions about a variety of the series' characters. Some of these tales have explained just small details in Tekken history, such as the Tekken team's failed plans to do a fakeout with an Armor Queen during the Armor King trailer, or the fact that Hwoarang and Ganryu aren't those characters' real names.

However, the most interesting detail Harada shares is a big one. It has to do with Heihachi Mishima (who Harada established as having 25 kids back in 2011), and why the dude has an army of Mishima children primed to be thrown off a cliff.

Heihachi originally threw Kazuya off a cliff to test whether he had inherited his mother's Devil Gene, since, due to the Mishima clan's history of slaying demons, Heihachi feared that it may have infected his bloodline.

"Heihachi has fathered numerous biological children in an effort to prove his hypothesis that the Devil Gene does not originate from the Mishima bloodline. In addition to this, he has pursued every possible avenue of genetic research," says Harada.

Harada then explains that Lars' mother was a researcher who was working alongside the Tekken Force, which is why Lars has no demonic abilities. But then there's Reina – the latest of Heihachi's kids to appear – whose mother is someone Heihachi had identified as having the Devil Gene, which comes to light at the end of Tekken 8's story mode. However, despite not being raised by Heihachi or her mother, Harada notes "in the Mishima bloodline’s long history of intergenerational conflict, Reina and Heihachi are – at least for now – the only parent-child pair to have a genuinely positive relationship."

"I didn’t have a single ally": Tekken 4's negative reception put series boss Katsuhiro Harada under so much stress that he left Namco for a year.

Tekken 8's game director has commented on the extremely negatively received Season 2 patch after releasing an emergency patch for the game.

While Tekken 8 was pretty beloved at launch, the game's Season 2 update – which was released alongside the new DLC fighter, Anna Williams – has gone down like a lead zeppelin. The patch was intended to encourage more defensive play but ended up making the game even more offensive-focused (for a game that was built around offensive play, that's a bit too much). It resulted in an 'Overwhelmingly Negative' rating on the game's Steam Store page and caused the series' producer, Katsuhiro Harada, to admit that the backlash towards it was warranted.

Now that the emergency patch has arrived in-game, Tekken 8 game director Kohei Ikeda has posted a message to fans on Twitter to apologize for the issue. In the post, Ikeda said, "I would like to offer my heartfelt apologies as the Game Director for the fact that the recently released Season 2 did not meet your expectations and caused inconvenience due to critical issues." He added, "We take all of your feedback and comments very seriously. The entire team is working together with full commitment to resolve these problems and deliver a better gameplay experience."

While Tekken 8's new patch hasn't solved all of the problems with Season 2 just yet, Ikeda took time to promise that "We will continue to make steady, meaningful improvements one by one, and do our utmost to regain your trust." Hopefully this will all blow over by the time Tekken 8 decides to introduce Captain Planet or whatever it's going to do to one-up Negan's arrival in Tekken 7.

While you wait for Tekken 8 to get to a better place, you should check out our list of the best fighting games you can play right now.

Tekken 8's Season 2 release has gone down like a ton of bricks. Fans have absolutely hated the new balance changes introduced alongside the first DLC character of the new season – Anna Williams – leading Tekken 8 to be hit with an Overwhelmingly Negative rating on its Steam store page. However, Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada has taken the criticism on the chin, saying "I personally do not think this backlash is at all unjustified" in a response to a fan on Twitter (via Automaton Media).

Tekken 8 typically has updates that align with new DLC fighters being released; however, everything with Tekken 8 Season 2 has gone so poorly that Bandai Namco is releasing an emergency patch.

The Tekken Twitter account posted a thread announcing that the patch will be released on Thursday, April 17, at 11am JST (so 3am BST, and on April 16 at 10pm ET and 7pm PT).

The Season 2 update was meant to address concerns that Tekken 8 was too focused on offense, but somehow, it made the game even more offensive.

The Tekken account said, "We are aware that the certain added moves and performance adjustments in Season 2 have shifted too heavily toward offense. We sincerely apologize for the results."

The Bandai Namco account's thread also stated that its upcoming patch will include "Increase Maximum Health to Allow for More Exchanges in Neutral," "Gradual Adjustments to Overly High-Reward Moves," and "Rebalancing the Offensive and Defensive Aspects of the Heat System."

Meanwhile, the next major patch for Tekken is set to arrive in mid-May.

Harada and the Tekken team are no strangers to stressful situations, with the producer recently revealing he left Namco for a year in response to Tekken 4's reception.

After Tekken 8's AI ghost data allowed a fan of the series to battle the data of their deceased brother, series producer Katsuhiro Harada saw it as a possible "glimpse of where fighting games are going."

A lot of fighting game fans face the same problem: a lot of times you're too good to play casually but not quite good enough to compete at a high level, and fighting AI just doesn't hit the same way. The ideal scenario is fighting someone locally who is roughly the same skill level as you, but that's hard to do if your area doesn't have a local fighting game community. So you're forced to enter the cesspool of online and deal with either toxicity or terrible connections (or both; shout-outs to Super Smash Bros.). But Tekken 8 took a step to change this with its AI ghost system.

In Tekken 8, the game notes down your data while you play, and from there you can enter the 'Super Ghost Battle' mode, which allows you to take on an AI version of you. This mode is fantastic as a learning tool, as you can learn your flaws without having to pour over replay data, plus fighting a Super Ghost is way more engaging than the regular AI. While it is a great teaching tool, it had an unexpected effect, in that it allowed a Tekken player to preserve the ghost data of their brother who had passed away shortly after Tekken 8 launched last year with the help of Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada.

Harada spoke at GDC 2025, with translation by Michael Murray (who has also worked on the series since Tekken 4). During the panel 'Tekken: Staying Relevant as a 30 Year Old Franchise' – which was attended by GamesRadar+ – Harada spoke about this interaction. Murray said, "An unforeseen thing that kind of appeared out of this new technology, was also… a person in the community, their brother passed away, and they asked Harada if he could have a copy of the brother's ghost, because it actually felt like he was playing against his brother to help him kind of remember those times."

While it was definitely an emotional experience, this story also stuck out to Harada as an "example of some of the cool stuff that we can achieve with this new technology and maybe a glimpse of where fighting games are going." He added, "maybe you don't necessarily need an opponent who is human that has the exact same skill level as you to enjoy the game. There might be some kind of features like this that can provide a better experience overall."

Katsuhiro Harada also recently revealed that he left Namco for a year due to stress caused by the negative reception to Tekken 4.

Unbelievably, Clive, the Final Fantasy 16 protagonist with the most ordinary name possible, is the most popular guest character in Tekken 8, and he's even more popular than The Walking Dead's Negan was in Tekken 7.

The Tekken games already have an iconic roster of characters, from protagonists Jin and Mishima to the tiger wrestler King and gun-toting Nina Williams. But, as eclectic and exciting as they are, it doesn't hurt to throw some new faces into the batch from time to time.

For years, we've been begging Harada to put Final Fantasy 7's Tifa into Tekken. The brawler would be a perfect fit for the game, but instead, we got Clive. People didn't react well at the time, but one redditor has proven he's actually been incredibly popular since he was added December 16, 2024.

"First up, the star of this post, Clive Rosfield," writes a redditor who crunched the numbers and discovered which characters are most used in ranked mode. "He's very popular. He's literally the most popular guest character ever. He's significantly more popular than the 2nd most popular guest, Negan. And he's leagues ahead of Noctis. Despite what people said about wanting Tifa, it turns out that tons of people picked up Clive."

Tekken 8 Ranked Leaderboard Statistics - PROMINENCE! (DLC4) from r/Tekken

This speaks to a common problem in games; we simply don't know what we want. Sure, everyone says they want Tifa, but then we still end up using Clive anyway. It helps that a lot of fans have been saying he's easy to learn and overpowered, so it's no wonder he's been dominating the ranked scene for so long – he sits just behind King.

Druganov has been dethroned by Jin, which is good, because Druganov's moves always felt like they were filled with genuine malice. He fights far more viciously than anyone else. I don't know how to describe why, there's just something more sinister to him than anyone else on the roster.

When you're done climbing the ranks in Tekken, check out some of the other best fighting games you can play right now.

Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada has revealed how the reception to Tekken 4 affected him, sharing that he actually left Namco before returning for its sequel.

It feels like with every new Tekken release there's a group of the fanbase labeling it "the worst Tekken ever" within a year. We're seeing it right now with Tekken 8 we saw it with Tekken 7, and I'm sure we'll see it with whatever's next. But if there's a game that is almost unanimously considered 'the worst Tekken,' it's got to be Tekken 4. Now, following up the one-two punch of Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament is undoubtedly a daunting task (and you could argue whatever came after would be disliked no matter how good it is), but some of the big changes in Tekken 4 just did not hit at the time.

Responding to a fan praising the game on Twitter, Harada said, "I’m aware of that kind of praise. But back then, I was absolutely bombarded with criticism." Adding, "I didn’t have a single ally. Not one." He revealed that the stress of Tekken 4's release affected his health, saying, "I was under so much stress at the time that I developed a mysterious condition where all the hair on the right side of my body fell out."

Harada later revealed that Tekken 4 caused him to leave Namco (now Bandai Namco), where he has worked since starting his game career. "There was a period — just for about a year before development on Tekken 5 began — when I left Namco due to the stress and shock. It’s not a widely known fact, though." Tekken 5 went on to become arguably the most beloved game in the series outside of Tekken 3, so it turned out pretty well.

The Tekken producer did acknowledge that Tekken 4 is less of a punching bag than it was back in the 2000s, saying, "Now, in the present day, the critics have all forgotten their complaints, and only those who want to praise the game remain. That’s the only reason it's being treated like a masterpiece." But, regardless of its quality, Harada says that Tekken 4 "remains a constant reminder and lesson to myself."

Speaking of which, a new Tekken game has just been announced in the form of Tekken: The Board Game.

If you exist in the venn diagram centre of Final Fantasy fan and Tekken enjoyer, than chances are you've encountered the countless online pleads for Final Fantasy 7's Tifa to be added to the fist-fighting series. Maybe you're one of the people who've begged for it yourself over the years. Good news, then: all hope isn't lost for a collaboration. 

Earlier this month, Tifa stans reacted about as well as you'd expect when Tekken 8 revealed that the last DLC character coming in its Year One roadmap was none other than Final Fantasy 16's Clive - a real 'we were this close' situation. Tekken is traditionally a hand-to-hand fighting series and Tifa is her series' most famous boxer, so it seemed like a perfect match. Series producer Katsuhiro Harada even acknowledged the intense fan demand earlier this year, only to pull a switcharoo with Clive.

But, now, when asked about the possibility of other Final Fantasy characters joining the game, Harada laughingly told IGN that "it's not like we're only limited to one character from Final Fantasy." He obviously doesn't say anything definitive aside from the fact that it "might be cool if we had two, who knows," while acknowledging it's "not something that we can decide alone" since Square Enix would also need to sign off on it.

Harada went on to say that when deciding on crossover fighters, the team takes into consideration what's a "good match for our brand," what character's "fighting style" fits in with the rest of the roster, and the "atmosphere of the character that we think would go quite well with Tekken," as well as "timing" the collaboration well so both series benefit from the DLC.

I don't mean to get anyone else's - or my own - hopes too high, but Tekken 8 is gearing up for a Year 2 pass that'll add even more fighters to the mix throughout 2025. Tifa lovers can just keep their fingers crossed and fists clenched, then. Or you can see more from her in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's PC port coming next month.

Or you can let some of that anger out with the best fighting games of all time. 

After constant begging, pleading, and praying from Final Fantasy fans who want nothing more than to see Tifa in Tekken 8, the fighting game's final DLC character of its year 1 pass has been revealed, and it's none other than Final Fantasy 16 star Clive Rosfield.

Clive is a cool dude. People love Clive. But the dedicated Tifa fanbase has been begging for Cloud's childhood bestie to be added to Tekken 8 since the start, to the point that Tekken veteran Katsuhiro Harada even acknowledged the demand back in January. At the time, he said that "we have not decided anything about guest characters," but obviously, a lot has changed in the meantime, and poor Tifa is nowhere to be seen, despite a different Final Fantasy character now present and accounted for. 

"IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HER… TIFA WAS LITERALLY MADE FOR TEKKEN c'mon man," one Tifa supporter laments. "Tifa just makes more sense as a guest character for Tekken. Also, a more popular character," argues another. "Clive over Tifa this can not be," another says, processing the news.

Obviously though, that's not to say that no one is happy that Clive's here – he's getting plenty of love, too. "I mean Tifa was robbed but I loved FF16 and he is hot so I'm not mad," one fan concludes. Others have pointed out that thanks to the antics of Clive's voice actor, Ben Starr, we've sort of been given the best of both worlds. Sort of.  

Anyway, Clive will be available 72 hours early for any players with the Playable Character Year 1 Pass, meaning it'll be possible to play as him from December 16. He's being introduced alongside a new battle stage, Phoenix Gate, as a, uh, not-so-jolly throwback to his tragic past. 

It's also worth noting that Clive's inclusion doesn't mean that Tifa has been permanently ruled out, although admittedly it does seem increasingly less likely that she'll make an appearance in Tekken 8 at this point. Don't give up hope though, Tifa fans. 

Our roundup of everything announced at The Game Awards 2024 will make sure you're up to date on all of the huge announcements from last night. 

The current issue of Retro Gamer celebrates the 30th anniversary of Namco’s Tekken and interviews chief producer Katsuhiro Harada and producer Michael Murray. The iconic series is broken down into its key components, from its cast of colourful characters to its hard-hitting game mechanics, and Harada is on-hand to guide you through its 30 years.

Harada discusses how the franchise’s visuals have evolved over the years, how the team chooses characters for each iteration of the game and how they would refine each arcade game over a certain period of time. He even laments the fact that there are so few competitors to Tekken 8 currently in the 3D fighting space. “It’s quite unfortunate, actually, that Tekken is one of the only 3D fighting games that is still being played actively by fans.”

Outside of its blistering Tekken coverage, issue 266 of Retro Gamer features articles on the Colin McRae Rally series, a tribute to the many great games on Capcom’s CPS-1 arcade board and what gamers can expect from the incoming Double Dragon Revive. You can also read about the importance of the isometric Spectrum hit Fairlight and the second Super FX game Stunt Race FX and go behind the scenes of The Thing and its incoming remaster, as well as Blizzard’s World Of Warcraft and the excellent NES game Gimmick!.

It’s all finished off with a wonderful 2025 calendar that features some of the greatest isometric Spectrum games of all time, from Head Over Heels and Hydrofool to Knight Lore and Alien 8, as well as lots of smaller features including a review of Blaze Entertainment’s Evercade Alpha.

Retro Gamer is available to buy in stores now or you can take out a subscription.

A genius Baldur's Gate 3 player has managed to mod all of the RPG's Origin characters into Tekken 8, and it's downright awesome.

Speaking in a recent Reddit post, a user who goes by "Doctor_Sauce_" reveals footage of their modded Tekken 8 fighters – the Baldur's Gate 3 companions. First up in the clip is Lae'zel, who takes on Kazuya Mishima in hand-to-hand combat. It's almost too perfect – as one fan's comment reads, "Lae'zel would likely love Tekken, too." Another jokes that "Lae'zel is the person who has learned all of the combos and tries to fight with skill."

I modded every BG3 Origin character into Tekken 8 from r/BaldursGate3

Next up, Doctor Sauce's video shows Gale fighting Karlach, Astarion walloping Gale, Wyll taking Lae'zel on, and more. My personal highlight is seeing Shadowheart absolutely destroy Gale as a Jun Kazama reskin – and I'm not the only one, either. "Jun for Shadowheart because her attacks look like they do holy damage was clever," writes a commenter. "Shadowheart as Jun seems surprisingly fitting," admits another.

The idea of Baldur's Gate 3 characters as Tekken 8 fighters is made even more brilliant by an old Dungeons & Dragons trope – that Monks are ridiculously overpowered in combat. A fan jokes that Doctor_Sauce_ is "speccing into Monk I see" by transporting the RPG's companions into the action-packed brawler. "This is a metaphor to how broken Monk Tavern Brawler is," someone else jests - and honestly, truer words have never been spoken.

Baldur's Gate 3 boss Swen Vincke catches sight of the RPG community's most lewd creation yet, a "$20,000 life-sized Astarion sex doll"

Tekken 8 has been facing ever-increasing criticism from fighting game fans upset about the title's approach to monetization, and news that the new stage accompanying the revived Heihachi Mishima is a separate, $5 purchase appears to have been the breaking point. One member of the game industry has taken it upon himself to explain why the costs associated with game development in 2024 might be pushing the devs toward more aggressive monetization.

A few weeks after Tekken 8's launch, it got a microtransaction-filled cash shop for cosmetic items. Cynically-minded players were quick to note that this happened after the game's glowing critical and user reviews had poured in, and this all set a particularly negative tone around the game's monetization. Tekken 8 already launched with a $100 Deluxe Edition and $110 Ultimate Edition, promising access to additional costumes and the first year's worth of added characters, so the cash shop seemed particularly egregious.

As characters began to launch for $8 apiece, buyers of the more expensive editions were feeling particularly burned. You could get all four characters - by far the most substantial DLC content being released - for $32. That breaks roughly even with the Deluxe Edition and is a little cheaper than the Ultimate. Either way, the cash shop meant that no edition would get you full access to all the game's content, which has been an annoyance for players of many fighting games that have made the transition to the modern era.

The devs at Bandai Namco threw players a bone with the launch of DLC character Lidia, whose release was paired with the free Seaside Resort stage. While this stage was partly made up of reused content that was already in the game, it created an expectation among players that new stages might be added for free, helping to justify all the other expensive add-ons.

Last week, when the Genmaji Temple stage launched as a $5 purchase - not even included with Heihachi or any edition of the game - those hopes were dashed. As the 'very negative' Steam reviews for stage can attest, players were fed up, and the backlash prompted a response from Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada. 

"As the person in charge of the Tekken franchise, I apologize," Harada said in a now-deleted tweet. (IGN has a transcript of the message.) In the tweet, Harada noted that "the Tekken project is divided into two companies: a game development studio and a publisher that is responsible for game sales (At the time of the development and release of Tekken 7, the development and publishing companies were not separate)."

"I think I failed to create an organizational structure that would allow me to oversee things beyond my own position," Harada continued. "One of my roles was to listen to the opinions of the Community and reflect them not only in the content but also in the out-game, but I was clearly becoming passive, worrying about the relationships between companies and not exercising my role. From now on, I will review this structure and change it to one that values the community as it did in the past."

Exactly what those changes might look like - or why Harada ended up deleting the message entirely - aren't clear. But according to game developer Del Walker - a veteran of Naughty Dog, Rocksteady, and Respawn - the expense of making a AAA game in the relatively niche fighting genre in 2024 means aggressive monetization is the only way to make it all work.

"With Tekken 8 selling 2-3 million units so far, the game probably isn't financially sustainable yet," Walker argues. "So the $5 DLC stage and the 4 $8 DLC characters are clearly necessary. @Harada_TEKKEN has previously tweeted that a stage costs around $350k to make, so making it free or part of the character season pass would likely hurt financially. Tekken 8 on paper is an astonishingly risky bet. It's almost delusional on paper, and can only survive with every current Tekken Player throwing $5 at it every 3 to 4 months, or aggressive growth."

But how could one new stage cost in the $350k ballpark? Walker says that with "a team of 8 people (3d artist, concept artist, designer, lighting artist, VFX artist, coders, technical rigger, animator) earning $60k+ per year, working full-time for 4 months, labor costs can quickly reach over $150k. Add some background characters and it can need many more." Then you need QA testers, and none of this even includes the design of Tekken's uniquely dynamic levels or the audio work to tie it all together. 

"The fan base, while passionate, isn't growing enough and seems uninterested in the financial realities," Walker says. "They review bomb these sustainability efforts, then wonder why franchises like Soul Calibur or Virtua Fighter are gone."

Tekken 8 has certainly seen a pile of negative Steam reviews since the Genmaji Temple backlash began, but you could equally argue that the term "review bomb," which has historically referred to campaigns of negative reviews that have little to do with a game's actual content, doesn't really apply here. This is, after all, a bunch of players expressing their dissatisfaction with what's on offer in Tekken 8 now, months after launch. (It's also worth noting that the game has now received a much larger, more traditional review bomb on an entirely separate issue, with Chinese players protesting controversial late-round ban of a player "who does not reside in an eligible country," according to Bandai Namco's esports division.)

Either way, one thing's for sure: it's frightfully expensive to make a AAA game in 2024, and we're likely to see publishers continue pushing the boundaries of what communities will accept in terms of monetization. Community goodwill has been profitable for many games, but the most lucrative money in the AAA space continues to be tied to aggressive microtransactions in live service titles, which are setting the tone big publishers are looking to follow.

Tekken boss says iconic ruffian Heihachi has so many "illegitimate children" he has trouble remembering them.

Tekken creative director Katsuhiro Harada says he "didn't mean to lie" when claiming Heihachi Mishima was dead before Tekken 8 resurrected the big bad dad yet again.

Back when Tekken 8 was first announced last year, Harada said even he couldn't believe how dead Heihachi was. Harada recalled how he told Tekken 7's development team to make sure Heihachi's death was "convincing this time," hence why Heihachi was punched so hard his heart stopped and was then dropped into a volcano at the conclusion of the game. 

Fast forward to last week, and surprise: Heihachi is alive once again, and returning to the Tekken series as a Tekken 8 DLC character later this year. In a new interview with IGN, Harada was asked point-blank why he lied about Heihachi being dead for good going into Tekken 8 which, to be fair, he did say.

"[I] didn't mean to lie or anything about that. Tekken 7 really focused on the story arc between Heihachi and his son, Kazuya, and so, we really wanted to show that kind of final conclusion, and he seemed to die at that point. Right?" Harada recalled of the previous Tekken entry.

"But then, after that happened, Tekken 8 was released, and we put a lot of effort into the story and the fans really seemed to be engaged with that. And as that was happening, we were kind of feeling that the players kind of missed him as well. Obviously, we did, too. So, it was kind of decided later on that we would do that," the Tekken series creative director continues.

"So, it wasn't a lie," Harada concludes, adding that Tekken needs its three Mishimas on its big 30-year birthday celebration this year. I think we might need players to weigh in on whether Harada truly was lying when he said Heihachi was dead, but it genuinely does sound like the plan, at the conclusion of Tekken 7, was to finally leave Heihachi dead for good.

Take a look at our best fighting games guide to see where Tekken games rank above our picks of the best to ever step into the ring.

After being punched in the chest so hard that his heart stopped beating, Tekken 8 has resurrected Heihachi Mishima for yet another bout later this year as a DLC character.

Back when Tekken 8 was revealed last year, even series legend Katsuhiro Harada could hardly believe how dead Heihachi was. "Heihachi's been dead so many times, you have to make sure it's convincing this time," Harada had told the developers of Tekken 7, hence why Heihachi gets punched to death and then thrown into a volcano by Kazuya.

Fast forward just over a year, and guess what: Heihachi is alive and returning to Tekken 8 as a DLC character later this year. The story of Tekken 8 really is far from over, as the announcement tweet from Bandai Namco below proclaims, especially if the 'King of Iron Fist Resurrection' is alive and kicking yet again, despite everything. 

The trailer above sets up Tekken 8's storyline continuing in some big ways. The game's two current DLC characters, Eddy Gordo and Lidia Sobieska, look to play big roles in the new story, as predictably will Reina, who comments that "it's almost time," in the trailer.

Heihachi's resurrection comes off the back of Evo 2024, where Tekken 8 was one of the biggest draws of the fighting event. The action might be over now, but you can watch the Tekken 8 finals in the replay video below. We won't spoil anything here, but it was nothing short of a stellar top-six.

Take a look at our best fighting games guide to see where Tekken games rank above our picks of the best to ever step into the ring.

Until Dragon Ball Sparking Zero comes out, is there really any disputing that Tekken 8 is the best fighting game of the year? Even when we get to the end of 2024, I'd be willing to bet that we see Tekken 8 on a lot of game-of-the-year lists. It feels like a step forward for the franchise - like it transcends the fighting game genre.  

With my stance on it pretty clear, I'm happy to report that a week before Prime Day, Tekken 8 has come down to half-price at Walmart. If you act fast, you can grab it for just $34.99 (down from $69.99). While it's sometimes best to wait for the event to start officially before adding something to your cart, I for one would be shocked if we saw one of the biggest games of the year drop below this price next week. 

Prime Day PS5 deals are supposed to start next Tuesday, July 16, but serious deal hunters should know that some of the early deals actually end up being better than the ones that pop up during the event. This is also a great example of how competing retailers can often have better deals than Amazon itself. 

As if a great fighting game at half price wasn't enough, one of the best PS5 controllers is also discounted at the moment, and its fightpad attachment could make it a perfect tool to climb competitive ladders. The Victrix Pro BFG can have six face buttons, which essentially turns it into a tiny little arcade fight stick. It's discounted to $164.99 at Amazon right now.

Should you buy Tekken 8?

I've been playing the latest Tekken 8 with my closest friend these past few months, and even though he can comfortably perfect me because he knows every King combo grab there is, I still have a lot of fun playing. For me, the mark of a solid multiplayer game is if you can still enjoy playing it when you're losing, and Tekken 8 passes that test with flying colors. 

Even if playing competitively against other humans isn't your jam, I like how much else there is to do in Tekken 8. The story mode's production value is wild this time around. There's even a level where you take part in a third-person hack-and-slash style battle. Besides that, all the characters have their usual arcade-mode stories to burn through as well. 

I think what I like most about Tekken 8 is its refreshed gameplay. It makes it so approachable for newcomers who have no idea why a strange squid man is swinging a sword at them, but there's also so much depth for returning fighters who want to master the game's new systems. It has that inherent Tekken DNA, but it moves the franchise forward. At half-price before Prime Day gaming deals have even begun, it's very easy for me to recommend. 

We're also keeping a close eye on Prime Day PC deals, Prime Day Meta Quest deals, and Prime Day Nintendo Switch deals, so whatever you're shopping for, we have you covered.

Katsuhiro Harada, the sunglasses-adorned fighting game veteran who's directed almost every Tekken, has some choice words for disgruntled fans that assume he hates their favorite mains, also known as Harada's children. 

Tekken 8 continued gaming's longest running storyline earlier this year, but the fighting genre dictates that every series outside of Super Smash Bros needs to shed fat to make way for new character, leaving some fan favorites off Tekken 8's roster, as things currently stand. 

After one fan complained about Anna's absence in the sequel and an assumed bias against the assassin, Harada responded that there's "no way" he hates any character. "If I seem to like or dislike them, that is just your misunderstanding, because they are all like my children," he tweeted. "You are just seeing something distorted by your assumptions. I'm also the one who is most disturbed by the popularity pecking order that appears for characters, however it is inevitable (more to the point, popularity and usage are two separate factors)."

Harada continues to explain that the studio can't feasibly make every Tekken character playable because "there will be no room to introduce new ones," adding that "your love for the characters is distorting the way you look at things."

Some of those disgruntled fans doubled down on their viewpoints, arguing that "it makes business sense" to forgo introducing new characters in favor of expanding on the old ones, which prompted Harada to absolutely cook with a scorching response: "Do you need me to explain that to you from every perspective now? Then from here on out, I'm going to charge you tuition for lectures on 'what video games are,' 'what game development is,' 'what the game market is,' 'what the game business is,' and so on. Also, before we talk about your business perspective, please tell me your business track record." Ouch.

"A fight is about who’s left standing" - Harada also recently explained why Tekken is still kicking while Soul Calibur's in limbo.

Bandai Namco's general manager and longtime fighting game director Katsuhiro Harada has delved into the sibling rivalry that Tekken and Soul Calibur had within the company for decades, while implying that the latter series is somewhat in limbo.

"After observing the industry for 30 years, I can say that in the case of fighting games, there have been many instances in which a series has stagnated or ceased to exist when a key player in the franchise leaves or disappears," Harada explains. "The reasons for the disappearance of these key persons are often not only their own problems." Harada then points to Bandai Namco's long-running, big-swords fighting series Soul Calibur as an example: "Having seen it up close and personal... this was not simply a matter of sales and marketing, but I can tell you that the organizational changes and decision-makers at Namco Bandai had a great deal to do with it."

The full tweet embedded below gets into the interesting nitty-gritty of fighting game history, how the transition from arcades to consoles killed several acclaimed fighting series, and how Soul Calibur was once seen as the publisher's golden goose thanks to its higher sales in North America and potential for multimedia expansions. "Even I, at the time, had a certain appreciation for the hypothetical possibilities," Harada writes, despite being firmly based in the Tekken camp.

"However, as you all know, as the industry expanded, it became larger and larger, and companies merged with each other," Harada continues. "Bandai Namco is no exception and has changed for better or for worse." He then explains how organizational changes left Soul Calibur "struggling to survive." Meanwhile, Tekken thrived after Harada became "the head of a new department called Global Business Development" because he somewhat "manipulated the creative and budget planning."

"I think this was the only difference between Tekken Project and Project Soul. I think that the fact that the number of members who had the drive to keep the title alive, even if they had to jump through all kinds of pressure, decreased as the organization changed, and that is one of the aspects that weakened Project Soul little by little. I am not saying that is all, but it was a big factor. Happened due to organizational policy, not individual problems."

Despite sitting in the freezer for now, Harada still thinks that the "fire" of Soul Calibur hasn't been extinguished at the publisher. "There are still a few people in the company who have the will to do it. I would like to believe that they are just not united now."

The series last reared its head with Soul Calibur 6 in 2018, which went on to sell two million copies within a year and received two season passes - one of which featured Geralt of Rivia, of all people. On the other hand, its rival continued the longest-running video game storyline earlier this year in Tekken 8.

For now, check out the best fighting games you can play now.

Tekken 8's director has compared the new fighting game sequel to Dark Souls.

Speaking to PLAY Magazine in a new interview, Tekken series lead Katsuhiro Harada contrasted Tekken 8 with Dark Souls. Harada disputed the notion that fighting games are complex and complicated, instead saying that Tekken 8 feels like a natural evolution of the series in the way that Dark Souls players feel like they want to improve and get better.

Harada thinks Dark Souls is a game that's deliberately meant to be difficult. But it's the enjoyment for players, even those who find playing FromSoftware's game difficult, that shines through, spurring them on to reach new levels and improve their gameplay as a result.

This is, in a nutshell, what Harada is going for with Tekken 8. The director wants players to feel like they're progressing in the new fighting game, having fun as they go and really striving to reach new levels. This is where the comparison to Dark Souls really comes into focus for Harada.

It's a bold comparison, but not one that's without merit. Fighting games attract players of all skill levels and capabilities, just like deliberately difficult and challenging games like FromSoftware's titles. If players are enjoying the experience though, which Harada obviously hopes they will with Tekken 8, they'll push on to better themselves as a result, and so won't find the game that tough in the end.

This is the first time Harada has properly revealed anything surrounding Tekken 8, since the game director dropped in on an Evo livestream last year to tease the sequel in the most chaotic way possible. Chaos and mayhem is just another day at the office for the prolific fighting game director.

Check out our new games 2023 guide for a look at all the games that will probably be with us before the new Tekken.

Spoilers for Tekken 7: Heihachi Mishima is dead. Death does not tend to mean a permanent end for most Tekken characters, but Heihachi was punched in the chest so hard his heart stopped and then his lifeless body was tossed into a river of magma. That's a tough one to come back from, and in the lead up to Tekken 8, even series legend Katsuhiro Harada can hardly believe how dead Heihachi is.

As designer Michael Murray explained in a recent group interview attended by GamesRadar+, Harada told the Tekken 7 team that "Heihachi's been dead so many times, you have to make sure it's convincing this time." In an interview after the game's release, however, Harada mentioned that he was "surprised at how dead Heihachi was in the story" of Tekken 7. That led the rest of the team to ask "'Hey, what are you talking about? That was the order you gave us,'" Murray said.

"We were like 'you told us to make sure he's dead! So in the interview, though, you said you were surprised he was that dead?'" According to Murray, Harada has no recollection of his big directive to make sure Heihachi looked as dead as could be - and, after all, Heihachi is Harada's favorite character.

"Me and Nakatsu [director Kouhei Ikeda] were just laughing so much because we're like 'What's wrong with you? You hit your head or something, I don't know," Murray said. Harada explained that "maybe he's getting older and losing his memory that he told us to make sure Heihachi is dead. I don't think we've told anyone that."

Tekken lore is a wild, convoluted mess even by fighting game standards, and Heihachi has already been dead multiple times. Tekken 5, a game in which Heihachi is both a playable character and a major figure in its story, famously features the line "Heihachi Mishima is dead" in its opening cutscene.

For more on the biggest new games of 2023 and beyond, you can follow that link.

Tekken 8 has seemingly been announced in the wildest way possible.

Yesterday at the EVO 2022 tournament in Las Vegas, the clip just below debuted, showing Tekken series mainstay Kazuya Mishima dumping a body off a cliff. Then the classic pixelated clip switched to photorealistic graphics, with Kazuya smiling menacingly at the camera and the ominous words "get ready" appearing on the screen.

The livestream that the new clip debuted on then cut back to the commentary booth, and chaos ensued. Not only were the three hosts losing their damn minds, but none other than Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada ran onto the stage from the right, wordlessly hyping up the brand new announcement of Tekken 8, and then departing without saying a single word.

The nature of the footage has actually got plenty of people incredibly confused. Many on Twitter are openly questioning whether this new announcement is even an announcement of Tekken 8 at all, or if it could be something else entirely, while others are too busy celebrating the chaotic nature of the new reveal trailer.

The incredibly brief nature of the new announcement was likely designed to get people talking online, and it's done exactly that. The whole thing would've been wild enough without the appearance of the series director himself straight after, but Harada popping up on a livestream to celebrate (?) the trailer has only added fuel to the fire.

One thing worth mentioning is that Tekken 8 was actually mentioned in the now-infamous Nvidia leak back in September 2021. Thousands of games were leaked from Nvidia's database, and while the company claimed the listings were merely speculative, several high-profile listings have been confirmed by developers since, including Resident Evil 4 remake, Dragon's Dogma 2, Kingdom Hearts 4, and more. 

Check out our guide to the best fighting games if you're looking to get stuck into something between now and Tekken's eventual release.

Bandai Namco has confirmed Tekken 7's Season Pass 4 is coming. While a definitive release date was not specified, it's slated to arrive in autumn/fall 2020 – or Q3 for those of you in the southern hemisphere.

The news came out of Bandai Namco's Japan Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable yesterday (July 31, 2020) which also came with confirmation that the new season will include a battle balance update, new moves for all characters, and "online play enhancements" for a "better online experience".

We also got a new teaser trailer, which shows how the development team is working during the coronavirus pandemic as well as offering a peek at a new ranking system called Tekken Prowess. Here, take a look (thanks, Siliconera):

"Tekken players will overcome any obstacle to rise to new levels of strength. So raise your fist because Season 4 for Tekken 7 is on its way!" teases Bandai Namco in the video description.

"With online play enhancements, a new Tekken prowess feature, and new moves for all characters. We are taking Tekken to the next level this season, so get ready for the next battle!"

Don't forget to watch right to the end of the video, incidentally - are the final ten seconds hinting at another new roster addition, perhaps…?

Tekken 7 is out now on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Remember when The Walking Dead's Negan was added to Tekken 7 as a DLC character?!

Two new fighters are readying up to join the roster in Tekken 7.

Announced at the Tekken World Tour Finals 2019 over the weekend, Bandai Namco released new details about Muay Thai champion Fahkumram and Ganryu, as well as a new teaser for the previously announced new face, Leroy Smith.

All three characters are coming as part of the season pass – along with a Thai fighting stage (thanks, Gematsu) – although for now, we're unclear on when they'll be released.

Though the developer opened up a little about Fahkumram – apparently, the Muay Thai champion is "ready to enter the ring to fight for his family's freedom!" – it was less forthcoming about Ganryu, who remains something of a mystery for now.

During the Tekken Finals Evo 2019 in August, a short clip featuring Snake talking over a codec was shown, which quickly led fans to believe the special ops soldier would be joining the roster in Tekken 7. Sadly, it was just a joke and Evo shortly took to Twitter to confirm that it wasn't meant to mislead anyone into thinking it was a character reveal.

While Snake won't be adding his special skills to the Tekken scene, martial artist Zafina – who first appeared in Tekken 6 – and Leroy Smith were, however, unveiled at the time. A new teaser has been released for the latter, too – check it out below:

This is still not as bonkers as when The Walking Dead's Negan was added as a DLC character, though...

During the Tekken Finals Evo 2019, a short clip featuring Snake talking over a codec was shown, which quickly lead fans to believe the special ops soldier would be joining the roster in Tekken 7. But it was a false alert, and Snake isn't sadly hiding away in a box just waiting to show his face in Tekken 7. It turns out it was just a joke - Evo took to Twitter to confirm that it wasn't meant to mislead anyone into thinking it was a character reveal, and that it was simply meant to be a joke that Bandai Namco had no involvement in. 

The clip wasn't shown during the official Stream, and was apparently only meant to be shown to those who were in attendance at the event, but it quickly went viral, and Tekken fans everywhere began to hope it was hinting that Snake would be another new addition in Tekken 7’s upcoming Season 3 pass. 

While Snake won't be adding his special skills to the Tekken scene, martial artist Zafina who first appeared in Tekken 6, and new face Leroy Smith, were revealed during the event to be the actual new additions to the game.  

Snake wouldn't be totally bonkers in Tekken 7, after all we've already had The Walking Dead's Negan added as a DLC character...

It's been half a decade since the last Tekken game came to consoles, and even longer since the last numbered sequel (we don't talk about Tekken Revolution). But now Tekken 7 is here, and reviews are praising its return as a triumph - for the most part. Our own review hails the accessible controls and roster of characters while lamenting that the series hasn't really changed much over the course of 20 years, but what does everyone else think? Let's take a look.

GameSpot on Tekken 7's tutorials (or lack thereof)

"It's also fair to say that Tekken 7 doesn't adequately explain the rules surrounding these new mechanics or when you should use them. Save for the briefest of tutorials in the story mode and a teaching tool in training mode that shows you how a combo should look in action, you are left to pick apart the game's rules and mechanics on your own."

IGN on Tekken 7's embrace of nostalgia

"There is a certain charm to the entirely over-the-top nature of Tekken’s lore and its embracing of anime tropes, and the short character-specific chapters included in The Mishima Saga help lighten the mood while also serving up nostalgia. When King battles Jack, Jack uses its artificial intelligence to adapt to King’s fighting style, so the famous luchador uses maneuvers borrowed from his long-time friend Marduk and from his rival Armor King."

EGM on Tekken 7's abrupt end to the series' story

"The story mode sadly feels tacked on and not as emotionally important as it should be. Questions are answered and a bow is put on top of the Mishima storyline, but after several main entries of prolonged storytelling, it abruptly ends with a snap of a finger."

Game Informer on Tekken 7's unique style of fighting

"Tekken’s core fighting system is as lively as ever, emphasizing ducking or dodging your opponents’ attacks instead of waiting for the right move to block. This puts a high emphasis on proper spacing, especially since moving in three dimensions can often get your opponent to whiff a move. Moving quickly around the arena requires some getting used to (be ready to dash often), and with the number of attacks any one character can perform, pinpoint button accuracy is key. This makes Tekken 7 a tough game to learn, but every victory feels immensely rewarding as a result."

Twinfinite on Tekken 7's sometimes unfair difficulty

"As you up the difficulty, the only way the game really gets harder is by making opponents do more damage and reducing their move pools drastically to where it’s just the strongest attack over and over. Oh, and the computer will ensure that you can’t damage your opponent during these attacks, and they seem to all break through defense. Granted, you can play on Easy if you choose, as there are no trophies or achievements tied to the difficulty, but that removes any chance of actually learning the game."

Good news! Tekken is still Tekken. Kicking people still feels great, the Mishimas are still throwing each other off cliffs, all is right with the world. But I need to be honest with you. The game’s enduring Tekken-ness is enough for me, a man of modest needs, who's happy to play 100 fights in a row with the same two boring characters. But you might rightly expect more from a modern fighting game, and that’s where Tekken 7 trips over its own espadrilles. 

Let’s talk about the story mode first. If you’ve played Injustice 2 you’ll be freshly aware that fighting games can tell tales while seamlessly weaving in combat into the story. (Somewhere at NetherRealm, there is a whiteboard listing every conceivable reason for characters to beat each other senseless.) Tekken 7’s story mode, by comparison, is terrible. The Mishima Saga begins like a history lesson, throwing back to the feted day when Heihachi tossed his son Kazuya off a cliff for his own good. Because what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, except being thrown down an effing mountain. It’s the perfect place to begin for anyone who loves Tekken, but it never delivers on that promise. Learning exactly how the Mishima family fell apart is a tantalising prospect, but it’s so badly implemented you come away feeling starved. It’s full of narrative dead ends and unnecessary characters, and the big reveals lack any emotional wallop. And I say this, in case you hadn’t guessed, as person with an unhealthy investment in the series. I get shivers seeing Heihachi crawl up the bare rock at the start of Tekken 2; I tell strangers at checkouts about the complex relationship between King and Armor King. I’m exactly the sort of person this mode should entertain, but instead I finished feeling annoyed and unfulfilled. But sadly, there’s a bigger problem.

The fighting part of the story is abysmal.  Many battles take place against the same character multiple times, and if you lose once you start that section again. The game attempts to ease you through by adding a modifier that lets you spam special moves, but it’s like adding stabilisers to a speedboat. Instead of understanding how Tekken works, you cheese your way through fights using specials you never properly learn. It’s a terrible introduction to the series and the system, and it’s only worth completing to grab yourself the amazingly easy Achievements / Trophies that come with it. On top of this, the Mishima Saga is a strange fit for a sequel. The new characters barely feature, squandering a cool opportunity to embed them in the Tekken mythology. Instead, you unlock additional, single-shot character stories you can play separately. These side missions are simplistic and daft - they make the character motivations in Injustice 2 look like Raging Bull - but  they’re exactly what’s missing from the main story. Tekken is a cheerful, self-deprecating series, and this stuff could have added some much-needed levity to the Mishima Saga. I’m not suggesting  we ditch all the patricide and frowning - just that adding the occasional angry panda could add soul to an otherwise drab tale.

Without rating them individually, the selection of new characters is imaginative and generous. Lucky Chloe and Kazumi Mishima are the standouts for me, bringing the correct mix of weirdness and threat, but most of the new additions feel like a natural fit for a game that thrives on adding wildly different fighters. Akuma also works in his surroundings, even if he feels gimmicky compared to Tekken’s more direct, lateral  fighters. Overall, the roster balance is great. Most of the series favourites making a comeback, and if you’ve previously played a Tekken game you’ll find someone here you’re comfortable with. It’s a shame, however, that Lei Wulong didn’t make the cut. I’m less worried about the absence of Ganryu. 

So far, the praise for Tekken 7 has been faint, so I’ll forgive you if you scrolled back up to check the score. The reason it gets four stars is because despite the shaky story mode, Tekken still feels amazing to play. And it really is about ‘feel’, in a way that most beat ‘em ups aren’t. You get the same thrill from pulling off your first big special as you do from mastering a chain throw or blocking a 10-hit combo. Matches roll back and forth brilliantly - you can perfect your opponent one round and suffer a crushing defeat the next.

But more than this, Tekken 7 is a game that encourages you to have fun. It’s full of wild momentum shifts and bold, cinematic fights, suitable for newcomers and veterans alike. It’s less technical than something like Street Fighter 5, but it’s also more aggressively gratifying. Whereas Street Fighter punishes you for pushing buttons, Tekken is happy to let you throw out a few testing jabs, learn what your opponent will do, and react accordingly. There are moments where you feel outclassed and powerless, but they’re eclipsed by the times when you feel empowered.

The new Rage system changes the game somewhat, but it’s implemented in a very Tekken way. As you reach the end of your health bar, you’re given a buff you can spend on special, one-shot attacks. They act rather like Street Fighter’s Super Moves, but by assigning them to characters with low health, it adds tension to the end of every fight. The psychology of it is fascinating. Connecting a Rage Art will turn a match around, but you can still take damage while you’re executing them, so they become a microcosm of Tekken’s best back-and-forth moments. There are some Tekken purists who might sneer like Bryan Fury at unnecessary tweaks to their favourite game, but for me, they add just enough frisson to justify their inclusion.

By getting excited about the core systems at the expense of everything new, I feel like I’m celebrating a game for barely evolving over the last 20 years, but Tekken has always been that good. I’d rather be playing it than writing about it. But despite this, there’s something a bit sad about Tekken 7. By trying to compete with modern beat ‘em ups, it’s simultaneously more and less than it once was, and the failure of the new additions feels jarring when compared to modern fighters. This might be the last entry for Tekken that can still trade on a that joyful fighting system alone, but for now I’m happy to enjoy it for what it is: a powerful, gratifying, deeply cinematic fighting game.

This game was reviewed on PS4.

With Tekken 7 announced for a June 2 release, what better time to remind you all that you will be able to pop along to this year’s PC Gamer Weekender and get your hands on the latest – and final – chapter in the Mishima Blood Saga.

Buy tickets: Day passes available for as low as £12.99 

Admittedly that’s a bit more dramatic than initially intended, but it sounds pretty cool so we’re going with it. What it does mean is you can play the game if you attend the PC Gamer Weekender, so you can either be showing off your sick brawling skills you’ve picked up from the PlayStation and Xbox. Or, as this is the first Tekken title on PC, you can be introduced to the series for the first time.

And if that’s not enough to convince you to go grab some time with the newest Iron Fist smash-‘em-up, let a resident Tekken expert take the reins and steer you towards enlightenment with our friends at PC Gamer: Why PC players should be excited about Tekken 7.

Tekken 7 will join many more, all available to play, at the PC Gamer Weekender, which is being held February 18-19 at the Olympia, London, in the UK. For more details see the site, and follow the PCGW on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

Tekken 7 will finally come home on June 2, 2017. The latest in the fighting game series that stars robots, bears, and knockoffs of both Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee will arrive on consoles and PC more than two years after it first hit Japanese arcades in March 2015. It was previously slated to arrive in early 2017, so this is a delay by all but the most generous of calendars. June 2 is in the earlier half of 2017, I guess.

Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada apologized for the delay in an interview with GameSpot. But he said the team agreed it was a good idea after seeing the troubled launches of other recent fighting games. Street Fighter 5? Street Fighter 5.

"We were trying our best to get the game out at that time, to get it into the hands of users as early as possible," Harada said. "We saw some titles - some from our own company and some from others - which didn't have a very good launch because of a lack of content, or whatever it was, that caused players to bash the product".

Hey, if they needed the extra time to get the animation on that sick rose-throwing combo just right, more power to them.

Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!

Tekken x Street Fighter may have slipped quietly into the shadows, but Tekken 7 offers the next best thing. In footage shown at the E3 2016 Microsoft Conference, anvil-faced Tekken grandad Heihachi Mishima literally goes head-to-head with Street Fighter’s Akuma, and it’s glorious.

It’s more than just a tantalising glimpse of how Tekken x Street Fighter could have looked - we also get a glance at Tekken 7’s story mode. Akuma and Heihachi pause to exchange grunts mid-scrap, and at one point the action even slows down to show something that //looks// like a QTE appears. It’s a bizarre addition, but it seems to work. There’s also a sign of environmental destruction, with a stage that gradually collapses and burns as the fight progresses. Apart from that, it’s the same meaty, satisfying Tekken as before - thumping combos and solid hits. At the end of the demo, we see Akuma nail the Tekken version of his Raging Demon. Ouch. 

Nasty. Tekken 7 is out early 2017, and as a special treat, all Xbox Live Gold members will get a free copy of Tekken Tag Tournament 2. 

Check out every announcement and full summary details on our Microsoft E3 press conference page.

Tekken 7 lives in two very different worlds - the world of arcades, thriving in Japan but ailing in the west, and the world of consoles. Game Designer Michael Murray would like to bring those worlds a little bit closer together, with the use of Tekken 7's online matchmaking.

Set to be the third game in the Tekken console series with the option for online battles (or second, if you don't think the free-to-play Tekken Revolution counts), it will be the first to implement the same system in arcades, allowing players to "go outside [their own store] and match against someone in another location." That should be helpful if your local joint isn't offering any real competition. If you're a wide-eyed hopeful, the next step would be to link these two system into one huge battlepalooza, where console and arcade players could throw each other into volcanoes to their blackened hearts' content. While the idea sounds ambitious or even impossible, Murray told GamesRadar+ in a recent interview that the interest is very much there: "That's something our subsidiary [Bandai Namco Holdings] is actually asking about...we're still exploring what's entailed in trying to even achieve that."

Technical complications are an obvious roadblock here - Sony would have to allow that sort of interconnectivity through the PlayStation Network, though luckily it's been open to the idea with Street Fighter 5. However, Murray's biggest concern is players acting less than sportsmanlike and upsetting the system's delicate balance.

"If you're playing on PS4, you've bought that game, you might meet some real jerk online who disconnects because he's going to lose," said Murray. "You get angry, but there's no big deal, because it's not like it cost you any money because of that. But in the arcade, if you're linked to that person, you're paying ¥100 (about $1.00) to play, and the match gets interrupted, then we could get a lot of complaints about that." So folks like that jerk you knew in middle school who pulled the plug rather than lose might ruin Tekken unification for all of us (freakin' Craig). But not all is lost, and there's still the chance that Murray and his team will be able to find a workaround if interest is strong enough: "we haven't decided one way or the other yet."

Though if Tekken 7's arcade and console networks do become one in Japan, it may still not come to pass in the US - while the console release will definitely arrive at some undisclosed point in the future (after the Japanese arcade release of Tekken 7: Fated Retribution, an expansion that will be part of the console release), the arcade version's fate isn't so certain. "We did some location tests in North America, mainly in Los Angeles, New York, and in the southwest somewhere, and that's still not decided whether it's going to see a full [arcade] release in the US. The arcade sector is still in discussions." So if you love Tekken and live in L.A., New York, or somewhere in the southwest, find those machines.

The Street Fighter universe has no shortage of excellent villains, and soon one of them will go toe-to-toe with the Mishima clan in Tekken 7. Bandai Namco has revealed that Akuma will become a playable character in Tekken 7 Japanese arcades thanks to the "Fated Retribution" update. And while this doesn't for sure mean that he'll transition with the rest of the cast when Tekken 7 comes to PS4 at an unannounced date, it's pretty common for all arcade content to be adapted when porting to console.

It looks as though Tekken 7 might be altering the character's history a bit for his debut in Bandai Namco's universe; where in Street Fighter he is a fighter who embraces evil energy and seems to have no other purpose but to fight the strongest in the world, in Tekken 7 he seems to be an attack dog of the late Kazumi Mishima, sent on a quest to kill her husband and son. See, people? That's what happens when you don't go to family counseling - and your son literally becomes part-devil after his dad throws him into a ravine. These people have … issues.

Tekken x Street Fighter, a game which was set to adapt Street Fighter characters to Tekken series gameplay (much like how Street Fighter x Tekken adapted Tekken characters to Street Fighter gameplay) was announced in 2010 and we've seen neither hide nor hair of it since. In that respect, Akuma's appearance in Tekken 7 might be the first taste of the long-in-development crossover.

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Eric Jacobus is a stunt man with a serious beard. He's also good at recreating various Tekken character's moves in real life because he can. Look, here he is copying Lei Wulong moves, mixing in a bit of drunken boxing with some snake fist (apparently, I'm just repeating what the man says. He can change direction in midair, I'm not disagreeing with anything).

He's also had a crack at Hwoarang's moveset which holy crap involves so much kicking:

Seriously, this guy can kick. If you ever need someone who can kick at a professional level, this is the guy:

Although, he's rubbish at the final boss.

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Eddy. Friggin’. Gordo. How can one of PlayStation’s finest, most influential scrappers be home to such a despicably cheaty toerag? 12 years before 'q to Jason' was ever a thing, legions of PS1 fight fans were chugging at the goblet of 32-bit Capoeira success through shameful spamming of q and e. Doesn’t anyone have the merest smidgen of respect for an expertly timed 12-hit juggle combo anymore? Of course, that was Tekken 3’s greatest gift to PS1 – just as Final Fantasy 7 re-energised the JPRG for western audiences a year before in 1997, Namco’s frisky fighter took the beat-‘em-up out of the arcade and ignited a passion for the genre not seen since Street Fighter II.

This is a game that falls into a tiny cabal of genuine masterpieces that truly sum up what PlayStation stood for in the late ‘90s. WipEout. Metal Gear Solid. Resident Evil 2. Tekken 3. It’s in a group that popularised video games like never before, stretching the boundaries of what the medium could mean in a way Sony couldn’t comprehend when it launched PS1 with Battle Arena Toshinden and Rapid Reload. Not bad for a game that padded its roster with a tiny manga velociraptor, eh?

Built on Namco System 12 – the same platform that powered the mighty SoulCalibur and uh… UmJammer Lammy – Tekken 3 was immediately bigger, bolder and more brazen than its predecessors. A sledgehammer rather than a scalpel, Namco ported a dirty great smörgåsbord of a fighter from the fanatical arcade floors of Akihabara to your PS1’s disc tray. Next to their great contemporary Virtua Fighter, Jin Kazama and co knew they lacked the piano wire precision of Sega’s effort. However, finesse is overrated when you’ve got a mode that lets you play beach volleyball with a leopard-headed wrestler simply by pounding the inflatable sphere with a suplex.

Not that Tekken 3 isn’t a supremely crafted combatant. Where previous games had been firmly rooted on 2D ground, this round of the King Of Iron Fist Tournament expanded its fisticuff horizons by focusing on the third axis. Fret not: we’re not talking phoned-in, dragon-steering motion controls here. Rather, the game opens up the boundaries of the fighting planes, enabling players to circle each other or swiftly dodge Paul Phoenix’s ultra cheap Deathfist with a double tap of up or down on the D-pad. In evolutionary terms, this was as significant for Tekken as Leon instructing Resi’s cam to shift behind his shoulder for entry number four.

A sense of progression was also tied with a knowing sense of absurdity – there’s no other PS1 fighter that so wilfully makes fun of itself. A quick look at the greatly expanded roster shows Namco’s propensity for levity, be it a giant panda shoeing a walking tree trunk in the wooden shins or a professor, so sauced up he can barely stand, battling a miffed ogre. This magnificently silly sensibility is furthered bolstered by Tekken Force, a side-scrolling mini-game that rekindled a love for a forgotten curio that had been lost since Streets Of Rage. And as much as we love Axel’s pixelated karate kick, he’s no match for Lei Wulong and his full suite of Jackie Chan chops. A good 16 years on and Tekken 3 still has power to evoke memories like few other titles.

Our own news ed Meiks ‘might’ have walked over to his PS1 and calmly popped it open before proceeding to snap his disc in two with all the glass-eyed lunacy of an axe murderer following 19 straight losses to Mr Phoenix – damn that Deathfist! Yet despite tiny dinosaurs, red mist tales and bouts of volleyball… actually, because of them, this undoubtedly remains the king of fighters.

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There's an odd design logic to Tekken's characters. Yoshimitsu, who is at least partly organic and a single character, can be redesigned as a squid without a second thought, but Jack - most often the prototype for a brand new line of Mishima war robots - must always look like a Gears of War character crossed with this bird.

If I were designing him, he'd look like a toaster with arms and legs that could fire out whole other robots from his massive bread slots. As it is, Jack-7 gets a pink mohawk and some neon detailing. Here he is punching a woman in the name of sport, or revenge, or whatever Tekken's about these days:

As with Yoshimitsu, his moveset looks pretty familiar - long arm sweeps and powerful kicks from his adorably tiny legs make up the bulk of the list, same as it ever was. No word yet on whether he will cart ladies about on his shoulders this time.

"Yoooshimitszooo WINS!" is a soundbite burned into my brain from Tekken's PS1 and 2 heyday. He's always been referred to as a 'Space Ninja' since the very first game's instruction manual, but the new redesign is going all out on that idea.

Yoshmitsu's had a mechanical arm since Tekken 2, but quite how far this new look goes is unclear. All we know for sure is that director Katsuhiro Harada has said that this new "battle suit" was created in Bosconovitch's Research Labs (Dr Bosconovitch being the series' go-to science guy), and based on aquatic animal biotechnology.

Despite the radical visual overhaul, his fighting style doesn't actually look that much different. Still swords. Still crazy. There's just a few more tentacles involved than there used to be:

Do you identify with white, black, asian, or hispanic? Kind of a weird question to ask someone, right? But it happens a lot. Diverse groups of people get dropped into these generalized categories all the time, and we're somehow expected to relate to them. And games do it, too. There are lots of different types of people out there, but most games still focus on the military shooter white guy protagonist, the black guy GTA gangster, and the asian guy that looks and fights like Bruce Lee. There's more to the world than these generic stereotypes, but for the majority of my gaming life experience, those few types of characters are the options I've been stuck with. Which one of those categories do I belong to? None, really. But there's good news. Developer Bandai Namco is giving largely unexplored cultures a chance to shine in the upcoming Tekken 7 roster, and one of them is definitely a character I can relate to.

What's getting me hyped about Tekken 7 (a series I don't usually play, but probably will now) is the addition of one of the first Filipino characters to enter the gaming space. I am a mixed race Filipino American and always considered the Filipino culture to be a big part of my life. I have Filipino friends, I cook Filipino food, and I watch WoWoWee (the Filipino equivalent to the Price is Right) with the old people in my family. Naturally, I gravitate toward Filipino people, and I would definitely enjoy playing games as Filipino characters. But the one place I never see Filipinos is in games - that's because there have only been about five obscure Filipino game characters in the history of ever.

So, when Bandai Namco announced it was bringing a Filipino character to Tekken 7, I was thrilled. Finally, we get some representation. Josie Rizal is Tekken 7's new fighter. Her admittedly skimpy outfit features the red, yellow, and blue of the Philippines' flag, and includes little touches to her costume highlighting the flag's prominent sun and stars. There's just enough to let you know she isn't just another generic asian combatant. And, as touchy as representing an entire nation in one character goes, there isn't anything over the top about her costume and her look doesn't play into any stereotypes of the Filipino culture. She could just as easily been short, dark skinned, and dressed as a nurse.

In the game, Josie uses eskrima and kickboxing in her fighting style - both popular martial arts in the Philippines. That information already makes Josie special because it reveals a little bit about the Filipino culture and the game exposes the entire world to those tidbits. Not every gamer is aware that the Philippines has its own unique forms of martial arts. Eskrima, for example, is a Filipino developed martial art that involves techniques that use and defend against short sticks or machetes whether you're armed with a weapon or using empty hand techniques. If you play Tekken 7, you experience that unique fighting style personally. For me, I know people that study that martial art (and even learned a little myself), so seeing it being used in a game, automatically draws me to it.

Having multicultural characters in games is like having another way to share cultures. Josie isn't the perfect representative of the Philippines and its people, but she's a start. There are some Filipinos that have issue with the way she looks, her costume not being traditional enough, or her not having an accent. But what does a Filipino look like or sound like, really? Those concerns are things that can be adjusted and addressed (if they even need to be). The real win for me is that there is a character in a game that's saying, "I'm Filipino. Check me out," in a medium that has had little to no Filipino representation in the past. Yes, cultural sensitivity can be improved, but that doesn't mean this isn't a step forward.

Adding characters from different cultures into games is definitely a good thing, and it's going to take time to get it right. I'm not saying that Mario should be Filipino or anything like that, but there is a wealth of ideas to pull from different cultures that could be considered in game design. In a fighting game like Tekken, when developers add new characters from different cultures, we get exposure to fighting styles that aren't just the overused karate, kung fu, boxing, judo, and miscellaneous martial arts we've seen in action before. But drop a Filipino (or other ethnicity) in there and the design leans toward adding something new. Martial arts like eskrima, kali, or other unheard of fighting styles are automatically on the table, exposing gamers to things they might not have known existed before. And the same can apply to many other subjects in games.

If game developers expanded their game concepts into new cultures we could all experience more of the world through gaming. History, cultural lore, and even a look into the day-to-day life of different cultures can be achieved in games. Take the unexplored historical battles of a glossed over nation and drop them into Total War game. You can get content that inspires new combat tactics based on that nation's military strategies, insight into the historical politics of the setting, and an introduction to important figures in that nation's history. Or take a culture's myths and legends and use those to inspire unique stories. The platformer Never Alone no doubt introduced many gamers to the life and culture of the Native Alaskan Iñupiat, using game mechanics to highlight that peoples' spiritual beliefs and hardships. Experiencing these things in games can encourage players to learn about a culture they knew nothing about before. And the best thing about integrating culture into games is you actually experience it personally. You're the one having a conversation with the NPCs on screen, and you're using those ancient battle strategies. You aren't just watching a documentary on a TV screen.

Take the generics out of gaming and we'd have more interesting, relatable characters. Even putting more culture into a genre as played out as a modern military shooter could work wonders. What if one of your squadmates was a Filipino woman that brings up her thoughts of home, eating her mom's adobo, and hanging out with her family? That would resonate with me and draw me to that character. And people who have no idea what Filipino adobo is might Google it, ask a Filipino friend about it, and just start the conversation. It could happen.

Not only do characters like Josie make me feel included, giving me a game character that I feel I can relate to and get an attachment to, but it opens the doors to potentially better gaming. It would be amazing to see more games inspired by the vast number of cultures in the world and not be limited to the perspectives of a few generic color categories. And hopefully, the future will see more people of the world telling their stories through games.

Tekken 7 was just announced at EVO 2014, and already Namco Bandai is revealing more about this fighter's story arc finale. If you didn't catch the latest trailer, you can watch it below for a recap, but the jist is that Tekken 7 will finally conclude the saga of the Mishima clan. No footage of the one-on-one, Unreal 4 engine gameplay has been shown yet, but fans who've following Tekken for years should be excited by these new plot details.

The sordid history between Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin, and Kazuya's mother Kazuni will finally be divulged in Tekken 7, leading up to a climactic battle between Heihachi and Kazuya on the lip of an active volcano. Game director and producer Katsuhiro Harada confirms that Tekken 7 will tie up a lot of loose ends in the story leading up to this point, and answer questions like: Why did Heihachi throw his own son off a cliff? Similarly, why is he trying to kill his grandson? What spurred Heihachi have to kill his own wife? Who is the origin of the Devil gene? Answers to these questions and more await in Tekken 7, but it's pretty clear that the Mishima family dynamic is pretty f'ed up.

Harada also announced that Tekken 7 will feature character designs from renowned guest artists, a tradition from other Namco Bandai games. Among these artists are Mari Shimazaki (Bayonetta), Yusuke Muzaki (Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes), Ninnin (Duel Master, Card Fight Vanguard), and Kenichiro Yoshimura (Anarchy Reigns). Harada showed off some of Ninnin's mock-up costumes for Lars, focusing on a design that looks like a prince's regal attire combined with the Crysis nanosuit. Meanwhile, Shimazaki will be designing the look of Kazuni, who's clad in an ornate kimono (with a mysterious tiger crouching behind her in the concept art). Huh!

Check out the following screens for additional info!

Ever wanted a glimpse inside the character creation process that produced favorites like Kuma, Jack, and Bob? More than half of the ten new challengers up for inclusion in PS3 free-to-play fighter Tekken Revolution were rejected for being too weird.

That's right. Too weird for Tekken. Like Syake/Salmon:

"Originally planned for Tekken 3, punch buttons would cause the Salmon to flop around, and the kick buttons would make it release eggs, which was quite an idea at the time. If, for some unforeseen reason, this character is actually chosen, development may be quite difficult."

On top of fighting fish, you've got your Giant Praying Mantis, your Female Paul, your Average-run-of-the-mill Old Man, your Zombie Bride... Of particular note is Sexy Female Tekken Force Character, who "was proposed for Tekken 5, but the clothing was too revealing and the concept was scrapped for fears the rating would increase."

Then again, it's tough to argue with the occult fertility powers of Female Vampire:

"Aside from [series producer Katsuhiro] Harada, a strange phenomena occurred in which many members got married or gave birth to children around the same time. As a result, not many staff were left at work to complete the character, and she was discarded. The concept was salvaged again during Tekken 6 BR, but the same strange phenomena occurred again and Harada locked the concept away in a safe, wanting to keep it secured within the development team since it (she) seems to bring good fortune."

If you care to see any of these characters appear in Tekken Revolution, you can head to the series' Facebook page to vote for your favorite. We fear further development efforts may shred whatever fraying threads bind the Tekken team to our mutual perception of reality.

First, there was Tekken Bowling. Then, there was Mushroom Battle. Namco Bandai’s latest 3D fighter hits the Wii U with a few new features, which make the most of the console’s GamePad and Nintendo affiliation in some inventive--if not flat-out wacky--ways.

First thing’s first: If you choose to ignore the additional elements in the Wii U Edition, this is essentially the same rock-solid brawler that hit the Xbox 360 and PS3 in September of this year. Reading our full Tekken Tag Tournament 2 review will bring you up to speed on the game’s two-on-two beatdowns, bolstered by an utterly gigantic roster and some heavy-hitting music. It might not be the most methodical 3D fighter of all time, but its easily one of the most fun.

The Wii U has no problems processing TTT2’s flashy graphics: There’s nary a hint of slowdown or downgraded textures, and everything still moves with a violent dynamism. Competitive-minded gamers will be happy to know that the online play is as smooth as its ever been, but it’s unclear if the Wii U will get the same World Tekken Federation support as the 360 and PS3. Though the DLC characters were free to begin with, it’s nice to have all of them right there on the disc at start-up.

So what else do Wii U owners get for the slightly longer wait? Mushroom Battle might take the cake for “most ridiculous fighting game mode,” where mano-a-mano fights (no tag teams here, sadly) unfold on a stage littered with iconic Mario mushrooms. To accentuate the absurdity of these bouts, you’ll want to don the new Nintendo-themed costumes granted to every character. Tiger as Toad and Ganryu as Bowser are hilarious stand-outs, though sadly, the same costumes get recycled over and over due to the overwhelming size of the game’s roster.

In theory, Mushroom Mode would add a layer of strategy to the matches, where you have to be mindful of side-stepping in the wrong direction lest you gobble up a Poison Mushroom. In practice, it morphs the combat into a clownish tussle of gigantic combatants getting beaten up by pipsqueak pugilists, all to the sounds of some techno-fied Mario music. Focusing the fights on randomized power-ups makes a mockery of the classic Tekken gameplay, even if it is self-aware of its own silliness. If that’s not goofy enough for you, you can dip into the Tekken Ball mode refurbished from Tekken 3, where the fighters bat a beachball back and forth with their limbs. It’s goofy fun for the first half-hour, but don’t expect to invest serious time into either of these modes.

The GamePad also presents an interesting opportunity: busting out combos via the touchscreen. Finding some inputs too taxing on your fingers? Simply add them to one of the four on-screen moves, and you’ll execute them with a tap of your finger. It’s an interesting set of training wheels for players who are new to the series, though it’s a bit unfortunate that, since the Wii U currently only supports a single GamePad, only one player can reap the benefits in versus mode. When used like a traditional controller, the GamePad feels just fine, though it can't approach the responsive of a proper arcade stick.

The Wii U Edition’s new modes are more “goofy entertainment” than “substantial content.” But without them, the game’s still great--so you should look at these rowdy wranglings as icing on the Tekken cake. If you skipped TTT2 on other consoles and enjoy 3D arcade punch-ups, this is currently your best Wii U bet.

Tag battle action in the palm of your hand

Street Fighter X Tekken can't be contained on consoles--it's now made the jump to the handheld arena with the release of the PS Vita version. But just who will you pick for your tag-team duo? We'll get you reacquainted with all 55 members of the line-up, with the DLC characters now thankfully included right from the get-go in the Vita version of the game. Ready? Fight!

Abel (Street Fighter)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Akuma (Street Fighter)

AKA Gouki, Akuma epitomizes the dark side of the martial arts presented by his brother Gouken, Ken and Ryu's teacher. Until Goukens return in SFIV some thought Akuma was his murderer, though Akuma did kill his own teacher after discovering the dark powers that fuel him. He wears his late master's prayer beads as a strange tribute to him. A brutal fighter, Akuma isnt a world-conquering sociopath, but is fueled by an urge to be the strongest. Normally cast as Ryu's nemesis in the Alpha games, perennial loser Dan sees Akuma as a rival, while Akuma just ignores him. A veteran of versus titles, Akuma has appeared in almost all of the crossover games Capcom developed.

Asuka (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Balrog (Street Fighter)

This hard-punching bruiser is another SFII favorite that many love for his below the belt boxing techniques. The former champions evil ways brought him to the attention of M Bison, who brought Balrog into Shadaloo to be his personal bodyguard. A shortsighted individual more interested in immediate gains than planning, Balrog softened his image (slightly) when he saved a bandaged kid in SFIV. Though we cant tell if its tough love or because he thinks she has special abilities similar to Bison.

Bob (Tekken)

This portly karate champ hails from America (as if there was any doubt). Introduced fairly recently in Tekken 6, Bob is one of the series most recent comedic characters, with surprisingly fast moves for his rotund figure. In SFXT he has a kindred soul in the form of Rufus, but will their commonalities make them friends or enemies?

Cammy (Street Fighter)

Cammy has a complicated past to say the least. Cloned from the DNA of evil mastermind M Bison, she once was a brainwashed assassin for Bison's crime organization Shadaloo. Eventually she broke free of her programming, losing her memory and joining Britain's MI-6 intelligence group, putting her killer abilities to good use. No longer ashamed of her past, she's recommitted her group of agents to taking down evil worldwide. And she does it all from a confusingly revealing leotard, which is apparently standard MI-6 attire.

Chun-Li (Street Fighter)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Cole (Sony Exclusive)

The star of Sonys inFamous series, Cole MacGrath was your everyday parkour practitioner until getting caught in an explosion in Empire City that leaves him with electrical powers and the city decimated. Depending on how you played the games in those series he either became a savior of the ruined town or a despot crushing free will in his iron grip. No matter what happens though, the ethically grey, electrically-powered super human needs to battle a huge energy monster called The Beast before turning into a vampire. Hes one of five characters exclusive to the PS3 and PS Vita versions.

Dhalsim (Street Fighter)

Dhalsim and his inscrutable, mystic ways have become part of fighting history. A peaceful soul who only got into fighting to earn money for his destitute village, when not in combat Dhalsim has a quiet home life with his wife, son and a friendly elephant. As for his other accomplishments, the stretchy fire breather helped free Cammy from her brainwashing. One of the eight original SFII fighters, hes appeared in multiple crossover titles, with SFXT just another notch in the yoga masters rope belt.

Guile (Street Fighter)

This Air Force Major joined the informal world of street fighting to avenge the death of his best friend, Charlie. In SFII he fought his way to the top to take down the guilty party, M. Bison, though should he win the tournament, Guile chooses to be the better man and spares Bisons life. When Guile isnt out travelling the world and chasing after Charlies ghost, hes with his family. In fact, the ripped master of the Sonic Boom is related to Ken by marriage, as each is married to one of a pair of sisters.

Heihachi (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Hugo (Street Fighter)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Hwoarang (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Ibuki (Street Fighter)

A female ninja first introduced in Street Fighter III, shes one of the few new characters from SFIII to gain any lasting popularity. Trained in a secretive ninja village, Ibuki is a pretty normal young woman all things considered. Though she loves a good tournament, like most Japanese teens, shes also focused on high school and college. Despite her becoming proficient enough as a ninja to graduate and hopefully lead a normal life, it seems like Ibuki just cant escape her heritage.

Jin (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Julia (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Juri (Street Fighter)

First seen in Super Street Fighter IV, Juri seems to love being a bad guy. A Tae Kwan Do expert from South Korea, Juris main drive in fighting is to inflict pain on others. Quite the femme fatale, Juri is a sensual villain who uses her augmented power to make herself the most evil woman in the Street Fighter universe. Her chief rivals are Chun-Li and Cammy, though shes no fan of Bison either.

Kazuya (Tekken)

Once the fresh faced hero of the Tekken series, Kazuya soon became a twisted villain thanks in part to his upbringing and partially because of his devil gene. Thrown off a mountain by his father Heihatchi for being too weak, he eventually proved he was far stronger than his father gave him credit for. After beating Heihatchi and fathering an illegitimate son named Jin, eventually Kazuya turned his eye to world domination, turning into his Devil form as the need strikes. This anti-hero turned out to be much more complex than most fighting game leads, just dont get on his bad side.

Ken (Street Fighter)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

King (Tekken)

A pro wrestler in the lucha libre tradition of Mexico, the original King entered the first two Tekken tournaments to win money to build an orphanage. After achieving that goal, King met a tragic end, murdered by Tekken 3 boss Ogre. Soon a new wrestler (and former member of his orphanage) picked up the jaguar mask and trained to avenge him. Eventually King II became the equal of his inspiration as a fighter and performer. At one point he was in a deadly rivalry with Marduk, but eventually they buried the hatchet and became tag team partners. Isn't it nice when that happens?

Kuma (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Law (Tekken)

Part of a long tradition of Bruce Lee clones in fighting games, Marshal Law looks, dresses and fights just like the late real life martial artist. Often entering the Tekken tournaments to pay off a debt of some kind, Law is a respectable fighter pulled down by the bad luck more than his own choices. A friendly rival of Paul's, Law was replaced in Tekken 3 by his son, but has appeared in all the main games since, even though he's pushing 50.

Kuro and Toro (Sony Exclusive)

Virtually unknown in the US, adorable white cat Toro is Sonys mascot in Japan, appearing alongside his black cat neighbor Kuro on numerous Sony products, and have appeared in games dating back to the original PlayStation. Obviously exclusive to the Sony version, the delightful mascots play like the SFXT leads, with Toro copying Ryu and Kuro duplicating the moves of Kazuya.

Lili (Tekken)

Introduced in Tekken 5, Lilis fighting ability seems out of placed with her rich upbringing. A natural fighter, she fell into the world of street fighting in secret, travelling the world on her familys private fortune. After losing to Asuka at the end of Tekken 5, the Mishima Zaibatsu bought her fathers oil field, causing her father tons of stress. Lili joined the Tekken 6 tournament to get revenge, on both Jin and Asuka.

M Bison (Street Fighter)

Arguably the most dangerous bad guy in Street Fighter, M. Bison and his terrorist organization Shadaloo had been slowly poisoning the world when he decide to invite the world's best fighter to face him in a tournament. Not a great idea really, as said tournament was ultimately the cause for the destruction of his empire. You wouldn't think that would happen, as Bison is insanely powerful due to his Psycho Power, which he expresses with electricity and flying headfirst at people. Despite dying in SFII, he returned in SFIV, inhabiting a new and more powerful body, proving you can't keep a good man down.

Marduk (Tekken)

An angry soul that hails from Australia and is trained in Vale Tudo, Craig Marduk has quite a lot of blood on his hands from killing opponents in fights, and that includes King II's mentor Armor King. After losing to King in Tekken 4, Marduk trained harder than ever for a rematch, and said rematch ended in a draw that saw the two become unlikely friends. When not training, Marduk is fending off another revenge-seeker, Armor King II, brother to the original.

Mega Man (Sony Exclusive)

This isnt your fathers Mega Man oh wait, this is exactly your fathers Mega Man. In celebration of MMs 25th anniversary, SFXT recreates the classic, so-bad-its-good Mega Man from the US box art for the first game on NES. Out of shape and a bit silly, ultimately he still seems like a pretty cool guy holding a laser gun. This might not be the Mega Man fans want right now, but hes a fun tribute nonetheless. Hes also one of the Sony exclusive characters.

Nina (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Ogre (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Pac-Man (Sony Exclusive)

One of the characters most synonymous with video games, Pac-Man joins in on the fighting fun with his Namco friends, but with a twist. Mokujin, the wooden fighting dummy come to life in the Tekken games, serves Pac-Man as his fighting vessel. Mokujins body grants the diminutive yellow sphere a fun, competitive edge and is a worthy member of the Sony-exclusive section of the roster.

Paul (Tekken)

Paul got his start in Tekken as the Ken to Kazuyas Ryu, but things didnt stay that way for Paul, as more and more he became a joke character. Sometimes hes begging his old friend Law for money, sometimes he beats the first form of the final boss and leaves before the second appears, and other times hes fighting a bear. A motorcyclist with an impressive head of hair, Paul Phoenix might be silly, but he at least is determined (or too dumb to know when hes beat).

Poison (Street Fighter)

Poison has been a favorite of many fans despite rarely being playable in most Street Fighter games. She just must have a certain something that makes all the players want her. Originally from the Final Fight beat em up series, Poison transitioned into her new role as a manager for man mountain Hugo in the Alpha games. A favorite of the internet due to a trivial debate, Poison is one our favorite ladies in gaming and were happy to see her transition into a more active in-game role.

Raven (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Rolento (Street Fighter)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Rufus (Street Fighter)

This portly biker considers himself the best fighter in the United States and is out to take that title officially by beating the man he considers his rival, Ken Masters. Faster than he appears, the Street Fighter IV original loves kung fu but seems more into it for the violence than learning anything. But many fighters were ultimately impressed with his skill, as it turns out his silly looks hide the soul of a skilled fighter.

Ryu (Street Fighter)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Sagat (Street Fighter)

A Muay Thai chanp infamous for his deadly power, Sagat was one of the more fearsome battlers of SFII. He lost his eye in a fight with Dan Hibikis father and gained his scar thanks to an uppercut of Ryus, which has given him a burning passion for revenge ever since. When not committed to his rivalry with Ryu, hes often fending off the humorously inept attacks of Dan.

Steve (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Vega (Street Fighter)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Xiaoyu (Tekken)

A 16-year-old high school student that wanted to fight in the Tekken 3 tournament to earn enough money to build her own amusement park, Xiaoyu somehow kept her innocence around the oppressive world the Mishimas built around her. Following the death of Heihatchi, she joins the fifth Tekken tourney to try to gain enough money to go back in time and save the despot. Later she joins in on Tekken 6 in an attempt to save Jin.

Yoshimitsu (Tekken)

Check out our video walkthrough of the character here!

Zangief (Street Fighter)

After emerging from the forests of Russia having had his fill of punching bears, Zangief became a popular wrestler in his homeland. At the request of his government he joined the M Bisons street fighting tournament to bring glory to Russia. This mountain of a man has some complicated but devastating moves, including his patented pile driver, but is often used as one of the more humorous characters by the designers.

But wait, there's more!

Instead of gating them through paid DLC, Capcom's done you a solid and given you the additional 12 characters free of charge, as you soon as you start up the PS Vita version of the game. In case you held out to play them, here's who you'll be saying hello to...

Alisa (Tekken)

Introduced in Tekken 6, Alisa is a the robotic "daughter" of Dr. Boskonovitch, but acts like your typical friendly teenage girl despite her synthetic origins. She befriends Lars Alexander in his quest to stop Jin, though eventually her programming puts her at odds with Lars. They eventually make up, and Lars still ranks among Alisa's friends alongside Xiaoyu and Panda. Though new, the mechanically winged android has become one of the lead stars of the franchise.

Blanka (Street Fighter)

After being lost in a plane crash as a baby, Blanka grew up a wild man in the forests of Brazil, slowly developing his unique style of fighting. He's known the world over for his electrical powers, striking green skin and wild orange hair. Reunited with his mother after the end of SFII, Blanka still finds time to fight in tournaments whenever he can.

Bryan (Tekken)

Once an officer in Interpol, Bryan Fury died and was reborn as a cyborg via the work of Dr Abel. His main rivalries have been with Yoshimitsu (a fellow cyborg created) and Lei, as Lei knows of Bryan's former connections to the Hong Kong underworld. Sometimes searching for a way to extend his artificial life ala the villains in Blade Runner, other times simply entering the tournaments to test his powers, Bryan is one of the tougher customers in the Tekken series.

Christie (Tekken)

Supplanting Eddy Gordo as Tekken's featured capoeria expert, Christie brought her J Lo looks to the series in Tekken 4. Taught by Eddy's master, she joined the Tekken tournaments not to be champion, but usually to get answers on the whereabouts of Eddy or her master. She has few friends in the series, but her main rivals have been Nina, Julia and Bruce.

Cody (Street Fighter)

Originally starring in the Final Fight games, Cody joined the Street Fighter Alpha roster in the third game. Jailed for fighting a little too hard to free the streets of Metro City in FF, Cody is a tough sumbitch that's ultimately on the side of good. He often breaks out of prison whenever he feels like it, usually to get in more fights and seek out his rival/friend Guy.

Dudley (Street Fighter)

The son of a wealthy British family, Dudley reflects a simpler, more gentlemanly era of boxing. Once his fancy family fell on hard times, Dudley put his boxing skills to the test in the realm of Street Fighting. Dudley can come off as either chivalrous or snobbish depending on the game, it's nice to see the SFIII original remembered unlike most of that roster.

Elena (Street Fighter)

Famous as one of the most gorgeously animate sprites in fighting game history, Elena was another memorable Street Fighter III addition. Born an African princess, she's in expert in the style of capoeira native to her homeland. A lighthearted teen, Elena is out to see the world and fights for the fun of it.

Guy (Street Fighter)

Guy is one of the earliest heroes from Capcom's pantheon, and he got his start as a teenage ninja helping clean up the streets of Metro City in Final Fight. Guy continues his training in the Alpha games, eventually becoming a ninja master. When not fighting with friendly rival Cody, Guy is usually out righting wrongs, which often brings him into contact with SF bosses like Bison.

JACK-X (Tekken)

Jack doesn't refer to one man, but rather a series of cyborgs created by the Russian government. Jack-X seems to be one of the newest models in the series, the buff robot sometimes works for the Mishimas, other times he competes to learn something about himself. We're just not sure what type of Jack we're going to get in SFXT.

Lars (Tekken)

As former heroes of Tekken like Jin and Kazuya gave in to their darker impulses, Lars rose through the ranks to fight for good. Ostensibly the lead hero in Tekken 6, he teamed with Alisa to try and take down Jin's Mishima Zaibatsu before it destroyed the world. Until entering the tournament, Lars alone held the secret that he was Heihachi's illegitimate son. Bonus fact: Lars appeared as a guest character in one of Namco's Naruto games.

Lei (Tekken)

A Super Cop that's clearly inspired by Jackie Chan and his films, Lei is a kung fu expert/police officer whose work often brings him into contact with the shady types that enter the King of the Iron Fist Tournaments. Sometimes searching for the links between his partner's death and the Mishima, other times chasing down Bryan Fury or Bruce Irvin, Lei tries his best to keep things light. If you need any more proof he's based on Jackie Chan, Lei's also an expert in Drunken Boxing.

Sakura (Street Fighter)

Thanks in part to her fun personality and style, Sakura is one of the most popular Street Fighters in the series. She got her start in high school, learning martial arts quickly after being inspired by Ryu. Soon she was entering tournaments in the hops of meeting and training with him, though things never worked out that simply. Slowly her admiring of Ryu turned into a stronger emotions, though Ryu may not feel the same way for her.

Want to learn more?

If you've got Capcom crossovers on the brain, we've got what you're craving. Check out our character rundowns for Marvel vs Capcom 2, Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Tatsunoko vs Capcom!

The King of Iron Fist Tournament has been hosted countless times, but fighting game fans often remember Tekken Tag Tournament the most fondly. It’s taken over a decade, but Namco Bandai is finally making a sequel to the classic arcade fighter, and it’s flashier and more frenetic than ever before. This 3D brawler is the perfect entry point for fighting fans who might’ve previously been cold on the franchise--just make sure to mentally prepare yourself for a virtual gut check if this is your first Tekken game.

For those who don’t recall 1999’s original Tag Tournament, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 takes the same framework and three-dimensional engine from the principal Tekken entries and spices things up with tag-team action. If one fighter is all you need, TTT2 will oblige you, buffing your lone pugilist with health regeneration and tuned damage so they can fly solo against teams of two. But the real fun is in the tag battles, which end when any one fighter gets KO'd. Having the split-second tactical option to switch between your pugilists during a particularly juicy combo, or frantically trying to tag out your fighter as their health bar continuously dwindles, gives the moment-to-moment gameplay a frenzied urgency that’s as nerve-wracking as it is fun.

Through some technological wizardry, Namco Bandai has managed to squeeze more graphical power out of the current generation, producing visuals that are even cleaner than those in Tekken 6. The expansive roster is practically a who’s-who of the entire series, with over 50 characters and counting, thanks to free day one DLC. All of your old favorites return in fine form; the fighters all have a unique grace and movement to them that will entrance onlookers and makes controlling them a treat.

The technical improvements aren’t limited to the graphics, either--Namco Bandai paid close attention to fans who were disgruntled with T6’s unreliable online play, making the call to port and improve the already-great netcode from Soulcalibur V. Online matches are silky smooth more often than not; even if things start to stutter, the game will attempt to find its footing by slowing things to an even crawl, rather than abruptly disconnecting you.

TTT2 also offers a welcome (and free) stat-tracking web service, in the form of the World Tekken Federation. This always-on service records your every match and action, collating hours and hours of gameplay into an easy-to-comprehend report. You’ll also be able to band with your Tekken brethren through the guild-like Teams, imbuing the online play with a greater sense of community when compared to the competition. It’s a feature that can only benefit you, and it’d be great to see it become the norm in other fighting games.

If any one aspect deserves a special shout-out, it’s TTT2’s music, which is primarily phenomenal. You know that awesome African safari stage from Super Street Fighter IV, with the amazingly catchy melody? Imagine if every other stage had such a mesmeric, enthralling score, and you’ve got TTT2’s soundtrack in a nutshell. The hard-driving rhythms and pounding drum ‘n’ bass beats in some of the stage themes will have you so amped for the fight, you might feel like you’re actually about to spar. If the included music isn’t your speed, you can swap it out with the new Tekken Tunes feature--but quite honestly, you shouldn’t have a reason to.

It’s a good thing that the online play is so enthralling, because there isn't a whole lot to do in the single-player modes. There’s the typical selection of survival, time attack, and arcade mode; with so many fighters, they’re only afforded a storyline via an ending cutscene, and the plot will be entirely nebulous if you haven’t been following the recent Tekken entries closely (though it still offers more than the wholly storyless TTT). The practice mode is great, with visual demos for every last move and combo--but you might find yourself missing the genre staple of challenge/trial modes that got your fingers aching and your combos on point.

The standout single-player mode is the Fight Lab, hosted by the lovably bombastic Violet (Lee Chaolan’s gaudy alter-ego). Here, you’ll refine the basics of the game as you train up a personal Combot, purchasing new moves for his repertoire. It’s a light-hearted breakdown of the basic game mechanics, but you shouldn’t feel the need to keep playing if the frustration of later chapters starts to outweigh the fun.

Frustration can also come into play when you’re online, though through no fault of the game design: Controls are tight, characters are balanced, and the stages (now with some destructible walls!) offer plenty of space. But if you’re not familiar with the pacing, spacing, and juggle-heavy combos of Tekken and its 3D fighting ilk, you might find yourself getting brutalized by Internet opponents. You might fall into the trap of spamming the same ineffectual move, or crumple to incessant high-low mix-up attacks; just know that there’s a counter to everything, and you’ll just have to be okay with taking your lumps when you first hop online.

Funnily enough, TTT2 feels like an online-oriented package with a classic arcade air. Of course, nothing beats marshaling some buddies and throwing down in person--but if no one’s around, Namco Bandai’s made sure that challenging competition’s just an Ethernet cable away. If you’ve ever found yourself enjoying a Tekken game, TTT2 won’t disappoint.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

We're not saying Tekken has a daunting amount of plot but if Tolstoy were alive and working today, War and Peace would probably have been titled An Incomplete List of Unfortunate Things That Have Happened to Jin Kazama. What we mean is the Tekken games have a lot of backstory--doubly so when all the characters are gathered together for one title, such as this month's console release of Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Tekken's various installments draw in a cast of fighters whose lengthy chain of lineages, rivalries and alliances provide a high bar for entry into the qualified to talk about Tekken club. Luckily, we're here to show you every combatant in the upcoming sequel--and help you figure out, should you be unsure, whether they're for you or not. And before you ask, yes, there'll be a test...

Alex

So here we are at the alphabetical start, and right off the bat we're dealing with a genetically engineered Velociraptor who escaped Zaibatsu captivity to become a Commando Wrestler. Originally a skin-swap for series regular Roger the Boxing Kangaroo, Alex's Armor King-derived moveset has taken on some unique moves in TTT2 to allow the character his own slot on the roster.

Choose this character if: Your prerequisites for adopting a fighting favorite include a seldom-exercised predilection for disembowelment, the ability to open doors, and being a clever girl.

Alisa Boskonovitch

Alisa was created by Tekken's mad scientist in residence, Dr. Geppetto Boskonovitch, in the image of his daughter. Then someone pointed out that poignant scientific gestures of paternal love don't win Iron Fist Tournaments, so he implanted chainsaws in her arms, made all her limbs detachable, and turned her head into a bomb. According to some sources, she apparently speaks in a very polite manner.

Choose this character if: You relish the abilities of flight, limb regeneration and computer-assisted combat skills; and want to see how these can all be defeated by a well-timed punch to the throat.

Ancient Ogre/True Ogre

Worshipped in olden times as the Aztec God of Fighting, Ogre's powers are reawakened after Heihachi Mishima infiltrates his temple at the outset of Tekken 3. Ogre's lack of a sombrero, a penchant for Salsa dancing, or any known connection to drug crime marks him as one of the more progressive Latino videogame characters in recent years. His humanoid Ancient form incorporates moves from other characters in the series, while True Ogre gains the powers of flight and fire.

Choose this character if: You've downloaded him. While True Ogre appears as a boss, a playable Ancient Ogre will be available as DLC.

Angel

Originally a skin-swap for the series' longer-running Devil character, Angel represents the good side in the perpetual war for the soul of the Mishima family. Onscreen, this is represented by the character's wings, perpetual righteously-indignant grimace, and ability to kick people in the face. With holiness. Angel is another DLC addition to the console versions of the title, having sat out the arcade edition in favor of... harp practice, or showing people the true meaning of Christmas, or whatever it is angels do on their time off.

Choose this character if: You want to know nothing whatsoever about a character beyond the fact that they are spiritually good. Angel doesn't talk or display any backstory to speak of, so you're free to improvise.

Anna Williams

Like any good entertainment medium, videogames like to dramatize real-life issues with a heightened emphasis on physical action. So Tekken has a couple of long-running sibling rivalry storylines; but in this case, instead of competing to get the nicest Fathers' Day present, Anna Williams and her better-known sister Nina meet up every few years to punch each other at length. It's all part of an ongoing effort to avenge their dad, who taught them to kill before vividly demonstrating the inadequacies of his own training by himself being assassinated.

Choose this character if: You bought and played through 2005's PS2 spinoff, Nina Williams: Death By Degrees; and this experience, rather than weakening your will to live as it did most players', gave you a hunger for more insight into the game's final boss, who was Spoiler?! Anna herself.

Armor King 2

A long-standing foil to fellow jaguar-masked luchadore King, Armor King was injured in an early battle with the young wrestler and disappeared for years. When King descended into alcoholism and substance abuse (all this happens so far off-the-page it's virtually its own book), Armor King persuaded his rival to go into rehab redeem himself through face-punching. And then both characters were killed and replaced by younger iterations, who are functionally indistinguishable from their forebears.

Choose this character if: You believe that it's not the man behind the mask that's important, but the fact that he could be any one of you. Or at least, any one of you who's been trained in a generations-old form of lethally powerful Mexican wrestling.

Asuka Kazama

Jin Kazama's cousin (with all the creepy fanfiction implications this implies) was born with a strong sense of justice, so we're told in the character's official bio. Trained by Jin's uncle, a character Namco has yet to add to the series, Asuka gained local renown as a pacifist, always ready to step in and break up a brawl. She would go on to parlay this recognition into international fame as a pugilist, always ready to step in and escalate a brawl. That's called character development!

Choose this character if: You liked Jun Kazama in the earlier games. After Kazuya's baby-mama was written out of the canonical storyline, Asuka was brought in as a replacement with near-identical moves. Of course, this being a non-canon installment, you have the choice of either.

Azazel

If you're talking about the character as it exists within Tekken, very little is known besides the fact that Azazel is an ancient evil which attempted to use Jin Kazama as a means of blanketing the world in evil during the events of Tekken 6, of which it was the primary antagonist. Whereas if you're talking about the character as a whole, it's a centuries-old Judeo-Christian demon which has popped up in movies, comics, TV series and any other story which needs a freaky antagonist with an evil-sounding name. One time it possessed Denzel Washington!

Choose this character if: You want to impress people who've only played the arcade version, from which the character was absent.
[EDIT]: Azazel hasn't been confirmed as a playable character.

Baek Doo San

South Korean Baek Doo San was introduced in Tekken 2, where the character's hilariously tragic backstory unfolds in prologue. Sparring with his father and Tae Kwon Do tutor, Baek accidentally killed the older man. This led to an understandable period of soul-searching, culminating in a less-understandable cross-continental rampage in which Baek travelled far and wide, smashing dojos wherever he found them. You know, to show that he obviously had that excessive-force problem under control.

Choose this character if: You dig the distinctive fighting style of Baek and/or pupil Hwoarang, who often appears as a stand-in. With both characters present in TTT2, you've the option to just never bother with anyone else, should you crave a skillset as unbalanced as possible.

Bob Richards

Okay, look, come on. You can claim a poor metabolism, or a genetic predisposition toward weight-gain, or you can invent yourself a crippling gastric complication; all of these are perfectly reasonable reasons for a man to become a huge great big tub o' lard. But telling people I'd be cut as hell, but I want to defeat larger opponents so I've intentionally eaten all the pies and become freaking gigantic? One has to admit, freestyle karate champ Bob is testing all of our credibility here.

Choose this character if: You enjoy devastating opponents with the surprisingly sprightly Mr. Richards, punctuated by regular reminders of how lucky it is that Tekken isn't presented in smell-o-vision.

Bruce Irvin

In a cast of characters this large, there's bound to be at least one amnesiac, because approximately one in every seven videogame characters couldn't tell you where they were last week. But with Bruce Irvin, you don't just get the requisite Memento references; you also get the tortured character-politics of Bruce, his boss Kazuya, and Lei Wulong, who used to be Bruce's police partner but is now bent on taking the both of them down. You will be surprised to learn that this twisted triangle of bromantic rivalry, despite inspiring no end of fist-fights, continues to go unresolved.

Choose this character if: You're a fan of Muy-Thai kickboxing, but don't go in for all that restraint and self-control that the discipline sometimes emphasizes.

Bryan Fury

Silver-fox Bryan should technically be the Internet's favorite character ever, just waiting to be discovered what with his being a cross between a robot, a zombie, and a perpetually-sullen jackass. The reanimated kickboxer, killed in action sometime before his debut in Tekken 3 and converted to a partially-human cyborg, has spent subsequent games staving off death through plot developments as unlikely as they are distractingly violent.

Choose this character if: Every time you watch Blade Runner, you secretly wish Rutger Hauer (whose character heavily influenced Bryan's design) would just drop Harrison Ford off that damn building and start WINNING already.

Christie Monteiro

During the development of Tekken 3, Katsuhiro Harada and his team originally intended Capoeira master Eddy Gordo as a female fighter; when the character evolved into more of a brawler, she became a he and the more graceful aspects of the character's style were shelved. For Tekken 4, Christie was reintroduced, serving as a lighter-footed version of Eddy.

Choose this character if: You really enjoy playing as Eddy Gordo, but don't like to go more than a few minutes without seeing a scantily-clad lady onscreen. Both of which, it must be said, are things from which you may move on once you hit puberty.

Combot

As a randomly-cycling clone of the game's other fighters, Combot originally served the same function as wooden training-dummy Mokujin; however, when that character proved far more popular, the move-copying robot was sidelined. It returns in TTT2's new Fight Lab mode, another add-on for console players.

Choose this character if: You're looking forward to customizing your Combot with moves from across the game's roster, and you don't mind doing it for a creature that looks like a rejected Transformer whose alternate form is some sort of industrial lathe.

Craig Marduk

Australian-American Craig Marduk's backstory is confusing only inasmuch as within the context of Tekken, it's almost disarmingly straightforward. Craig was an MMA champion - then he got into a scandal, left the circuit, and killed a guy in a bar brawl. Now he fights, because he's a fan of fighting, as evidenced by all of the above.

Choose this character if: You like the way Craig's storyline has been woven into those of the King characters (Marduk's bar-fight victim turned out to be the first Armor King), but not so much that you have any ambition to see this saga resolved anytime soon.

Devil Jin

According to series director Katsuhiro Harada, Jin Kazama was created with a view toward a series-spanning arc that would see the character go from troubled innocent to ultimate villain. Devil Jin represents the end-point of this evolution, presented as a mix of the human Jin and Tekken's Devil character.

Choose this character if: You want to break continuity, as destructively as possible. It's hinted that Jin lost his Devil powers at the end of Tekken 6, but seeings as this is a non-canonical side-installment, every hour of the day is wings-and-horns-o'clock.

Eddy Gordo

Eddy Gordo burst onto the scene strong in Tekken 3, wowing players with his distinctive Capoeira fighting style and flowing attack chains. Then the world's little brothers got a hold of the character, started spamming his low kicks and sticky grabs, and turned Eddy Gordo into a synonym for button-mashing noob-play.

Choose this character if: You have no skill, no shame, or no doubt that you're good enough to wrap things up before your opponent has a chance to mock your choice of character. Alternatively, if you want to play as a character whose only real flaw is that he's just too damn much fun.

Feng Wei

Like Baek Doo San, Feng Wei's story begins with the killing of his master and tutor. Unlike the Korean fighter, however, Feng's murder is intentional, beginning his quest to become the most powerful fighter the world has ever, you know, whatever, and sorry, drifted off for a second there. Anyway, yes, Feng Wei is a pretty stock character as far as backstories go, but in the world of Tekken, that's frankly not such a terrible thing.

Choose this character if: You want, just like Jimi Hendrix, to stand up next to a mountain and chop it down with the edge of your hand. Because Feng can do that!

Forest Law

Console-exclusive castmember Forest Law has a lot going for him. He looks and sounds just like Bruce Lee and his father is an international martial-arts superstar; Forest himself is a Jeet Kune Do master in his own right, and best friends with type A go-getter Paul Phoenix. Which is lucky, because Forest also has an accidentally silly name and once suffered a perfect defeat at the hands (hooves) of someone called Lovely the Cow.

Choose this character if: You also have been given an inadvertently funny name, were subsequently beaten up by a cow, and you need to prove to the world (but ultimately yourself) that It Gets Better.

Ganryu

We used up all our that dude sure is fat jokes on Bob Richards, so what's to say about Ganryu? He's a sumo wrestler who wants to prove his strength to the world, but also a compulsive gambler and dirty fighter. He wants superhuman strength and the love of Michelle and/or Julia Chang. Sadly, none of those things will ultimately be his because, the game suggests, that dude sure is fat.

Choose this character if: You think you want to learn more about the ancient and venerable art of sumo wrestling, but really you just like the idea of playing Tekken with a tubbier character than usual. Naturally he'll tell you it's all muscle. (It's not.)

Heihachi Mishima

Outside of Tekken, Namco exhibits a Mario-like drive to put villainous Mishima patriarch Heihachi in as many non-canon games as possible, with the character having made appearances in the likes of Soul Calibur II, Tales of the Abyss and Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis. That would imply that Heihachi ought to be extra-beloved within his native franchise; instead, earlier installments focus on the challenge of reaching and trouncing Mishima the Elder, and later titles see an ever-increasing cast of enemies gunning for the one-time Zaibatsu kingpin. However, he kind of asked for it by throwing his young son off of a mountain.

Choose this character if: You want to know what it's like to be aware that deep down, It's All Your Fault.

Hwoarang

The devoted pupil of Baek Doo San, Tae Kwon Do fighter Hwoarang was introduced in Tekken 3, where he temporarily replaced Baek for reasons that boil down to Hwoarang needs to kick some people. His long-standing complaints include a frankly quite petty rivalry with Jin, a frankly stupidly mismatched beef with Ogre, and the South Korean Goverment's insistence that it doesn't care how many mid-air kicks you can chain together, mandatory military service is still mandatory.

Choose this character if: You'd rather be playing Final Fantasy, but this is where Tekken keeps all the buckles and angst.

Jack-6

Obviously, the Soviet Union has long ago perfected the art of manufacturing superhuman cyborgs, and, obviously, the only use for such a technology is in the winning of obscure bare-knuckle fighting championships. And, even more obviously, they all look like a cross between Guile and the guy from Two Crude Dudes. Who else would you make a lethal fighting robot look like?

Choose this character if: You want a massive advantage on paper. Jack-6 is the Mishima-led G-Corporation's first attempt at a variation on the Jack blueprint, and allegedly ten times more powerful than anything that's gone before. And yet in practice, he's merely pretty good. Maybe it's just us. And you. And everyone else who picks the character.

Julia Chang/Jaycee

Julia Chang is a Native American warrior--which is to say she's fighting for the fate of her tribe's ancestral lands, because that's what Native American characters do in video games. She's also an archeologist and eco-crusader, and her inclusion within Tekken has taught us that archeology and ecology both involve a lot more body-slamming than you may have been led to believe.

Choose this character if: You used to like playing as Michelle Chang (because the two characters are alt-costume versions of each other) but you now prefer the masked-wrestler look (because luchadore Jaycee is just Julia with her mask on).

Jin Kazama

Tekken's tragic antihero, Jin debuted in Tekken 3 after the disappearance of his mother Jun. One of the series' signature characters, Jin is demonically possessed on the genetic level by the so-called Devil Gene just like his father Kazuya. Of course, if you chose this character over his openly Devil-influenced counterpart, none of that matters all that much to you outside of the cutscenes.

Choose this character if: You've never played a Tekken game and in fact have no idea what Tekken is (but apparently are playing the latest game in the series nonetheless). In this case, Jin's a fine all-round fighter with which to ease into the series.

Jinpachi Mishima

The 108-year-old founder of the Mishima Zaibatsu, which was taken over by Jinpachi's son Heihachi in a hostile coup that saw the organization's patriarch imprisoned beneath the compound. He later allied with a malevolent force and escaped his captivity, then hopefully got together with his grandson, granddaughter-in-law and great-grandson to form a support group for people who've been screwed over by Heihachi and subsequently demonically possessed.

Choose this character if: You're fond of saying things like It's not the years, it's the mileage, or just because there's snow on the roof, doesn't mean there ain't fire in the furnace.

Jun Kazama

Sent to arrest Kazuya Mishima during Tekken 2, Jun instead discovers that her quarry is (1) the carrier of a powerful evil that threatens life as we know it, and (2) quite the charmer. So instead of arresting him, she has his baby--presumably without asking the advice of pretty much anyone else in the game, because everyone knows getting mixed up with those Mishimas is bound to end in tears. Or, in Jun's case, abduction and forcible ejection from the series.

Choose this character if: You liked playing as her in Tekken 2, her only canonical appearance; but you really like distracting opponents with a detailed recitation of all the ways in which Jun, despite a relatively minor role, is kind of the linchpin for the whole series' continued plot.

Kazuya Mishima

As a child, Kazuya was thrown off a cliff and left to die by his father Heihachi as a somewhat extreme means of character-building. In fairness to Heihachi, this appears to have worked quite well, though it unfortunately involved Kazuya selling his soul to the Devil Gene and spending subsequent episodes becoming more and more of a tool toward everyone else in the game.

Choose this character if: You suspect the ability to morph into a Devil during fights might be useful. Well, if the Iron Fist organizers didn't want that happening, they should have hired a referee.

King 2

Fun(?) fact: the original King was based on the same rasslin' holy-man who inspired the aggressively okay Jack Black movie, Nacho Libre. Just as in the movie (and in real life), the character's a Catholic priest who gets into wrestling to raise funds for a local orphanage. Though King was killed and replaced by King 2 from Tekkens 3 onward, functionally the characters are pretty much one and the same.

Choose this character if: You know what it means to watch a lucha de apuesta taken away by the tcnico fighter through skilful deployment of a well-placed huracn rana against the rudo. That's all of you, right?

Kunimitsu

Remember when ninja were regarded not as nimble shadow-dancing warriors, but skulking dishonorable wretches? Of course you don't, because you weren't alive during the Sengoku period when they were a real thing. But nevermind! Kunimitsu is a throwback to the notion of ninja as conniving thieves and assassins, and her fleeing-and-hiding skill in particular is so finely honed that she hasn't actually appeared in a canonical game since Tekken 2.

Choose this character if: Yoshimitsu almost does it for you, but not quite. Kunimitsu was originally a skin-swap for the series' better-known ninja, before gaining her own moveset in Tekken Tag; for her console-exclusive appearance in the sequel, this has been augmented with further character-specific attacks and poses.

Kuma 2

When Heihachi Mishima found an abandoned bear cub in the forests on his estate, he took the poor creature in and taught it sign-language (!) and martial arts (sure, fine). Despite being highly intelligent, the bear never mastered the hand-gestures to point out to Heihachi that this was pretty ironic, the old man having just abandoned his own son to the wilderness and all. Probably this is why they got on so well that when Kuma died, Heihachi raised his son Kuma 2 to be an even better fighter.

Choose this character if: Well, obviously, if you want to play as a man-eating bear who is also a champion martial artist. You shouldn't need a focus group to see why that's appealing.

Lars Alexandersson

Introduced in Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, Lars was intended as a new character to excite fans weary of the games' increasingly self-referential politics of stern fathers, rebellious sons, scorned siblings and general-purpose inter-generational angst. He turns out to be the illegitimate son of Heihachi Mishima and self-designated rival of nephew Jin Kazama, so that's how far that effort got. On the plus side, he's also a formidable fighter, with a moveset designed to appeal to series veterans.

Choose this character if: You'd rather be playing Final Fantasy, but someone else has already taken the Hwoarang costume you had your eye on.

Lee Chaolan/Violet

Lee is a street urchin, adopted by Heihachi Mishima and raised as a fighter and potential heir to the Mishima Zaibatsu. Tekken lore has it that Heihachi never actually cared for Lee, taking on the protege as further motivation for Kazuya to strive for self-betterment. One suspects that the entire storyline of Tekken would be rendered void if anyone had just given the young Heihachi some decent parenting literature.

Choose this character if: You want to go incognito as Lee's alter-ego Violet, who's the exact same character with sunglasses and differently-colored hair.

Lei Wulong

When Lei Wulong makes his appearance in Tekken 2, the character's renowned as China's greatest cop and the logical choice to take down the increasingly murderous Mishima Zaibatsu. Being based on Jackie Chan, though, he mainly pursues this goal through comic relief and drunken-boxing.

Choose this character if: You're stone-cold sober. Otherwise, good luck trying to win a fight using Drunken Fist without losing all coordination and/or your last few drinks.

Leo Kliesen

The staunchly androgynous Leo has a man's name but a woman's face, uses a mix of male and female fighting techniques, and managed to go almost four years before Katsuhiro Harada finally admitted the character's gender. At which point it took about half an hour before the character's newly-announced femaleness became readily apparent on dodgy fan-art sites all over the Internet.

Choose this character if: Anyone tries to tell you that videogames are all about enforcing restrictive gender binaries. Of course, heaven only knows how such a pill gets to be joining you for a game of Tekken, but nevermind.

Lili de Rochefort

A wholly new character introduced in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Lili has almost zero relation to any of the series' established characters besides her wealthy family having beef with the Mishima Zaibatsu (which is hardly a claim to fame in this context). She fights despite the pacifist urgings of her father, and it's nice to see that someone finally found a way to work a character with daddy issues into the Tekken series.

Choose this character if: You're sick of female fighters always being the fast and agile ones. Lili is one of the series' less fleet-footed characters, with a gymnastic-influenced style that favors precision over quickness.

Ling Xiaoyu

Fan favorite Xiaoyu first appeared in Tekken 3, where she fought to make enough money for the world's greatest amusement park. Unable to take part in the King of Iron Fist tournament without being exposed to the litany of woe and betrayal that is the Mishima family history, Ling Xiaoyu makes it her mission to redeem the clan's troubled lineage. It's lucky her best friend is an adorable panda, because otherwise that might be a pretty depressing and thankless quest.

Choose this character if: You've been enjoying her inclusion in last year's Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Prologue, for which she was one of the fighters previewed.

Marshall Law

The father of Forest Law is one of the series' most benevolent dads, encouraging his son's thrillseeking wherever it takes him--and later competing himself, to raise money for Forest's medical care after all that thrillseeking sent Marshall's son to the ER. In fact, if it weren't for his bestowing such a punny moniker on the boy (despite knowing full well how it is to grow up with people smirking at your name), he'd probably qualify for some sort of Tekken's Greatest Dad award.

Choose this character if: You like the idea of playing as a martial-arts legend whose defining secondary characteristic is this guy is awful with money. And why wouldn't he be? You don't see Warren Buffett winning many Kumite tournaments, after all.

Michelle Chang

The series' original Native American representative, Michelle fought in the first two games before disappearing in the events leading up to Tekken 3. Fortunately, by this point she'd had the forethought to adopt a daughter and teach her all her moves, so players perhaps weren't as moved by her disappearance as they could have been.

Choose this character if: You know you could just pick Julia or Jaycee, but want to make the most of Michelle's reinstatement for TTT2's console iterations. While her fate's never been canonically resolved within the games, it's implied that she died sometime after Tekken 3 in the series' official timeline.

Miguel Caballero Rojo

Miguel is a big guy and he likes to fight. That's pretty much it. He doesn't have any martial-arts training, isn't aligned with any of the game's families or factions, and seems motivated primarily by his enjoyment of punching people. Sure, at some point Jin Kazama tried to kill his sister for no discernible reason, but within the world of Tekken, finding a reason to be grumpy at the Mishima family is a bit like shooting devil-fish in a fragmentary techno-militarist barrel.

Choose this character if: You want the potential to defeat your opponent in one hit. Protip: in cases like this, potential and ability can be very different things.

Mokujin

Much like Combot, Mokujin isn't a character in its own right so much as a randomly cycling set of the other characters' movelists. The only substantial difference is that Combot changes movelists every fight (because he's technology, and has a small memory bank) whereas Mokujin changes every round (because it's magic, and can do whatever it likes).

Choose this character if: You fancy a stint as one of the only playable entries on our list of 28 of the most favorite videogame trees ever.

NANCY-MI847J

A colossal fighting robot with ten times the health of anyone else in the game. Technologically speaking, the console-exclusive NANCY-MI847J makes Jack, Combot, Alisa, and all the rest of Tekken's cybernetically-enhanced fighters look like one of those bins of loose power adapters and iPhone 3 covers that you'd find in the corner at Radio Shack. Practically speaking, don't expect to chuck out all your practice with the game's other characters just yet.

Choose this character if: You want to fight enemies, like a boss, and perform special moves, like a boss, and probably get beaten before too long, like a boss.
[EDIT]: This character hasn't been confirmed as playable.

Nina Williams

Brainwashed assassin and sometime CIA stooge, Nina's appearance dates back to the original Tekken. The only female character to appear in every game of the series, Nina commands a strong fandom who cite the characters's speed, intricate combos and intriguing backstory as key to her appeal. And yet, every game, less and less of the budget apparently goes toward poor Nina's costume, which by now is just purple paint and a few scraps of fabric.

Choose this character if: You think a woman who's pushing 50 should be able to dress and act how she damn well pleases. Surely the fact that the cryogenically-thawed Nina looks thirtysomething at best has nothing to do with your decision.

Panda

Linguists are unsure on the origin of the word Panda, meaning we can't tell you conclusively why Ling Xiaoyu chose to bestow this name upon her pet, best friend and bodyguard. The best guess we can come up with is that Panda, as you may have noticed, is indeed a panda. Apparently Kuma is in love with her, but we don't know enough about ursine crossbreeding to tell you whether that's sweet or gross.

Choose this character if: You want, for the very first time in your young and doubtless eventful life, to play Tekken as a Panda with their very own character slot, instead of just serving as a palette-swap for the longer-standing Kuma.

Paul Phoenix

The American Jujitsu fighter was originally positioned as a rival to Kazuya Mishima, which is appropriate enough as Kazuya was often compared to Street Fighter's Ryu and Paul Phoenix looks like if Street Fighter's Ken stuck his finger in an electrical socket. As the series evolved, though, Paul became less and less of a serious contender, now marked by never having managed to win a tournament.

Choose this character if: You're fighting Kuma and want to be as canonical as possible. According to series continuity, while Paul continues to pursue a fight with Kazuya, his only serious rival is now Old Man Mishima's pet bear.

Prototype-Jack

Technically a less advanced fighting robot than Jack-6, Prototype Jack (P-Jack to his friends) nonetheless presents a formidable challenge with gasoline for blood, explosive leg-mounted rocket boosters, and apparently no idea where this combination could lead in the wrong circumstances. His appearance dates back to the first two Tekken games, though only console players get to select him in TTT2.

Choose this character if: You like a man with strong arms. Look at those pythons. You could build yourself a Winnebago out of those things.

Raven

Little is known about Raven, which is great if you're trying to introduce an enigmatic character whose origins are shrouded in mystery or if it's Friday afternoon at Namco HQ and you can't be bothered writing a character bio. It's less useful if, say, you're trying to find anything to say about a character besides he looks a bit like that guy from that movie Rambo was in twenty years ago.

Choose this character if: You think ninja automatically means small and nimble. The plus-sized Raven's skill in Ninjutsu not only acquits the character well in-game, it sets the stage for several fairly bizarre exchanges with fellow shinobi Yoshimitsu.

Roger Jr

Among the ways Namco has chosen to depict the Mishima Zaibatsu's descent into amoral corporate greed, one of the more colorful is the revelation that the company has been experimenting on genetically-enhanced animal fighters. Roger Jr, who originally rode within his father's pouch (see above: genetic enhancement), is now not only a viable Iron Fist contender, he's also apparently capable of resolving domestic disputes and making a living for himself and his family. It should be mentioned that real-life vivisection almost never works out so well.

Choose this character if: You're looking forward to finally pitting Roger Jr against Alex and actually having the characters play differently.

Sergei Dragunov

Introduced in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, the uber-Russian Dragunov is a member of the Spetsnaz whose storyline is, again, clouded in ambiguity. In this case, though, it seems to be more of a deliberate tease on Namco's part, with cutscenes not only hinting at further series developments but implying a backstory between Sergei and the tres-enigmatic Raven.

Choose this character if: You always, always equip the Sniper Rifle when playing an FPS, and have been waiting for the chance to do the same thing in a fighting game.

Steve Fox

A British boxing champion who was asked to throw a fight by the mafia and, realizing that refusing such an order almost always sees the boxer in question catapulted into a life of whirlwind adventure, elected to just keep on winning. Catapulted into a life of whirlwind adventure, his paths cross with Nina Williams, who's been assigned to assassinate him despite being (are you sitting down?) Steve's long-lost mother.

Choose this character if: You always choose the character who comes to a mixed-discipline fighting game with nothing but a boxing pedigree. And if that's you, please tell us how you ever win a watch ever.

Tiger Jackson

Tiger Jackson loves all things '70s: Disco, big hair, garish colors, gritty social-realist cinema and cocaine. We're presuming on a couple of those. Anyway, beginning life as a potential alternative character design for Eddy Gordo, Tiger appeared in T3 as a palette-swap for the Capoeira fighter. While his moveset remains similar, he's since been granted his own character slot.

Choose this character if: You want to play as Eddy Gordo, but can't bear the stigma of choosing such a notoriously entry-level character and you somehow think a dude with rainbow suspenders and light-up trousers is more dignified.

Unknown

Will it surprise you immensely to learn that not much is known about Unknown? Originally intended as a sister to Jun Kazama, the character lost this association when it was decided that Tekken Tag Tournament would take place outside the series' canonical continuity. In the first game, Unknown fought with a glowing werewolf-like familiar, but now uses spectral attacks and moves similar to those of her one-time sibling.

Choose this character if: You've fought her in the arcade version and looked forward to the console game, in which Unknown is playable with her own moveset for the first time (previously, she copied other fighters' moves a la Mokujin and Combot).
[EDIT]: This character hasn't been confirmed as playable.

Wang Jinrei

Wang Jinrei has been a lifelong family friend of the Mishimas, which must be a bit like having grown up borrowing the odd cup of sugar from those nice Hitlers next door. Once BFFs with Jinpachi Mishima, Wang continued to watch over Heihachi after the latter's disappearance; sitting out Tekkens 3 and 4, he returned when Jinpachi requested his help in defeating the Devil Gene.

Choose this character if: You want to know where Ling Xiaoyu's moves originated. Wang is Xiaoyu's grandfather and tutor, and was replaced by her in Tekken 3.

Yoshimitsu

Having appeared in every Tekken game and never actually shown his face, it's about time someone got to casting some wild unfounded speculations as to Yoshimitsu's true identity. In the meantime, though, the character's a fan favorite for his ninjutsu-based fighting style, samurai-influenced swordplay, and increasingly outlandishly fight garb.

Choose this character if: You're willing to learn, employ, and justify notoriously tricksy tactics such as his teleportation and Flea Stance.

Zafina

Trained as an assassin (in the true, those-guys-from-Assassin's-Creed sense of the word) and charged with protecting an ancient tomb, Zafina lives in the Middle East as an astrologist until an ancient prophecy signals she may have to employ her talents elsewhere. Elsewhere, obviously, being another way of saying beating up people whose last name is Mishima.

Choose this character if: You always check your horoscope in the paper, but would trust it more if you knew the author won fights by crawling on her belly like a snake or scorpion. That's still pretty gullible of you.

Ready to play?

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 releases next week: the US version will hit stores on the 11th of September, with European players joining the fray three days later. Now you've met all 55 characters, do you feel ready to start playing? While you wait for the title, try your hand at our quiz: How's your Tekken knowledge? Test your skills with these trivia questions. Told you there'd be a test.

Double the fighters, double the fun. That’s the most basic premise to Tekken Tag Tournament 2, the flashy follow-up to the 1999 arcade classic fighter. With a colossal roster, gleaming graphics, and plenty of supplementary modes, it seems like there’s never been a better time to be a Tekken fanatic.

We already liked what we saw during our last hands-on Tekken Tag Tournament 2 preview, but for those that want a refresher, this is tag-team fighting structured around the engine and mechanics of Tekken 6. Having a partner to tag in or out of the fight at any time gives bouts an electrifying tempo, where tagging out a near-KO-ed teammate can easily turn the tides in your favor. Though the gameplay will feel instantly familiar to those who’ve dabbled in Tekken and its 3D fighting ilk, there are still plenty of fresh mechanics to tackle.

Check out our Tekken Tag Tournament 2 QuickPlay with none other than tournament-level pro Filthierich!

Tag combos let you gang up on the opponent for some sickeningly damaging juggles; tag throws up the ante on grapples by doling out extra helpings of hurt with some slick animations. There are also destructible walls in some (but not all) of the stages, where slamming an opponent through a balcony or weakened wall will catapult them into a new chunk of stage, where the battle resumes immediately.

Outside of the fights themselves, the new Fight Lab lets you train up the robotic dummy Combot with the guidance of Lee “Violet” Chaolan, through some hilariously absurd cutscenes and boss battles. There’s also plenty of character customization (perhaps on the same level as Virtua Fighter 5) for those who want it, while the new Tekken Tunes feature lets you swap out or switch stage songs at will, including the importation of your own tracks. We’re not sure who would want to, though--simply because TTT2’s pulse-pounding beats are awesome enough already.

Our recent hands-on time let us delve into the online side of things, and we undoubtedly liked what we saw. After a bit of a rough patch with Tekken 6’s online play, Namco’s ported over the superior netcode of Soulcalibur V, which promises smoother fights with wired or Wi-Fi play. But chief among the online improvements is the introduction of the World Tekken Federation, a premium-grade, HTML5 web service that Namco Bandai is commendably endowing to players for free. Much like the impressive Halo Waypoint seen packaged with Microsoft’s flagship shooter, the World Tekken Federation (or WTF, if you will) tracks players’ every last statistic straight from matches as they happen, then syncs them to the online database for the whole world to see.

It’s a system that opens up tons of opportunities for the community, through things like social collaboration, improved livestream commentary, a general bragging rights. With no subscription fee to worry about, players can sync both a PSN and XBLA account’s records to their profile and watch their personal statistics unfold. It seems dang near everything gets tracked: Character usage, win/loss ratios down to the character-specific level, counter attacks, mid-air damage done, juggle-versus-non-juggle damage done, even something called “Chicken Points”--it’s all logged and available for the world to see in WTF, which instantly updates after every online match.

Namco Bandai hopes that, much like baseball commentators, Tekken commentators will use the WTF as a stats encyclopedia, so they can predict and parse out what the next contender’s style and specialties are. Instead of dull lulls between matches while the players do button checks and test their sticks, commentators can be delving into the character choices, match-up strengths, and potential mind games for each competitor. This will also let players study their own habits, with saved replays after every match, and they can do research on upcoming opponents in the hopes of better preparing themselves to take the tournament.

Other bonuses in the WTF are Teams, emblems, and the return of Dan rankings. Teams are groups of up to 100 players, all acting as a unified clan much like an MMO guild. Teams get their own leaderboards and emblem designs, emblems being customizable insignia that are proudly displayed on your WTF profile. We’d like to think our panda-on-pink-heart emblem struck grave fear into the hearts of our online opponents. Dan rankings offer character-specific progression to show off your skills at a glance, with ranks that range from “Beginner” to “True Tekken God.”

With the WTF available for free at launch in all regions, TTT2 might set the precedent for future fighters when it comes to online modes. We’d certainly like to see it spread to Namco Bandai’s other fighting franchises, even given our short time with the feature, and we wouldn’t be surprised if others in the industry took to crafting their own online, stat-tracking facsimiles. Look for us to sign up on the WTF (and perhaps start our very own Team) when TTT2 launches for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on September 11th.

With Tekken Tag Tournament 2 close on the horizon, Tekken mania is at a fever pitch in the office. We've been trying to decide who our dynamic duos will be--and as such, we've found that there's quite a lot of little-known knowledge in the Tekken series.

We could just tell you these bits of trivia--but really, where's the fun in that? Instead, we've concocted a trivia quiz that should give your Tekken know-how a run for your money. Let us know how you did in the comments; major props to those who score a Perfect victory.

How'd you do? Feel free to scroll back through to tally your answers, then let us know in the comments which questions threw you for a loop, or if you managed to ace our quiz. Be sure to check back next week for our full review of Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

If this trailer is supposed to make us think of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as a highly complex, very serious fighting game then it has failed miserably. If it's supposed to make us think of it as a really fun-looking, utterly-insane take on the fighting formula...then it has succeeded with flying colors.

Notes: They're more subtle than the twirling bears, but our favorite parts of the vid were the floating sumo at 0:18, and the exploding hunter-killer chicken at 0:23.

The videos Namco Bandai has been releasing for their upcoming fighting game Tekken Tag Tournament 2 have been getting weirder and weirder. We thought it had come to a climax when we suggested to them that they include a bear bikini in their banana-hammock laden swimsuit trailer, but we were even more astonished when they actually did go ahead and put a panda in a swimsuit in the next trailer.

Katsuhiro Harada, director and chief producer of Tekken, has been talking about Tekken Tag Tournament 2 non-stop since E3. Lucky for us we were able to catch up with Mr. Tekken himself to talk about it some more.

It has been thirteen years since Tekken Tag Tournament. What challenges did you encounter in adapting the TTT2 system to today's online multiplayer?

From Tekken 6, we had to do four characters on screen at once. Something a lot of people don’t notice is even in Tag 1 they weren’t all on screen at one time, so this is something that was new to Tag 2. We had to rework the character models and that requires twice as much memory to do. We had to actually rebuild a lot of the elements of the game because of that. Then when you have to take that online, obviously it is more difficult. SoulCalibur 5 was very popular with the fans and had a very good response, so we had to take that as a base, but also adjust it so that you can have the tag work smoothly, because you have four characters on screen at once and you also have them tagging in and out very frequently for combos. So to have that running smoothly is something that was very difficult, even more so for online play. It was probably two times as much work as it normally is.

Was a lot of the process of getting it to console occupied with the online element, or were there other difficulties?

Going to console, we only had the arcade mode, but there are all these other modes to add on - creating [them] on top of the multiplayer was very difficult.

It has been announced that pre-orders will get 100 pieces of swimwear DLC. Do you think it will be successful? What’s the rationale behind offering this as a pre-order incentive?

With the Tekken franchise, a lot of people have already decided that they’re going to buy it, and not just this time but in general, but they don’t know when the release date is, or it’s out and they forgot about it. We wanted to avoid that, so we tried to add several different kinds of hooks. One of them was Snoop Dogg, to appeal to people who wouldn’t normally play Tekken - a more casual audience - and we got the desired affect with that. The swimsuits were just another hook to appeal to a different crowd. From the Japanese standpoint, it’s an interesting costume that a lot of people would be interested in. We didn’t know about the Western market that much.

(Harada’s translator adds how their American offices were a bit confused with the swimsuit DLC, but after seeing the trailer at Comic-Con, he was satisfied to see that the Westerners were pretty interested in it.)

It’s not that people will buy the game just for the swimsuits. People are already going to buy the game, but they’ll do it later, or they might forget. We want them to do it now, so we try to prepare several hooks, and that’s one of them.

Why do you think fighting games can have characters in swimsuits and not be criticised for objectifying women, yet games like Lollipop Chainsaw do?

They do get that sometimes. Dead or Alive, for example – I don’t want to single them out, but people have sometimes said the women’s breasts are too large, or they move around a lot, and it’s being used as a way of selling the game. Maybe you’re right that they don’t get as much criticism. Perhaps maybe it’s because with other games it’s more story based and it’s about the atmosphere and environment. For fighting games it’s all about the opponent. The character and the way they’re dressed isn’t as important because they are just a tool. You are more focused on the opponent and what they’re doing and what their characteristics are. Maybe people aren’t as focused on the characters as much as they are in other types of games.

Can the bears wear bikinis?

We do have swimsuits for the bears actually. Even True Ogre has a swimsuit.

There are new character announcements forthcoming. Can you give us any information on them at all?

I can’t say a whole lot, but one is a character that has had a lot of fan requests to bring back. So [it is] a returning character that everyone has been asking for. The other is a character that no one will ever imagine to be in the game.

It's possible to play Tekken and other fighting games as simple button mashers. Do you think the style needs to change or evolve in the future to keep the genre alive?

Fighting games that you can button mash and enjoy are good fighting games. It’s your first experience with a fighting game, you don’t know how to play it, but you’re mashing the buttons and you get a good reaction from that, or even win, and it means it’s exciting because you feel the taste of winning. Not everyone is a hardcore tournament player. Seventy percent are just your average player who wants to beat their brother, or their friend, or whoever. So button mashing is very important for having them see that it’s fun, [but] those people, if they continue to be interested in the game, will eventually run into someone they’ll never be able to beat by just button mashing. So they will make the effort to learn how to play. It’s important that they at least feel that they have the chance of winning. If they feel that they can’t beat someone, they’re not even going to try the game at all. There are actually characters in the game designed with that in mind. Those elements are left in the game on purpose because it’s necessary as a whole.

We do get a lot of backlash from hardcore or high level players, but if they stepped into my shoes as a game developer and think of what’s good overall for the whole series, maybe they’ll start to realise that it isn’t such a bad thing.

There is a divide between what makes a game really successful in the competitive scene versus at home. For instance, Street Fighter X Tekken - some in the competitive scene might think of it as a failure, but it reviewed really well as a home console game. What elements are important for a game to work in a competitive capacity?

It’s interesting because the evaluation depends on the group, whether it’s the hardcore or just your average gamer, and it can be very different. You took the example of Street Fighter X Tekken, and if you just wanted to satisfy the core fans – the tournament going crowd – there are only a few elements that you really need to focus on. One of them is balanced characters, another is tech/skill – technique and controls. Another is knowledge of the game – if you know the game well you’ll be able to succeed and beat your opponent – and another is quick reflexes. If you make a game where if you’re good at all these elements, where you’ll win consistently as a high level player, that group would highly rate that game. That doesn’t mean it will be popular among the mass, though. Ono-san feels the same, as does the Virtual Fighting team. The game needs to give players the sense that they can beat the higher-level players at least some of the time. It’s a game, so it has got to be entertaining. It’s actually easier to make a game that just appeals to hardcore fans because you know exactly what you need to put in it.

Another good example of this is Street Fighter III. That was very well received among hardcore fighting game fans. If you really get it down, where you know the knowledge and the reflexes and the skills involved, it’s a game where you can win 100% of the time. It’s funny, it was Ono-san’s game, and when Street Fighter IV came out, people were like ‘wait, there was Street Fighter II, now IV, where was Street Fighter III?’ We laughed hysterically at that, but Street Fighter IV sold a lot more than Street Fighter III.

Will the Wii-U version have any distinctly different modes to the 360 and PS3 versions?

Well, because of the controller, obviously there are going to be a few features that are more convenient because you can control them directly from the interface. But it’s not like the overall game mechanics are going to change that drastically. There are going to be some modes that will be interesting, because they are very Nintendo like. Some of this was shown at E3, where a mushroom drops down and Heihachi eats it and gets bigger. You know Nintendo fans hearing and seeing that just exploded with excitement. The things that we can do because it is Nintendo are things people will be very excited about, but we can’t go into it any further. That being said though, a lot of the online modes and customisation on the 360 and PS3 will be geared towards the core audience a little bit more.

In a move that's sure to re-open the wound of those fans who have protested the use of on-disc DLC (which is to say: content that is already on the disc you purchased, but that you have to pay extra to unlock,) Capcom revealed today at EVO 2012 that they will finally be making 12 new characters available for Street Fighter X Tekken when the PS Vita version launches later this month.

Blanka, Sakura, Guy, Cody, Elena, Dudley, Alisa, Bryan, Christie, Jack, Lars, and Lei will all be available to download in a bundle that will cost $20 on July 31 (a price which has also angered fans.) They will be included in the Vita version at no extra charge.

Tekken's head honcho Katsuhiro Harada sounds like a very exasperated man. Fed up with whining fans continually criticising and demanding things that simply aren't possible to change, he's written 754 words laced with frustration and posted them on Twitter, having to use TwitLonger to do it.

He makes things very clear early on, sounding very much like a parent chastising a naughty child: "I believe that, before whining and complaining about everything, you need practice at taking a step back and analyzing things objectively. And also at being an adult."

The problem stems primarily from fans continually asking him to reuse old voice talent from previous games. Harada does his best to explain that recording technology has changed, voice actors retire and (after 16 years), not even he can voice Marshal and Forest any more. But the post has the air of a man who knows there's futility in any explanation.

Above: We hope you're happy, Jacob Drew Cameron (@I_Love_Hyoyeon)

"Do you know that all of the voice work for a character is not always done by just one voice actor? Using Brian as an example, the laugh you guys love so much uses the original data from Tekken 3, but the short kiai voice uses a different voice actor, and the "come on!" voice also uses a different voice actor. A lot of other characters also use different voice actors for the spoken lines and for the shouts."

However, after the lengthy explanation of the dialogue complications, the post takes a downward turn as he decides to get everything off his chest:

"I have even complied to the requests of you all spamming me to "bring back characters" from previous instalments. You often say, "Let's show the dev team how sincere we are by buying 2 copies if they bring back character X", but did you really go through with it? Expecting you to at least pre-order the game, I was met with more spam, after you apparently didn't notice that Jun and Michelle actually return."

Above: This is my Harada States of Whatever...

The post ends with Harada pointing out he still has some characters left to be revealed that comply with some fan 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 it. Thanks for understanding or not understanding. Whatever."

In an announcement only slightly less ridiculous than this screenshot, Namco Bandai has revealed that the forthcoming Tekken TagTournament2 will feature a song by, a stage dedicated to, and the virtual presence of, US rapper Snoop Dogg.

Known for songs such as "B**** Please", "That's The S***", and that one where he couldn't seem to remember his name, Mr Dogg has penned a ditty titled "Knocc 'Em Down" specially for Tekken Tag Tournament 2. In addition, those who pre-order the game will receive a unique Snoop-themed stage featuring the rapper among what Namco describes as "a bevy of beautiful women."

“We are big fans of Snoop Dogg and are proud to welcome him to the Tekken franchise,” Tekken's Project Director Katsuhiro Harada allegedly said. “The content we created with Snoop Dogg and the song he made for the game allow Tekken fans to experience the legendary hip-hop star in a unique way and blend both Eastern and Western cultures like never before.”

Mr Dogg's presence clearly lends a unique sense of gravitas to the game, due for release in September on Xbox 360 and PS3. “All you Tekken Tag Tournamemt 2 fans better get ready to experience kickin' ass on Tha Boss Dogg's stage with my new song Knocc 'Em Down banging in the background," he says. "What more could you ask for?”

Implemented as a non-playable character in a roster of over 50 characters ready for some face-smashing action, we can think of at least one other thing.

It's been well over a decade since the last installment in the Tekken Tag Tournament series (if you can call two entries a series,) but Namco Bandai have now announced when TTT2 will be migrating out of Japanese arcades and into home consoles.

The date they're currently setting is September 20, 2012. They've also announced some special edition bonuses, though the package is just for European territories so far. Nevertheless, the "We Are Tekken" special edition will include a copy of the game in a nice metal case, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a 200-page hardcover art book, and a soundtrack remix album.

Beyond that, there are also some pre-order bonuses depending on which retailer you pre-order from (in Europe.) Ordering from ShopTo will net you Michelle Chang and Angel as playable fighters, while ordering from Zaavi will get you Kunimitsu and Ancient Orge.