Tekken spinoff Tekken Tag Tournament won implicit a procreation of fans not conscionable for coming retired alongside the PS2 successful the twelvemonth 2000 (and having an astonishing Tekken Bowl minigame built in), but for being a prime Tekken crippled successful its ain right. A sequel followed successful 2011, but since past Bandai Namco has remained quiescent connected the imaginable of a bid return.
But is present the time, fixed tag warring games are backmost successful vogue with the likes of Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls, Invincible VS, and 2XKO successful the works, for Tekken Tag Tournament to yet return?
We asked Kohei Ikeda (Nakatsu), crippled manager connected Tekken 8, Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken Project director, and Michael Murray, Tekken 8 shaper precisely that. Harada’s effect makes for absorbing speechmaking for warring crippled fans. He said, essentially, that a caller Tekken Tag Tournament would beryllium excessively overmuch for casual warring crippled fans to contend with due to the fact that it would unit players to larn aggregate analyzable characters and however they enactment together. And so, it’s acold much apt for Tekken Tag Tournament to popular up arsenic a abstracted mode wrong a modular Tekken game, should Bandai Namco ever determine to instrumentality to it.
“Back successful '99 erstwhile I made the archetypal Tag Tournament… each quality has truthful galore moves successful a 3D fighter, right, compared to these different games that there's truthful overmuch to larn conscionable for 1 character,” Harada began.
“And past to brace that with two, adjacent though backmost past successful Tag 1, a batch of the characters were called compatible oregon you'd person versions that look different, but they stock a akin benignant of determination list. Whereas the Tekken bid progressed, the characters became much unsocial successful their determination sets, etc. So it's adjacent much progressive to effort to larn and maestro a character, and past different 1 connected apical of that. And past erstwhile you propulsion successful the operation of the 2 and your opponent's characters, there's conscionable truthful overmuch much cognition that's indispensable to bask the game.
“So the hardcore, they ate it up, for example, successful Tag 2. But for your mean player, it was precise hard to summation a much casual audience, I conjecture you could say. So if we were to bash it again alternatively than person a standalone game, it would astir apt beryllium amended to person it arsenic immoderate benignant of a abstracted mode wrong a mean Tekken franchise, right?”
Michael Murray, Tekken 8 producer, chimed successful to hold with Harada’s constituent astir tag fighters being harder to learn.
“Nakatsu and myself, we astir apt grew up successful the arcades playing portion helium was making Tag 1, truthful we truly bask the game,” helium said.
“I conjecture we're much connected the hardcore broadside of being capable to usage respective characters and such, and we loved Tag 2. But we are afloat alert that determination were conscionable truthful galore radical that couldn't get a grip connected it due to the fact that of each the cognition that's involved.”
So, it seems Tekken Tag Tournament is consigned to history. But Tekken 8 continues. It’s worthy speechmaking the interrogation successful afloat to get an thought of what’s to come, and what Harada and co person up their sleeve for the coming years.
Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].