Tekken executive producer Katsuhiro Harada is a rock star. As if his legendary penchant for alcohol and abundance of tranquil responses to ridiculous tweets weren’t enough, observe his entrance at the end of Namco Bandai Global Gamers’ Day keynote;
Harada was introduced, but then the host seemed puzzles when Harada failed to show. Harada’s translator Michael Murray goes off to find him, discovering Harada clad in an outrageous white suit, sitting in a Lamborghini parked in the lobby, and surrounded by beautiful models cosplaying as Xiaoyu and Lili. From there we’re all literally served champagne as bombastic music plays and Harada makes his commanding entrance to the front of the stage. After that we were treated to impressive sales figures (Tekken’s 45 million units are well ahead of both Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter), and before Harada exited he even managed to issue a couple barbs (all in good fun) at Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono and Valhalla Game Studio’s Tomonobu Itagaki. One part well crafted marketing and one part legitimate swagger, Harada is building a confident personality that appears to be a perfect complement to Tekken’s trademark brand of ludicrous brutality.
Oh, and through Harada we also learned quite a bit about Tekken Tag Tournament 2, or, as I prefer to call it, the proper sequel to the game that nearly destroyed my college career.
Dispensing the basics, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a modified port of 2011’s arcade release. It was explained that the arcade hardware was actually superior to the aging PlayStation 3 platform, but that the home port would still standout, especially over Tekken 6, due to the sheer amount of activity on screen. While my present memory of Tekken 6 is fading with time, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 sure did look pretty, complete with the series’ penchant for making complete use of pastel and bold coloring. I know that saying a Tekken game has ridiculous looking stages is basically a given, but this time backgrounds ran the gamut from a Santa and Elves winter wonderland to what could best be described as a Lisa Frank inspired version of heaven. Harada also seemed to be excited that a Brazil stage was making a comeback (complete with what I recognized as a remix from Roger/Alex’s music in Tekken 2), though.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is also going to carry over the tweaks modes introduced in last spring’s arcade Unlimited update. The most interesting of which was the ability to select a single character and fight two tagging opponents. As one might expect the single character has a slight advantage in the amount of damage he or she can absorb along with exclusive access to Tekken 6’s rage mode, however Harada was quick to point out that a single player wouldn’t have the advantages that come along with tagging out of sticky situations. Interestingly there was also the option for straight 1v1 matches, giving Tekken Tag Tournament 2 the option of feeling like a numbered entry, albeit with the greatly expanded roster.
Unfortunately I am no longer equipped with the skill and knowledge to describe the intricacies of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 combat engine in exquisite detail (I could try I suppose, but a regular from Tekken Zaibatsu would see through me in a second). I can see that it felt great over the half hour or so other writers and I bashed away at each other, and most of the ten-hits I memorized ten years ago materialized in one way or another.
I can, however, comment on Fight Lab, Tekken Tag Tournament 2’s entry in the prerequisite minigame category. Minigames in Tekken have ranged from incredible (Tekken Ball) to entertaining (Tekken Bowling) to misguided and/or appalling (various iterations of Tekken Force), however Fight Lab looks not to focus on crazy minigames but rather create an all-inclusive mode that is simultaneously appealing to both new players and veterans. Or, at least that was the official line. At first glance it looked like a glorified practice mode, but then Harada peeled away a few layers and revealed what could potentially be the next great Tekken sideshow.
Fight Lab’s narrative conceit is unobtrusive and rather cute. Combot, Lee/Violet’s clumsy robot that temporarily assumed Mokujin’s duties in Tekken 4, is back for another round of learning to fight. Mechanically this was accomplished by hitting high, medium, and low points with their corresponding attacks, a technique that was further intensified when said points started shifting around and/or exploding. While that was merely a taste of mechanical input, the contextual rewards were better explained, Basically, Combot will function as the long desired “create a fighter” and the player will be able to attain development points and unlock moves from Tekken’s wide range of fighters. Said moves can then be custom tailored to your personal Combot and employed as selectable character in versus mode. I asked Harada if the custom move selection would be weighted so not to create some all-powerful fighter, and he responded by stating not to think of moves as strong or weak, but that each Combot would naturally be crafted to a player’s particular style. In any case it looks like the lid is going to be kept tight on Fight Lab until at least E3, so hopefully we’ll have more information then.
Speaking of information, both Harada and Namco were shy about revealing additional characters for the home release. New characters were mentioned, however exactly zero hints were given as to their identity. I asked Harada whether Namco would create a poll on their site or Facebook to let fans vote (all part of my deep seeded desire to facilitate the return of Kunimitsu), and, surprisingly, he said the best way to suggest characters would be through twitter suggestions. Given Tekken Tag Tournament 2’ release in September any and all characters are probably in the bag, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. Get to it guys, if not for me, than for Kunimitsu, Dr. B, and hell, why not Gon too?
