Tekken (PSX) - Jack Arcade Playthrough [Ultra Hard]

Oh hey, it is the Tekken I chose to skip last year!

2024 marks the 30th anniversary of Tekken, released originally in arcades during late 1994, it was the first entry into what ultimately became Namco's most successful property on PlayStation.

And by God does this feel like a thirty year old 3D fighting game! I had mentioned in my Tekken 2 video series that, despite finding mainstream success, Tekken feels undeniably slow, clunky and downright broken compared to some of it's peers. Disagree with me all that you want, the first Tekken is the same if not worse in this regard, and in my playthroughs you will see poor collision detection, oddball animations and incredibly delayed wakeups that make it far more awkward to play than maybe Sega's Virtua Fighter 2 or a more nuanced fighter like Capcom's X-Men: Children of the Atom. The audiences of 1994 somehow found it within themselves to excuse the rough edges of Tekken's core, perhaps by virtue of how it helped usher in the identity of their earliest experiences in the fifth generation of gaming. Make no mistake, Tekken started in the arcade but it would find it's true calling in the living room - and it had PlayStation written all over it.

For Namco to use PlayStation derivative hardware in the arcade space was nothing short of genius. There is no question that Tekken on PlayStation is very faithful to it's credit crunching counterpart in amusement parks and pizza stops. It looks and plays near identically, with only subtle differences in the user interface and graphics that make it distinguishable otherwise. That said, Namco did expand on the System 11's content by not only making the boss characters unlockable extras, that you could play as to your heart's content, but by including unique CGI endings for each of the eight starting character as well. There is also the option for arranged music that adds remixed renditions of Tekken's iconic soundtrack, besides a general upgrade to the quality of the game's audio and sound effects. The power of the CD folks!

For each character playthrough, I have made a point of playing Tekken on Ultra Hard difficulty. I will be absolutely honest in saying this much, Tekken's challenge is in patience than actually besting an opponent that equals your level in ability. It is easy enough to cheese your way through stages although, in doing so, this method of play betrays some of the appeal in quirkier characters on show. Even in Tekken 1, Namco made their eccentricities obvious, as would be apparent in featuring a literal bear in Kuma, having a robot built-up of scrapyard parts in Prototype Jack, and a Robin Hood esque ninja in Yoshimitsu, although seeing the parts that make those characters interesting is tough to show against a relentless CPU opponent.

Oh, and speaking of patience, I skipped unlocking Devil Kazuya from beating Galaga. Ain't nobody got time for that.

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A LEGAL NOTICE:
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Any copyrighted footage I use is covered under fair use laws, or more specifically those listed under Section 30(1) of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1989 and under section 107 of US Copyright Act 1976. This video exists purely for the purpose of research and criticism. I do not make a profit from any uploaded content, nor do I intend to. Thank you for watching.