Tekken stories
What remain the most broken parts of Street Fighter 5 and how do we change them heading into Season 4?
Let's iron one thing out right from the get-go and clarify that we don't think R. Mika is broken in an overpowered sense of the term, but rather isn't very well-designed when you dig deeper into things.
Digging deeper is exactly what Catalyst and I do on this week's episode of the EventHubs Podcast, delving specifically into the more general aspects of Street Fighter 5 that still could use some tweaking as we transition into the game's fourth Season.
Capcom has already made commendable progress as they've nixed throw loops, anti-air jabs, regulated Crush Counters, decreased input lag, regulated V-Triggers and more over the last few years.
That established, we do think there are still a few rough edges that could be sanded down to make the SF5 experience, (which we're currently enjoying very much) even more enjoyable.
Plus the Tekken World Tour Finals knocked audiences off their feet with both amazing (low-tier character) gameplay and some wonderfully hype reveals. We actually get into a discussion about whether or not Tekken 7 is the most hype fighting game to watch at the moment.
Catalyst and I cover all of this and more on episode 28 of the EH Podcast, which awaits you below the jump. You can check out the timestamps included to see all the other topics we tackle.
Armor King features an alternate costume which sees him become Black Panther in Tekken 7
Marvel's Black Panther quickly became one of the biggest commercial and critical success stories of 2018, so it's no surprise we're seeing more nods and references to the African King now... even if they aren't officially tied with Disney.
The titular hero made his fighting game debut last year as a DLC character in the ill-fated Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, but now his likeness has shown up in Tekken 7 by way of alternate costumes.
Armor King released yesterday, December 3, as one of the fighter's newest DLC characters, and the luchador's Dark Hero Suit additional costume pieces come together to make the fighting game veteran have more than just a passing resemblance to the Black Panther.
This Dark Hero Suit does feature designs that set it slightly apart from the comic book and film hero's Marvel cinematic universe design with the addition of a cape, shorter ears and Armor King's heterochromia, but the vast majority of his look from his head to his accents appear very similar to T'Challa's.
While both characters come from vastly different parts of the world, the choice to give the Tekken fighter a Black Panther reference actually has a bit of depth to it since a black panther can refer to a type of jaguar which is what Armor King wears as a mask for his head — Marvel's character is likely based on the African leopard, however.
Given that Bandai Namco does not have a partnership with Marvel that we know about, this Black Panther homage appears to be legally distinct enough to be included here without issue. You can take a look at the costume in the gallery below and see this Armor King in action in the video after the jump.
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Tekken 7 Version 2.10 full patch notes released
The Tekken World Tour 2018 Finals brought us a number of nice surprises with three returning fighters getting shown off in new trailers plus The Walking Dead's Negan, and some of them are already in the hands of the players worldwide.
Armor King and Marduk officially released for Tekken 7 yesterday, December 3, as DLC characters alongside a new update for the game.
The Version 2.10 patch is also available for players across all three platforms bringing more new content plus balance changes to the title which has surpassed 3.6 million units sold.
Official patch notes have been released on the Japanese website, and they have now been unofficially translated by Avoiding the Puddle's Wonkey which you can find here after the jump.
Paul, Law, King, Jin, Bryan, Jack-7, Feng, Lili, Josie, Gigas, Eddy, Geese, Anna and Lei all received balance changes in the new update from bug fixes to actual buffs and nerfs for the fighters.
You can take a look at the full Japanese notes below and the unofficially translated patch notes for Tekken 7 after the jump.
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Julia's reveal at Tekken World Finals got one pro player so hype he charged from the back of the auditorium up onto the stage
The incredible excitement that's still exuding from the Tekken World Tour Finals has a lot of the fighting game community entertaining the idea that Tekken very well may become the genre's most revered name in 2019.
While we're just going to wait and see how true that winds up being, we do want to note an especially hype moment that occurred during the reveal sequence.
For those that haven't heard about Tekken 7's newest characters, we got three trailers showcasing no less than four Season 2 DLC fighters during the World Tour Finals presentation.
One of said reveals was for Julia, and one of the event's top eight finalists, ROX|Chanel, was absolutely overcome with joy upon seeing her.
Twitter user nkt_dreamer was actually sitting next to Chanel in the audience. The two were actually seated towards the back of the entire auditorium, which made Chanel's reaction all the more entertaining.
The future Julia main actually got up and charged from his seat all the way up onto the main stage to give Harada a personal thank you hug. Luckily for us nkt_dreamer was recording and you can see his footage by clicking the thumbnail here:
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Here are The Walking Dead references side-by-side in the new Tekken 7 Negan trailer
This weekend during the Tekken World Tour 2018 Finals, Bandai Namco popped the lid off of Tekken 7's upcoming DLC. Three of the six planned fighters remained unidentified, but by the time the event wrapped up we had learned that Marduk, Armor King, and Julia will round out this wave of DLC.
In addition to seeing Marduk and Armor King in action for the first time — and they're available in-game now — Bandai Namco gave viewers a look at their out-of-left-field guest character, Negan from The Walking Dead. Negan appeared on screen, Lucille swingin', in his full-length gameplay debut trailer.
Those who are fans of the series immediately noticed that Negan's Tekken 7 trailer was a recreation of the famous "lineup" scene that left people in suspense at the end of the television series' sixth season. In the Tekken trailer, characters from the 3D fighting franchise were lined up the same way by the saviors, with each character representing one from the show: Paul being Abraham, Raven as Michonne, etc.
Throughout the trailer, there were many references to The Walking Dead TV show. YouTube user Melku44 went ahead and put together a side-by-side comparison of the parallels.
The comparison video shows us which characters are meant to represent their Walking Dead counterparts in the lineup, and the scenes that are mirrored from the show play together almost identically.
Bandai Namco also threw in a few other interesting references that TWD fans probably spotted. Things like Kasumi's tiger are definitely a nod to The Walking Dead.
A release date for Negan in Tekken 7 has not been unveiled yet. Note: This comparison video contains spoilers for the The Walking Dead and some graphic content.
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Marduk, Armor King, and balance patch now available for Tekken 7 in certain regions
According to Mark Julio on Twitter, the next update for Tekken 7 is now available for certain regions. If it's not available for you yet, then it should be ready by tomorrow at the latest.
Notably, this is the patch that makes Marduk and Armor King available to use. Sorry Julia and Negan fans: they're not ready yet.
Apparently, balance update is also being incorporated into the game. We'll surely be seeing some shifts in the tier list for Season 3 of the Tekken World Tour.
Patch notes were also released with update 2.10. Unfortunately, we don't yet have any details regarding the balance adjustments other than the fact that they exist.
The health gauge has been redesigned. Instead of a yellow to orange color scheme, the health bar goes from being teal to magenta.
Players can acquire the second season pass for $29.99. Otherwise, each combatant can be obtained individually for $5.99.
Here's a roundup of discoveries that have already been made:
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By the way, Marduk's damage output is kind of absurd. Check out the video that demonstrates this after the jump.
Rangchu goes Kung Fu Panda on the competition while Chanel's Rage Drive hits just a split second before Jimmy J Tran's — Tekken World Tour highlights
The Tekken World Tour Finals has now officially concluded. UYU|Qudans very nearly won his second event in a row, but was defeated by the most unlikely of opponents.
Given, Fursan|Rangchu is very clearly a fantastic Tekken professional player. That wasn't the surprising part. His character of choice, Panda, is often regarded as a low tier fighter — something that was echoed in the commentary several times.
Even the game director Harada himself was confused at this result. "Panda? Really?" said Harada during the presentation of the first place prize.
We've got a number of highlights to show for this major event. Many of these moments are focused on Rangchu's Panda play.
Of course, ROX|Knee, ROX|Chanel, Jimmy J Tran, UYU|Jeondding, Yamasa|Nobi, and EQNX|Joey Fury were also participating. There are highlights that focus on the top 8 part of the season.
First, let's start with the ending. Rangchu's victory over Qudans is one for the history books for sure. Long story short: Rangchu went Kung Fu Panda on Qudans...
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Tekken World Tour Season 3 announced for 2019
There was quite a bit of excitement at the Tekken World Tour Finals. Marduk, Julia, and Armor King were revealed for Tekken 7's Season 2 Pass. We'll be getting access to Marduk and Armor King tomorrow on December 3rd.
Although Negan of the Walking Dead series was already revealed as the final fighter of the Season 2 Pass at EVO 2018, we were treated to a special trailer that paid a homage to how things went down in AMC's television show.
After the Tekken World Tour Finals for Season 2 wrapped up, Harada and Michael Murray — who translated for Harada — stepped onto the stage. First, Harada couldn't help but express his surprise at Panda winning the Tekken World Tour Finals.
They felt as though the second season was even more exciting than the first year. It seems that there is an interest to keep the tournament scene going for a third year.
"So the second year was even more exciting than the first year of the Tekken World Tour," said Harada through Murray. "We're thinking we want to do this again for next year in 2019."
This makes sense as the new combatants wouldn't get the chance to show up in a Tekken World Tour event unless there was a third season.
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Source: Tekken Twitch.
Tekken World Tour 2018 Finals results
Update: This story has been updated with final results.
The Tekken World Tour 2018 Finals have arrived, after a long year of blood, sweat and tears throughout numerous qualifying tournaments.
The finals are taking place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and it's a two-day event.
Day one will be host to a last chance qualifier, where all the players who didn't quite manage to make the cut get an opportunity to fight against all the other passionate hopefuls who have shown up, with the last person standing getting that final spot.
Then on Sunday, the actual finals will take place, for which 19 of the competitors have already been decided.
The players you can be absolutely sure to see in the finals are ROX|Knee, UYU|Jeonnding, UYU|Qudans, Saint, Kkokkoma, JDCR, CGG|Tissuemon, Fursan|LowHigh, RB|Anakin, Yamasa|Nobi, Book, UYU|Fergus, Fursan|Rangchu, EQNX|Joey Fury, Crazy|SuperAkouma, ROX|Chanel, Yamasa|Take, COOASGAMES|Noroma and Jimmy J Tran.
Streaming is being done at Tekken.
Marduk, Julia and Armor King revealed for Tekken 7; Negan gameplay trailer released
Tekken 7 has now sold over 3.6 million copies worldwide according to Bandai Namco, and now some new characters will be coming to the successful fighting game very soon on the heels of the 2018 pro circuit finals.
Before the start of top 8 at the Tekken World Tour Finals, Director Katsuhiro Harada and Michael Murray from Bandai Namco came to the stage to reveal those new sales figures and thanking the audience. Harada stated that was all they had before going to walk off stage until he turned around, said "just kidding," and revealed three new DLC characters for Tekken 7.
Craig Marduk, Armor King and Julia Chang were all revealed in new gameplay trailers at the event showing off their brand new designs and what they can do in battle to fill out Tekken 7's Season 2 roster.
Harada also announced that Marduk and Armor King will be releasing for Tekken 7 Season 2 tomorrow, December 3, so players will not need to wait long to get their hands on these classic fighters from the storied franchise. A release date for Julia and Negan has yet to be revealed.
The Walking Dead's Negan was originally revealed during EVO 2018 in a brief teaser, but Bandai Namco busted out his full reveal today at the Tekken World Tour Finals. A brand new cinematic was shown off which mirrored Negan's initial reveal in the TV show with Tekken characters replacing Walking Dead ones kneeling before the villain while he monologues as he picks who he's going to beat down.
These four fighters join the previously released Season 2 DLC characters of Anna Williams and Lei Wulong. You can see screenshots for the new DLC characters below plus the trailers for Marduk, Negan — plus his brand new stage — and Armor King after the jump with the teaser for Julia.
'It's quite possibly the worst piece of console hardware Sony has ever released' - The PlayStation Classic reportedly faces a number of big issues
The PlayStation Classic is Sony's attempt at drawing in the nostalgic audience with 20 of the most popular games from 20 or more years ago, but the final product might not stand the test of time as many had hoped.
Digital Foundry has released their review and performance test of new hardware for old games, and they don't hold back about the serious drawbacks hurting the titles and how they run which are especially relevant for people looking to play the fighting games the system has to offer.
Nine of the 20 games on the PlayStation Classic use the PAL version from Europe instead of the NTSC release from North America and other parts of the world including Tekken 3 and Battle Arena Toshinden. This presents an issue because PAL games could run at a maximum of 50 frames per second instead of the standard 60 found in almost every fighting game on the market.
The slower frame / refresh rate presents new issues on the new hardware since it has a standard 60Hz refresh rate. Tekken 3 itself adds duplicate frames at certain points to make up for frame differential, and it also runs noticeably slower than most players remember.
Other titles like Final Fantasy 7 and Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo may appear jittery, run inconsistently, feature muddy textures, have visual glitches present and the audio may slow down among other lacking software options like a total lack of filters.
For those still looking to possibly pick up the PlayStation Classic when it releases tomorrow, December 3, for $99.99 USD, you should read Digital Foundry's full review on Eurogamer and / or watch their video breakdown after the jump.
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Triple perfect during Tekken World Tour 2018 Finals Last Chance Qualifiers kept commentators and spectators on the edge of their seats
The Tekken World Tour 2018 Finals is taking place this weekend. Before the finals could start, the final player to compete had to be decided via the Last Chance Qualifier event.
There are already 19 players qualified. At the conclusion of the Last Chance Qualifiers event, we'll have a total of 20 competitors for tomorrow.
EQNX|Dimeback was ranked at number 20 on the Tekken World Tour leaderboard. In other words, he fell just short of qualifying for the finals.
As you might expect, Dimeback opted to try one last time to qualify for the finals by entering the Last Chance Qualifier. His match against AE|Pekos' Geese was definitely one to be remembered.
By this point, Dimeback and his Asuka were down a game against Pekos. Dimeback ended up striking back in a big way during the second match.
In order to win a match, players had to defeat their opponents in three rounds. This means that it's technically possible to get a "triple perfect" in this game. That's exactly what Dimeback ended up doing.
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What new character, or characters, might we see revealed at the Tekken World Tour Finals?
2018 is drawing towards its end, and with it, various tournament circuits are wrapping up for the year as well.
This year has been very good to any Tekken fan — the Tekken World Tour came back with more events and more hype than it had last year, and we're finally going to see a champion crowned this weekend.
Not only that, though, but post-launch support was extended, when we saw the massive Season 2 patch shown at EVO 2018, alongside the reveal of the first two DLC characters — Anna Williams and Lei Wulong — as well as the tease that we'll be seeing Negan from The Walking Dead joining the game as a guest character as well.
However, it's been more than two months since we saw these two combatans join the fray, and ever since then, mum's the word.
Given how significant of an event the Tekken World Tour Finals are, coupled with the fact that last year gave us some nice surprises as well, it's a fairly safe bet that we're going to see some form of reveal this weekend as well.
But what, exactly, is it that'll be awaiting for us? We'll know for sure in about 48 hours, but before then, we can speculate a bit.
'I want to show the world a much stronger Tissuemon than they saw in 2017' - Tissuemon talks his TWT Finals goal, Master Raven's intricacies and more
Note: This interview was conducted a few weeks before the Tekken World Tour qualifiers had wrapped up, so some questions have answers that are slightly dated by now. This is entirely the fault of myself, and I apologize for the delay in this getting posted.
Note 2: This interview was originally conducted in Japanese. It has since been translated into English by me, Nicholas "MajinTenshinhan" Taylor.
The Tekken World Tour has been ablaze all year so far, and I've personally attended some of the events it's been happening at. While there, I made sure to talk to some of the top Tekken players in attendance to see if they'd be interesting in doing interviews for EventHubs, and they were more than accomodating.
These interviews have been delayed slightly, so more events have happened since they were originally conducted, but they're still quite recent.
With the Tekken World Tour Finals just around the corner, I hope you're ready to hear what some of the top contenders have to say about the game, its competition and their own philosophies.
Speaking to CGG|Tissuemon, he elaborates on his fighting game history, why he originally picked Raven and stuck with Master Raven, his goals for this year's Tekken World Tour finals and more.
You can catch a snippet from the interview below.
MajinTenshinhan: When did you start playing fighting games, and have you played any other fighting game besides Tekken seriously?
CGG|Tissuemon: I hadn't played games besides Tekken, so it was my first. I started with Tekken 5 back in ... 2004? ... So it's been 14-15 years already. I do play a lot of mobile phone games, though. ... And I pay a lot in microtransactions, haha.
Continue below for the full interview.
Watch Tekken's King devastate a T-Rex with his wrestling skills in this PlayStation Classic commercial
Sony has released a new commercial for the PlayStation Classic, and it's pretty awesome.
The new ad features several iconic characters from various IPs such as Tekken, Rayman, Twisted Metal, and more. The best character appearance in this commercial, though, is easily King from Tekken jumping on screen and bodying a T-Rex with his wrestling moves.
What makes this commercial awesome is that fact that it doesn't actually use gameplay footage from any of the games that come packed on the mini-console. Instead, the visuals are just designed to look like they came straight from a PS One game — and they're pretty darn convincing.
PlayStation Classic, much like "Classic" consoles we've seen in recent times, comes pre-loaded with 20 popular games form back during the original PlayStation era. Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Tekken 3, Twisted Metal, and several other classic games are included here.
If you're looking to get your hands on the PlayStation Classic, you can do so for $99.99 USD. The mini console is due out on December 3rd.
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'Tekken 7 knocked it out of the park. It is no surprise to me that it's growing. It is amazing' - Joey Fury talks JACK-7, EU/NA differences and more
Note: This interview was conducted a few weeks before the Tekken World Tour qualifiers had wrapped up, so some questions have answers that are slightly dated by now. This is entirely the fault of myself, and I apologize for the delay in this getting posted.
The Tekken World Tour has been ablaze all year so far, and I've personally attended some of the events it's been happening at. While there, I made sure to talk to some of the top Tekken players in attendance to see if they'd be interesting in doing interviews for EventHubs, and they were more than accomodating.
These interviews have been delayed slightly, so more events have happened since they were originally conducted, but they're still quite recent.
With the Tekken World Tour Finals just around the corner, I hope you're ready to hear what some of the top contenders have to say about the game, its competition and their own philosophies.
In this interview, I spoke to EQNX|Joey Fury about the difference between the American and European Tekken scenes, his thoughts on JACK-7's nerfs in the latest patch, whether he has any more secret weapons waiting for us in upcoming events and more.
You can catch a snippet from the interview below.
MajinTenshinhan: You've been a constant presence in American tournaments for quite some time, but this year we've seen you show up to some European events as well. Do you feel like there's any notable difference in the type of matches you have between the two regions, in playstyle, mentality or anything else?
EQNX|Joey Fury: There was one clear difference between the competitive fields in North America and Europe. People have noted many times the differences in character representation between the two regions. It was a challenge navigating through these characters that are underrepresented in North America. Top players in Europe represent Akuma, Yoshimitsu, Master Raven, Katarina, Asuka, Miguel, etc.
As far as playstyle, I noticed some similarity in playstyle among players from the same community, but that was it. I think characterizing a playstyle for a whole continent would be impossible. There is far too much diversity between the regions, just as there is in North America. The best players will always develop distinct and adaptive styles anyway, so that resists overarching classifications in itself.
Continue below for the rest of the interview.
'A big factor in Tekken 7 doing so well is ... [It's] become a lot better as a spectator game' - Fergus talks Anna in Tekken 7, Asuka changes and more
Note: This interview was conducted a few weeks before the Tekken World Tour qualifiers had wrapped up, so some questions have answers that are slightly dated by now. This is entirely the fault of myself, and I apologize for the delay in this getting posted.
The Tekken World Tour has been ablaze all year so far, and I've personally attended some of the events it's been happening at. While there, I made sure to talk to some of the top Tekken players in attendance to see if they'd be interesting in doing interviews for EventHubs, and they were more than accomodating.
These interviews have been delayed slightly, so more events have happened since they were originally conducted, but they're still quite recent.
With the Tekken World Tour Finals just around the corner, I hope you're ready to hear what some of the top contenders have to say about the game, its competition and their own philosophies.
First up is UYU|Fergus, who in this interview talks about his desire to help new players adapt to Tekken, his love for Anna as a character, his joy over Asuka's substantial buffs in the latest patch and more.
You can catch a snippet from the interview below.
MajinTenshinhan: You've always been a very helpful person as far as I can tell, even making character guides when Tekken 7 was coming out to help newcomers get familiar with the series and pick a character that suits them.
For anyone curious about the game who hasn't taken the leap to try it out seriously yet, what would you say to motivate them to give it a shot?
UYU|Fergus: I'm glad to hear the reception to my overviews have been positive. I remember when I started Tekken with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 with absolutely no competitive 3D background coming from 2D games, I had a really hard time adjusting especially in an intensive game like that so I just wanted to make the transition easier for non-Tekken players.
I think Tekken is a really rewarding game, it’s a game where I've always felt like I was constantly improving in and it really shows. When you counter a string, get an optimal punish in, master that specific wall carry you've been working on, drilling in movement, there's loads of layers of satisfaction to Tekken.
However I do think Tekken has a really unnecessary and harsh entry level, there is a lot of cheese you have to learn and break through to get to a playable level, so I can see why people might be put off learning the game or be really frustrated in early stages.
I've been through it myself and definitely wanted to quit loads of times in early Tekken Tag Tournament 2 but I can ensure you the game is extremely fun and rewarding once you break past the initial barrier.
Continue below for the rest of the interview.
