TEKKEN TAG BATTLE
Original Release: Namco, 1999, Arcade
Other Releases: PlayStation 2 (2000), PS3/Xbox 360/Wii U (2012)
This "dream match" entry in the series brings together most of the rosters of the previous three games and introduces a tag/health replenishment system akin to Marvel vs Capcom
Tekken Tag Battle (Arcade, Namco, 1999)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
Tekken Tag was no doubt, at least in part, an attempt to horn in on the hot "team fighting" market established by the likes of King of Fighters and Marvel vs Capcom. However, it also did quite a bit to revamp the Tekken 3 engine, making a lot of subtle rebalancing changes aimed at competitive play along with a general speed and fluidity/responsiveness boost. It also introduced an interesting new strategic twist on the whole tag thing, as having just one character get knocked out ends the match but you can replenish quite a bit of health by sitting them out for awhile.
But since it's basically an overhaul of the Tekken 3 engine running on the same hardware, the arcade release would be stuck at PlayStation 1 graphics caliber. This title was the rare case of a home port vastly outstripping its arcade original, as Namco took advantage of the PS2 launch the following year to release a graphically improved version as a launch title.
It's easily the nicest-to-play Tekken of the original 90s run of arcade games, and boasts a big roster that includes nearly everyone from Tekken 2 and 3. The cost of this is an almost total lack of anything for single players to do but practice against the computer in preparation for competitive play. If you weren't playing this around the dorm rooms with a bunch of dudes when the PS2 was new and fresh, or you weren't interested in going to the arcades and getting into the competitive scene, it basically had very little to offer other than just messing around with the different characters for a while.
It does at least ease you into the action a little better than some other entries, as the computer fights poorly for the first three matches or so. Tekken had established itself as a very technical fighter that requires players to memorize character moves (as they often don't actually attack in the direction you point) and come to grips with each character having around 90-100 individual moves, so you at least get a solid buffer for your money to play around and get familiar.
On that subject, this entry did also up the asking price to 50 cents a pop, though that's hardly an issue anymore. The emulated arcade version might be the way to go if you want to play online competitive games (this version through MAME is like 57 MB and will run on a potato), but if you want maximum bells and whistles and more single player stuff you'll want the PS2 version.
Comments
Post a Comment