Tekken is no stranger to guest characters, especially if you look at past installments. Remember Prototype Jack, Unknown, or Mokujin? Those aren’t even some of the strangest characters to show up in Bandai Namco’s popular fighting game. As if guest characters couldn’t get any weirder, the new Tekken 7 character to join the roster is The Walking Dead‘s Negan.
As Evo 2018 came to a close on August 5, 2018, Tekken Director Katsuhiro Harada and Game Designer Michael Murray announced that a second season of characters would be coming to Tekken 7. Harada teased a total of six characters, first starting with Anna Williams and Lei Wulong, before ending with The Walking Dead‘s Negan. The other three characters in this new season remain a mystery.
You can check out the Tekken 7 season two pass reveal below.
Both Anna and Lei are Tekken veterans. Anna appeared in the first three games, took a break for the fourth, and returned for subsequent installments. Lei has appeared in every Tekken game except the first one.
Negan is the oddball here, as his character design, franchise, and fighting style don’t seem to really suit the Tekken series. But just because a character doesn’t belong hasn’t stopped Bandai Namco before, as Final Fantasy XV‘s Noctis made his crossover debut in Tekken 7 back in March 2018. Maybe this is a sign we’ll see more weird characters in the game. Maybe Nathan Drake or the Hunter from Bloodborne could appear?
If Final Fantasy XV and The Walking Dead can make it into Tekken 7, what other series would you like to see represented in the game?
In our review of Tekken 7, we gave it an 8.5/10. We said, “Tekken 7 is a formidable entry into the fighting genre, and will provide hundreds of hours of fun for fans and newcomers alike. Just be prepared to learn a lot of new stuff.”
Tekken 7 is available now for the PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.
[Source: Polygon]
Tekken 7 info dump
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Tekken 7 - EYNTK
Curious to know more about Bandai Namco's imminent brawler? We've got you covered...
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What is Tekken 7?
It's the ninth instalment in Bandai Namco's genre-defining series, and the first to be built using Unreal Engine. Tekken 7 initially rolled out via select arcades two years ago, leading to the launch of Fated Retribution.
It's now teetering on the verge of its international launch, and June 2nd is the date for your diaries. Oh, and did we mention that Tekken 7 is the first game in the series to release a PC version? Exciting times indeed.
"Settle old scores and wrestle for control of a global empire with a roster of over 30 playable characters. Choose from an impressive roster of fan-favourites including King and Nina Williams, and all-new fighters such as Lucky Chloe, Shaheen and the Street Fighter series’ Akuma."
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What's the Story?
The fundamental story of Tekken 7 goes a little something like this: the feud between Heihachi Mishima, Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama has reached boiling point (again!) and Bandai is step to deliver the final chapter in the family's long, bloody saga.
Mind you, if you're growing tired of the Mishima clan and there tendency to beat seven shades of shit out of one another, don't worry; Tekken 7's story mode also includes side chapters dedicated to non-Mishima brawlers.
Per Bandai:
"Raise your fists and get ready for the ultimate battle on the next generation of home consoles. Powered by the Unreal Engine 4, the storied fighting franchise returns for another round in TEKKEN 7. With the faithful 3D battle system and gameplay intact, TEKKEN 7 takes the franchise to the next level with photo-realistic graphics and new and innovative features and fighting mechanics. TEKKEN 7 resurrects the attitude, competitiveness, and showmanship rooted in its arcade DNA to provide the ultimate fighting game experience."
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A Much Darker Story at That
In fact, Harada-san has even gone so far as to say that the story of Tekken 7 will be much, much darker than its forebears, and it'll seemingly close the book on the Mishima saga.
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Fated Retribution
As we alluded to before, Bandai Namco initially rolled out an arcade-friendly cut of Tekken 7 in 2015, before building on those foundations to create Fated Retribution. By the same token, the console version of the game will be an updated version of FR.
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Opening Cinematic
Featuring Heihachi and Kazuya duking it out on the fringe of an active volcano (sound familiar?) the suitably epic opening cinematic for Tekken 7 can be viewed here.
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Rage-Quitters Will Be Punished
Come June 2nd, expect Tekken 7 to clamp down on rage-quitters, with Harada-san noting that the brawler will impose a series of penalties for those players who pull the plug at the first sign of defeat.
"You can’t keep someone from physically pulling out the LAN cable, so the only thing you can do is make them not want to do that by having some kind of penalties. Although we can’t really go into that at the moment, we do have penalties planned for that. We don’t want to go into a lot of detail right now because the hackers and such will already start about thinking of ways to circumvent that. But we do have plans to implement some penalties."
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Character Roster
Tekken 7 touts a character roster of over 30 playable fighters, and it's fair to say that Eliza and the Street Fighter guest character Akuma are two of the most buzz-worthy of the bunch.
The full list of fighters can be found here.
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Extensive DLC Plans
Expect Bandai Namco's DLC plan for Tekken 7 to continue through until spring 2018. Here's a general overview of the post-launch content cramming up the pipeline:
- First Batch (Summer 2017)
Brand-new game mode
More than 50 new costumes - Second Batch (Winter 2017)
One exclusive playable guest character from another video game license
A special stage and special costumes for the guest character - Third Batch (Spring 2018)
One exclusive playable guest character from another video game license
A special stage and special costumes for the guest character
Per Bandai:
"During the coming year, all players from all platforms will also enjoy free character panels they will be able to use to customize their favorite character’s image displayed during the loading screen. Through a partnership with various worldwide artists, each player will have their own way to defy their friends and rivals! Stay tuned for more info!"
- First Batch (Summer 2017)
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Key Features Outlined
So, you're wanting to get up to speed with Tekken 7 in anticipation of its launch on June 2nd? Here's a recap of the game's main features:
Unreal Engine 4 – Powered by Unreal Engine 4, TEKKEN 7 is the best looking TEKKEN game ever through near photo-realistic graphics and the addition of stunning fighting effects.
Seamless Story Experience – Powerful cinematic story sequences blending flawlessly into fierce battles that unveils the thrilling storyline of the Mishima family in a very innovative way.
Character Roster – A solid roster of over 30 characters including brand new fighters with one of the world’s biggest move-set list in a fighting game that allows for a complete freedom of your fighting style. Find your favourite deadly techniques, martial arts moves and combos to win the fight!
Street Fighter Crossover – Street Fighter’s Akuma flawlessly transitions into the 3D space and joins the fray in an epic franchise mash-up complete with all his shoto-style moves and fireballs.
All-New Battle Mechanics and Moves – Classic 1vs1 battles return along with new moves and battle mechanics like “Rage Arts”, “Power Crushes” and “Rage Drives” that make gameplay more accessible for players of all skill levels. Beating your friends in TEKKEN 7 will be based on either focused training or just pure fun.
The Final Chapter in the Gruelling Mishima Saga – TEKKEN 7 represents the final chapter of the 20-year-long Mishima feud. Unveil the monumental ending to the emotionally charged family warfare between members of the Mishima clan as they struggle to settle old scores and battle for control of a global empire, putting the balance of the world in peril…
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Rage is Art
In detailing the title's Rage mode attacks, Tekken 7 director and producer Katsuhiro Harada noted that "some Rage Drives can be more defensive than others. We’ve also made them harder to guess as they can be used in high, mid, and low ranges."
Rage Art, meanwhile, is a finishing move designed to knock your foe down or, if their health is low enough, knock them out.
Harada continued:
"You can deliver massive damage, but only in proportion to how low your health is. So it can be a life-saver, but you really have to think about when you should use it.”
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The Arenas
From the Mishima Dojo to Brimstone & Fire to the The King of Iron Fist Tournament stage, Tekken 7's features a vast collection of arenas in which you'll be able to beat your opponents to a pulp — or vice versa. Check out the full list here.
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Delayed in the Name of Creating a Complete Product
Perhaps wary or repeating Street Fighter V's mistakes, Bandai Namco carved out extra development time for Tekken 7 in order to engineer a complete product, with Harada-san noting that:
"We were trying to do everything we could to make that [early 2017] date happen… maybe to scale down on the content in order to make the master release, but in the end we came to the decision that [after] seeing releases from other companies, as well as some of the past of our own, where maybe things weren’t working 100% at launch, or maybe it was missing some content, that’s the kind of thing we wanted to avoid with Tekken 7, so we made a very difficult decision of moving it to June to include all of the original content that we’d originally planned."
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Pre-Order to Gain Access to Eliza
First introduced to the series via Tekken Revolution, the undead vampire known as Eliza is a pre-order perk for Bandai Namco's Tekken 7, meaning there's still time to lay your money on the line and gain access to Eliza from the get-go.
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A Hefty File Size
Looking to purchase Tekken 7 on day one? Prepare to set aside at least 42GB of hard drive space. Those in Europe will need to reserve a total of 45GB, and we understand the slight disparity can be attributed to the game's localization process.
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Eddy Gordo
Seeking retribution for the death of his Capoeira master, Eddy Gordo also has a part to play in Tekken 7.
"Eddy Gordo’s connection to the Mishima Zaibatsu began when he pleaded with Jin Kazama to help treat the serious illness afflicting his Capoeira master. In return for the treatment, Eddy would wield his deadly skills at Jin’s command. Unfortunately for Eddy, not even the technology of the Mishima Zaibatsu could save Eddy’s master and he soon swore to take vengeance against the Mishima Zaibatsu led by Kazuya Mishima."
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Season Pass
Included in the $84.99 USD Deluxe Edition of Tekken 7, the game's Season Pass will grant access to three content packs "aimed to extend the Tekken 7 experience and will include new playable characters, new stages, a new game mode, costume packs, and a bonus 35-piece Metallic Costume Pack.” Prices weren’t given, but you’ll be able to buy each DLC pack separately.
In terms of exclusives, the PS4 version will include legacy costumes from Tekken 4 and Tekken 2 for King, Xiaoyu, and Jin, plus a Jukebox Mode where you can listen to classic Tekken tracks and create playlists while you play. Pretty neat, right?
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PSLS Talks to Katsuhiro Harada
Late last year, PSLS caught up with series mainstay Katsuhiro Harada to discuss the upcoming console port of Tekken 7 and DLC.
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Harada Quick to Cool Talk of a First-Person VR Build
Despite rumors to the contrary, Tekken 7's VR mode won't be built around a first-person perspective. Harda's reasoning is fairly straightforward, too, after the series stalwart stressed that the viewpoint would prove to be too intense.
"If you could imagine that you have some kind of a martial artist or pro boxer or something come and do shadowboxing right in front of your face, you can then probably begin to see how that’s not a very entertaining or enjoyable experience. Added to that, you’d be knocked into the air for, like, an aerial juggle or whatever – it’s really jarring and not very fun."
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PlayStation VR Support
So what exactly can we expect from Tekken 7 in VR? Well, according to Harada-san, it'll be more tailored to the "character elements"
"We ended up focusing more on the character elements of it, where you can customize your character and look at it from various angles, or with a fight against a CPU opponent slow down the match, and change the camera angles so you can see the game like you’ve never seen it before. These are the kind of things that make Tekken a more enjoyable experience in VR."
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Get the Inside Scoop on Tournament Mode
When asked to describe the game's new Tournament Mode, Tekken 7 producer Katsuhiro Harada outlined the mode as so:
"There are a lot of people who don’t want to play in online matches because they hate losing. But they still have a competitive spirit, don’t they? If they want to play now their only options are ranked matches or pairing off and playing with friends. If they decide that they do want to have a goal in the game then a tournament, playing with people from all over the globe in a while championship for example, would be pretty difficult.
"But if they had the chance to play in an 8-person tournament, well then they’d probably be playing all the time, wouldn’t they? If they did that, they could get a taste of coming out in the top spot, plus they could actually get a small reward in the game. They could unlock costumes or something like that. Having a small goal you’re working on each day, learning how to play the game, and not just for ranked matches. This is our concept here for this style of gaming, with this type of mini tournament."
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Stable Performance on PS4
The tech wizards over at Digital Foundry have ruled that Tekken 7 performs smoothly on PS4, clocking in at 900p/60fps.
That's a slight dip from Katsuhiro Harada's original target of 1080p/6ofps.
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Story Trailer
The Mishima Family blood feud rages on in the official story trailer for Tekken 7.
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Extended Gameplay
Eager to take a peek at Tekken 7 in action? Look no further than this extended, 30-minute gameplay demo of Bandai's sequel running on PlayStation 4.
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Trophy List
Comprised of 43 digital accolades in total, the official Tekken 7 Trophy list can be found right here.
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Digital Delexue Edition
Priced at $84.99, the Digital Deluxe Edition of Tekken 7 comes packing the Season Pass, an official theme, access to Eliza, as well as the game itself.
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ESRB Rating
It's official: Tekken 7 has been rated T for Teen, and ESRB description is as follows.
"This is a fighting game in which players engage in one-on-one combat with a large cast of human, animal, and supernatural characters. Players use martial-arts punches, kicks, and throws to drain opponents' life meters. Some characters can also use machine guns or throw fireballs at opponents. Cutscenes depict further instances of violence: a character throwing another person off a cliff into lava; a soldier shooting a character in the arm. Small blood splashes occasionally appear on the camera during cutscenes; one sequence depicts splashes of blood on a character's nose after being struck. The game contains includes some suggestive material: female characters wearing outfits that reveal deep cleavage (the camera occasionally zooms in on their chests); a male character peeking at a woman as she showers (no nudity is depicted); a man falling face first into a woman's chest. One cutscene involves pizza, laxatives, gurgling noises, and flatulence as two characters scramble to reach a bathroom. The words “a*s” and “bastard” appear in the dialogue."
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Hands-On Preview
Our fearless leader Alex Co grappled with an early build of Tekken 7 back in March, and walked away overly impressed.
Said he:
"During my hands-on time, which was played on a standard PS4 (which I assume were debug units), it’s hard not to notice just how fantastic it looks, and how fluid the gameplay is. It’s so easy to play a Tekken game and just forget how seamless the controls are and what’s happening on-screen that we sometimes take it for granted. In Tekken 7, things are taken up a notch thanks to the Unreal Engine 4. Characters and stages look fantastic as before, but there’s a certain 'grounded' feel to it."
