Tekken PS1 Review

When we take a look back over the early days of the PlayStation console there were quite a number of memorable games that were made available with a great range and mix of games anything varying from the likes of arcade shooters to racing games, fighting games and action adventure games. 

But within the first few weeks of the console's release seeing quite a number of incredible titles that went on to span multiple sequels to create long-running franchises that would still be recognized even in modern gaming today. 

And one of those series all started with the first Tekken game and Tekken originally started off life in the arcades in 1994 and was they ported to the PlayStation a couple of weeks after the consoles released in 1995 which was developed and published by Namco and it's also one of the earliest 3D fighting games to fully utilize 3D rendered graphics for the characters and environments while using full motion gameplay for the character movements and combat mechanics. 

One of the really cool features about the game very like a lot of namco's early games on the PlayStation similar to The Ridge Racer series would make use of various mini games and space shooters that you could try and get a high score and if you manage to complete the game in the allotted of time or you defeat all the enemies it would unlock different perks and features that you could use in the game maybe like extra characters or different modes. 

So that in itself was a really cool touch to have with these early games and it added more to the playability of the entire game. 

At the time however, when Tekken was released, virtua fighter that was released by Sega and the arcades and also on the Sega Saturn had been released a year prior and Tekken had taken a lot of inspiration from Virtua Fighter as Virtua Fighter at the time had become probably the dominant fighter in the arcade world. But Tekken quickly became a fan favourite with many fighting game fanatics that led on to being a massive success on the PlayStation which sold over a million copies and it later went down to become part of the PlayStation's Platinum Collection. 

And the game was followed up quite quickly which a sequel were Tekken 2 only just about a year later and that was the crazy thing about the PlayStation back in the early days, no sooner had a game been developed, they were already working on the sequel pretty much straight away and you would see games or companies developing sequels that will come out literally months after the initial games first release and Tekken was no different. 

You had other titles even from Namco specifically with the likes of Ridge Ridge because again like Tekken it was also a port of an arcade game and literally a few months later there was a sequel with Ridge Racer Revolution and in tekken's case Tekken 2 came out not long after that and it had improved graphics and visuals. But it was the first Tekken game that really set the standards for what was to come forward thereafter as it created some very iconic characters that became a staple within the franchise and that are still available even in modern games even up as far as Tekken 7 that you can play on modern consoles. 

And what was cool with Tekken is as well with likes of virtua fighter or even on the Sega Saturn each character while fully rendered in 3D has its own unique visual aesthetic but it also allows players to play with their own playstyles as each character has their own combat moves and aesthetics that can appeal to different players styles. 

Some players and characters are easier to utilize and get into than others some will take a bit more finesse and practice to get familiar with the move sets but once you master it you will have a great experience although it will test your patience as the early few matches that you play especially in the arcade mode you should be able to get through it with relative ease but as you go through the arcade or the story you can gradually see an increase in the difficulty so it can be quite difficult to win matches so you have to adapt your gameplay and fighting styles in order to have a chance to win in. 

So you can either go all those attack and just bash buttons or you can play more defensively and just catch people using counters but there is a great variety and mixed moves martial arts moves and even grapple moves as well when you grab someone you can do a special move that can take out a ton of energy out of your opponent and do a lot of damage. 

But as with a lot of these fighting games it really is just all trial and error but you'll have a lot of fun with it but Tekken proved that 3D games and specifically fighting games where becoming a dominant force during the early to mid 90s and especially on the PlayStation console as the PlayStation has an absolute ton of fighting games and many of them that you wouldn't even see as a lot of them were released in other regions mainly Japan. 

But Tekken alongside of likes of virtua fighter set the standard really for 3D fighting games. Even when I go back to my own experience playing Tekken it was a few months into getting to play the PlayStation itself and my mate that I originally got to play on his PlayStation was the first ever experience that i had on the console, and while a few months had passed my mate had gotten a hold of a second-hand copy of Tekken and he took it down to the house one weekend now he loved it and he was trying to get into it. 

Mind you he wasn't that great at playing but Tekken can be quite a difficult game to get to grips with when you're not used to it and for me personally because I'd come off the back of getting used to playing Resident Evil and playing racing games and stuff and I was more of a Mortal Kombat player I always played like some Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter so Tekken essentially was the first proper 3D fighting game that I'd ever played and honestly it took me a while to really warm to it and to get used to it. 

I liked the visuals and thought it looked cool, but when I went to play it, I just didn't know what I was doing. I hadn't a clue, it was so different from playing the likes of Mortal Kombat on the likes of the Super Nintendo or even the early days of the PlayStation like where the button movements were almost instantaneous but with Tekken the move sets require to pull off combos and you had to be very specific on how you use the combos in order to do any damage plus the computer AI could also adapt to your movement so a lot of times they would block a lot of your attacks so you had to learn how to get familiar with your fighting styles and even your use of various move sets. So it took quite a while to really warm to it. 

Even when I got to play Tekken 2 a few months later another friend of mine had got it for Christmas and he took it over and I did like it and I found it a wee bit easier to get into compared to Tekken one but again I still struggled with 3D fighters at the time. 

I just wasn't really that good at them for quite a long time and I didn't have a lot of patience.

I found it wasn't until Tekken 3 came out that where I really found myself getting into fighters, more so 3D Fighters and by then I had played enough of them that it just really started to click but then Tekken 3 was a completely different animal altogether and it is considered to be the best fighting game on the PlayStation and I totally agree with that because out of all the Tekken games that I played Tekken 3 for me is hand down my personal one. 

That game is awesome, it's just absolutely phenomenal but again it was also the easiest one I could pick up and play when you had the characters likes of Eddie Gordo you didn't even have to really be good at the game, he did all these mad moves and flips it made you look like as if that you were a professional at the game without even having to do much work so that in itself I think the easier entry point into the game definitely made it more appealing. 

Whereas with likes of Tekken 1, and Tekken 2 more specifically but mainly the first one know that entry-level gamers that were struggling with these types of games it wasn't as forgiving compared to later games in the series. 

You really had to have your wits about you but again the controller systems by then with the earlier games hadn't been as refined as much compared to the later games so you had to pretty much just learn to adapt and just work with what you had at the time. 

But that doesn't take away from the experience that Tekken gave you, yes at first for myself like it took a while to get into but now after revisiting it years later I still struggle with it, I can get so far and I can win the arcade modes a couple of times but not before I get destroyed in most of the fights. 

So I still have to learn to adapt my fighting styles and just to kind of pick my moments of when to attack and when to defend and so forth. So you really have to have a strategy around your fighting styles, but even looking back over it years later it is a classic, it's still just as good as I do remember even though like I said it took me a while to get into it but I appreciate it and I respect the game for what it is and you can clearly see the basis of how it evolved from its original standpoint with the original game and how it evolved over later generations in the series up to the likes of Tekken 3 which is considered by many not just the best fighter on the PlayStation but it's the best fighting game in my opinion in the entire Tekken series. 

It just has something about it that just really stands out that the other games just even though they're really really good in their own right they've just never been able to replicate but I suppose it all had to start somewhere and the earlier Tekken games were proof of the rise and popularity of 3D Fighters at the time. 

The PlayStation had tons of fighter games on the computer even since starting this channel I found myself going back and I'm finding a ton of games that I didn't even know existed and it's great now that I'm getting to experience them. 

Now I'm still not that great at fighting games, I'm not going to deny that for a second but it's a really cool way to get to experience and now and the look at games that you either wanted to play back in the day but you couldn't or now you can get an access to them through the likes of emulation or if you can buy copies on eBay which a lot of them in all honesty aren't cheap so if you can't afford them go ahead but if not emulation is probably your best alternative. 

But even at that I highly recommend that you do go back and check out these older type games, especially with the likes of the earliest attacking game, yes it is difficult to get into and to master but you can see how good of a game it is once you do put some time into it. It has a really good mix of characters some great movesets and fighting styles and it just expanded with each sequel that came after it. 

So if you do want to see why these games are so good I highly recommend you check them out and check out Tekken for yourself to see what you think as this game alone is a very important part of video game history that has really set a standard for a lot of fighting games not just on consoles but in the arcades as well as they we're very popular at the time. 

So I would love to know what your thoughts are of the original Tekken game on the PlayStation, how did you play it? 

Did you manage team players in the arcades when it was available in the arcade or did you play it on the console initially back in the day and if so what are your thoughts on the game and do you have any stories to share? 

I would love to hear what experiences you have of the game so be sure to share it down in the comments below and be sure to keep watching to see more content on other games similar to Tekken, you can check out the blog where we will be diving into the iconic elements of these classic video games and as always keep those gaming memories alive...