Netherrealms continues to show everyone how to do the Story Mode…
When the previous Mortal Kombat (MK9) came out a few years ago, it came with something pretty revolutionary- a Story Mode that was actually EPIC. Long but engrossing to watch and having the right balance of watching and playing, MK9 pretty much set the standard that every fighting game would probably need to try and top from there on in. Well, NR raises the bar yet again with the sequel. Just the trailer is pretty much blockbuster movie quality, promising a quite impressively scaled saga starring both returning favorites in the franchise and the new blood descendants and all-new additions to MK’s ever-growing lore. I am really stoked to see what happened at the end of the previous game coming into MKX, how and why previously-deceased fighters like Kitana and Kung Lao are back, and from where the series goes from here. Damn, Ed Boon and company have their act together and then some. I want this movie- er, game, NOW.
If you’re a fighting gamer or a Tekken fan, you probably know MarkMan of Mad Cats. Though he officially works for the company that produces fine joysticks and fight game controllers, he is also unofficially part of the Tekken Project. Of course, this means he knows a bit more about the upcoming Tekken 7 than the average Joe. In the above interview at Winter Brawl, he gives out this teasing bit that there are still elements about the game that haven’t yet been announced or revealed. With the worldwide arcade release just around the corner, one can only be excited at what these unannounced things could be…
Here are some of the wild thoughts going in my mind…
NO Jin Kazama. Could Tekken 7 be a canon game without the series’ longtime Emo Hero? When one fan asked Harada on Twitter about the missing Jin, the Tekken Producer asked if he saw the story in Tekken 6′s Scenario Campaign. Now, it may have been a joke or it may be pointing to Jin’s current status. At the end of the Scenario Campaign’s story (which I feel is canon), Jin basically sacrifices himself to take out the monstrous Azazel, and is presumed dead. In an after-credits scene though, Raven discovers his half-buried body in the sand. Is Jin dead? Probably not. But he may be on ice for now, or under deep, deep cover.
Would the Tekken Team risk putting out a game without its longtime protagonist? Well, Tekken 7′s storyline seems very focused on the conflict between Kazuya and Heihachi- a third party like Jin seems out of place. So this may not be an impossible or even unlikely thing…
Character Creation. While the ability to make a completely new character to use has eluded Tekken up to now, it has been fairly standard in the Soul Calibur series. With a SC sequel still not confirmed, maybe the ideas in Create-a-Soul will finally make their debut in Namco-Bandai’s flagship Beat ‘Em Up. Hoping this means you can customize everything about the fighters, and customize the existing roster as well. For the Tekken Team to finally give in and allow such control over their beloved roster would certainly be very surprising.
Mortal Kombat-style Story Mode. I don’t see this happening in the Arcade version, but perhaps in the inevitable Console game? Harada has given a bit of a hint on this- supposedly he’s planning something special in terms of the story. Heck, if they just re-implement the way Story mode was done in Tekken 5, I would be overjoyed.
Tekken 7 Exclusive to PS4. Streetfighter V has already shown its hand. Why not Tekken? The King of Iron Fist Tournament is plainly a Sony title, so it becoming exclusive to Playstation 4 would not be impossible- and not really that surprising, but it would surely make waves… and surely make a LOT of Xbox fight fans really go nuts.
These are just speculations. I have high hopes for Tekken 7, and am optimistic that this will rekindle the flames of Iron Fist Fervor that have lately died down to embers. Bring on March already, I want Tekken 7 NOW.
Back in the first Streetfighter V trailer, we already had a teaser of this returnee to the franchise. Well, finally, the cat is fully out of the bag and in the open. Charlie Nash, the supposedly deceased best friend of Guile, is alive and very well… and looking a lot darker and evil.
I dunno- perhaps it’s the Frankenstein-like patches of prosthetic skin, the sinister chakra point on his forehead and his new darkness-based abilities (which apparently include an assassination-type Super or Surprise move) that seem to give an evil vibe to me. Obviously, someone brought ol’ Chuck back from death’s door… and it may not have been the good guys. In fact, the teaser at the very end of the trailer (which pretty much confirms the return of everyone’s favorite Psycho-powered dictator) may be showing us who Charlie’s new commanding officer is…
I am liking the way the stages seem to have these funny non-lethal but humiliating ‘Fatality’-esque ending areas like the Noodle House in the first demo vids, and the cool cutscene effects of the Supers/Ultra move from Nash on Chun-Li. Gameplay concerns aside, I am loving the aesthetics and the vibe of the game so far. Can’t wait!
Hey, with Shadaloo seeming to be back in force with this game, I am wondering how long it will be before we see a certain Killer Bee being teased…
Kazumi Mishima is looking quite good for someone supposedly dead.
Tekken 7 is currently out in limited pre-release in select Japan arcades starting today, so I expect more and more media on the game to surface online. One of the bits are some looks at the game’s Final Boss, Kazumi Mishima.
No footage yet so far (I do not consider that tiny snippet seen a few days ago) but a few pics, showing her intro screen art and some screens of her in-game (including a slight look at her ‘Devil’ form). Her Kabuki-esque, Devil Lady look is strangely fetching, so I hope we get to see more of her soon. I also assume she will be playable in the inevitable console version. For now though, check out Kazumi! More pics over at Avoiding the Puddle.
When I started my first Skyrim Let’s Play (or Roleplay, as it turned out), my Youtube channel (which I had been pretty much neglecting all this time) had about 150 or so subscribers who were sadly starved for content. Well, since starting the Adventures of Vryll Lytharn AKA A Coming of Mage Story, it has grown to almost 1000 Subscribers. I plan to post several videos as a Thank You to my wonderful audience- and this is the first.
Lookback: A Coming of Mage Story is a collection/montage of some memorable moments from the LP, hopefully to get a laugh or a smile, and perhaps encourage a few more peeps to subscribe. Heheh. Anyways, with PerMa (Perkus Maximus), the new revision of SkyRe now installed, I plan to keep playing (and LP-ing) Skyrim for a long time to come…
My first look at Tekken was in some gaming magazine. It had some rough pics of chunky-looking Virtua-style fighters (Yes, at the time Virtua Fighter was THE 3D Fighter) from Namco (The makers of Pac-man). Back then, it was originally called ‘Rave War’ (you’ll still hear this terms every so often in Tekken documentation). The game would use the same technology Namco used in its racing games. I didn’t think about it much back then.
I would see the finished game much, much later, in the arcade. This strange 3D fighter fascinated me. It was more ‘cartoony’ and a bit more fantastic than the uber-hardcore martial arts sim VF was. But the characters had a cool appeal I dug. My favorite of course was the blonde bombshell, Nina Williams, simply because she had awesome linking grapples (At the time knowing them was a HUGE secret). Since then, I was a Tekken fan. Sometimes a huge one to the point of obsession, at the worst I was more subdued as the series dipped into some low points. But never did I ever say I gave up on Tekken. I was in it for life.
I have to say my favorite Tekken is easily Tekken 6. That was the game that really roped me in, getting me into the arcades for months, plinking down countless tokens to earn Fight Money and purchase my wanted customizations. More often than not, I lost to the veteran arcade players. But never once did I not have fun. The home version of Tekken 6 wasn’t perfect to some, but to me it was the best home translation of a Tekken game ever, and it remains the reason for me to always hold onto my PS3.
Tekken Tag 2 and Revolution admittedly made me sink back into the shadows. I hated the customizations in TTT2 and just found the system too complex. As for the F2P Tekken, I’d rather say nothing.
And so it was that with Tekken 7, my hope is rekindled for a return to form. A REAL, canon, numbered Tekken with all the trimmings you would expect. So far I have not been disappointed, though I am surprised with a lot of the negativity. But I remain optimistic- Tekken 7 holds a lot of promise and I will hold the Tekken Team to that. The next couple of year will be crucial and exciting for me. Let the Rave War continue.
The Japan Arcade Expo has ended, and disappointingly there wasn’t as much footage as we hoped. However, the above video from 4Gamer is quite considerable for a first look. Pika-er, Katsuhiro Harada showed off the two newest additions to the roster- blonde-haired cat-dancer Lucky Chloe and Arabian assassin Shaheen. Chloe’s fighting style is apparently ‘Freestyle Dance’ and incorporates stuff from Capoeira and Breakdancing. Using her is a combination of rhythmic button presses, which result in her doing some rather cute routines. You can end a combo with her nyan-poses or an extra hit at the end. On the other hand, Shaheen’s fighting style has been described as a mesh of Lars, Raven and other slick fighters. For a taller dude, he is pretty agile.
Have to say, I found LC a lot more interesting, and I still find it incredulous that the haters out there still can’t bring themselves to admit she’s pretty cool- at this point, they’re just too far gone to admit defeat, I guess. Anyways, the most annoying tease is the fact that there has been disappointingly little footage of the Final Boss, Kazumi. Hopefully this coming week will reveal more, as the game goes into limited ‘pre-release’.
WHOA-ness! Here are some intriguing snippets of information about Tekken 7 straight from the ongoing JAEPO Arcade Event in Japan.
• Shaheen and Lucky Chloe are playable. Shaheen is apparently taller than Lars, and has some moves similar to other characters like Bryan and Ancient Ogre. Chloe has been seen in a palette-swap version of her outfit, and has moves very similar to those of Eddy/Christie.
• The Final Boss of the game is Kazumi Mishima. Interestingly enough, she enters the arena riding her pet TIGER, which she can apparently summon or channel into a projectile. Also, she starts the first round as normal, but transforms into her Devil form for the second round (A FEMALE DEVIL? WOOH!).
• Sweat effects have been added to the characters.
• The Dragon’s Nest stage from Tekken 5 is back.
• A Training Mode is present in the JAEPO build.
Source: Source: Flying Wonkey at Twitter, Katsuhiro Harada at Twitter
WOW. Kazumi is the Boss! Well, seeing as how she was supposed to be dead, her return is most surely due to some supernatural reason- perhaps one last try to save her son? I can’t wait to see her in action. Hoping we see footage soon- but in any case, Tekken 7 will see a limited arcade pre-release next week in Japan, February 16. Stay tuned!
I have to admit, I kinda liked the first Hitman movie. Timothy Olyphant was an intense 47, and the lovely Olga Kurlyenko was a pleasure to see every second she was onscreen. But I guess there was something missing to it- a bit of stylish, visual panache that would give it a memorable punch. It also kinda gave off a B-movie vibe… but really, that doesn’t prevent me from keeping it on in the background if I catch it on cable.
Well, the new, upcoming film based on the franchise starring a bald, bar-coded assassin, Hitman: Agent 47 looks to fill in the special effects and visual slickness department. It seems to have everything from slow-mo gun-kata, big-budget hi-jinx and glossy high production destruction to spare. In this one, 47 is searching for the daughter of the man who started the ‘Agent Program’ which created him.
Hitman: Agent 47 stars Rupert Friend as Agent 47 and Zachary Quinto as John Smith, his on-screen adversary. The flick is set for release this coming August 2015.
This just in- Tekken Producer Katsuhiro Harada just posted the Opening Cinema for Tekken 7 Arcade Version (Japan).
It’s just one scene- perhaps the Climactic Duel between Tekken’s First Father and Son, Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima. Of course, the fight is happening in a raging volcano (These guys never do anything small) and it seems to be no holds barred. The fight starts out with Kazuya getting in some solid moves, but eventually Daddy starts bringing it back with the ol’ Headbutt. Then Kaz goes all DEVIL… kinda a cheat, isn’t he?
This of course sets the stage for this latest chapter of the Tekken series, and supposedly beckons to the Finale of the Mishima Saga. Who will win? Where’s Jin? What happens to Tekken after this?
Of course, this is all for the ARCADE version in Japan, so don’t get too excited. We surely will see a more detailed and longer intro for the console versions- whenever that happens. For now though, wasn’t that pretty awesome? Tekken Hype once again!
