The modern fighting game landscape is essentially a three-pronged institution (although feel free to chew me out in the comments if you think that’s totally wrong): There’s Super Smash Bros., there’s Street Fighter, and there’s Tekken. What helps set Tekken apart from its competitors, though, is that it was one of the first fighting games that was made in 3D. To this day, the series has remained consistently groundbreaking.
Plot has also always been an important part of the series, if the multiple films based on the franchise are any indication. To honor that storytelling history, Bandai Namco has started a “Tekken Retro Recap” series that regales the tale all in the classic 8-bit style that, funnily enough, the games broke from.
It begins with a five-year-old Kazuya, who was taken to the top of a mountain and dropped off the edge of a cliff by his father Heihachi. He survived the fall, and after the traumatic event, he was filled with great power and desire for revenge. Heihachi announces a $1 billion prize tournament, which Kazuya enters and eventually faces his father in the final round. He defeats his dad, and to return the favor, throws him off a cliff. And you thought these games were all just kicking and punching.
The Tekken story is probably more intense and involved than you realized, so check out the first video of the series above, and let us know in the comments below how badly you want to play an 8-bit Tekken game now.
Featured image: Bandai Namco Entertainment America/YouTube
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