What happened with fighting games? A generation ago the attitude of fighting games was the same as it always was — git gud. You’d pick up a controller or sit before a set of arcade sticks and the game would whoop your arse, and you’d either rise to the challenge or you would fall at its feet.
It was a mountain to climb, and you had to earn your right to climb it. And earning your way onto the mountain made climbing it that much more addictive. You had a right to be there, a right earned in sweat and tears and the callouses only formed when blisters grow in other blisters.
But this generation is different. No longer do you learn how to play a fighting game by climbing onto the mountain over the corpses of those who failed before you. Now the fighting games teach you — and they teach you everything.
I remember a fighting game once telling me to punch using the punch button. What was the punch button? If you can’t learn that on your own, you might not be cut out for that game, chum.
Tekken 8, meanwhile, broke down the concept of a punch in a way that I’ve never seen before. It took me through every stage of an air juggle combo. It showed me, in detail, how I could use its new speciality system to pull off rad combos with a button press, and then it taught me that I didn’t need to use the speciality system to do any of that. That the power was inside of me the entire time.
And it’s not just Tekken 8 doing this, but as I played a preview build of the newest game in this epic series, I couldn’t help but think about how this attitude shift would arrive all at the same time.
For the longest time, fighting games have been gatekept. Not by the players, but by the games themselves. And in 2023 we got to see that change.
That’s pretty cool.
Tekken 8 goes to great lengths to teach you what you need to know to play it, as best evidenced by my decision to leap straight into the story mode without even glancing at the button list.
See, I’ve played Tekken since the jump. I had a launch PlayStation (I’m old) and Tekken was my jam. It was the rare fighting game that I was good at. I could beat my brothers, my friends, the AI — I was actually pretty good at the first couple of Tekken games.
So I figured I could probably pick up Tekken 8 and slot straight back in again. I was wrong. I got my arse handed to me. The AI is a lot smarter than it used to be, and what it punishes is very different to before.
But if I had to chalk my failure up to anything, it was the staggering confusion I felt as the game’s cutscenes played out. Tekken 8‘s story through the first few chapters feels like reading in-universe The King in Yellow. With every new chapter I’d lose my mind a little more. I understood all the words, but the way they were arranged forced me to question what is real.
Everyone in it talks in their native language, and everyone else automatically understands them. This isn’t treated as odd. It’s not even treated with reverence. It’s simply how things work. Entire conversations are had in Japanese, Italian, French and English all at once and nobody bats an eye.
And this is just a portion of the storytelling that I feel I can explain. The game begins with a devil blowing up a portion of Times Square in New York and then declaring that a fighting tournament will decide the fate of the world, but that’s grossly underselling the series of events.
Strange is the night indeed.
But as odd as it is, it’s deeply compelling in an anime sort of way. Compared to Mortal Kombat it seems downright grounded, and I can’t wait to find out how it actually plays out.
But I’d never find out if I never actually learned how to play. Tekken 8 has a robust practice mode — par for the course these days — but Arcade Quest is where the game will actively walk you through the ins-and-outs of how to get better at fighting games.
It’s an interesting tack to take, as Tekken 8 will be the first game in the series to not launch in arcades first. Instead, the arcade experience is replicated — you create a character and then you and your in-game pals go from arcade to arcade having fights. Tekken fights, of course. You can move your little toon around, dress them how you like, and pick whichever fights you want by challenging specific foes. Or you can simply walk up to an arcade machine, sit on the stool and fight whoever is up next.
And all the while, Tekken 8 is teaching you the fundamentals of competitive fighting games. It reminds me of Yomi 2, except there you’re going from card shop to card shop. If it’s a common trope in games, it’s not one I’m familiar with.
It’s a cool system that incentivises getting better while actively making it happen. You start off in a small arcade, and you work your way up the ladder until you’re facing off against the best of the best. Instead of throwing some textbooks at you from the window of a moving car, Arcade Quest represents a structured curriculum for players to learn in.
You can even fight your own ghost, as the game records your fights and builds a fighter based on your tendencies. It’s how I found out I spend too much time as King just trying to land a grab — and I learned how to punish the absolute shit out of anyone who does the same (low kicks).
And you can get other people’s ghosts to train against as well. An idea immediately came to mind — create a Ghost named Wimp Lo and train him wrong on purpose, as a joke. Face to foot style, how’d you like it.
Even with my short time with Tekken 8 I could see there was a lot to it. I didn’t even touch on the return of Tekken Ball or how I demolished former Stevivor writer Luke Lawrie in versus mode.
For generations fighting games were built on the idea that earning your way onto the mountain could keep you coming back. It seems they’re finally realising that teaching you how to climb is a way to create even more fans. Tekken 8‘s system is in-depth, compelling and fun, which is great to see.
I’ve been to loads of fighting game tournaments around Australia and I’ve always been amazed at how encouraging and welcoming the players were. How even at a giant event like Battle Arena Melbourne, players would happily take time to explain where you went wrong when they perfected you. It’s great to see the games themselves are finally catching up to that sentiment.
Tekken 8 is planned for a 26 January 2024 release on Windows PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PS5.
 |
Tekken 826 January 2024PC PS5 Xbox Series S & X
|
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
