Retro Monday: Tekken (PS1)

Now here's a little curiosity for this fine monday, as I attempt to talk about a game I never actuallly owned. In fact, I never even owned the Playstation console on which to play it on. Today, I shall be attempting to explain all this, as we discuss Tekken...

This, in my memory, was a landmark game. I remember it so vividly, as it was one of the times I saw the future, right in front of me. My older cousin travelled up from the midlands, clutching a Playstation, desperate to show anyone who would watch this new console he had. He was one of the early adopters of the new console race, and managed to pick one up from Birmingham, as well as a few games.

Now, what's important here is context. At the time I had a Super Nintendo. Whilst the SNES was a dream machine, and provided me with countless hours of entertainment, the step-up to PSX was pretty monumental. When my cousin fired up the Playstation at our house for the first time, the first game he popped in was Tekken, and it was ASTOUNDING...

This game looked GORGEOUS. And it was 3D! A luxury often only glimpsed in arcades, here was an arcade system in the home. Tekken's look was vibrant, distinctive and very different from anything seen before. As a testament to how genuinely astounding this game was, I even remember the first match I ever saw. It was Law against Jack, and the difference in size of both characters, and the incredible fluidity of the graphics, and how solid it felt. 3d gaming was a very new idea, and one that was tetchy at the best of times. But Namco absolutely nailed it with Tekken, proving the technology could be utilised in awesome ways.

Ever since, Tekken has been going from strength to strength. Now on Tekken 6, and with a film in the works, Tekken is a fighting franchise with a serious fanbase, and a brilliant range of characters. None of this could be possible though without the immense groundwork laid down by the original, and nothing will quite affect me the same as the first time I watched a giant army man fighting Bruce Lee Cosplayer. Mmmmmm, CHICKEN!