Tekken (鉄拳^?, lit. Iron Fist) is a fighting game franchise created, developed and published by Namco (later Namco Bandai Games). Beginning with the original Tekken in 1994, the series has received several sequels as well as updates and spin-off titles, as well as three films and other media. The series' official English name is always written in all-capital letters (TEKKEN, abbreviated to TK).

The story in each game in the main series documents the events of the fictional martial arts tournament, the King of Iron Fist Tournament, hosted by the Mishima Zaibatsu corporation. The prize is typically control of the company, which then allows the winner to host the following tournament.

Games[link]

The arcade game versions have traditionally used PlayStation-based hardware to run the games. The first game in the series, Tekken, was released in 1994, first in arcades and then as a port for the PlayStation.^[1][2] Two sequels, Tekken 2 and Tekken 3, were released in the same fashion in 1996 and 1998.^[3][4][5][6] Tekken 3 was also ported to the Game Boy Advance as Tekken Advance in 2001.^[7][8]

The next two sequels, Tekken 4 and Tekken 5, were also ported to the PlayStation 2 in 2002 and 2004, respectively, following their release in arcades.^{[9][10][11][12]} A PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 version of Tekken 5, retitled Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, was released in 2006.^[13][14] An online version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection was also released in 2007 for the PlayStation Network.

Tekken 6 was originally released for arcades in 2007, followed by an updated version, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, in 2008.^[15] In 2009, the update was released for the PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 as Tekken 6.^[16][17] Tekken 6-based Tekken 3D: Prime Edition was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2012.

Spin-off and crossover games[link]

A spin-off title under the name of Tekken Tag Tournament was released in 1999. In contrast to previous titles, Tekken Tag Tournament features tag battles and in 2000 was the first Tekken game ported to the PS2.^[18][19] A remastered version of the game, Tekken Tag Tournament HD, was included in the 2011 collection Tekken Hybrid,^[20] packed with a playable demo of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and the film Tekken: Blood Vengeance.^[21] Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was released in Japanese arcades in 2011.^[17] Its console version of will be based on an updated version that contained new features.^[22]

Tekken Card Challenge was released on the Japan-only handheld WonderSwan in 1999.^[18][19] A spin-off action adventure game featuring series' character Nina Williams as the protaganist, Death by Degrees, released for the PS2 in 2005.^[23][24] Two more Tekken spin-off games have also been released in 2011, a 2D fighting game Tekken Resolute for mobile phones^[25] and Tekken Bowl (the bowling mini-game from Tekken Tag Tournament) for the iOS operating system.^[26]

Namco and Capcom agreed to create crossover games of the Tekken and Street Fighter franchises, Street Fighter X Tekken (released in 2012) and Tekken X Street Fighter (currently in development).^[27][28] The former game was developed by Capcom and includes 2D gameplay mechanics as seen in Street Fighter IV, whereas the latter game will be developed by Namco and will include the gameplay mechanics from Tekken 6.^[29]

Gameplay[link]

As with many fighting games, players choose a character from a lineup, and engage in hand-to-hand combat with an opponent. Traditional fighting games are usually played with buttons which correspond to the strength of the attack, such as strong punch or weak kick. Tekken, however, dedicates a button to each limb of the fighter.^[30] The series uses separate buttons for right and left limbs, resulting in four buttons. Gameplay system also includes throw escapes, and starting from Tekken 2, autoblock. Each iteration was improved upon both graphically and technically.

Tekken 3 introduced the ability to move into the foreground or away from the background, commonly referred to as "sidestepping."^[31] Tekken 3 also reduced recovery time after being knocked down than previous games and each game afterwards include rolls to recover instantly after hitting the ground, allowing the player to get back into the fight instead of pounding buttons. Tekken 4 gave characters even greater mobility by adding true 3D movement while simultaneously including geometrically complex arenas with unleveled ground, obstacles, and walls.

Tekken 5 saw the return of both walled and infinite arenas. Tekken 6 retains much of the design from Tekken 5 but also includes "Rage" mode (when a character is near the end of their vitality bar, they earn a damage multiplier) and "Bound" hits (hits that, when connected with an airborne opponent, will place them in a grounded state where they cannot escape for a certain period, allowing combo extensions). Tekken 6 also has destructible floors that allow the fighters to fall through to new fighting areas when broken.

Characters[link]

Players can choose from a diverse cast that hails from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and fighting styles. A few characters have supernatural origin, such as Devil and Ogre, while animal characters like Kuma the bear provide comic relief.^[32] In the story mode of the game, each character generally has their own personal reasons for entering the tournament and competing for the prize.

So far, only five characters have appeared in all nine Tekken installments: Heihachi Mishima, Paul Phoenix, Nina Williams, King (albeit technically being two different characters) and Yoshimitsu; The others have been absent in at least one game. The Jack cyborgs and Kuma have appeared on eight out of the nine games.

Out of the main series (the Playstation games numbered up to 6 and their updates, without listing the "spin-off" ones like the Tekken Tag subseries or the Tekken Advance portable version), Kuma has appeared in all six games (although technically he's two different characters), while the Jack cyborgs, Anna Williams, Kazuya Mishima, Lee Chaolan and Lei Wulong have appeared on five.

Some characters, have movesets similar to previous seen, such as in the case of Jin Kazama. Others, like Anna Williams, are often labelled as "clones" for largely sharing the same techniques of other characters.^[33][34]

Some of Tekken characters have been featured as guest characters in other video games, such as Digimon World Re:Digitize, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, Pac-Man Fever, Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2, Soulcalibur II, Ridge Racer 6 and Urban Reign, as well as in some crossover role-playing video games, including Cross Edge, Namco × Capcom and the upcoming Project X Zone.

Adaptations[link]

Tekken: The Motion Picture, a two-part OVA anime series, was released in Japan in 1998. It was developed by Studio Deen and directed by Kunihisa Sugishima. Its story follows Kazuya Mishima's revenge against his father Heihachi in the King of Iron Fist Tournament.^[35]

There has also been two printed adaptations of the games. Tekken Forever, a comic book by Dave Chi and illustrated by Paco Diaz and published by Image Comics in December 2001, features a story that focused on the Kazama family and also the Unknown character from Tekken Tag Tournament.^[36] Tekken: Tatakai no Kanatani (鉄拳：戦いの彼方に^?, lit. "Tekken: The Other Side of Battle") is a manga written by Keiichi Suzuki and published by Shogakukan, which was collected in two tankobon volumes with the first one on December 5, 2000 and the second one on April 5, 2001.^[37][38]

Tekken, a live-action film directed by Dwight H. Little and starring John Foo, Ian Anthony Dale and Kelly Overton, was released in Japan on March 20, 2010 through Warner Bros. Pictures. The film focuses on Jin Kazama who enters into the King of Iron Fist Tournament after his mother's death.^[39] Katsuhiro Harada, director of the Tekken video game series, has panned the film.^[40]

Tekken: Blood Vengeance, a full-length CGI-animated anime film in Digital 3D, directed by Youichi Mouri, premiered in United States in 2011 and was released in Japan two months later that same year. Digital Frontier developed and Bandai Entertainment distributed the film. Unlike previous films, Blood Vengeance is set within the official Tekken storyline and is set between the events of Tekken 5 and Tekken 6.^[41] It was released in Japan in December 2011 as a part of the collection Tekken Hybrid.^[21]

Characters and settings from the series also appear in the collectible card game Universal Fighting System by Fantasy Flight Games and in Epic Battles by Score Entertainment.

A prequel to the 2010 film titled Tekken: Rise of the Tournament is in development and will be directed by Prachya Pinkaew.^[42]

Reception[link]

As of August 2010, the Tekken franchise has sold 40 million units of games.^[60] Critical reception to the games has been positive with Tekken 3 receiving an average of 96% at Metacritic and GameRankings.^[46][47]

Developers of non-Tekken games have commented on the series. Ed Boon, the co-creator of Mortal Kombat, revealed in one of his interviews with GamePro that his favorite fighting game out of his competitors is Tekken.^[61] Both Sega and Namco have shown interest in a possible crossover between Virtua Fighter and Tekken.^[62] The series often been labelled as a "rival" to Virtua Fighter as the two became the most famous 3D fighting game series.^[63] On the other hand, Tomonobu Itagaki, designer of the Dead or Alive series expressed dislike for the Tekken franchise to the point of placing it as one of his most hated games.^[64]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official website (European)
• Official website (Japanese)
• Tekken Wiki
• Tekkenpedia

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Jin Kazama (風間 仁, Kazama Jin^?) is a video game character from the Tekken series released by Namco Bandai. Trained by his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima in order to enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament, Jin wishes to avenge his mother's apparent death. However, during the tournament it is revealed that Jin possesses the Devil Gene (デビルの血, Debiru no Chi (Lit. 'Devil's blood')^?), a genetic abnormality within his body, which causes the betrayal of Heihachi who wants to take it. He is also antagonized by his father, Kazuya Mishima, from whom he inherited the gene. While dealing with them, Jin loses control of the Devil Gene, which causes his transformation into an alter-ego named Devil Jin (デビル仁, Debiru Jin^?), first introduced as a playable character in Tekken 5.

Outside the video games, Jin has also appeared in the animated adaptations from the games as well as the live-action film. Jin was created to be the new protagonist of the series whose constant fights with his family members would eventually lead him to become an apparent antagonist as crafted by the director, Katsuhiro Harada. Critical reception to him has been mostly positive with comments focused on his role within the story and techniques.

In video games[link]

[edit] Tekken series

Jin's feud with his other Mishima family members and the inner turmoil caused by his "Devil Gene" are consistent topics throughout the series. This struggle has formed somewhat of a "tragic hero" role around the character, punctuated by his very name, Jin, which means "benevolence" in native Japanese. Jin originally liked his mother's precepts and hates deception.^[3] By the events of Tekken 6, Jin's ambitions seem to have changed from stamping out the Mishima bloodline to global supremacy until the ending, where it is revealed that his true motive is to destroy Azazel and rid himself of the Devil Gene.

Jin's first appearance was within Tekken 3, where he is introduced as a boy "claiming to be Heihachi's grandson" as a result of being the child of Jun Kazama and Kazuya Mishima. Jin was raised by his mother until a few days after his 15th birthday, when Jun was attacked by Ogre and disappeared. Swearing revenge, Jin goes to train with his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima.^[1] During Tekken 3, Jin destroys the Ogre in the King of Iron First fighting tournament, but is betrayed by Heihachi. Jin's Devil Gene then awakes, allowing him to survive Heihachi's attack and escape. During this game, Jin also meets fighter Hwoarang whose rivalry would develop in following games.

By Tekken 4, Jin fell into a pit of self-hatred, despising everything related to the Mishimas. Learning a new karate style for two years, Jin enters into a new tournament where he is to confront his father. Defeating Kazuya after his Devil form awakens, Jin tries to kill Heihachi, but spares him after remembering his mother.^[4] Immediately after leaving Heihachi, Jin's Devil form goes berserk. Seeking to control the Devil Gene, Jin enters the King of Iron Fist tournament whose host, Jinpachi Mishima, is responsible for Jin's change. In the same game, a mini-game focusing on Jin's prologue is featured.

In the aftermath of the fifth Iron Fist Tournament, Jin has been revealed as the winner and is now the new CEO of the Mishima Zaibatsu. During Tekken 6 Jin begins using the company for world conquest, having started a war against all the nations. Jin hosts a new tournament to rid himself of Kazuya and his enemies.^[5] Jin plays the primary antagonist in Tekken 6's "Scenario Campaign" mode. He is confronted by his uncle Lars Alexanderson who is rallying a faction within the Zaibatsu's Tekken Force military to take down their corrupt leader. Lars eventually catches up to Jin in the courtyard of Azazel's chamber, after which it is revealed what Jin's true motivation is: Jin has been throwing the world into disarray in an effort to awaken the beast known as Azazel. Jin's ultimate goal in awakening such a monster is to fight it in a suicidal battle and free himself of the Devil Gene. During the ending of Scenario Campaign, Jin's plan is successful and Azazel awakens. Jin rushes at the monster, plunging both of them into the depths of the temple, which is promptly sealed by the sands of the desert. After the credits, Jin's body is unearthed at the temple site by a crew led by Raven.

Jin also appears in Tekken Card Challenge, Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Other games[link]

Jin is also featured in Namco × Capcom, where he joins forces with Ryu and Ken Masters from Street Fighter and seeks to defeat Devil Kazuya who was his father through the Devil Gene.

He appears on a promotional poster for the Namco-produced crossover fighting game Tekken X Street Fighter, along with Street Fighter's Ryu (as well as their alter egos "Devil Jin" and "Evil Ryu", respectively). The Capcom-equivalent game, Street Fighter X Tekken, features Jin as a playable character, with Ling Xiaoyu as his official tag partner.

Devil Jin's style of fighting and costume parts, along with his human form's Tekken 6 karate costume are available for use with custom characters in Soulcalibur V.

Gameplay[link]

In his early appearances, Jin's moves were a blend between both of his parents, Jun Kazama, and Kazuya Mishima—a combination of "Kazama-Style Self Defense" and "Mishima Fighting Karate". He fights in this style in both Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament.^[6] In Tekken 4, however, this style was discarded in favor of "traditional" karate. As Jin's power was therefore reduced, in following games he would go through minor changes.^[7] Devil Jin incorporates moves from Jin's previous incarnations, which makes him a stronger fighter than Jin.^[8] On the other hand, Devil Jin is weak in low attacks.^[9]

In other media and merchandise[link]

This section requires expansion.

Jin makes a brief appearance in the ending of the anime film Tekken: The Motion Picture as a child talking with his mother.

In the 2010 live-action film Tekken, Jin is portrayed by Jon Foo. This version of Jin differs slightly, wherein he was never raised by Heihachi and his mother was killed during a crackdown on insurgents by the Tekken Corporation. In addition, though he is still the illegitimate son of Kazuya, no mention of the Devil Gene is referenced in the film, and he speaks with an English accent (given that Foo is English). He enters the Iron Fist tournament to take revenge on Heihachi for his mother's death, but during the tournament, he learns that it was Kazuya who was responsible for the crackdown. He progresses through the tournament, falling in love with Christie Monteiro and forming alliances with Steve Fox, Raven and even Heihachi himself when Kazuya overthrows him. Eventually, Jin makes it to the final, beating Yoshimitsu and even Bryan Fury, and defeats his father in battle, yet refuses to kill him for the sake of their blood relation.

He also appears in the CGI-animated film Tekken: Blood Vengeance as one of the main characters. The movie takes place between Tekken 5 and Tekken 6.

Jin has been featured in action figures from both his Tekken 3 and Tekken 4 appearances.^[10][11]

Creation and design[link]

Jin is a young Japanese man with black hair which spikes up in a distinctive pattern. On his left arm, he bears a mark that was branded onto his skin by the Devil.^[12] His most recurring outfits usually comprise of a karate gi or jumpsuit—both with some sort of flame design (the color of which is varied throughout the series, and has been customizable since Tekken 5). While Jin's gi costume usually consists only of trousers, gauntlets and footpads, in Tekken 4, he also wore the jacket of the gi openly, exposing his torso. Tekken 4 also introduced Jin's hooded jumpsuit, which he kept until Tekken 6.^[13] In both Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament, players can select a Mishima High School uniform for Jin to fight in. In Tekken 6, he wears a long black coat similar to the one that he wore in his ending in Tekken 5.

Devil Jin is nearly identical to Jin Kazama, except for his inhuman transformations and a change in clothing. In Tekken 3, Devil Jin simply bore tattoos over his face, sported altered glowing red eyes with changed pupils, and grew black wings used for flight. In subsequent games, however, the transformation has been expanded upon. In Tekken 4, there is a noticeable sequence to Jin's changes. As the transformation began, his body was surrounded by a purple haze, then the familiar tattoos formed on his chest and arms, and, finally, he grew two black wings from his back. This is as far as the sequence goes within that game, however, as Jin was stopped before his transformation was complete. According to Tekken 5's story, Jin's transformation within that game recurred as a reaction to Jinpachi Mishima's return.^[14] Because of this, there is no visible transformation, and Devil Jin simply appears in his most advanced state to date. His new look includes horns, chains on his right arm, waist, and legs, and warped, talon-like fingers and a paır of gauntlets wıth spikes growing out of them. Like his father's Devil form, Jin also has a third eye upon his head used to fire a beam of energy at his opponents. However, like all characters within Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Devil Jin can be customized with an assortment of physical changes. In Tekken 6, Devil Jin's appearance remains roughly unchanged. However, in actual gameplay, the chain on his waist must be purchased before it appears.

Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada has stated that Jin is his favorite character in the overall series alongside Heihachi Mishima as he states that the story from Tekken is written from Jin's perspective because of being the main character. Jin's concept was that of an innocent young kid corrupted with evil powers that would become one of the series' greatest villains as crafted by Harada for ten years.^[15] As a result of being introduced as the protagonist in Tekken 3, Jin's movements were made to be balanced so that he would not have neither strong or weak movesets, which caused difficulties in the design of the character.^[16] As Jin has no model for his fighting style, several of his karate moves were created by the Tekken staff.^[15]

Jin's alternative outifit in Tekken 6 was designed by Clamp, a group of four Japanese manga artists.^[17]

Reception[link]

Video game publications have mostly praised Jin's character, topping various lists. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Jin was voted as the staff's 31st favorite character (sharing the spot with three Street Fighter characters, Charlie, and Yang).^[18] Gaming Target rated him as the fourth best Tekken character in a list, commenting on his popular heroic and demonic traits which caused comparison between him and other fighting game protagonists.^[19] In Game Informer's "Top Ten Best Fighting Game Characters" Jin was fourth with comments comparing him to Star Wars character Luke Skywalker.^[20] In IGN's "Franchise Players 2: Reader's Choice", Jin was one of the video game characters voted to be featured in a live-action movie with the site commenting his role in the Tekken series noting that it could be the "focal point" of any film. The staff from site did not choose as a result of the poor quality from films based on fighting games.^[21] In the book Trigger Happy, writer Steven Poole labelled Jin as an amalgam of "body-building action grunts" including popular martial arts film protagonists.^[22]

Multiple reactions were made in response to Jin's special moves and their changes across the series, mostly in Tekken 4. His initial moveset was noted to be based on his relatives' techniques, with the change shown in Tekken 4 labelled as a "nice touch" by Leon Hunt in the book Kung Fu Cult Masters as it demonstrates the character's feeling towards Kazuya and Heihachi.^[6] GameSpot shared similar comments, stating that Jin was one of the most notable changed characters from Tekken 4.^[23] Other publishers such as IGN and Computer and Video Games came to regard Jin's incarnation from Tekken 4 as a character almost completely different from his original form although both shared different opinions regarding the result. While the former site found such modifications entertaining as it meant learning new moves, the latter criticized the change as it made the practice from veteran players pointless. Nevertheless, Computer and Video Games still called Jin the "top-ranked character" from Tekken 4 because of his balanced movesets.^[24][25]

Capcom's senior community manager Seth Killian has found the character too powerful to the point that his constant defeats with him led him to quit the Tekken series.^[26] In regards to Jin's Tekken 5 fighting style, GameSpy stated that now players would need to be patient playing as him, as he lost his overpowered moves.^[27] Because of such change in Tekken 5 regarding Jin's moves, the same site recommended players to use Devil Jin's incarnation in such game if they missed his original techniques.^[8] While promoting Tekken 6 Namco Bandai featured various trailers with Jin as the focus. Jin's design in the trailers has received positive response by GameSpot as the character "has never looked better."^[28][29] According to GamesRadar, a fight between Devil Jin and Evil Ryu was written as one of the ones players wanted to see in Street Fighter X Tekken as the two are evil alter egos from two existing characters sharing also similar designs and movesets to their original forms.^[30]

References[link]