After Street Fighter, Tekken is probably the second-biggest fighting franchise in the genre’s history–yet despite its pedigree we’ve seen a bit of a lull over the last few years as other games have grown. The latest iteration, Tekken 7: Fated Retribution holds the second-lowest registration of any EVO 2016 event, topping Killer Instinct by only three players! This may be due to the lack of a console version of the game–Tekken 7 at Evo 2015 was played on the arcade version, and Tekken 7: Fated Retribution will be played the same way this year–reportedly we won’t be seeing the game’s console release until early 2017. But 549 competitors is still a lot of players eager to exchange blows in the Iron Fist Tournament, regardless of being dwarfed by Street Fighter V’s numbers.
THE GAME
Tekken is one of the greats of the 3D fighting genre, and as a 3D fighter it has a much different feel and dynamic than its original 2D inspiration. Tekken 7 introduced new gameplay mechanics such as Power Crushers (moves that can absorb damage without being interrupted) and Rage Arts (similar to Street Fighter IV’s Ultra Combos), and a refined okizeme system. The game currently boasts a character roster of 29 playable fighters including classic characters such as Kazuya Mishima, Heihachi Mishima, King, Paul, Nina, and Yoshimitsu; newcomers include mysterious Kazumi Mishima, Arabian warrior Shaheen, and perky cat-girl Lucky Chloe. The Fated Retribution upgrade added improved graphics, the Rage Drive mechanic, and the most notable addition to date: Street Fighter’s Akuma.
THE DEMON
Tekken 7 got a huge boost to hype when it was revealed that Akuma would be joining the roster, and not just as a bonus character but actually integrated into the game’s lore. After Street Fighter X Tekken, this wasn’t really that much of a shock, as a Capcom/Bandai Namco pattern of collaboration has already been established. In fact, many believe that the demon joining battle with the Mishima family paves the way for the much-delayed Tekken X Street Fighter, but time will tell.
However, Akuma’s crossover has drawn some prominent Street Fighter players to join the 3D fight…
THE PLAYERS
While there’s a fair amount of footage of EG|Justin Wong taking Akuma into battle, Wong is not registered for Tekken 7 this weekend in Vegas. His opponent in the above video, however–Hoa Luu, AKA Circa|Anakin, was the winner of Community Effort Orlando‘s recent Tekken 7 event (using JACK-7, Paul, and Shaheen) and he also took the top spot at Combo Breaker 2016 earlier in the year using JACK-7 and Dragunov. With these two big wins under their belt, this may be our Tekken 7 champion at Evo 2016.
They are not without competition, however! Secret|PoongKo took the top spot at CEO’s T7 Auction Tournament with Akuma, making them another one to watch in Vegas. Other recent high-rankers that are in this year’s Tekken pools include Mateo (Matthew Szabo), Fred Distance (Fredrick Osei), Circa|Speedkicks (Stephen Stafford), NG|Obscure (Vante Flint), and Reflex (Dick Varian). But the top eights seem to vary significantly between Tekken 7 events so far, so there’s still a lot of room for a newcomer to step in and place high.
Kazuya, Heihachi, Law, King, Steve, Paul, and JACK-7 are all popular choices among the top players, but there is still some variety in character selection. Even Lucky Chloe saw some play from RenoFace, Combo Breaker’s 3rd place finisher. But as much attention as Akuma’s addition has drawn, he doesn’t yet appear as a popular choice for the serious players (aside from PoongKo above). We’ll have to see how far the Satsui no Hado will carry Akuma into the Tekken fight–but at this point, it looks like he might be more useful for marketing than winning tournaments.
THE FUTURE
This will be Tekken 7’s last fight as an arcade-only title at Evo; next year (presuming its return), the console release should really shake up the competition as the game becomes more readily available for training. In the meantime, look forward to seeing some fierce 3D action from these contenders–will CEO’s and Combo Breaker’s fighters hold their claim, or is there a new King of the Iron Fist Tournament waiting to be crowned?
#Evo2016 is going to be HUGE with #TEKKEN7 Pools and more! Watch it go down on 7/19 @ 8AM https://t.co/u5REOLqKmj pic.twitter.com/eMp7JeRgIJ
— TEKKEN 7 (@TEKKEN) July 12, 2016
Check out the previews of other games at Evo: Pokkén Tournament; Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-; Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Sources: Tekken 7, Joey Cuellar, Bandai Namco Entertainment America, The BEAST, ceogaming, Avoiding The Puddle, Tekkenpedia