Tekken Tag Tournament is the fourth main installment in Namco's Tekken fighting
game series. It, however, is not canonical to the Tekken storyline. The
game was originally available as an update kit for Tekken 3.
Tekken Tag Tournament was originally released as an arcade game in 1999
before becoming a launch title for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. The arcade
version operated similarly, but ran on a 32 bit graphics engine like Tekken 3. It
received upgraded graphics when it was ported to the PlayStation 2. Its sequel
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was released in 2012. A remastered version of the game
titled Tekken Tag Tournament HD was released for PlayStation 3 in November
2011, as part of a Tekken Hybrid disc Gameplay
Continuing the fighting mechanics from Tekken 3, Tekken Tag sees players
battling in teams of two characters. At any point in the match, the player can
hit a tag button to swap out with their other fighter, allowing the resting
fighter to recover some lost health. The tag can be implemented in many ways,
such as in between combos or utilising special throws. At times when a resting
fighter's is flashing, that character can be tagged in to be given a temporary
boost in strength. Unlike other tag games such as Capcom's Vs. series,
players are defeated when only one of their fighters lose all their health,
requiring players to be strategic about tagging their fighters. In the event of
a timeout, the team with the most accumulative health remaining wins the
round. The game features over 35 characters
that have previously appeared in Tekken 2 and Tekken 3. In addition, there is a
boss character, Unknown, who is similar to Tekken 3's Mokujin in that she can
randomly imitate any character's fighting style, albeit she is able to
change her style any time during the fight. The PlayStation 2 version added
enhanced graphics and various modes, including 1-on-1 mode, in which players
only choose one fighter each, and Team Battle, where players choose up to eight
battles and play with the tag rules, with each new character replacing the
one that was defeated. Also featured is "Tekken Bowl" mode, a bowling minigame
where each character has different attributes.
The arcade and console versions of Tekken Tag Tournament differ slightly.
The arcade version ran on a 32-bit engine, utilizing the graphics engine of
Tekken 3. These graphics ran using the Tekken 3 PCB board, based on the
PlayStation hardware. The console version ran on a highly updated engine,
utilizing the PlayStation 2's graphics processor. The game does not run on a
32-bit engine, yet on a new and updated engine highly similar to that found on
Tekken 4. The background designs and BGMs differed too, as the console
version has new updated tracks, while the arcade version was based on MIDI
tracks with an instrumental backing. Unknown is not playable on the arcade
version, yet the character is on the PlayStation 2 version. The arcade
version also allows players to only select the alternative colours that have
been added to the costumes at first, while the normally colored ones are
unlocked when the bonus characters are. There are also crucial differences
concerning the playability of the characters. Some moves or attacks are
much more efficient in the arcade version than in the console version and
vice versa. Plot
Tekken Tag Tournament, being a non-canon game, features no storyline. It is more
of a compilation of the Tekken series giving fans the opportunity to play as
almost every character in the series up to that point, including many of those
that had apparently been missing in the main Tekken storyline. Of all the
returning characters, Kazuya Mishima was the most heavily promoted, since he
featured prominently on the game's cover art and promotional material, despite
his absence from the previous entry in the Tekken series.
When Arcade mode is completed, a real-time ending is shown over the
credits for the main character. The exception to this is Unknown's ending,
which is a FMV. Characters
As the game was made to be a compilation of previous games, the game include
nearly every character from the original Tekken up to Tekken 3, including those
who were canonically missing in the current canonical game Tekken 3. All of
them have improved appearance and movesets to make them on par with the
Tekken 3 characters. Additionally, the game adds two new
characters, both of them being mimic characters: Tetsujin, a metallic version
of Mokujin, and Unknown, a mysterious woman who is controlled by the "Forest
Demon" and also serves as the final boss of this game. Both characters seldom
appear in future games, with Unknown resuming her role as final boss in the
sequel Tekken Tag Tournament 2, while Tetsujin is featured as a boss in the
free-to-play Tekken Revolution. The only absent characters in the game
that were playable in previous entries of the series are the original Jack, the
first King, the first Kuma, Marshall Law, Dr. Bosconovitch and Gon. Dr.
Bosconovitch, however, makes a cameo appearance in the Tekken Bowl mode as a
spectator. Release
Tekken Tag Tournament, along with Tekken 4 and Soulcalibur II, was re-released as
a part of Namco Classic Fighter Collection in 2008.
= Tekken Tag Tournament HD = Tekken Tag Tournament HD is a remastered
version of Tekken Tag Tournament, released in November 2011. The game
comes on the same Blu-ray Disc as Tekken: Blood Vengeance and is
accessible if the disc is loaded on a PlayStation 3. It is based on the
PlayStation 2 version and features updated HD visuals, similar to the God
of War Collection or The Sly Collection, and Trophy support.
Reception Tekken Tag Tournament received positive
reviews from critics. It has an aggregate score of 85 on Metacritic.
GameSpot gave it a 9.6 out of 10. IGN gave it an 8.7 out of 10, praising its
graphics and character moves. Prince Paul of GamePro praised Tekken Tag
Tournament for its visuals "where you could see individual blades of grass!"
In Japan, Famitsu scored the PlayStation 2 version of the game a 38 out of 40.
The game was added to the list of Sony Greatest Hits games on March 1, 2002. In
2007, IGN listed Tekken Tag Tournament as the 23rd best game on the PlayStation
2. In 2008, PSM stated "Tekken Tag is regarded as the best installment in the
series". Legacy
A sequel for Tekken Tag, titled Tekken Tag Tournament 2, was announced at the
Tokyo Game Show 2010 on September 18, 2010. The game expanded on the
original's tag mechanics, allowing for more flowing tag combos and combined
moves, inherited some gameplay mechanics from Tekken 6, and featured characters
from more recent Tekken games. It was released as an arcade cabinet in Japan
on September 14, 2011, with an "unlimited" revision following on March
27, 2012. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in all
territories in the week of September 11, 2012, and a Wii-U port followed in
November 2012. A free Tekken Bowl app based on the original Tekken Tag's bonus
mode was released on iOS on July 23, 2011.
References External links
Official website