It’s been 14 years since Tekken last showed up on a Nintendo console. Yet despite supporting the Wii U and 3DS with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Tekken 3D: Prime Edition, Bandai Namco has yet to grace the Switch 1 or 2 with a new entry or port.
Enter Hamster. The company’s latest Arcade Archives 2 release revives the original 1994 arcade Tekken for Switch 2, enhancing it with a modernised menu, new modes, and online leaderboards. In sticking to its arcade roots, however, we miss out on several unlockable characters, meaning this might have been more suited to Hamster’s Console Archives lineup.
As a way to experience the origin of one of gaming’s most iconic fighting series, Tekken does its job admirably. Its roster, though limited to eight fighters, is made up entirely of characters who have become franchise mainstays, including Kazuya, Nina, King, Law, and Michelle.
What’s great is how immediately recognisable each character is. Even if you’ve never played Tekken before, there’s a decent chance you’ll know all of the fighters from sight, testament to how closely the series has stuck to director Seiichi Ishii’s original designs, and how well they work more than 30 years later.
Of course, being the first entry, the gameplay is pretty basic compared to later tiles. Rather than having separate inputs for light, medium, and heavy attacks, each of the four face buttons corresponds to an individual limb. It’s an approach Tekken has pretty much stuck with to this day, and it works well. That said, there’s definitely a lack of signature moves, and it won’t take too long to memorise what little is on offer.
As for modes, you’ve got standard Arcade mode and Practice, which lets you get to grips with the controls and special moves, though it’s definitely lacking in customisation options compared to more modern entries. For those looking to tackle online leaderboards, High Score, Caravan, and Time Attack Modes all have specific requirements needed to break into the top 100.
Caravan is particularly interesting and has you competing for the highest score within just five minutes. Each match is set to five rounds, with your overall score based on the number of rounds won. It forces you to play more aggressively than usual, and while it’s occasionally frustrating when the CPU is constantly blocking, it’s an absolute blast.
As is standard with Arcade Archives, Tekken includes two distinct ‘retro’ filters, the intensity of which you can increase or decrease as you like. There’s a digital manual to peruse any move commands, and you can play locally with another player provided you have enough ‘credits’ (literally a case of hitting ‘L’ on the main menu; don’t go shoving coins into your Switch 2).
