Remembering Tekken 5 For The PS2

The news yesterday that the Playstation 2 finally died brought back this memory. It's Tekken 5 -- the game which actually perfected the formula of Tekken in some way before the dawn of the PS3. This was one game that I think actually started balancing everything. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 still was slightly stiff but less stiff than Tekken 3 which I enjoyed. Tekken 4's easy side-stepping and uneven playing field in some stages was uncalled for. Tekken 5 decided to a better side-stepping mechanic which required you to press up or down twice in rapid succession -- something that the 3D era of Mortal Kombat could've used!

So what's so great about this game? It featured better, smoother gameplay. I remembered one of the reasons why I didn't get much into Tekken during the PS1 days was because of the stiffer gameplay (and the lack of the use of projectiles while it's a sci-fi set game) though I found the graphics attractive. It's hard to imagine how the first Tekken game managed to click in spite of the stiffer gameplay. Tekken 3 was sort of the transition yet it was Tekken 5 that managed to somehow perfect the formula one way or another. It's not just the graphics. Tekken 5's smoother, easier controls and more balanced gameplay was really what made it memorable. Plus, it was the game that made me a Kazuya Mishima fan though back then -- King was my first favorite Tekken character!

I would say the difficulty is pretty balanced and reasonable. It was only fair that Jinpachi was unplayable here because he was that overpowered. Yet there's one thing that made his difficulty more fun than frustrating. It was the fact that you've got easier controls so it's only fair to give a boss that difficult. Sure, Jinpachi was awful and I've lost several times before -- but it wasn't as difficult as Heihachi in the first Tekken game! Heihachi's difficulty in the first game can be attributed to the not-so-responsive controls. Jinpachi's difficulty was more attributed to his strength and power -- all the while the player had more responsive controls making it less frustrating and more fun.

Perhaps what I miss from recent Tekken games (except Tekken Tag Tournament 2) is the character ending that plays after arcade mode. As much as Tekken 6 is a fun game with the Scenario Campaign or maybe Tekken 7 with the Story Mode (which is different in its own way) -- I always find it frustrating to why we don't get the character endings by defeating the final boss? Instead, the Arcade Mode just becomes a set number of opponents and no ending? Tekken 6 required you to fight in the Arena of Scenario Campaign and spend hours in Lars' adventure -- which can be both fun and frustrating! So really, I wonder why Namco has made this change? Tekken 7 offers Character Scenarios though you need to play through Story Mode first to get the Character Episodes which I think isn't a very welcome change for me. Tekken 5 was the second to the last Tekken game that didn't divert from said formula.

There's one thing I thought about it. Tekken 5 will always be memorable. After all, it's the game that actually made me more of a Tekken fan. Back then, I simply just didn't want to ride the hype. This game made me think of how creative Tekken is as a fighting game series.