Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

It's usually an unfair comparison to compare Mortal Kombat to Tekken . One game is geared toward an older audience while Tekken is geared toward a younger audience. Tekken became a major influence in the fighting game industry while copying ideas from other games into itself. I mean, it doesn't take a genius to see that Kazuya is based on Vegeta, Heihachi is based on Dr. Wily, Nina Williams is based on Sarah Bryant, Law is based on Fei Long, Paul Phoenix is based on Ken Masters, and the list can go on and on. I decided to think about the similarities between the two franchises. Their first games were a hit but hardly aged well Tekken 1 was released with only eight playable characters while the home version unlocked the bosses without endings. Mortal Kombat 1 released its game with only seven playable characters. Both of them had stiff controls, really unfair artificial intelligence, and a crazy old man running the tournament. That may be the reason why Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa beca...

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is a game I'd say was full of junk characters. I almost dropped the franchise because it killed my favorite character, Liu Kang. Fortunately, Mortal Kombat X brought Liu Kang back as a playable revenant. Here? Liu Kang is dead. It was supposed to be a daring new move like what Transformers: The Movie did with Optimus Prime by killing him off. This game was trying new concepts, 3D gameplay, multiple fighting styles (which got old too quickly), and some new characters that just created a whole lot of junk and fandom rage. The game did initially succeed though I don't think it aged well. Just think how Mortal Kombat 11 even dares to use a Deadly Alliance arcade machine to murder the opponent in one of the stage fatalities. The game itself had some issues. I think one of my issues was the cheesy impale move. Other than that - the game took a step backwards with only one fatality per character and no stage fatalities.  I think the concept of Shang Tsun...

  It's no secret that my favorite Tekken game is Tekken Tag Tournament 2 . I wasn't such a fan of the first game with some issues such as the rather sluggish side stepping (one reason why I still spit at Mortal Kombat 4 also) and the character endings are anything to be desired. However, these are but minor shortcomings since Tekken Tag Tournament should be viewed as an important experimental game that won several awards, was an important game for the sales of the Playstation 2 (which this game was probably the selling point like how Super Mario World was to the Super NES back then) and it was praised by longtime fans of the game. The game in itself is NOT canon so don't try to fit it into the regular timeline. Instead, it was a spin off that returned some characters. Some fans weren't too happy with the loss of Kazuya and were probably more than happy to have him back - even in non-canon. The game featured over 35 characters to make some nostalgic games. Though, please...

A show that a lot (or maybe not a lot) of the 1980s or 1990s children will remember is Defenders of the Earth . The show itself features events that seem to coincide with the Flash Gordon movie (1980 version) to which it was hinted that Ming the Merciless (acted by Max Von Syndow) had managed to survive after all. However, some events suggest otherwise that it's very much its own continuity. Dale Arden has been married to Flash Gordon and they have a child named Rick Gordon. It seems that the plot tends to follow up after the movie with Ming the Merciless probably still obsessed with Dale (and he's OLD ENOUGH to be her father). Ming the Merciless has practically exhausted Mongo of its resources (which might be a reference as to why the Mongols kept trying to invade China) and he's aiming for Earth. Such is the case of supervillain stupidity which leads to Ming the Merciless' desire for Earth. But like President Skroob from Space Balls - Ming the Merciless may not even ...

Video games is basically the escape from realism. It's like having that time when you play through the silly physics of Super Mario Bros. and fighting games aren't an exception. Tekken was a game that was influenced by Virtua Fighter and even became more popular as it evolved. I may have issues with Tekken 7 BUT that's not going to stop me from praising previous titles that made the game popular. Now, it would be fun to nitpick a lot of stuff that just don't make sense about Tekken yet it becomes so enjoyable for those reasons. A lot of random weird characters get thrown into the bunch Tekken is a game known for its unique weird cast of characters. The first game was already an indicator of how the whole franchise is built on weird plots. The weird cast of characters can go as far as with the unlockable rival fights. How could Paul Phoenix develop such a grudge against the first Kuma? Both Kumas are bears raised by Heihachi Mishima himself. Yet these bears seem to have ...