(LAST UPDATE: 10/23/09)
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Developer(s): Namco
Publisher(s): Namco
Platform(s): Arcade,
Playstation
Release: August 1995 (Arcade), September 1995 (Arcade Version B),
March 29th 1996 (JP PS1), August 25th 1996 (NA PS1), October 1996 (EU PS1)
Characters:
Kazuya,
Law,
Jack-2,
Lei,
Jun,
King,
Nina,
Michelle,
Paul,
Yoshimitsu,
P.
Jack, Lee,
Armor
King, Wang,
Anna,
Kuma,
Bruce,
Baek,
Kunimitsu,
Ganryu,
Devil,
Angel,
Roger,
Alex,
Heihachi
Related Games:
Tekken, Tekken
3,
Tekken Advance, Tekken
4, Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken
5, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Tekken:
Dark Resurrection, Tekken 5: Dark
Resurrection Online, Tekken 6, Tekken
6: Bloodline Rebellion
Story: Two years have passed since the King of the Iron Fist Tournament. On a stormy night, a lone figure fights his way up a rocky cliff until he reaches the top. The Mishima Zaibatsu, under the leadership of Kazuya Mishima, has become even more corrupt and powerful than ever before, as well as becoming involved in many illegal operations. These include kidnapping, extortion, smuggling of endangered species for illegal experiments, and blackmail. Unknown to everyone, Kazuya is being backed up by a mysterious force known as Devil, who inhabits Kazuya's body and serves as his only counsel.
Kazuya's activities have made enemies for him from all corners of the world, one of which is Jun Kazama, an animal rights fundamentalist. Kazuya's biggest problem, however, is when news reaches his ears that his father, Heihachi Mishima (whom he defeated two years ago in the first King of the Iron Fist Tournament) is alive and plotting revenge against him. In an attempt to rid himself of Heihachi and his enemies once and for all, Kazuya announces the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2, with a cash prize one thousand times the first (one trillion dollars).
Jun Kazama eventually comes face to face with
Kazuya, but rather than arresting him, she finds herself drawn to him (due to
Devil's powers). She later ends up pregnant, with Kazuya being the father. In
the confusion, she departs from the tournament. In the final round, Heihachi
confronts Kazuya, and they battle once again. Heihachi wins the first round,
prompting Devil to take over Kazuya's body and unleash his full power. This
results with Kazuya becoming a Devil-like creature. Despite his advantages,
Devil is still defeated by Heihachi, and flees the unconscious body of Kazuya.
After the tournament, Devil attempts to inhabit the body of Jun's unborn son,
but Jun manages to fight him off. Heihachi, meanwhile, takes Kazuya's body to a
volcano, and drops him in. Heihachi then escapes on a helicopter as the volcano
erupts behind him, having finally taken his revenge and regained his company.
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Review: The first sequel
to Namco's surprise hit arcade fighter was a big improvement over the original. Tekken 2 gave the series a much needed facelift in
terms of graphics, introducing stage light sourcing and much more fluid
animations.
The roster added several new faces, including a ton of secret characters
that were "time released" in arcades, which in turn brought a considerable
amount of hype to the series
and also gave fighting game fans another reason to return to the arcade with a
pocket full of quarters.
Tekken 2's gameplay was of
course very similar to the original Tekken... It's played mostly on a 2D
plane as there's still no sidestepping, unless of course you were using Kazuya...
(Kazuya
was a beast in this game, especially since his Wind God fist hit
mid as well as high. 
...Those were the days). The gameplay was a lot smoother than the first game,
especially due to the great new animations. "Counter throws" were
introduced for the first time, which allowed some characters to grab their
opponent's punch or kick and perform a defensive throw. All returning characters
were given a great selection of new moves and combo-strings, and for the time, the
character movelists were definitely what you'd call "vast". The diverse and unique
martial arts inspired characters made Tekken 2 stand out among the many
less-realistic arcade fighting games at the time.
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Approximately a year after the arcade
release, Tekken 2 hit the Sony Playstation and was simply one of the best fighting games you could play on a home console
at the time. The PS1 version of Tekken 2 was highly praised for it's
great graphics & gameplay, but also because it had one of the best fighting
game presentations ever seen... The awesome new intro, impressive FMV character
endings, and great options made it a must have PS1 title!
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- Review is for PS1 version of Tekken 2 - |
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8.5 / 10 |
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Closing Comment: What can you really say about Tekken 2? It was a great step forward for the series, building upon the solid foundation of the first game, and it definitely did it's job as a sequel while not changing too much. Tekken 2 was an even bigger success than the first game, and Tekken 3 took the series even further than anyone had imagined! ~F.Yagami, Webmaster of TFG