"Quite possibly one of the biggest pleasant surprises in all of Arcade history..."

It was the year 1994, many a famous event happened in the Video Game industry. Capcom's fave Blue Bomber becomes even more futuristic in Mega Man X, the Monsters arrive to play in the ghastly underrated Darkstalkers, Rare & Nintendo innovates good ol' DK for Donkey Kong Country, Final Fantasy 3 arrives for the SNES and has been quite justifiably deemed as one of Square's absolute best and of course SNK starts its now famous King of Fighters series. Though speaking of Fighters there was something new in 1994. Sega was the first whom started it a year back with Virtua Fighter. However it was Namco of Pac-Man fame whom was actually willing to step up to that ever-so proverbial plate with the game now known as Tekken. How did it fare against the innovator known as Virtua Fighter from Sega? QUITE suprisingly well actually...

What makes this game so surprisingly great? Well for starters its the graphics that are rather ahead of their time. While not quite as wonderfully surprising as the 1997 game known as Dead or Alive, but for a 1994 game the graphics were actually not too blocky at all. (Heck I've seen later-released Playstation & N64 games that don't look this good, granted thats not always saying much but still.) As much as I admire how smooth Namco was actually make the graphical texture of this title but one thing to remember that true beauty is not skin deep. Fortunately there is more to this game's quality that top-notch graphics. Control is quite defintely above-average as I NEVER recalled any of the slightest bit of stiffness in it. Control factor is not ABSOLUTELY perfect but it is quite genuinely good. as for Gameplay well its quite old-fashioned and as simplistic as the game itself. For the most part its just your average punch, kick with the occasional grapple. Its certainly not bad persay especially for game made 10 years ago but mainly the good news & bad news is this. The bad news is that its gameplay defintely shows it age, good news is that it didn't age badly at all. And as for Challenge factor, it does occasionally seem awfully frustrating every now & then but its not seemingly unplayable. Oh yeah and there wasn't much to speak of when it comes to the Audio factor here...

The cast of characters are overall pretty simple & straightforward not too mention kinda small. There is Kazuya the game's "Token Brooding Japanese Martial Artist" (least he doesn't wear a Gi), the animalisitic Mexican wrestler King, the deadly blond bombshell that is Nina Williams and more. While the latter Tekken games are quite availible to find and play with (ESPECIALLY the 4th one which is about as easy to find as Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 and Capcom Vs. SNK 2 and thats saying something.) Unfortunately like many other debut titles (ESPECIALLY in the Arcades) it is quite the difficulty to actually find anymore. (Then again its port for the Sony Playstation is starting to become a bit more obscure as well). Though in all honesty I found this game to be one of the if not the best title in the whole Tekken series. I know it sounds strange but not only is it somewhat better than its latter sequels but its also one of the better games of its genre. This is one of those currently uber-rarites in the Arcade world that are most DEFINTELY worth a good play. There is a slight chance that it might be a rather bit of a "quarter-muncher" but if your patient enough its pretty darn worthwhile....

+ Some of the best graphics I've EVER seen from a 1994 game since Donkey Kong Country.
+ Very good control
+ Old-fashioned but genuinely effective gameplay
+ One of the better if not best games in the series
+ Great for fans of the genre & series
- Difficulty factor might be frustrating every now & then.
- Exceedingly rare to find
- Mediocre when it comes to Audio

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/11/04