Tekken Advance

"Lasts for less than 2 hours, then youre done with it."

I have always loved Tekken and started playing Tekken 1 since I was 5... Tekken was my motive for being a game junkie (and I'm proud of it! yea!) but only 2 Tekkens disappointed me. Advance and 4. Here goes why advance did.

Graphics (9/10)
Tekken's graphics have been a tough beef jerky to beat and advance isn't an exception. The background and characters aren't new, but Namco did a smooth job getting Tekken 3's costumes to the GBA. But some of the "special effects" seem to be heavily pixelized, and seem blocky. Sure, they're on the screen for less than 2 seconds, but it's still blocky. That's about the only reason it gets a 9, meaning the graphics are smooth and nice.

Character Design (3/10)
Here's where Tekken Advance weakness begins. If you like fighters, and never tried Tekken before, especially anything released after Tekken 3 and so on before, give this a 7 instead. But if you played Tekken for a formidable time, you'll see the character has 3~4 costumes, only being "color swapped." There's absolutely nothing new here, and it packs a punch as a disappointment.

Character Selection (6/10)
A special section for this game, since no new characters come out. They picked a few of the popular characters, but not all of the popular ones, such as Lei Wulong, Eddy Gordo and Meh... Bryan Fury. The selection is solid, but the fans of these characters won't be satisfied.

Sound (8/10)
Solid, crisp, and clear. The hitting and special effect sound effects are smooth, and seem to be imported from Tekken 3, which wasn't bad at all. The Voice and "yells" and other human sounds seem lifelike, not "buzzy", or "frizzy" like a few other Game Boy Advance games.

Controls (7/10)
Smooth, Slick, but not for experienced Tekken players, since the Punches and Kicks are squished from four to two buttons... They should have done something like L and R is punch and A and B is kick or something like that, because it seems to be an irritation to the combos I made in previous installments. This causes you to make new juggle combos, and takes a good while out of your time. There is also the L and R buttons, substituting a throw and tag button. Nice idea, but they should have stuck to Left Kick + Left Punch or Right Kick + Right Punch = throw... the controls are simply "disturbing."

Gameplay (8/10)
A traditional Tekken game. Don't expect any difference from Tekken Tag, because there aren't walls, obstructions... etc. =) (it's a portable; don't expect any new things from a console version)

Replay Value /UNLOCKABLES (1/10)
Tekken has been known for its durability (replay value) especially because of its tremendous unlockables. This one and T4 is an exception. What can you unlock? Let's see... a whooping ONE Character, Heihachi Mishima. They should have made tag mode an unlockable, just to add to the durability. A sheer disappointment for a long time Tekken fan.

Overall (6/10)
This game COULD have been better, but you really can't make a nice Tekken out of 4 buttons, and Namco should have realized this. They should have forgotten about the portable, and stuck to making Tekken 4 (which is horribly overrated, and it didn't even fill expectations, for god sakes, it was worse than Tag!) anyways, since they developed a portable, they aimed to increase their market for non-PSers, but Namco should have just made the Tekken Card Challenge for the Game Boy Advance. It is a disappointing installment, and very very fragile (not durable). I was done with it in 1 hour. The only reason you would play it is because to show off your mad Tekken skills if you cant bring your PS2 to your (or friend's) party, then it goes downwards in your game stack. Even HARD mode isn't hard; it's a cakewalk even for a newbie.

Well, if you are a Namco junkie like me who has played their games from Pac Man and Galaga to Time Crisis: Crisis Zone and Soul Calibur 2 to Tekken 5 and Death by Degrees pretty much buy this. If you are a Tekken junkie (which I also am) buy this as well. But if you are new to Tekken, buy the better and longer lasting Tag or 5.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/05