With Season 2 kicking off and the start of the Tekken World Tour right around the corner, 2025 looks like it’s going to be another amazing year for fans of Bandai Namco’s legendary Tekken series. As one of the earliest fighting games on the original PlayStation, Tekken has a unique link to the consoles, with the series evolving its gameplay and narrative alongside the platforms. Let’s take a look back at the saga of the Mishima family and all the havoc they’ve caused throughout the years for PlayStation players.
Bloodline beginnings
The original Tekken was one of the first fighting games to debut on the original PlayStation, launching in early 1995 in Japan and in fall elsewhere. Besides introducing the diabolical Mishima family and establishing many of the series’ base mechanics, such as the four-attack-button control scheme, Tekken also set a new high watermark for future home ports. Up until this point, players were used to home ports of arcade games compromising for weaker hardware with downgraded visuals and sound and missing content. However, since Tekken’s arcade release was on advanced hardware very similar to the PlayStation, the port was arcade perfect. But Namco went the extra mile and added content not in the original: Ending movies, playable sub-boss characters, even a hidden unlockable character who would play a very big role in future games–that you’d need to master Galaga as the game loaded to discover.
Tekken 2, which came to arcades in late 1995 surprised players by shifting the focus to the deposed patriarch and previous villain of the original Tekken, Heihachi Mishima, while also bringing in fresh faces Jun and Lei. It also introduced a wealth of additional characters that unlocked over time, encouraging players to come back and try out newly-debuted characters. In 1996, Namco brought the game to PlayStation with a port that was a marked improvement. Tekken 2’s PlayStation-exclusive CG intro movie and endings were stunning and established the series’ reputation for high-quality cutscenes. It also added new gameplay modes: Team Battle, Time Attack, Survival Mode, and a Practice Mode.
For many fans, Tekken 3 was their introduction to the series. It was both massively popular in arcades and a best-selling smash hit worldwide when it debuted on PlayStation in 1998. Moving the story ahead 20 years, the mantle of leading man switched to Jin Kazama, the son of Kazuya and Jun, and many returning characters were either older (though not always wiser) or replaced by a successor. New characters were introduced that would quickly become fan favorites going forwards, including Hwoarang, Bryan, Eddy, and Xiaoyu. To better take advantage of the 3D arenas, Tekken 3 added sidestep dodges for all characters to use. The PlayStation version added two gameplay modes: The sidescrolling beat-em-up style Tekken Force, and beloved party favorite Tekken Ball, as well as additional characters: Anna Williams, Dr. Bosconovich, and Tekken’s first-ever guest character, the tiny dinosaur Gon.
Vengeance, powered by Emotion Engines
When it came time to debut the PlayStation 2, it felt natural that a Tekken title would launch alongside it. Tekken Tag Tournament came to the console in 2000 with massively improved visuals over its arcade counterpart, showcasing the visual fidelity that players could come to expect from the PS2. TTT changed up combat the formula: rather than playing one character, you’d form a team of two fighters and be able to swap between them in battle. The roster was also significantly expanded to contain a host of characters from across the series, including pre-story-timeskip characters. Finally, we got another wild mini-game in the form of Tekken Bowl.
Tekken 4 would emerge a little over a year after TTT’s PS2 debut, reintroducing Kazuya to the story and changing gameplay up quite a bit. Previously, all stages in Tekken had been “infinite” stages with no set boundaries. Tekken 4 switched things up by introducing stages with uneven ground, walls, and other obstacles–which would bestow extra damage and combo opportunities when opponents were slammed against them. Movement was also adjusted, altering some popular movement strategies seen in T3 and TTT. Tekken 4 also emphasized the story to a greater degree than previous games: console additions were a full-fledged Story Mode as well as a greatly expanded Tekken Force sub-game.
It would take a few more years before Tekken 5 would step into the ring. Picking up directly where Tekken 4 left off, with Heihachi Mishima seemingly dead and Jin’s devil side more prominent, Tekken 5 would become a fan favorite. Namco dialed back some of the movement and stage design changes of Tekken 4 in response to player feedback. Asuka, Feng, and Raven joined the roster, along with the ability to customize characters with cosmetic items earned and bought in-game. The original Tekken 5 would see a PS2 port, where the boss Jinpachi was made playable and Jin Kazama’s struggle took center stage in the action-based, story-driven Devil Within mode–along with playable ports of the arcade Tekken 1, 2, and 3. This wouldn’t be the last we’d see of Tekken 5, however.
Devils emerging from a CELL
A 2006 arcade revision of Tekken 5, Dark Resurrection, would introduce players to combatants Lili and Dragunov, change up some visuals, and further fine-tune the gameplay. The first port of Dark Resurrection would actually come to the PSP in mid-2006, bringing with it the new Tekken Dojo mode, which let players share AI-controlled “ghosts” of their gameplay online for others to download and battle against. While the game was well received on PSP, players still wanted a console version, so some months later T5DR was made a downloadable game on the PlayStation Network. An update would follow in mid-2007 allowing for online matches to be played. To this day, T5DR is one of the most beloved Tekken titles among fans.
Later that year, Tekken 6 would emerge in arcades, introducing new faces Bob, Zafina, Leo, and Miguel. Things were now getting wildly out of hand among the Mishimas, with Jin and Kazuya both in control of massive corporations waging all-out-war against each other and Heihachi unaccounted for. Bloodline Rebellion, a late 2008 update, would further complicate the family struggle by introducing Heihachi’s forgotten son Lars and weapon-wielding mecha-maiden Alisa to combat. Gameplay additions include the Rage mechanic–where players deal more damage when at low life–as well as the combo-extending Bound system and interactive background elements like breakable walls and floors.
The PS3 version, based heavily on Bloodline Rebellion, released in 2009 and featured the biggest story mode yet in the form of Scenario Campaign. It followed the duo of Lars and Alisa as they lead a band of rebels against the Tekken Force and the Mishima Zaibatsu. Tekken 6 also released on the PSP, and while it lacked the Scenario Campaign, it did offer some of the best visuals on the platform and ad-hoc multiplayer.
It would be a few years before Tekken’s return, and in the meantime, Bandai-Namco released Tekken Hybrid in 2011. This set offered an HD remaster of Tekken Tag Tournament with an original CG film, Tekken: Blood Vengeance, and a demo of the then-new arcade title Tekken Tag Tournament 2. True to its title, TTT2 brought back the tag-match gameplay and expanded the selectable roster. The PS3 port, which launched in late 2012, added several legacy characters, a new stage and music track from famed musician Snoop Dogg, CG ending cinematics for the whole cast, and some additional cast members and character variants.
Another interesting spin-off emerged after TTT2: Tekken Revolution, a free-to-play version of Tekken focused on online matches. By playing, players could earn in-game currency to unlock further characters, as well as use earned Skill Points to enhance character attributes. Tekken Revolution received frequent updates to add characters and gameplay features throughout its life, eventually ending service in 2017.
The struggle continues
Tekken 7 took its time coming to the PlayStation 4, finally reaching players in 2017, two years after its arcade release. During that time, arcade Tekken 7 received updates–including Fated Retribution, which famously brought Street Fighter’s Akuma into the roster. He wasn’t alone, however–Lucky Chloe, Josie, Katarina, Claudio, and Shaheen all joined the fray as well, alongside several new stages and system changes. Taking into account some of the feedback from Tekken Revolution, T6’s bounds were adjusted and reduced, being supplanted by new screw combo starters. The Rage system was further developed as well, creating new Rage Drive and Rage Art skills that could be used at low health–but only once per round, and at the cost of Rage’s damage boost.
Upon reaching the PS4, Tekken 7 received a console-exclusive, lengthy story mode–but, perhaps more importantly, it was given a full slate of DLC updates for years afterwards, tweaking character skills and adding plenty of new stages, music, and characters over time. Besides re-introducing old favorites left out of the original roster, the Tekken 7 DLC also brought in new characters Leroy and Lidia–and, most memorably, several additional surprise guest characters: Geese Howard from Fatal Fury, Noctis from Final Fantasy XV, and Neegan from The Walking Dead.
As Tekken 8 marked its first anniversary on PS5 this past January, fans can look forward to plenty of further surprises. Season 2 of DLC promises that even more new, beloved, and unexpected characters will be joining the roster, and the most recent free story update leaves off on a cliffhanger that promises yet more high-stakes inter-family drama between the Mishimas in the future.
