The final volume of the “Icebox” is upon us. I will be graduating this spring, which means my time at Wilkes University and working for the “Beacon” is almost over. For this final semester, I will only be talking about the most important games in my life. Strap yourselves in readers, for the final issues will not be of lesser quality. 

As many of you know, I love fighting games. I was the captain of Wilkes’s official team for “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” for three years. However, some of you may not know that I recently retired from Smash and have stepped back from the scene. However, I have not stopped playing fighting games.

Fighting games are fun. You can enjoy them even if you are unskilled. Most people start to play fighting games for three simple reasons. First, the game looks fun. Second, the characters look cool. Finally, the special mechanics in the game might be attractive to a frequent gamer. 

These same criteria are what make me like some fighting games more than others. Although I tend to play anything in the genre, there are only specific titles that I feel are worth a time-investment. My frequent titles as of late are “Street Fighter 6” and “Guilty Gear: Strive”. Sometimes I will indulge in “Mortal Kombat 1” but that is casual.

However, there is one fighting game that has firmly caught my interest. It has amazing character designs, an interesting plot, a killer soundtrack and it’s a classic. 

Bandai Namco’s “Tekken” is a fighting game franchise that is known as one of the titans in the community. It has been around since the 90s and introduced the revolutionary three-dimensional aspect of a fighting game. That same feature became one of Tekken’s signatures. In addition to this new style to the arcade scene, Tekken introduced the Mishima family who have represented the franchise for decades. 

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: forward, neutral, down, down-forward, punch. This is the input for the infamous “Electric Wind God Fist” performed by members of the Mishima family. It is practically the motto of the Tekken franchise itself. It gained popularity because it is the notorious precursor to countless deadly combos in the game, but also because the input itself is rather difficult and unconventional. 

The Mishima family is rather important. Like most other players, I took interest in Tekken because I wanted to know more about this family. The plot of all Tekken games revolves around the Mishima family in some way. The key players are Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin and now Reina.

In the beginning, Heihachi was the original protagonist who mistreated his own son, Kazuya, out of fear for the latter’s potential. In this context, “mistreated” refers to throwing Kazuya off a cliff so that Heihachi could eliminate a “Devil Gene” that he feared his son inherited. Talk about good parenting.

Despite Heihachi’s efforts, Kazuya survived and turned out to be very evil, even without the Devil Gene in consideration. He wanted to dissolve all of his father’s power in the world. Heihachi was the leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu, a powerful organization originating in Japan until Kazuya took over and denounced his own nationality. Kazuya’s Devil Gene enables him to take on a devil form and harness electric power.

Afterwards, Kazuya and Heihachi spend several games fighting each other, throwing each other off of cliffs, and all-around giving others a bad time. Eventually, players meet Jin Kazama, the current protagonist of the series. Jin, like his father Kazuya, possesses the Devil Gene but is inherently a good person thanks to his mother, Jun Kazama. It’s a miracle that a good person like Jun Kazama could fall in love with a terrifying, completely evil soul like Kazuya…let alone have a child with this man.

There are, of course, several other characters that appear in the franchise. It’s common for most of the roster to be strongly against Kazuya, who effortlessly makes everybody his enemy just by being who he is. When you throw all of the characters into the mix, the Mishima conflict quickly becomes a threat to global stability.

You can probably guess that my favorite character is absolutely…Kazuya. I mean, he’s so badass! How can you not like him, right? More on him in the next issue.

After many years, a girl named Reina appears in Tekken 8 who awakened her own Devil Gene. It turns out that she is not just a random girl. She is one of Heihachi’s illegitimate children. Somehow, Heihachi Mishima managed to fall in love with not one, but two different women who could pass down the Devil Gene. Let’s hope he learned his lesson already!

Now, let’s discuss why Tekken is entering a new era.

First, the actual status of the game and the community have drastically changed in recent weeks. The long-time director and producer of Tekken, Katsuhiro Harada, has officially retired from the franchise. He has not only led Tekken since its beginning, but also, he has done wonders for the franchise. Harada connected the world with his work. He allowed Tekken to make the jump from the arcade to modern gaming. He’s done extensive research to properly represent different nationalities in the game. Finally, Harada channeled the essence of Tekken itself and possessed an admirable personality to show the world.

With Harada gone and Bandai Namco on the warpath to moneymaking, Tekken is destined to fall apart. Unfortunately, it seems it already has. Tekken 8 is consistently labeled as impressive but still inferior to its predecessor, Tekken 7. Even top players say they really dislike the game direction. The DLC and seasonal systems result in horrendous character-balancing. In the current state it’s not too fun to play the game competitively. For this reason, I am reserving myself to play more casually.

The one thing that I can respect about Bandai Namco’s recent executive decisions would be the choices in marketing. When the game first released, there were ads in places you would not expect. For example, a partnership with “Karate Kid: Legends” had Tekken posters plastered in different scenes. 

During my visit to Tokyo, I was able to see Tekken’s popularity in Japan for myself. Even a full year after release, I witnessed an abundance of merchandise and advertisements. After all, Tekken is one of the many gaming treasures of Japan.

Finally, the ending of the Tekken 8 plot is the biggest giveaway about this new era. Kazuya and Jin have a final showdown, where they both obtain maximum power. This showdown was unlike any other, because it ended in Jin’s victory and the extinction of the Devil Gene from both father and son. Jin conquered his Devil Gene and combined it with the Kazama clan’s power, resulting in an Angel form he used to defeat, but not kill, his father. Afterwards, both father and son became normal human beings.

Of course, Reina is still out there with her Devil Gene. Perhaps she will be the protagonist of Tekken’s next installment. As of now, there is a big measure of uncertainty of the franchise’s success. Many Tekken players are concerned that the series will go into the dumps or get poorly rebooted in the near future.