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Dead or Alive Creator Badmouths Tekken
Dead or Alive creator and leader of Team Ninja Tomonobu Itagaki spoke with 1up.com about the DoA series, tournaments, and other fighting games. He had some very pointed things to say about Tekken 5. From the article: "First they put in all of these half-finished "features", then they take them right out again. Tag fights, elevation differences, walls. I don't know if it's because they're impatient, or because they lack the ability, but no matter the reason those guys are a pretty weird bunch. Any of those things would have become a bonafide feature if they took the time to do it right."
Round 1.
READY?
FIGHT!
So, Team Ninja Criticizes the Tekken guys for trying to make a better fighting game?
How could the Tekken devs possibly retort? Point out that DoA's boob jiggling physics aren't realistic enough? I mean, this would be like the Myst devs bitching about Doom 3 for not having enough shooting.
Team Ninja needs to stop beating (heheh) around the bush (heheh) and just start making porn games, because a desire for a solid fighting game is the last thing on someone's mind when he buys a DoA game.
Itagaki disses Tekken. In other breaking news:
Kerry badmouths Bush
Gates calls Stallman a "damn hippie"
Dog bites postman
All this, plus your HyperKillerStormWatchDoppler5000 forecast, tonight at 11.
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That article didn't really provide much information. Everything was related to this DOA tournament and can basically be broken down into this:
Most of the people involved will be Americans, latency issues, and costumes. The last question involves Tekken and is present just to flatter the him.
Because the creator of such a fantastic fighting game like DoA which boasts a bouncing boobometer as a game innovation has a right to talk about which fighting games are good and bad. Not that Tekken 5 is any masterpiece.
Street Fighter 2 CE, Soul Calibur (any), Mortal Kombat II and maybe Virtua Fighter are still the defining games of the genre. All the other fighting games are just wanna-bes.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
While that title might look shocking, wait just a few sentances :)
:)
I've always thought Dead or Alive's playing was far superiour to Tekken. In Tekken the only way to play well seems to be to memorise a fixed set of increasingly long combos, whereas dead of alive feels much more flexable (sure, you can still learn combos, but it feels much less like you are forced into a small fixed number of patterns.)
While I do love the breasts and semi-nakedness of DoA, it makes it much harder to convince people that there is one of the best 3d 1-on-1 beat-em-ups under there as well
Combination - fun iPhone puzzling
Tekken - punch kick punch kick throw
DOA - Rock, Scissors, Paper... Oh, Paper wraps Rock so my kick connects.
Boobs are nice though.
Why is he having a crack at Tekken over volleyball? Tekken (3) had it before Dead Or Alive, and the Tekken version is a lot less embarassing to own...
Is he trying to be ironic or something?
p.s. middle aged male excutive admitting to playing online as a girl in a sailor suit. oh, dear.
Virtua Fighter has improved quite a bit, but the learning curve is so high that its pretty hard for newcomers to play.
So anyway, Itagaki is basically doing the exact same thing he did when Tekken4 came out, and all he's doing is just stirring some riot, and making some name out for DOA. That being said, DOA's fighting system is nothing to write home about either since it's just some fast paced dial-a-combo, luck countering fighting game. Oh yeah, and its eyecandy. Tekken is slightly the same except it allows for a lot of creative comboes to connect, which is (my guess) the biggest appeal. It was a bit shocking when he did it last year, but this year, "Grow up, Itagaki!"
Conclusion, if you are talking about a game that is what would be considered the "Rennissance" of fighting games, i'd put it down on Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike. If you want this years bandwagon game, look no further than Tekken5.
Street Fighter (EX series and Marvel vs Capcom) both use tagging, and the only reason I prefer those methods is that I prefer that style of fighting game. There's nothing quite like a Dr. Doom air super combo -> Sentenal Plasma Ball super -> Iron Man Proton Cannon (MvC 2 is the best fighting game evar!)
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(^.^) INFECTED
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That under all the low self-esteem and jiggles, DOA Volleyball had an extremely simple, but robust interface, and is probably the best volleyball game out there.
Their fighting games, are, well not soul caliber, but they do have some pretty good elements. If only they could decide where they wanted to be on the twitch scale.
You notice how Itagaki never says anything about the actual gameplay? you wonder why DOA is not taken as a serious fighting game in competition.
"She kicks high"
Assuming I'm not the only one who remembers this anyways...
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Since when have devotees of one particular fighting game, never mind the creator of one, done anything but heap derision on the heads of all those witless enough that they don't bow in the presence of My Fighting Game X?
...dreckcetera, dreckcetera.
Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat.
Tekken vs. Virtua Fighter (before DoA happened)
Street Fighter vs. KoF
The guy who created competing fighting game franchise, Dead or Alive thinks Tekken is for sissies. Well blow me down!
Me, I don't care for DoA, and have been playing Tekken 5 all weekend, but this is just stupid fanboyism. Itagaki can say whatever damn fool thing he feels like, for all I care. Any Tekken fanboys getting up in arms about him are just giving him and his game more press.
Well, maybe Itagaki isn't the best one to do it, but the Tekken series definitely deserves a little critism these days. I haven't played Tek5 yet, but as for 4 it was a huge let down. It didn't really offer much new that wasn't already in Tekken 3, which I would say was the peak of the series. The graphics weren't that hot either... the new one looks a little better, but what can you expect running on the slowest of the 3 consoles? Maybe Namco should let Tekken sit out for a few years... maybe even come up with a whole new game? (doubtful)
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
I was eagerly anticipating Tekken 5, but when I found out that they had removed the wall pushes (where you push an opponent into a wall to score a free combo) I was unsure. Having played the new game however, its clear that a huge amount of time has been spent balancing the characters out more.
Also, whereas the previous incarnations new characters were essentially just rehashes of existing ones in different costumes - the new game boasts completely different moves for all of the "clone" characters from the previous games. Lee, Asuka and Wang are all potent characters in their own right now - and not obvious clones of Law, Jun and Michelle respectively.
The graphics are considerably better than Tekken 4, which is no small feat when you consider the arcade board is - unlike Tekken 4 - significantly more advanced in terms of processing power than the PS2.
All in all the new game improves on everything that was good in the previous series.
My only real criticism is of the "costume" system, whereby after earning gold coins when defeating opponents in certain modes you can purchase different clothing, etc for the different characters. Unfortunately the selection of addons is very small and most people I suspect will find themselves quite frustrated.
Walls, elevation differences, and tag fights are all actual gameplay elements. Tekken has yet to do any of these as well as Sega or Tecmo have. That was as purely factual a statement about gameplay as you can get - Itagaki didn't need to breakdown specifics because they are obvious to anyone who has played the three games for any minor length of time.
(This is a big problem with Tekken fans in my experience, incidentally - most of them only play Tekken, and are then shocked and confused when someone criticizes their games in comparison to the other fighting games out there.)
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
Put them TOGETHER. DUH.
Wu-Tang: Taste the Pain and/or Thrill Kill both piss all over ANY fighting game. End discussion.
I still hook up my multitap on my PS2, slide in Wu-Tang with 3 buddies and play for hours.
Its got plenty of technicality to it too, its not just a 'beat em til they die' game. I remember bagging a 30 hit combo a number of times, with the final blow causing the opponent to explode.
Now THATS fucking fighting.
[Tekken Male] Hyahhh!!!
[DOA] fuwafuwa!
[Tekken Male] ?!?! piyopiyopiyo
'RING OUT!'
Tekken Lose!
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
I seem to remember him badmouthing a previous Tekken game as well, but I could be getting confused with the Resident Evil guy from Capcom.
The only reason he is bad mouthing Tekken is because all the other 3d fighters series have failed. VF4 almost had it, but was still too clunky (The AI training was kind of fun though). Tekken dropped the ball with 4, and their enclosed environments. One of the things that made Tekken 'Tekken', was the never ended arena where you could concentrate on those long memorized strands of combos. DOA is the superior fighter in so many regards, and SF comes a close second when it comes to pure fighting satisfaction.
Mr Itagaki,
May I ask you why you are blaming Tekken devs for lack of innovation when you yourself have taken pride in delivering mediocre-at-best-games that take advantage of the male gamer stereotype of featuring half-naked women.
Perhaps you are in envy of the tekken developers for developing an evolutionary game that actually does its bit to innovate the genre instead of taking advantage of 14 year olds who are eager to get their pixelated action on... you Sir, disgust me!!!
Honestly I can't say I'm suprised... I haven't heard a lot of competitors say "wow look at that, thats much better then what I have go buy their product"
With that said I actually do enjoy playing DOA.. no it's not at the same calibur as most others, but I find it's difficulty to be just right for me... it's not as complex as the others and since i generally suck but enjoy fighting games it's perfect.
Yes I enjoy the graphics and all the perks (haha) but the fact I can turn it on for 5 minutes and pwn without remembering intricte moves is all i need.
...If some leather jacket and sunglasses wearing douchebag who wishes he was a rockstar says it, it must be true!
"I want to holler the loud funny words!" - Stimpy