Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Dead or Alive Creator Badmouths Tekken

Posted by Zonk on from the speaking-ill-of-the-newborn dept.

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."

3 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Re:pr0n by Jeff+Reed · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Indeed. Team Ninja clearly can make excellent action/fighting titles (Ninja Gaiden is proof of this), but for whatever reason they refuse to do so with the Dead or Alive games. Then, they turn around and whine when people want to see the busty female characters in their games completely naked, instead of as close to naked as you can get without showing any naughty bits.

    The jab at Death By Degrees, however, was quite deserved. What a stinking pile that game was.

  2. What are you talking about!? by scottind · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Mortal kombat II is not a game that defines the fighting game genre, maybe in 1995, but not nowadays. If you look at any big tournaments i dont see any that have ever used mk in their roster of games. If there is any similarity from mk2 to tekken, is that it allows some pretty ridiculous juggling. If you want to talk about entries into fighting games, there are only two: Street Fighter 2 CE, and Marvel 2. If you want to know about the current popular fighting games, its Marvel 2, and 3rd strike.

    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.

    1. Re:What are you talking about!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you ask me, Soulcalibur provides the best combination of accessibility and sophistication.

      Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so because the Soulcalibur II machine was so popular at my school's rec room that they added a second one. The Marvel vs. Capcom machine never drew crowds like Soulcalibur and of course Tekken 4 never came close.

      Soulcalibur II is also one of the most balanced fighting games I've ever seen. While there are a few characters that could be considered strongest, their advantages are relatively small and skill at predicting one's opponent and avoiding being predicted is vastly more important than character selection.