Tekken 6: PS3 interview with Katsuhiro Harada

Tekken 6: PS3 interview with Katsuhiro Harada, project director

Tekken 6 will mark the first Xbox Tekken title. But is a Wiii Tekken also a possibility?

Have you made any decisions regarding online play and how matchmaking will work? The system in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online is fine but basic. Will this online system be enhanced for Tekken 6, and how so?

Katsuhiro Harada: Unfortunately I cannot reveal everything about the online functions of the game at this time. However, I will tell you that we have something new and exciting planned in addition to the regular versus game play.

In terms of matchmaking, we are focusing on the compatibility of players' connections and hope to improve online matching in this way. Of course, Tekken 6 will improve on the system from Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection in so many ways.

Also, Namco Bandai has mentioned that many attack animations have been recreated for Tekken 6. How does this impact the gameplay and overall experience? What kinds of moves did you re-create the animations for?

Katsuhiro Harada: There are several different reasons for animation revisions. Depending on the reason, the results are different.

(1) Fans wanted better or cooler-looking animation.

(2) The look and flow of the animation seems weaker or more powerful than the actual move's damage or properties.

(3) We want to add a new purpose to the move to open up more possibilities.

There are some finer details, but most animation fixes and re-makes are done for one of these three reasons.

In the first two cases, we hope the new animation will fix these issues. In the third case, the re-animated move may be used to lead into some new combo, or it may affect a character's effective range, making it easier to fight at certain distances that were difficult before. Elements like this change the strategy and make it easier for the player's actions to have a more direct impact on gameplay.

In earlier Tekkens, you could play an old Namco game when you first started the game up. Do you have any plans to introduce a "Loading Screen" mini-game to Tekken 6? If so, what might it be?

Katsuhiro Harada: We are currently looking into that possibility.

What can you tell us about the new Tekken 6 characters Alisa Boskonovitch and Lars Alexanderson? They seem to have very different fighting styles than the other characters. Are they aimed at newcomer players? Are they similar to other characters in any way?

Katsuhiro Harada: With Tekken 6, four new characters were added: Bob, Miguel, Zafina, and Leo. These four characters are loosely based on Tekken fan suggestions from around the world. Different approaches were taken in developing these four characters; some are made with experts in mind while others are for older Tekken fans or beginners.

For the two new characters in Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, we took a different approach. In terms of Alisa, we purposefully decided on a character design that would be totally new to the series in the hopes of attracting new fans. We also made her relatively straightforward and easy to control.

As for Lars, we decided to make a character that would feel new to long-time players who have already grasped the feel of most of the older characters. His motions (character animations), moves, and controls are all quite new and add new strategic possibilities to the series.

Tekken 6: PS3 interview with Katsuhiro Harada, project director

The environments in Tekken 6 include more 'endless stages' as well as walled-in arenas.

Comments [12]

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goldberg_evan

Man I can't wait. Last Tekken I played was Tekken 3 before I made the switch to Xbox...can't wait to pick it up for my 360!

iamkid

i'm very excited for this. in fact, this made me want to run through tekken 4 again and go pick up 5.

michael909

the graphics don't look to great but hey but hey its just from the picture when we get some video gameplay then will no

denveraic

I dunno, I think Tekken needs a serious facelift in terms of gameplay/fighting mechanics. It seems like the wheels are spinning just a bit. It will be interesting to test this game out, I'm not sure I'll be impressed though.

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