Thanks for reading! If memory serves me right, Marshall Law was originally named Forest. I believed this had marketing benefits for the console market, but not for arcades. They synchronized the timing of each new character released, regardless of how long a game was in operation. Locations with more of the added characters benefitted due to the huge interest in new characters. In contrast, the Japanese market used this clock differently. Those games had a marketing advantage over games still in the box. The systematic release of additional characters was based on the length of time the game was in “operation”. It helped incentivize game operators to purchase games sooner rather than later. In Tekken 2, using the game’s internal clock I devised a “Time Release System”. New characters kept the game fresh and contributed to long-term retention. To unlock all characters, players needed to defeat all opponents with each default character. Tekken included a system to unlock secret characters.

A remarkable feat when considering in late 1993, testing and character modeling on a new 3D hardware was still in the experimental stage. It’s a good thing the game was a hit in America or else the foreign name would have been viewed as a marketing faux pas. I argued against the name, but the team loved it. Tekken (“Iron Fist”) was the first video game with a Japanese name to succeed in the US market. Tekken was designed to encourage more close fighting than its contemporaries. It added a whole new level of control and depth in fighting games. The real genius of Tekken was in the fighting game engine. Nakatani liked it) and he bore a striking resemblance to Bruce Lee. Most all of the concept characters were used in the final game. My favorite was Marshall Law because I named him (glad Mr. My evening phone call with Kohei would discuss my return fax and any outstanding issues.Ĭharacter development moved fast.

They were on my desk each morning and I worked on them while they slept in Japan. Kohei sent me projects and questions from producer Hajime Nakatani via fax at the end of each day.

The time difference between California and Tokyo worked well. There wasn’t a lot of time for iteration and experimentation. I’m not sure for which version of Tekken these were taken, but it’s a safe bet they are not later than Tekken 3. Here are some photos from an experimental motion capture process. I was encouraged because at least it had an inkling of being a fighting game. Rotating blocky bodies and heads, along with 2D backgrounds. Within weeks of returning to the states, I received an obscure videotape of 3D modeling tests. This marked the beginning of a special relationship with Sony that would become a double-edged sword ( Sony PlayStation). Lower priced and less powerful, it would help bring 3D games to the American street market. It was the little brother of the more robust System 22. On this trip, we caught wind of a new hardware system being developed called System 11.

Gamegame tekken 3 characters