Tag fighters are seeing a bit of a comeback lately, with new releases like Riot’s 2XKO, Skybound’s Invincible VS, and Arc System Works’ Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls grabbing attention. Despite this renewed interest, Tekken won’t be jumping into the tag fighter trend with a fresh standalone title.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was known for its deep and complex gameplay, and its director, Katsuhiro Harada, recently explained why a new Tekken Tag Tournament game isn’t coming soon. He points out that Tekken characters have incredibly large move lists, making it a steep learning curve just to master one character, let alone two or more in a tag format. That kind of knowledge demand can be tough on players who aren’t hardcore fans.
Harada noted that while earlier tag games had characters playing more similarly, later entries made each character’s move set much more distinct, which only adds to the complexity when switching between fighters in a tag team. This was especially clear when Tekken Tag Tournament 2 came out on consoles back in 2012. Hardcore players loved it, but it was pretty tough for casual players to get into.
Producer Michael Murray echoed those thoughts, saying that while the team enjoys the tag format, they’re aware many players struggled with the amount of knowledge required. Harada mentioned that if Bandai Namco ever revisits tag fighting in Tekken, it would probably be as a separate mode within a mainline Tekken game rather than a full standalone title.
That makes sense considering Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was a low point financially for the series, and Tekken 7 had to work on a tighter budget before eventually reaching 10 million sales. Tag modes as side features aren’t unheard of in fighting games; classics like Dead or Alive and Soulcalibur included them without making them the main focus.
Would you want to see a tag mode show up in Tekken 8 or maybe wait until Tekken 9? It might be a while before it happens, but when it does, it should be worth the wait. Meanwhile, I’m kinda curious how players will handle mastering four mains in those new tag fighters out there…
What do you think about the complexity of tag fighters and Tekken’s approach? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
