8 Steps Namco Needs to Take to Improve the Next Tekken Game

With the next installment to one of Namco’s popular fighting game franchises confirmed to be in the “early stages of development”, it’s time that Namco made some needed changes to the series if they want to keep Tekken from becoming stale and if they want to keep this Tekken fan’s attention.

Less Fighters Please

With over 40 playable characters, Tekken 6 boasted  the largest rosters for the series, however, more doesn’t always equate to better. There are some characters in Tekken who I think have simply outlived their purpose in the game. For instance, Baek Doo San. I think Baek’s role in Tekken should have ended  when his student ,Hwoarang, thought he had died at the hands of Tekken 3 boss, Orge. From there on out, Hwoarang could have dedicated his life to being the best so he can make Baek proud.

I personally would like to see Namco do away with Baek Doo San ,Wang Jinrei, Armor King, Mokujin, Christie Monteiro( she’s just an Eddie Gordo clone whose sole purpose is eye candy ) and Ganryu. I’d also love to see Namco drop the animal fighters but I doubt they’d even consider it.

Better Ranking System

In Tekken 6 you were forced to play the game online if you wanted to progress beyond 1st Dan. This wasn’t the case for Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection for the PS3. Players in Tekken 5: DR had the freedom to rank up  online and offline. Plus in Tekken 5: DR there was the option of creating your own rooms for ranking up and if the creator of the room left, the room would continue until the last person exited. For whatever reason Namco dropped these options in Tekken 6 but I would like to see them return in Tekken 7.

Test The Online Before You Release An Online Fighter

When Tekken 6 was released eager fans of the series jumped  online immediately only to be greeted by unnecessary lag. Namco’s excuse for the lag was pretty lame. They claimed fighters are suited for online play. I guess the smooth online play found in the DOA series on the first XBox and X360 was a fluke. Not to mention recent fighters like Blazblue and Street Fighter having near perfect online play.

Namco eventually patched the lag issues the best way they knew how but it really shouldn’t have been an issue to begin with. I hope Namco doesn’t repeat the same mistakes with Tekken 7.

 Better & More Customization

Namco claimed that Tekken 6 would have a deep character customization feature but it really didn’t. The character customization in Tekken 6 was limited. Sure you could change the color of your favorite characters’ hair, but not their default hair.

You had to slap some anime influenced hairstyles on your character that really looked out of place. Also each fighter had individual wardrobes that offered few customizations.

                                                                                                                                       Continued….