To get the real scoop on Tekken 4, we sat down with the top dog at Namco responsible for this project. Hajime Nakatani is the head honcho of Namco\'s global arcade and home (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube) software development, overseeing everything from Tekken to Ridge Racer, Nakatani-san was also the original producer on the first Tekken game, and serves as executive producer on Tekken 4. He took time out on the last morning of Tekken 4\'s mad development schedule to chat with Justin Keeling at Namco\'s creative HQ in Yokohama, Japan.
CVG:
What is your background at Namco?
NAKATANI:
Far too many titles to mention. I\'ve been developing games at Namco for 19 years and have been involved in more or less all the major projects in that time, leading up to my position today where I oversee all videogame development at Namco. Although I\'m not able to be involved in all the nitty gritty of every title.
CVG:
How did the idea for Tekken come about, Namco\'s first 3D fighter?
NAKATANI:
Well, we actually made the very first 3D game on the market. It was a racing sim called Winning Run and we released that around 1984. So we had been interested in moving more of our games to 3D before that.
CVG:
Was Tekken a reaction to Sega\'s groundbreaking Virtua Fighter or did you have plans for a 3D fighter before that?
NAKATANI:
Sega released Virtua Racing and then Virtua Fighter before we had a chance to make our own game, so we had to follow its lead. Actually we didn\'t have any serious plans to release a 3D fighter until Virtua Fighter came on the market and changed everything, although we\'d started our investigations of a man-to-man polygon fighting game before Virtua Fighter came out. Still it came as a surprise, and we really started planning our game aggressively to compete after that. It\'s important to remember Virtua Fighter was not the biggest fighting game at the time - we were competing in an already crowded area with Street Fighter II and the SNK games, each with their established following.
CVG:
Compared to other Tekken games, what\'s the biggest change in Tekken 4?
NAKATANI:
With the power of System 246 hardware (based on the PS2 hardware) we have been able to add a major new gameplay feature, which is the concept of fully 3D environments for the fighters to spar in. This is obviously a natural progression for the series, and one that adds a great deal to the Tekken formula. We now have walls and solid objects which all need a different approach to fighting.
CVG:
How interactive are these objects? Can you break them? Do they cause extra damage?
NAKATANI:
You can\'t break objects or use them for extra damage... the new strategy is more in the positioning of your fighter. We also have a new move that enables a trapped fighter to flip positions quickly. Actually we are still tweaking this feature this morning so I can\'t go into details, but we hope players will use it as a big new tactic in the game. Also if players get smashed into walls they are stunned, leaving them open to further attack, but you don\'t lose damage for hitting a wall.
CVG:
What is the inspiration for the new characters, like Christie Monteiro?
NAKATANI:
We don\'t choose new characters based on looks or gimmicks, they are almost always based around a new fighting style which we haven\'t yet explored. For example, in Tekken 4 we\'ve introduced boxing with Steve Fox.
CVG:
What feature of Tekken 4 are you most proud of as a producer?
NAKATANI:
The fact that we have stayed true to the spirit and concept of Tekken, yet managed to still introduce some radical changes like the stage layout. I\'m almost worried that some fans might say Tekken 4 is too much of a change!
CVG:
Let\'s talk competition. What\'s your impression of Virtua Fighter 4?
NAKATANI:
VF4 is more of an orthodox sequel than Tekken 4 is. I\'d say VF4 is a less of a series progression.
CVG:
How about Dead or Alive 3?
NAKATANI:
I\'ve only seen pictures, but DOA3 gives me a very good impression of the hardware.
CVG:
What about Tekken on, say, Xbox?
NAKATANI:
We\'re working on just PS2 for the foreseeable future. It\'s just a problem of time from our point of view, because we develop on System 246 so a conversion to PS2 is natural. I don\'t know about the future though, when we max out that hardware we will have to look elsewhere. But hardware isn\'t important, the game is popular independently and I think Tekken would be a success on a any platform.
CVG:
When do you plan to release the PS2 version of Tekken 4?
NAKATANI:
I can\'t even begin to think about that, because the team is still working hard on finishing up the arcade version! We haven\'t started on the home version yet.
CVG:
What crazy game modes will appear this time? We heard rumours of a Beat Mania-music style mode...
NAKATANI:
(laughs) We have had this idea for quite some time, but it\'s a tough one. It\'s an amusing idea but we\'re not sure if we can really do it.
CVG:
Will there be a Tekken 5, and what can we expect from it?
NAKATANI:
Definitely. There were many ideas we had we couldn\'t include in Tekken 4. We have plans to use the 3D arenas in more interesting ways, and you will see some of that realised in the next update in the series."
Awesome there will be a tekken 5!!!!!! Sweet!!!!! Not only that but it said like the tekken series is ps2 only just read this "
"CVG:
What about Tekken on, say, Xbox?
NAKATANI:
We\'re working on just PS2 for the foreseeable future. It\'s just a problem of time from our point of view, because we develop on System 246 so a conversion to PS2 is natural. I don\'t know about the future though, when we max out that hardware we will have to look elsewhere. But hardware isn\'t important, the game is popular independently and I think Tekken would be a success on a any platform."
Hmmmmm..........sound like tekken 4 is going to stay on the ps2.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Topic: Sweet!!!!!! New Tekken 4 interview!! Tekken 5 confirmed!?!?!?! (Read 3110 times)