This past week has seen the launch of the latest title in the Street Fighter franchise, Street Fighter 6. The game has been met with near-unanimous praise. However, things weren’t always so rosy for the franchise. While there have been a few questionable releases – Street Fighter Duel being the most recent – none have come with quite so much disappointment as Street Fighter X Tekken.
While Capcom has found success with other mash-ups, the Marvel Vs. Capcom and Capcom Vs. SNK series in particular, Street Fighter X Tekken was sadly not as accomplished. The videogame is presented with all the typical gameplay modes and settings that would be expected. A ludicrous and utterly ignorable story about an alien device crashing into the earth sets a scene for all the fisticuffs that never really needed an excuse to begin with. Ignoring this staging however, you will find an Arcade mode that’s familiar to any Street Fighter player. However, there is one key difference: multiplayer. Yes, Street Fighter X Tekken is well known to be based on a two-on-two system. But unlike Marvel Vs. Capcom’s three-versus-three, here two human players can join forces and take on a character each. It’s a small change in design that makes a huge impact on the delivery.
Street Fighter X Tekken X Friends
As is often the case, one player in the two-person team may be an expert, whereas the other a fresh face on the beat-‘em-up scene. Street Fighter X Tekken caters for this with an extensive tutorial system broken down into three components. The tutorial is divided into 20 stages ranging from normal moves to combos and throws. However, the Challenge option on the main menu goes far further. Here you’ll find both Trial Mode and Mission Mode in addition to the Tutorial. These additional modes are presented in the same fashion as the Tutorial, with the Trial Mode acting as a secondary tutorial specific to each character. The Mission mode however, is where the challenge begins. Players are given increasingly taxing fights with special conditions required for successful completion. These range from not using special moves to defeating opponents with greater amounts of health.
The usual assortment of versus gameplay modes are also included, along with online gameplay. Featuring many similarities to Super Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter X Tekken has clearly been designed with an online audience in mind. Ranked Matches, Endless Battles, replay channels, customised broadcasts and much more are available. Sharing with friends is the key to getting the most out of Street Fighter X Tekken.
Tekken the Mick
Besides the available gameplay modes, one of the biggest questions that hung over the game is just how well Namco Bandai’s motley crew could fit into Capcom’s crisp and clean cartoon coloured universe. Thankfully, the Tekken characters are adapted into the 2D environment in a similar manner as to those of Tekken Advance. Their moves have been tailored to the 2D plane, but their input still requires a significantly different combination of button presses to that of the Street Fighter cast.
The usual Street Fighter system of light, medium and heavy attacks is in place. The variety of moves presented to the Tekken cast still revolves around specific designations, rather than adapting the move to fit the button press. It’s a confusing system at first, but one that experienced players of either franchise will quickly adapt to. The crossover attacks play on this difference too. The result is a system where mixing combatants allows more tactical opportunity than sticking to a single franchise. The way in which the system has been developed has essentially resulted in the Tekken cast offering the addition of more than 25 new characters to the Street Fighter universe. Street Fighter X Tekken is a Street Fighter videogame with a selection of new rules, not a shoehorning of familiar faces into an unfamiliar template.
Customised Combat
The combat in Street Fighter X Tekken – being the central game mechanic – simply isn’t as engaging as many of its peers. The litany of gameplay modes simply can’t alter the fact that the gameplay within feels somewhat disjointed. While there’s nothing wrong with it on paper, in play Street Fighter X Tekken is a poor relation to Street Fighter IV. And though it may feature plenty of options for balancing play for newcomers, much of this fades into the background.
The gem system is one such mechanic. Players can create two sets of gems per character, enhancing certain aspects of their fighting style. While it may seem as though Capcom has thrown caution to the wind and allowed uneducated players to get one-up on those who have honed their skills, in reality the system is a minor addition to the formula. It allows players an extra avenue to explore. Another technique to practice along with the EX moves and cross gauge. The difference here is that the gem system can benefit any aspect of your fight, rather than a specific manoeuvre.
A Bruising on Street Fighter’s Cheek
The technical prowess of Street Fighter X Tekken is worn on the videogame’s sleeve. This is the same presentation that gamers had already seen three times on the then-current generation of consoles. The greatest difference is not in the presentation of the characters, but in that of the backgrounds. Multi-tiered environments hosting a great amount of detail are now the order of the day.
Street Fighter IV brought about a revitalised buoyancy for one-on-one beat-‘em-ups. As such it came as little wonder that Capcom would want to capitalise on this. Sadly, Street Fighter X Tekken became a step too far. The frankly boring fighting system meshed with a franchise seemingly forced into place resulted in a game that had little new to offer. As such, the proposed sister release – the long lost Tekken X Street Fighter – never saw the light of day.
There are many older Street Fighter titles that remain worthy of revisiting even to this day. Sadly, Street Fighter X Tekken is not one of them.
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