Tekken 8

You've got to be quite good at Tekken to land them also.

Animations in MK I can only best describe as.....CLUNKY. Its been the same since MK4 I think?

If you can't see it it'll be hard to describe but it all looks so incredibly stiff - it's hard to tell what level of impact a move will have at a glance because it seems like parts of the body just aren't animated and some moves have very little (if any) wind up.

Beautifully modelled characters feel like they move around like 16-bit sprites.

And some crouching kick animations look so stupid

Do you know what, maybe that's why I never really noticed. Since they went back to being on a 2D plane I think I have gone back to process what I'm seeing like it's the earlier games. Probably unconsciously forgive a lot of the animation (or lack of) because of that.

The biggest problem I have with MK, and they've massively improved this in the last couple of games, is how static characters would be when doing a lot of their basic moves. You look at 3D fighters like Tekken and VF and you see how much characters tend to move forward while doing even basic punches, but MK, being previously based in 2D, would have the characters planted a lot of the time. As a result moves would often feel stubby and shorter range than you'd expect. I think that's a big part of the perceived stiffness.

+1 on finding MK’s animation properly atrocious. It is a lot better than it used to be in MK1 but there are still some bad frames. My main issue with it is that it genuinely looks like moves are being performed in mid air - there’s no weight or heft to them, especially the strings of normals.

But then I also believe Tekken is best in class for fighting game animation. Jin, especially, is fantastic when it comes to really looking like he’s trying to hurt you.

For juggles; as others have said, it’s been a part of Tekken since the start. I get why people don’t like them (and the juggle recovery mechanic sounds exactly like the burst system in guilty gear) but virtually everyone modern fighting game has combos so..

Tekken does have the added complexity of getting up safely too. So yeah, it is probably the hardest fighting game to get competent with! THE DARK SOULS OF THE FGC. But it’s very rewarding when you do learn how to play it properly.

Yes, this is worth spotlighting if any newcomers are here. They may have changed it (very) recently because I noticed the animation is different, but the backwards wake up, which seems to be a newcomers go-to, is actually (traditionally) pretty dangerous if your opponent reads it. It's arguably only a good option if you're going to be out of reach throughout the entire animation.

I once watched a friend's replay who was destroyed in an online battle by a Kazuya who repeatedly cheesed him with those triple spin kicks while he was trying to get up, but my friend kept trying to get up in the same way, and his opponent had him figured out.

I recommend anyone being punished while waking up practice tech rolls - which is simply the name for how you get up when you hit left punch (1) as you hit the ground. Not only do you get up really quickly, but you also side step a little bit, and I believe there are some generous invincibility frames too. It should be your default wake up when you're under pressure.

Even if you miss the tech roll window, the same button will roll you sideways which is a good thing to have in your bag of tricks.

What ARE my options for getting up? I notice punch rolls me to the side. What's my other options?

That’s a good video there by Hagrid. I think there are more situations where the kip up is useful than he implies though.

Apparently the backwards wake up has been buffed after all so it’s not the beginners trap that it used to be. Tech roll should still be the go to though and he’s right that the direction barely matters. My muscle memory is always the punch button and I don’t recall ever being punished for it

Personally, I hate character customisation like this in fighting games. The one or two truly inspired creations you'll see from time to time are vastly outweighed by some pillocks wearing badly matched clothes with a bagel randomly plonked on their head. It's dreadful and ruins some of the really good character designs. I just wish it could be disabled on my end. Recolours are fine.

Otherwise I think it's probably the best Tekken since 3.

Of course. Is there no dedicated friends/gamertag list for this here? You lads must be slipping.

I can't remember my exact ID, but will post it when I get home.

Ive actually only played online once. Ive just been getting through the single player content and doing ghost battles to unlock cosmetics. Had my first session last night and made it up to either assailant or dominator with Jun.

I did consider trying out Jun. I quite like her style and she's supposedly a bit of a beast in this one.

I'm feeling a lot more inspired to try more characters in this than SF6. I try to have at least a couple of extra characters I'm familiar with in fighting games, if only to keep things fresh. I wasn't really getting that in SF.

I'm not a huge fan of the format for online play. Player/quick matches should last until someone quits, not best of 3. Usually it takes me that long before I'm figuring out somebody's gimmicks.