Tekken 8 is going strong here nearly a couple of months after the game’s official release. Not only has Bandai Namco’s latest fighting title been critically acclaimed, but the developers continue to actively look for ways they might be able to improve the game.
Last week, we learned that the company behind the latest Tekken title has started to suspend and ban users who cheat online — which is something players have been running into a lot of as of late. However, as much as Bandai Namco is giving right now, they can’t give us everything, and in that vein we recently learned that one classic Tekken mode likely will never be added to Tekken 8 and for good reason.
During the most recent Tekken Talk presentation, in which several of the game’s developers sat in to discuss what’s coming to the latest entry in the long-running fighting game series, Director Katsuhiro Harada and Producer Michael Murray shared some info on what is (and isn’t) coming down the road. Unfortunately, a response to people asking for a Tag Mode in Tekken 8 in the stream chat at the time was very illuminating, and from the sounds of it, it appears as though we might never see it added to the latest game.
The Tekken series has seen entries such as Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 that pitted two teams of two fighters against each other in a fast-paced combat environment. Players were able to switch between the two fighters at will during a match, which added the ability to extend combos and pull off all manner of interesting techniques to thwart the opponent.
Sadly, though, a Tag Mode likely won’t come to Tekken 8 because it’s just too demanding with the current game’s design and resources.
“So, just about ‘Tag,’ please hold off on that,” Harada said through Murray’s translation. “As we mentioned way back when we did Tekken Tag Tournament 2, when you try to have four characters on screen at the same time obviously it really limits your resources.
“So the stage would have to be really paired down to something that’s not as immersive. That’s not really realistic at this point, so please hold off on the Tag comments for now,” Harada concluded.
Yes, if we wanted to see a full-fledged Tag Mode in Tekken 8, it would require that stages and other elements of the game be heavily toned down — which just isn’t in the cards and probably never will be. One of Tekken 8’s big draws and points of pride is its dynamic backdrops, which have all kinds of incredible weather effects and details, and I couldn’t see a scenario where the development team would want to scale any of that back for the sake of a tag feature.
That’s okay, though, because Tekken 8 has other classic modes like Tekken Ball, which has finally returned after many years of being absent. Also, the base game of Tekken 8 is pretty darn good all on its own.