By Jerome Bragg
Top 3 from the tournament
1st (middle) Katstrological, 2nd (left) WorstTekkenPlayer, 3rd (right) Gutts420. Photo By Jerome Bragg
On Feb. 17, The Riverside Game Lab hosted a huge tournament for the recently released video game “Tekken 8.” The contest had over 40 entrants and a prize pool of over $500, one of the largest in years.
This was my first time going to a local tournament and my first time playing the game of “Tekken” competitively, so I didn't have high expectations for myself, but I couldn't have predicted just how humbling this experience was going to be.
“Tekken” is a very complex game with a huge roster of characters all of whom have over 100 unique attacks. This complexity gives a big advantage to long-time players when compared to other fighting games. Players will often joke that they were hit by a combo that they haven’t seen since 1997, and they’re probably not lying.
Even though this is my first “Tekken” game, I thought my experience in other fighting games would net me at least a moderate amount of success. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I arrived maybe 30 minutes early and was caught off guard by just how serious the tone was. With the game barely being a week old I was expecting there to be a lot of new players, but after speaking with a few people, I quickly came to realize that I might be in for a couple of rough matches. They had all been playing Tekken for years and they were not here to mess around.
Two players in the middle of an intense match. Photo By Jerome Bragg
Once the tournament officially began, things started to move quickly. Many of us, myself included, were eliminated right away. Most of the people who lost early on headed straight for the exit. That left behind a small group of high-level players still fighting for their share of the pot, and a few other spectators.
This is when things started to change, people seemed to have relaxed a bit, and it was at this point that I was able to talk to the other players and get to know them. While speaking to them I noticed everyone seemed to be my age or older although I was the only rookie Tekken player.
I was a bit surprised at how many people left right after losing. I expected most people to come with friends and enjoy hanging out at the arcade for a while once their tournament run came to an end, but it seems most of the participants weren’t there just to hang out.
A group of spectators enjoying one of the later matches. Photo by Jerome Bragg
While this wasn’t what I expected, it makes more sense after learning a bit more about the Tekken community. All fighting games can be frustrating at times, watching your character's life bar get depleted round after round and having no obvious solution is enough to make an otherwise mild-mannered gamer lose their cool. Heated moments seem to be more prevalent at fighting game tournaments when compared to other eSports events. Perhaps due to most competitive games being team based rather than one on one battles. On more than a few occasions players can be seen getting in their opponent's face, throwing their controllers and storming off. In the fighting game community, we call this “Popping Off”.
One of the more famous “Pop offs” in recent years. CEO 2019 - Buffalo vs Scar
Sore losers seem to be quite prevalent in “Tekken,” at least compared to other fighting games. It’s common practice to shake your opponent's hand and share a few words after every match, usually “GGs man” short for “good games.” However, after one particularly close match, I witnessed the loser unplug his controller and leave the arcade before his opponent could even shake his hand. This problem even exists outside of in person tournaments which of course have a little more on the line, but even in online ranked matches have been affected by what many are calling “plugging”. Plugging refers to the act of players unplugging their internet cable before the match can finish. It has become such a problem developers have since come out and said they will be making a list and looking to ban those who are repeat offenders.
Game Director Katuhiro Harada explains his plan for pluggers in the community.
Regardless of my less-than-stellar performance in this particular event, it was a great experience. I enjoyed playing some face-to-face matches, which have sadly become all too rare nowadays. These more personal matches are what brought fighting games so much success in the arcade era and it’s fun seeing them have a comeback. Even if you're a rookie like myself, I’d recommend you grab a friend, head down to a local arcade and mash some buttons.
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