#661 Tekken 2 (ARC) Bosses (1/15): Devil playthrough.
0A playthrough of the final boss Devil in the arcade version of Namco's Tekken 2.
Well, here go.
Tekken 2 is a seminal work on how to make a fighting game sequel. Hell, on how to make a sequel in general. It is such a leap above its predecessor that it makes Tekken 1 look almost laughable by comparison. Graphically-speaking, it looks phenomenal. While the designs of the first game were strong enough to the point that they weren't too hindered by the limited graphics, Tekken 2 stands at a point where Namco showed they were really beginning to understand how to use 3D technology effectively. Models are clearly, more full-formed, more detailed and less "messy" compared to the first game. Designs looks stronger and sharper, and the "uncanny valley" element of the first game pretty much disappeared in the wake of some fantastic design changes. Although the first soundtrack's game wasn't exactly bad, the second's absolutely blows it away. Even the character selection screen music is wonderfully sombre and a little oblique, setting up the generally tragic tone of the game. And indeed, it's an incredibly strong tone which runs throughout most of the game, with a varied soundtrack which often focuses on dark undertones. Indeed, we really begin to see the idea of "Tekken" as a series developing here.
Another notable aspect is the change in character roster. Kazuya is gone, Heihachi is playable, and we're joined by two new characters; Jun (or Baek, depending on the settings in the machine) and Lei, our token Jackie Chan tribute. Tekken 2 also establishes what would be a standard for Namco arcade games for many years to come; time-released characters. Although there are secret codes to unlock the sub-bosses in this game, Namco pulled a genius move by making it so that the sub-bosses of the game (including Kazuya and Devil in later versions) would become automatically unlocked over time, meaning that arcade gamers had an excuse to keep coming back and back again to the machine to see who was newly available. It's a great system, and it's difficult not to adore a game which doubles its own character roster over time. The UI looks much better as well, and the game is much more responsive and fluid when it comes to controls, with combos being easier to execute and move execution being much less stiff than the first game. It also has the option to turn on "guard damage", which I personally adore, even if it isn't a tournament-standard.
In terms of design-improvements, we need look no further than the contrast between the decent but somewhat messy design of Devil Kazuya we saw in Tekken 1, and the sublime, imposing design he has in Tekken 2. Commonly just referred to as "Devil", he serves as the final boss of the game, and is probably the most iconic boss in the franchise, and certainly one of the most iconic bosses in fighting game history. Namco's twist here was a genius move; a pre-established anti-hero "going rogue", at least in playable terms, and ending up as the boss of the second game. Here, Kazuya has been consumed by the Devil Gene, and turned into a freakish demonic creature as a result.
The combination of Kazuya as sub-boss and Devil as final boss is just one of the best in existence. It was something at the time which Namco was experimenting with and really attempting to make their own; we'll see it again with Cervantes and Soul Edge in Soul Blade and Ogre and True Ogre in Tekken 3. Hell, they even brought it back as a concept for Tag 2 and Tekken 7, where it also worked really well. This combination works as such; the first boss is a unique character with their own moves. The second boss is an altered form of the character, with plays with nearly the exact same moveset but is given a few exclusive bonus moves as a result, usually taking the form of a new projectile attack or a grab attack. Yes, Devil has a laser-projectile attack, which he can fire on the ground or in the air. Admittedly, it's not technically very useful (you'll nearly always be countered when attempting to use it against the AI), but I can't deny that it is extremely cool nonetheless. How Namco managed to make a projectile move, in a martial arts fighting game, technically be pretty balanced is a testament to just how much work went into this game. It's the inference of power without the character actually being broken, and it's extremely well done.
Devil is pretty much an altered form of Kazuya, yet he just works so goddamn well. There's something strangely powerful to the fight itself; it's really not something we'll see in any other fighting game, and it's partly why Tekken 2 is still so fondly remembered. I mean, hell, how many fighting games have a tragic boss? How many games even have a tragic boss in general, except for some RPGs like Grandia II or Chrono Cross. Oddly enough, Tekken 2 was the fourth Tekken game I played, and yet still left the greatest impact on me, which really stands as a testament to its design.
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