Tekken A Look Back

Written by Matt Swider  on July 25, 2006

Special: With the release of Tekken: Dark Resurrection on PSP, we take a look back at Namco's tweleve year old series that became the best fighting franchise of all time.

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Top 11 Tekken Fighters
A great fighting series is nothing without a series of great fighters. And Tekken has those in spades. Here are our picks for the eleven greatest fighters who have Tekken a beating:

11. Gon
Gon has only appeared in one game so far and he's not totally original since he's a licensed character, the only one the series has used in its twelve years. Nevertheless, he's the master of Tekken Ball, the game that you have to defeat him in to unlock his character in Tekken 3. Once this is done, you'll realize that fighting as Gon isn't necessarily a good choice since there are plenty of better characters to choose from. However, it's worth completing the game as him just to unlock his ending movie, which loops on as he's haphazardly tossed from water, then onto land, and finally into the air. This ending alone makes fans want to see him in another game.

10. Paul Phoenix
Paul is one of the few characters to appear in every Tekken game with his mix of judo and kickboxing style of fighting. He's a fan favorite for his All-American flavor, USA landmark-rich battle arenas, and high-rise hairdos (taller than Kramer, but not quite as tall as Marge Simpson). Oh, and he also beat up a bear once. It's hard to top that. Our only pet peeve about Paul is that he walked away from winning Tekken 3 because he didn't realize that Ogre morphed into True Ogre and whines about how he really won the tournament. His bellyaching kind of negates the whole coolness of being an All-American bear wrangler.

9. Jack(s)
The Jack robots are the Terminators of the Tekken world. Initially developed by the Soviets, the first Jack was smuggled out of the crumbling USSR to restore Communism to its former (pseudo-)glory. While the first Jack was destroyed, Jack-2 would live on to challenge his "evil" doppelganger, Prototype Jack. After defeating the Prototype, he bonded with a young girl named Jane but was destroyed saving her. Her love for this killer android would inspire her to create a whole line of Jacks including the deadly Gun Jack, the mass-produced Jack-4 and the new Jack-5. But whichever model you're talking about, they all care for Jane.

8. Marshall Law
Marshall Law, the practioner of "Marshall Arts," has always entered the Tournament with one thing on his mind: money. First to earn enough to open his own dojo and later to scrape up enough just to come home. Marshall has appeared in almost all of the Tekken games (his son Forest took his place in Tekken 3) and is constantly sparring with Paul Phoenix to perfect his Marshall Arts. But then, do you really want to mess with a guy named "Marshall Law"?

7. Mokujin
As the official training dummy for Tekken, Mokujin has taken beatings ever since he made his debut in Tekken 3. Despite being 2,000 years old, made of wood and taking countless blows to the head, he's still able to adopt the moves of other players in attempt to best their combat skills. But, from what we saw from his ending, which is by far the funniest to date, he's no match for his old lady. She catches him playing a Tekken arcade machine when he should be filling up pales of water and gives him a good uppercut clear across the forest. Poor Mokujin can't catch a break.

6. King
Of all the original fighters, King looked like he'd be the ultimate badass since he wore a jaguar mask in all of his matches. However, behind that intimidating, badass disguise is a Mexican luchador with a heart of gold. He's really a Catholic priest and only joined the King of Fighters Tournament to win money to build an orphanage for young kids. In a way, he's kind of like Nacho Libre, only funny at times. On a tragic note, King was killed by The Ogre, Tekken 3's final boss, before the tournament began. Since then, he's been replaced by a successor who was training by his old friend Armor King.

5. Nina Williams
Tekken's assassin extraordinaire is definitely Nina Williams. Forever feuding with her sister Anna, Nina has appeared in every Tekken title and her own spin-off game, Death by Degrees. In every game, she's been young and beautiful because of being put into Cryogenic Sleep at the end of Tekken 2. She's never actually assassinated any of her targets (Heihachi, Kazuya and Jin), but she's still the world's sexiest assassin, making her the Anna Konakova of Tekken; fun to watch, but not so successful in her trade.

4. Jin Kazama
If the Tekken series has one "main" character, then Jin is it. Ever since his introduction in Tekken 3, Jin has taken up the mantle of the honorable karate master. He is Tekken's Ryu and he is Tekken's Liu Kang. Disgusted by all the evil that comes from his family and the Devil Gene in his body, Jin just wants peace. Of course, with Tekken 6 coming soon you know the devil wants his due.

3. Kazuya Mishima
Thrown off a cliff as a young boy. Threw his father off of a cliff after he won the first King of Iron First Tournament. Thrown into a volcano at the end of Tekken 2. What is it with the Mishima family and cliffs? He's been killed and resurrected twice. Once by a deal with the Devil and once by the G Corporation. He even fought side-by-side with his hated father at one point, but then left him to die. Something tells me that their Thanksgiving dinners are filled with awkwardness.

2. Eddy Gordo
This Brazilian fighter didn't begin strutting his stuff until Tekken 3, but he immediately took the crown for the most dynamic moves in the game's franchise. This is because he combines break-dancing and the martial arts form of capoeira. The result is a bunch of leg-twisting and body-turning moves that you wish you perform do at the clubs, minus everyone getting hurt, of course. As good as a fighter as Eddy Gordo is, his moves are more alluring to watch than anyone else involved in Tekken, so distraction may be his strongest weapon against enemies.

1. Heihachi Mishima
Heihachi may be an old man, but he's still THE MAN for many reasons. He began the King of the Iron Fist Tournament, hosted a majority of the succeeding tournaments, and fought in every single Tekken game, thus far. In the first game, he only lost to his son, Kazuya, who tossed him into a ravine. Despite all odds, Heihachi survived to not only come back in Tekken 2, but УkillФ his son and throw his body into a volcano. Oh yeah, he throw his son down a ravine as a boy, too. Nice guy. To top if off, he has a pet bear!