May 022012
 

A thorough look back at the first four games that created a 3D fighting legacy.

Download here 

SHOW NOTES

0:00:00 – Black Winter Night Sky (Tekken 2)

0:08:32 – Stadium (Tekken)

0:10:01 – China (Tekken)

0:12:11 – Chicago (Tekken)

0:19:51 – Ring A Bell (Tekken 2)

0:21:56 – Morning Field (Tekken 2)

0:25:03 – Emotionless Passion (Tekken 2)

0:34:29 – Yoshimitsu ending (Tekken 2)

0:34:50 – Jun ending (Tekken 2)

0:35:50 – Lei ending (Tekken 3)

0:40:21 – Opening Movie (Tekken 3)

0:41:56 – Heihachi (Tekken 3)

0:44:32 – Jin (Tekken 3)

0:51:05 – Ogre and True Ogre (Tekken 3)

0:54:07 – Yoshimitsu (Tekken 3)

0:57:42 – Xiaoyu (Tekken 3)

1:04:52 – Opening Movie (Tekken Tag)

1:06:03 – Eddy (Tekken Tag)

1:08:48 – Ogre (Tekken Tag)

1:14:39 – King (Tekken Tag)

1:16:31 – Nina (Tekken Tag)

1:19:33 – King vs U (Tekken Tag)

1:26:49 – Staff Roll (Tekken Tag)

  26 Responses to “VGMpire Episode 20 – Tekken Tunes”

  1. Hey, Tekken! This is one I can definitely get behind! The series always has had excellent music, but to be honest most tunes I remember are from the most recent games. So it’ll be fun to check some highlights from the old ones!

    Also… slow download speed is slow… I started downloading it a minute ago, and it says it’s going to take 4:30+ hours to download! >>; and it’s downloading at the average speed of 6 KB/seg ._.

  2. Hells yeah, new VGMpire.

    Never really cared for Tekken, but I remember liking the music from what little I played of Tekken 2.

  3. I can all too easily relate to that moment when the the soul crushing understanding of my inferiority in the world hit me over the head…
    Great episode.

  4. Ah, so many fond arcade memories…

  5. It Returns. Again.

  6. Great episode always been a big advocate of tekken music, in fact of the whole namco sound team! Hopefully one day you could do an episode on the ridge racer series

    • Great episode, even though I can’t share your affection for the music of the first two games. I could never connect with the style of music they were doing in the first two games, so the tonal shift to more mainstream-styled electronic music drew me right in. While there was ever anything wrong with the older music (can’t believe you passed over the Devil Kazuya theme…), it just never hit me the way something like the PlayStation arrange of Ling Xiaoyu’s theme did.

      I second the request for a Ridge Racer show. When I talk game music with old heads, we always have fun debating over whether Rage Racer or Ridge Racer Type 4 had the best music in the series. Of course, it’s like the pie vs. cake argument; they’re both great and probably better than any third option. But just so you know, the correct answer is Rage Racer.

      • +1 Ridge Racer series and +1 for Rage Racer. Although playing behind the car was pointless(hitting another car looked and felt like hitting a balloon), the cockpit view was a peerless experience. I spent so many hours designing my hood decal and painting my cars…..and that sense of speed from racing through the tunnels to that oh-so-good jungle and drum n’ bass. Ohh happiness! My eyes are watering and it’s because of the smile on my mouth.

  7. no love for 5 and 6?

    but congratulations on 20th episode

  8. […] A thorough look back at the first four games that created a 3D fighting legacy. LISTEN NOW! […]

  9. Wow, Tekken music. I was never hugely into the series, but Tekken Tag was my jam, so to speak. My friends and I played that game so damn much. Yes, it was a fun fighting game, but the Tekken Bowl mode is what did it for us. We played, probably, hundreds of hours of Tekken Bowl, and that music was always in my head. I had forgotten how good it was. The quality still holds up very well.

    Quick side story, one night before heading out on the town, my friend came over and played a quick game. He got a nearly perfect score and knocked my high score down to number 2. I never did beat that score. I’m definitely going to check out that iOS Tekken Bowl. Thanks!

  10. Awwwww…. No Tekken 5 or 6, but still GREAT SHOW!

  11. Ah, this brings me back to when I was a wee lad on holiday in Spain begging my parents to give me some pesetas so I could play on the Tekken 3 arcade cabinet.

    Any chance of a Soul Calibur episode sometime? Those games had some epic music.

  12. I’ll always have a spot in my heart for the Tekken series. Tekken 2 and 3 were the first fighting games I actually really played and Tekken 3 was the first game I bought with my own money.

    That said, I support Clovin64’s SC recommendation.

  13. Another great episode. I will get the soundtrack immediately.

  14. Tekken has some good music that I was never familiar with, so thanks for bringing that to the forefront. I particularly liked “Stadium” (that intro!) and “Xiaoyu.” I also dabbled very little in Tekken, playing the demo to all 3 games as a kid. I also have memories of playing Tekken Tag Tournament with a bunch of friends in middle school. I then made the dumbest decision ever as a 10-year old by choosing 3Xtreme over Tekken 3 in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart. 3Xtreme was returned, but I never actually got Tekken 3 afterward.

    So I’m not really a big Tekken fan (not a big fan of the controls) but I appreciate its place in gaming, and it’s got great music to boot. Maybe now I’ll have to see what I’ve been missing out on all these years.

    Also this is what I think of the most when I imagine Tekken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qwuL8-xZ6wA#t=22s

    *clap, clap* BOODERAGH!!!!

  15. Just happened to download the Tekken 3 soundtrack the other day (lost both my copies somehow). Nearly every track is pure gold.

  16. Very nineties indeed. Upbeat and dancey though, fine episode.

  17. Just sayin, you all should take a listen to Final Fight CD’s soundtrack and the AWESOME Gunstar Heroes.

  18. Fucking Slivers…

  19. Great episode again. Although like some others stated I wish we could have heard some of the tracks from Tekken 4-6. As well as Tekken Tag 2 as it features a bunch of great remixes of classic tekken songs as well as some catchy new ones.

  20. I hope you read this Brett, I listen and enjoy all the video game music you feature but the Tekken music really means alot to me.

    I don’t want to be too sentimental but my cousin died very early in his life. He was a few years older than me and introduced me to Tekken when I was 10 or so. He lived in Wales and we would play the shit out of that game whenever I would visit.

    He was my best friend in this world and some of the music you played rekindled memories I didnt know I had, especially Juns music from Tekken 2. Thanks so much dude, love the show, it means more to us than you may know. Keep it up x

  21. Another great epsiode from a series i’ve never played before. Well I played tekken tag tournament once for about an hour

  22. Wow. This brought back so many memories I didn’t know I had! I mostly ignored Tekken 1 because I was trying so hard to like Virtua Fighter. Tekken 2 was one hell of a game; although I think I preferred Heihachi and Law, Lei Woolong was the coolest fighting character ever. He’s basically an amalgam of all of Jackie Chan’s most famous roles, particularly from Supercop(Police Story 1-3), Drunken Master(2), and his older Kung Fu flicks.

    Tekken 3 was my jam since it was the first and only Tekken I purchased. Love the music through and through. Hwoarang and Xiaoyu(‘Shao-you’, I think) were my characters, but dammit, Brett, I’m totally with you on the downer of discovering one’s real (lack of) abilities in gaming. It’s not just with video games either. It seems there’s always two groups of people in competition; those who play for fun(even if they want to win) and those who play to win(even if they have fun). I like to think I’m near the top of the first pile. But no matter what I’m playing, whether it’s Street Fighter 2 or Cyberball or Tekken 3 or Foosball or soccer or darts or scrabble or drums or rapping or whatever, there’s always a point in time where I come in contact with the people who play to win. Playing them shows how bad I suck and how much work I have to put in if I ever want to become decent.

    But more importantly, it’s those encounters that remind me that I play for fun. And to get to that upper tier, I have to play to win and at that point it’s not very fun anymore. In my case, I almost always end up choosing to be mediocre at something I enjoy, instead of working my ass off to be marginally good at something I end up hating.

    • Oh, and since you brought up weird characters, how about that Dr. Bosconovich! I knew some guys who could tear it up with him, but I couldn’t even make him stand up.

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