Genre: Action
Perspective: Side view
Visual: 2D scrolling
Art: Anime / Manga
Gameplay: Fighting
Interface: Direct control
Published by: Namco Limited
Developed by: Namco Limited
Released: 1999
Platform: Arcade Machine
The fourth game in the Tekken fighting game series. Tag Tournament is not a continuation of the series, but an independent game, and has no plot.
Gameplay
The gameplay of the game is identical to Tekken 3. Players in Tekken Tag Tournament can fight in a group of two characters. At any time in a match, the player can press a button on the gamepad to switch to another character, allowing the hero to regain hit points. The group can make tag combos or special rolls. In some cases, the character's lifebar may flash - this means that the character has a lot of power for a certain time. The player loses the battle if one of his fighters has lost all his hit points. In the event of a timeout, the team with the most health wins.
The game features more than 35 characters that have previously appeared in Tekken 2 and Tekken 3. In addition, there is a new boss Unknown, similar to Mokujin, as she can imitate the fighting style of any character, as well as change the fighting style to others by pressing the analog stick.
Arenas
As such, arenas in Tekken Tag Tournament do not have names, they are named after characters. Most arenas in the game have two options: A and B, they differ slightly from each other. All arenas (except "Unknown") are remakes of arenas from Tekken 3.
- Law-A and Law-B - Shaolin monastery near the port with ships. When the action takes place in the Law-B version of the arena, monks can be seen practicing combat moves. A remake of the "Martial Arts Dojo" arena.
- Yoshimitsu-A and Yoshimitsu-B - snowy forest. Almost identical to the "Forest" scene from Tekken 3, except that some of the elements are in a different location.
- Xiaoyu is an amusement park, very similar to its original only, except that now the level is more like more cafes. Nearby are a carousel on which fans ride. A remake of the "Carnival" arena.
- Hwoarang - dojo, high in the mountains. Almost completely similar to the Taekwondo Dojo from Tekken 3, except that the action in the arena now takes place during a thunderstorm, and unlike the original, a cleaner can be seen near the arena.
- Lei is a street in Hong Kong filled with neon lights and fans. It is a remake of the Hong Kong Street arena.
- Ogre - Ogre's lair in Mexico. It is a remake of the Ogre's Temple arena.
- School-A and School-B are Mishima Polytechnic School. They are remakes of the High School arena. Among the fans you can see Paul Phoenix and Panda. Unlike the original, there are no football goals and a giant statue of Heihachi Mishima.
- Jin-A and Jin-B are a dojo in the mountains. According to fans, this is where Jin and Jun lived. They are remakes of the Tiger Dojo Tokyo arena. It is also where the Tekken Bowl mini-game takes place.
- Nina-A and Nina-B are a large military complex. They are remakes of the "Laboratory Courtyard" arena. Also in this arena you can see a bunch of soldiers of the Tekken squad, and robots of the Jack-2 series.
- Eddy-A and Eddy-B are a tropical island. They are remakes of the Grassy Land arena. This is where the action of an alternate version of the cutscene takes place, where people are replaced by animals such as Panda, Kuma, Roger and Alex.
- King - tower in the mountains. It is a remake of the Skyring arena. Unlike the original, this arena is a military tower of the Mishima Zaibatsu, as can be seen from the large number of Tekken Squad soldiers in the arena.
- Heihachi is the entrance to the ogre's lair. It is a remake of the Mexican Temple arena. Unlike the original, the action takes place not inside the temple, but outside, and this version is very different from the original.
- Paul is a remake of the Punk Alley arena. As the title of the original arena suggests, the action takes place in an alley filled with punks.
- Unknown is the only arena in the game that is not a remake of the arena from Tekken 3. The action takes place, apparently, in a temple, in which you can see a large number of statues of angels, red candles and strange symbols on the floor.
Characters
Tekken Tag Tournament is not part of the main Tekken storyline. This allowed the developers to bring back characters from past entries in the series (such as Baek Doo San, Bruce Irvin, Jun Kazama, Kunimitsu, and Michelle Chang). The age of the characters in this game corresponds to the age they had in the last game in which they appeared. But there are also characters that didn't return from the previous games: First King, Marshall Law, First Jack, First Kuma, Gon, and Doctor Bosconovitch (appears as a spectator in the Tekken Bowll mini-game).
Two new characters appeared - Tetsujin and Unknown. Tetsujin is a silver colored version of Mokujin. Unknown is the main boss of the game. Both of these new characters mimic the fighting styles of other characters.