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What other games are the 'Tekken 4' of their franchise?

Deleted member 45617

Banned
Jul 4, 2018
1,133
I cant name a feel like it, I want to know games that seem to have outmatched and embraced their legacy of being the 'black sheep' of the series, ones that are cooler, darker and different.

Nothing has matched that with Tekken 4 for me, despite being unanimously hated by the competitive community for legit reasons, because its really not a balanced game, everything about it was brave and ambitious and so so fresh, the ominous soundtrack (focusing on ambient as opposed to the hardcore EDM of later titles), the radically different look of the characters, the serious tone, the asymmetrical stages (for better or for worse!)

latest


Look at this stage, doesnt look very conventional for a fighting stage does it? Its vertical with all kinds of hazards in the way, but the real kicker is the music



This is when you know this is nothing like any other Tekken game you've played before, and every other stage is just like it, the Jungle, the Airport, the Arena etc.



You'll never get characters looking like this again either:

Tekken-4-King-Concept-Sketch.jpg

62670c225583c3972521129aa3eccc89.jpg


What other games are that one 'weird' game that still did so much right, the other closest one I can think of is Apollo Justice but that felt mostly mechanically the same to the original Ace Attorney games.
 
Lunaray

Lunaray

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,731
Legend of Mana. It was somewhat perceived as the black sheep of the Mana series when it came out, but nearly everything about it has aged amazingly well.
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,344
Dark Souls 2 comes to mind! Lots of people (with bad taste) hate on it, but it also has a lot of great things that don't return in the other games like more customizable difficulty, power stance, crazy build variety, etc.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 45617

Banned
Jul 4, 2018
1,133
Village said:
Just wanna say tekken 4 has the best sound track
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Agreed, an absolute TRIUMPH for the Namco Sound System, up there with the Ace Combat games and the early Ridge Racers. An example of sound working perfectly with vision and tone.

Lunaray said:
Legend of Mana. It was somewhat perceived as the black sheep of the Mana series when it came out, but nearly everything about it has aged amazingly well.
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People disliked Legend of Mana?! I quite enjoyed it!

daxy said:
Dark Souls 2 comes to mind! Has its issues but it also has a lot of great things that don't return in the other games like more customizable difficulty, power stance, crazy build variety, etc.
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Yes!! Still an absolute blast to play, thematically quite similar to the others but all those subtle mechanical differences really add up.
 

Syril

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,895
It's a little weird because it was also the last Art of Fighting game, but Art of Fighting 3 was such a radical departure from the other 2 games it was crazy (in Japan it was even called Art of Fighting Gaiden). It ditched almost all the characters, moved to a new setting, changed the style from gritty to super vivid and colorful with rotoscoped animation and mechanics that played like a 3D fighter in 2D but also with 2D style special moves and supers.
 
GinoFelino

GinoFelino

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,234
Super Mario Sunshine wasn't cooler or darker, but it's still the black sheep of the franchise for sure.
 
I Wanna Be The Guy

I Wanna Be The Guy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
16,802
Grand Theft Auto IV. Very hated by many for legit reasons, but still there's so many things GTA IV does that are above any other GTA game. It was certainly unique and quite the divisive game. My opinion of GTA IV is much higher today than it was on release.
 
Wood Man

Wood Man

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,449
Suikoden 4 - Only one in the series to have 4 members instead of 6 while in combat. Long boring ocean travel. Plus the story being set hundreds of years in the past was the first time we went back instead of progressing the timeline forward. Also other games in the series does a good job in placing every character in your crew with a story and purpose. S4 has a lot of characters who are just ploped in there with little to no story.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 45617

Banned
Jul 4, 2018
1,133
I Wanna Be The Guy said:
Grand Theft Auto IV. Very hated by many for legit reasons, but still there's so many things GTA IV does that are above any other GTA game. It was certainly unique and quite the divisive game. My opinion of GTA IV is much higher today than it was on release.
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Another great one, but I never understood it, what was the reasons? It was slightly less over the top? The cars were a bit too floaty? Niko couldnt get fat and wear a gimp suit? Liberty City was an absolute joy to explore and play around in, never felt like it shouldve been overshadowed by the equally legendary San Andreas.

JusDoIt said:
You've basically said Tekken 4 is the SFIII of Tekken, OP.
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Well, shit I have done havent I? Jazzy NYC is a great track
 
The Bear

The Bear

Forest Animal
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
4,211
Ratchet Deadlocked/Gladiator comes to mind. Tried to be darker, cooler and edgier compared to the other games in the series, and then fell by the wayside quickly in favor of later games in the franchise. It's a bit shame, it had pretty decent combat.
 
Vorpal

Vorpal

Member
Nov 4, 2017
365
SOR5 said:
People disliked Legend of Mana?! I quite enjoyed it!
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God did they ever. A lot of people just didn't get that the story. They were expecting the standard 30 tale of a couple rag-tag heroes coming together to save the world. Instead they got smaller stories that show the adventures of what everyone in the world was up to.
 

Deleted member 47076

User requested account closure
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Aug 25, 2018
1,048
Prince_of_Persia_Warrior_Within_PS2__46257.1527901194.jpg


I liked the tonal shift but it seemed to have pretty mixed reactions from others - a lot of people saying it was trying too hard to be edgy. 'The Two Thrones' was a little more like 'Sands of Time.'
 
Noisepurge

Noisepurge

Corrupted by Vengeance
Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,571
Syril said:
It's a little weird because it was also the last Art of Fighting game, but Art of Fighting 3 was such a radical departure from the other 2 games it was crazy (in Japan it was even called Art of Fighting Gaiden). It ditched almost all the characters, moved to a new setting, changed the style from gritty to super vivid and colorful with rotoscoped animation and mechanics that played like a 3D fighter in 2D but also with 2D style special moves and supers.
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Garou for Fatal Fury and Street Fighter 3 did similar revamps and are considered the best entries even though the cast was really odd :D
 
Korigama

Korigama

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,611
Hm, don't really agree with Apollo Justice doing so much right when it made such a mess of things that later Ace Attorney games are still cleaning up, but I did indeed enjoy Tekken 4 in spite of the fact that competitive players hate it.

Chrono Cross is still divisive to this very day for how different it was.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 45617

Banned
Jul 4, 2018
1,133
Rommaz said:
Yeah I was gonna mention SF3. But unlike Tekken 4, people still kinda liked SF3 later on(3rd strike at least). Apart from the soundtrack, which is amazing and sometimes the tone I see no love for T4 now lol
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I mean, even the announcer is chilled out just like the game, they literally made it impossible for people to think "just another tekken game"

 
Pariah

Pariah

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,949
Third Strike, clearly. And I have to say it once again, Tekken's music during the PS2 era was fantastic. A very nice detail from Namco to include these OSTs in Tekken 7.
 
No Depth

No Depth

Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,406
SOR5 said:
People disliked Legend of Mana?! I quite enjoyed it!
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It was very heavily disliked when it launched. Mostly due to the hurt of Seiken 3 not being localized still very fresh in most Mana fans minds(it had only released a few years prior).

Legend was such a stark turn from expectations that most didn't give it much of a chance really. People really loved SoM, they wanted Seiken 3, they got something not as recognizeable as Mana instead. It was an uphill battle to win back that goodwill.

Somewhat similarly is Banjo Nuts and Bolts. Brilliant game and concept, reviled because it wasn't Banjo 3. (Fans are crazy tho, N&B was bloody fantastic and I adored BK)
 
Zephy

Zephy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,191
Devil May Cry 2 obviously. Less funny, more serious and edgy Dante, universally hated game. I still enjoyed it a lot at the time.
 
BrunOz

BrunOz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,262
Brazil
I loved how fresh Tekken 4 was, played it a lot more than Tekken 5 back in the day.

Also, the OST is one of my favorites from the series:





I think Street Fighter III and Mortal Kombat 3 shares the same energy I've felt when playing all these games for the first time.
 

Deleted member 10551

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Oct 27, 2017
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For me this is definted as an ambitious game that utterly failed due to something simple they should have thought about

SamSho 3
VF 3
SoulCal 3 console
 

Deleted member 442

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,431
It didn't go darker, but I'd say Yoshi's Island was pretty different from what came before and what was becoming increasingly popular for 2d platformers at the time. Looking back I would say it is one of the black sheep of the mainline 2d Mario series.

The pre-rendered art style in the Donkey Kong Country series was the hot new thing and the cutesy approach seemed like a risky direction to push the series in at the time. Coverage at the time was still generally positive but it would go on to be overshadowed by the growth of the 3D platformers in the N64 era.

Despite that the child-like crayon drawing style worked well for what it was intended as and the game really pushed what was possible on the Super Nintendo.

It had aspects of a 2d action game similar to Mega Man through the use of projectiles that could ricochet off the environment. You could get hit more than two or three times without having to replenish your health. You could still jump on enemies and eat them as in the previous title, but the core mechanic to defend yourself and explore your surroundings was through Yoshi's eggs.

So with all that in mind it was somehow still a Mario game. You still collected coins and ran across donut blocks. The cast included a set of recognisable inclusions from past Mario games. It is kinda crazy to look back on given how the mainline series has stuck to a core design since then.

Outside of a mixed set of sequels that have never really recaptured what made the original so good it is a game that managed to be popular at the time but somewhat ignored after the fact. So yeah, Yoshi's Island is the Tekken 4 of the Super Mario Brothers series.
 
CyberCaesar

CyberCaesar

Banned
Mar 12, 2019
236
Tekken 8 should introduce a Legacy Stage DLC Pack. Tekken 4 had some great stages. To answer your question Soul Blade.
 
NESpowerhouse

NESpowerhouse

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,721
Virginia
Remember getting the game almost 16 years ago for my 7th birthday - only to have the game taken away a few months later because my brother couldn't keep his mouth shut and ratted to my dad that there was nudity in the game (there really wasn't, he was just an idiot). I knew my dad kept the game in his dresser drawer, but I never took if back because I was a square. Then we moved a few years later, and it seemed to just get lost.
 
Unknownlight

Unknownlight

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 2, 2017
10,643
Brawl might be the least popular Smash game, but it was definitely the most ambitious. The bizarre "dark and gritty" atmosphere, the main theme with the epic Latin chanting, the hours of Subspace Emissary cutscenes, and the strangest and most inexplicable of all... tripping.
 
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