Tekken (Series)

[Moonface]

@Mr EliteL: Oh you already knew that was a thing? I assume you did it at some point in T4 which is how you learned of it? I genuinely never knew that could happen until I shared that video.

[Mr EliteL]

Yeah I knew you can hurt yourself like that, don't remember what game I learnt it in, also can't remember if it's still a thing in more recent games though. I might be playing T7 soon before tomorrow so I'll try that Lei move to see if it does.

[Moonface]

Wait, that isn't just in T4?! What game did you come across it in then?


Also I feel like a really shit Tekken fan when I keep finding out more and more things about the games I played that I didn't know were a thing. I was watching this video because I was bored and paused it after the part about items came up (3:20) because the only thing I really remember from TTT2 at all about items is Bruce's chickens, and I don't even remember if they could be used for an attack or were just something that would show up behind him as a gag item. I don't think I saw all that stuff and just forgot about it because it's too ridiculous to not remember things like that. XD

[Mr EliteL]

I checked in Tekken 7 and yep, Lei can still slam into the wall jumping back off the opponent in that grab move, taking damage too. So I'm taking it being in T7 means T4-T7 stages with walls it can happen. I probably saw it an earlier game but just can't remember which. Not only that but you might know already that Nina and Paul can hurt themselves in a particular move if they miss, Paul's version of a moonsaults like what Law does, Nina's is her doing a front flip. Likely more where the character hurts themself. . An obvious one you should know of is Yoshimitsu stabbing himself (Hara-kiri) or spinning away.

Watched that part and yeah I didn't use character items in TTT2, so they're new to me too all apart from Miharu's photo and the chickens. The only item I cared for that can be used as an attack/effect the opponent is the pizza in T7.

[Moonface]

I didn't know Paul could try to do his own version of Law's moon saults. Thinking on it more, taking self damage on walls isn't really a bug when considering that doing that move in real life by a wall would get that result, so it actually makes sense but my first thought when seeing it was that it was a bug. XD

[Moonface]

I almost put this in the Tekken 8 thread but realized it doesn't have anything to do with that particular game, so back to this other Tekken thread we have!

So someone shared a cosplay of King's Tekken 3 P2 outfit on Twitter which got Harada's attention and led to him sharing the story behind the outfit design:

Wow this is great, and I like the fact that you can tell it's the KING even though he's not wearing a mask.
The KING 2P costume from TEKKEN 3 is still very popular, even though a quarter of a century has passed.

This costume started with my concept in the 90's that 2P should wear the Armor King mask and be a Heel wrestler. 
Then... The artist assigned to the project uploaded texture data with the kanji for "悪 (Heel / Evil / Villain)" as a joke at first.
One day, when I launched the development test build and saw "Evil" written on the back of the KING, I laughed out loud.
The artist grinned and said, "See, now that's Heel, right?" He said.
And this was very popular with all the development team members, so we officially adopted it.
I felt it was a little sad to use only one kanji character, so I asked the artist, I asked the artist to put "Mishima Heavy Industries" in the design, and this design was completed.

However, The question of whether this "kanji for evil" would be understood in countries other than Japan crossed my mind for a moment.
In the 90's, the awareness of language localization was still very limited, so I left it as it was.
At that time, arcade cabinets were still in operation worldwide and TEKKEN3 was released in arcades all over the world, but one of the most common questions among the letters (real letters, not e-mails) we received was "What does the King's back say? was the question.
At the time, Namco's sales team pointed out that this would be difficult for people overseas to read, but conversely, I believe that it was because it was written in kanji that it became an iconic costume (or so I like to think).

Source:  Twitter

I honestly never gave a thought to the kanji on that outfit (nor any other outfit that features foreign text actually) and I also never really paid attention to the fact that King is wearing an Armor King mask for this outfit either. Between this and the P3 outfit for Law in that game, I wonder if there are any other outfits in Tekken 3 that have a deeper meaning or represent something that players didn't realize at the time.

[Mr EliteL]

I never thought the mask was actually meant to be Armor King's but just thought it was very similar because King was mentored by him. Also didn't really pay attention to the back of his shirt, just thought the red symbol/kanji was to do with Tekken and nothing more. Knowing now it's meant to be King as a heel is interesting. I guess Armor King normally was a "heel" wrestler then. Armor King II certainly is sort of as he's always after Marduk for what he did.

[Moonface]

Even taking the character personalities out of it, I could see Armor King always being a heel wrestler just because of the appearance he has. My guess as to why King wears a mask like it in T3 is to have one that fits the heel vibe better, pays respect to who trained him following the death of King I, and probably to have Armor King present in some way in-game since he isn't playable.
The wiki also says Armor King 1 disliked King 1 in T1, but then they became friends in T2, with their friendship path closely resembling the one King II and Marduk have.