It's been a year since Kazuya threw his father, Heihachi, off the same cliff he himself plummeted down at the age of five. That little anniversary means that it's just about time for another "King of Iron Fist" Tournament and the world's strongest combatants have assembled to participate. Thus begins
Tekken 2, one of the greatest 3D fighters of all time and, unfortunately for handheld owners, one of the more disappointing PS One-to-PSP ports yet available.
Longtime fans of the series may be asking how a game with Tekken 2's pedigree could disappoint like that, especially since it's the exact same experience we played on the original PlayStation. The simple answer is that Tekken's most important feature, the ability to test your skills against another opponent, are completely disabled in the downloadable port. Contending in arcade, survival, and time attack modes against the PC are fun for awhile, but going solo in the long-term gets repetitive -- especially when you're a playing a fighter this old that has a fully-functional sequel (Dark Resurrection) already available on the system.
Speaking of the Tekken PSP sequel, dedicated players are already aware that Dark Resurrection had response issues with its d-pad controls, and Tekken 2 isn't any different... in fact, it's worse. Even though users can customize their configuration for use with the analog stick instead of the digital arrows, neither setting is very intuitive (giving them a more sluggish and imprecise feel than TDR ever had). Add in the fact that the size of Tekken 2's download is immense (more than 500MB) and that the install time takes awhile because of that size, and you quickly run out of reasons to pick it up.
On the plus side, even after eleven years Tekken 2 is still fun. It added quite a bit of content over the first installment (nine new fighters, chain and back throws, better character balancing, an arranged soundtrack option, etc) and the visual improvements compared to its predecessor were amazing for the time. In truth, Tekken 2's graphics still hold up pretty well on PSP as well; though the polygons are simplistic and low-res, Namco Bandai's PS One emulation is flawless and it really shows off what stellar lighting and a brisk framerate the game had.
Other features worth mentioning include access to a digital version of the original PlayStation One manual, perfect sleep support, quick load times, and decent performance for the two alternate picture modes (none of which are true widescreen). As mentioned earlier, though, Tekken 2's positive aspects are definitely overshadowed by its shortcomings in the control and multiplayer departments.
Closing Comments
Tekken 2 will forever be remembered as one of the most popular and entertaining 3D fighting games of all time (and it deserves to be). The problems with its PSP reincarnation, though, are too big to ignore. It's hurt by sluggish controls, marred by a huge file size that will likely force wannabe owners to pick up new memory sticks, and spoiled by a total lack of two-player support. But that just goes to show you what a great game Tekken 2 was in its day -- because despite those issues, it's still amusing to try out for a few hours, but in the end, you should pick up Dark Resurrection instead.
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