Tekken 4...20 Years Later 

Tekken 4 really gives off that new era/new century/new millennium vibe its actually amazing. It was the early 2000s and since it was a new millennium, game developers back then actually tried to take risks and tried to make something new. And tekken 4 was exactly like that, it was so different from tekken 3, in terms of pretty much everything, gameplay, presentation, story, stages, costumes, etc. And even to this day 20 years later it's still super fun to play, and the stages still look amazing

Tekken has always been about the Mishima's but T4 made every other character story feel JUST as important. The stories were gritty, dark, and full of personal details; like what's really at their core. So good.

Might be the dark horse of the series, but it's the absolute GOAT for me in everything besides gameplay.

3:40 (Edit: it's 3:09 now) Heihachi:"Son, let us put our differences aside and pummel this random spectator." Kazuya:"Bet."

Paul had the best ending, it felt like an ending to his story.

This was the first one I started off with as kid. I remember my dad buying this game for the PS2 and I immediately fell in love with it. I still remember being so drawn to Kazuya for the first time after watching that bad ass intro. I owe it all to this game for starting my love for Tekken and for making my childhood memorable

I love Tekken 4's Aesthetics, the stages feels unique and realistic settings and the music are so underrated aswell

Tekken 4 is one of the most memorable games i've played. They've done such a fantastic job with the character designs, stage designs, sounds overall, soundtrack and atmoshpere. I never knew it was poorly recieved, such a shame.

This game is such a time-capsule of the early 2000's. While people didn't like them in terms of competitve play, the stages were class. Just loved moving around them.

Tekken 4 has a special place in my heart till this very day

Tekken 4 is indeed iconic

My favorite part of tekken 4 is how alot of the endings connect to make a timeline of events. The mishima endings all lead up to the scenes in hon maru with jins ending being the final part. Steves story connects with Ninas as he's tracking her down and Lei tags along too and almost captures her. All the characters felt like they knew each other. Really want tekken 8 to have the flashiness of 7s big main story but the gritty and meaningful storylines of tekken 4.

I miss tekken 4's gritty realism

I miss this dark side of Tekken I can relate to a lot of the characters like Law & Paul having depression & drinking alcohol real people problems I liked & that music with the narrator made it so much better I wish they can bring this style back I think they took inspiration from the “Twisted Metal Black” game since they came out around the same time & that game was really dark

Heihachi crowd surfin was hilarious. Also, T4 had the best story telling with the artwork intro and stuff.

early 2000's fighting games are just different man, this, vf4 evo, guilty gear x and x2, kof 2002, mvc2, cvs2, the og melty blood, mk deception, doa 3, soulcal 2 i could go on... lots of great, experimental, innovative fighting games with a very unique atmosphere, the fgc isn't bad rn but i wish that we could see something like the change of aesthetic in the genre like how that era did again.

I remember playing this on PS2 back in the day. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. The graphics were insane for the time. Such a jump from PS1.

Tekken 4 had the definitive shift in tone when it came to overall character development & backstories: - Marshall Law started getting drunk & overweight - Paul had become superficial & uninspired - Nina was in turmoil over having to possibly assassinate her own biological son - Lee Chaolan going in hiding & building his own tech company under a secret identity - King II wanting revenge against Marduk for killing Armor King - Bryan fighting to stay alive in the most literal sense - Literally EVERYTHING with the Mishima's with Jin unlearning most of the Mishima fighting style and in a sense becoming his own character purely out of spite & his Devil Gene starting to awaken, Kazuya's resurrection & Heihachi still being the most sadistic and cutthroat parent/grandparent in modern video game history.

Tekken 4's overall atmosphere, stages and OST are so dark and gritty. Jin's hoodie, Yoshimitsu's silver armor with red eyes and "mane?" and Kazuya with shirt and sunglasses are my fav costumes in the entire series.

Tekken 4's gritty realism is what kept me hooked on the series since my childhood. Let's hope they'll bring some aspects of it back in Tekken 8 Edit: This did not age well

I played T4 for the first time inside an arcade in my city. It was mindblowing, the art, the music, costumes, stages. I can see why it's hated by long time tekken competitive players but we were all young and casual players at the time and this game was incredible. My favorite in the franchise.

As a young teen this game just blew me away, didn't matter that I was terrible at it I still loved it haha!

06:00 but Jin mains DID have a meltdown back then. The whole reason Devil Jin exists as a playable character is because of fan demand for T3 Jin's moveset to be brought back. And the reason Jin has a different moveset in T4 was also because of fan demand. Fans demanded Kazuya be brought back and so in order to avoid Kazuya and Jin playing too similarly to each other and have Jin feel like his own character rather than a Kazuya clone, Bamco completely re-worked Jin's kit.

It’s sad really… Harada san gave his all into tekken 4 I believe his first time leading the project and he delievered the absolute best atmosphere and story of any fighting game in history. But the backlash over the gameplay was so severe that it really hurted Harada san I think that’s why tekken story wasn’t ever like this again which is a shame because they backlash not about this amazing story and vibe

Tekken 4 got one of the best fighting game soundtracks ever in my book

3:40 The Mishima way of bonding

God I miss this tone and atmosphere. The focus was on an actual martial arts tournament. The outfits, the stages, the music, the backstories all reflected this. So good.

Man this game was the best thing I had ever seen when I was a kid. I still have the replays from when I was a kid saved on the memory card. Seeing Kazuya kick ass in the intro and being able to play him on the spot was hype for me.

Tekken 4 looked so futuristic

First time playing Tekken 4 was at an arcade in Santa Cruz...my mind was blown seeing those graphics. At that time, I've only played Tekken 3 on those cheap demo disc that Sony puts out, but damn son I went all in T4 after being mesmerized at the arcade. Good times.

Never expected any glitches on tekken 4, seeing them yeah holy shit.

TEKKEN 4 PS2 Demo was my first TEKKEN expirience and then I got TEKKEN 5 for my birthday when I was in primary school 😁

I remember the drive home from gamestop after buying tekken 4. being so excited to pop it in I opened up the case and read as much as I could about the characters. Marduk being the one I was most interested in

I’m someone who went from tekken tag to tekken 5 as a kid, so I never played tekken 4 until this year and I must say it’s become my favorite. The sound track and the stages are so great, airport especially. And I love the announcer voice

It's soooo iconic that even Harada wants to do a remake of this particular itteration but is just skeptical about how the game could be received and since it wouldnt further advance the story... tho istill think that they could easily give us those T4 vibes by making T8 having stages and musics inspired from T4 and add more side content like Tekken Force (with daily/weekly challenges and score ranks) and some other new stuff within the atmosphere of T4

First Tekken game I owned and still have loads of fond memories of it

Tekken 4 is Peak🔥🔥🔥

4:13 Hearing Halcyon On+on by Orbital strikes my nostalgic chord... I just love that 303 bassline.

Tekken 4 and 5 are by far my favourite Tekken games of the Franchise. Especially Tekken 4 is sourly the most unique and underrated (mostly because of the choices that hindered the competitive scene) but it is my favorite Tekken to date, because of the very seriousness Vibes of the Story aspects perspective. The seriousness atmosphere of Tekken 4 it's on another level in my opinion. The soundtrack is what gets me the most next to the game's atmosphere. With soundtracks like: Fetus(Prologue), Authentic Sky, Unihabited(Mall Area) Didgerhythm(Jungle Area) Touch and Go(Airport Area) and Kitsch(Beach Area) and The Inner Shrine(Hon-Maru Temple) and others soundtracks, For me Tekken 4 remains even in these days the most Unique and Authentic Tekken game of the series. ☯️

I hope that each character in tekken 8 gets a lengthy story like in 4. In 7, they obviously didn't have the budget to make anything substantial for the endings so many just relied on cheap humor. They could take advantage of T8 being the ending of the Mishima saga to also close out many characters' storylines and actually create something worthwhile for each character.

Tekken 4 has that exclusive mysticalness that is hard to describe. It's what it makes it unique compared to other series.

Dude, SAME. Tekken 4 was my first tekken too, i immediatelly fell in love with the intro and Kaz was my instant favorite. Didn't even know TTT was a thing (then i bought it of course). Tekken 4 started my love for the series, what a gem.

4:18 LOL THEY WHERE LITERALLY FIGHTING ON PEOPLE

This was my first tekken game and I absolutely loved it.

The best one in my opinion. -Realistic, grounded, & practical in that everything here can happen in real life without so much emphasis on supernatural entities (except in the Mishima bloodline). -plot invested & individualized characters and not so much sideshows in 7 where the entire focus was just Kazuya, Heihachi, and Akuma (which was nothing but a cash grab & I thought it was bullshit). For example, Paul Phoenix in 4 was practically a cocky badass fighter that could back it up and keep partying that people got festered by it, like a Mayweather/Silva/McGregor type of guy. -To now a complete poser and jackass that can't be taken seriously, that his moves and antics mimic the biggest tools in the world, Logan and Jake Paul. 😩😩😩😩 Everyone here in 4 had a contribution and an actual story to seem as if it's all pieces to one giant puzzle. A damn shame Harada upped it on the fantasy/forbidden door crossovers and unrealistic scenarios in that you ought to call it "Kazuya Mishima" because he is the only fighter in this game that matters, F everyone else.

Awesome tribute! Tekken 4 had such good atmosphere and aside from the fighting bears and robots, it's probably the most grounded and realistic game in the franchise

Fast as fuck for this one coach

Wandering Flame! Bro, love this channel and I grew up with Tekken 4 as well. I hope Tekken 8 will learn from its best times 1 - 4 and learn from its worst…

highly underrated game, Castel was a legend. demon darkness is still the greatest combo video ever created.

Loving the videos like these lately Arsenalty, keep it up

amazing video. you really poured your heart out and wrote a love letter to this game. thank you.

I’ve always wanted a copy of tekken 4, my friend found one at comic con. He told me this game was one of his favorites on ps2. When we got to my house, we played the game to pieces on my ps2 just by simply playing matches with each other. I was so happy to play this gem.

Tekken 4 solved that problem that arcade mode ending stories had at least for me which was having a canon ending with Jin's extended story. The best part is it felt pretty organic as a change cause it's just so cool when you get that story pay off of Jin finally meeting Kazuya and all three Mishima's in one room Then the Hon Maru theme kicks in for the most intense fight. And the Bosses weren't even unplayable super gods just some regular dudes you can pick the CPU was just set to Maximum Weave Mode

Tekken tag and 4 plus god of war and dmc 3 were my playstation 2 days man what a blast even for the time I always thought that when TEK 4 released that it was beautiful still do

Tekken 4 was my first Tekken game.

It's crazy how much better the characters look in T4 than T5

Excellent video, really interesting and fun seeing all the bugs/glitches, and learning around the care that went towards the storytelling

I still listen to all the music of all the stages on Spotify! They have a profile under the name of Namco Sounds. And have a Tekken 4 playlist!

The game had a very relaxed and quite dark atmosphere that's why it was so special the whole aesthetic also has this early 2000s japanese games/anime style 🤗

this game changed my life!!! ill never forget the first moment i saw a tekken4 arcade cab... my local movie theater had an imported board from japan!!! it was god like!!!! I remember running to my local gamestop to see if it was available for pre order yet

I thought about making a video like this for years! Good video man Tekken 4 was one of my first games on PS2 and it got me into the entire franchise I loved Tekken ever since

I'd say the Tekken writers were fresh off of some Hajime No Ippo when they were sprinkling in experimentation with all the story beats and features. Probably the most immersed I ever got was when I was in T4 as a kid, running straight up hands.

Autherntic Sky has been and probably will always be my favourite bit of music from any video game ever, just perfect

It was my first tekken as well and I’m never gonna forget how this game made me feel as a kid. It was dark for story reasons but also really beautiful. It illustrated the new era in gaming, the ui and narrator made it seem like we skipped a generation and landed in the future. It really fits the ps2’s whole aesthetic and it’s what I immediately think of when the ps2 is brought up.

4 made it clear that everyone had personalities and their own goals and decisions to make. I’m glad that kind of continued. It also felt more reality based with the locations and storyline “twists” for some

I'm so glad you touched on the impact of the prologues, the way you described it down to the narrator is exactly how I felt. As a kid these were so cool to me and I would watch them over and over.

Tekken 4 was the very first Tekken I played and loved ever since

The thing I always loved the most about Tekken was how each game, even with familiar mechanics, had a whole different vibe and style. Tekken 1 was still kind of finding its feet and was a little cartoony, but two had great character designs, a tone that was serious but without being grim, and the soundtrack has some of my favourite pieces of music in the world. Tekken 3 had the whole hard rock air about it, with more urban levels, a guitar-heavy soundtrack and a UI design that played well off it. Tekken 4 has another creative and varied soundtrack that has the diverse instrumentation of 2, but still felt fresh, and a warm and vibrant visual style. Every game from Tekken 5 onward has felt like iterations of the same style. The logo has barely changed, the soundtracks have all started to blur together, and the character designs all have the same tone and texture to them. I still enjoy the games, but I do miss when every new Tekken felt fresh.

About the glitching part, I remember Yoshimitsu had a spinning kick you could abuse and not let the opponent get up. My brother would always do that and make me cry. Ah, good times.

Tekken 8 needs to be like Tekken 4 in terms of it's aesthetic.

Quality content as always ski

Great video. I can see Tekken 4 from where I'm sitting, safely in one of my towers of games it sits. I wonder if my PS2 even works, too bad there isn't a Tekken Collection for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X with 60 fps and boosted visuals. I'd buy that straight away.

One feature I loved about this game, was in training it told you the name of the move you were executing. Sorely missing feature from the current iteration.

Tekken 4's intro will remain one of the most hype things ever in my childhood

Tekken 4 is still my favorite game. It was just unique

My favorite Tekken ever. It wasva very ambitious one. I loved how the gameplay felt. Great stories, music, and the most aesthetically gorgeous stages of all time.

Tekken 4 was my first entry to the Tekken series. My brothers, sisters, nieces and I played this a lot. I usually went for Xiaoyu, since I really liked to play with her. I loved the costumes, the stages and the game modes. Almost 100%-ed the game...the only thing we did not got through, was to complete Tekken Force and get the Dojo. I always fell flat, when I reached Heihachi and gave up. 😭

No backdash cancel, no supernatural creature, no wavedash, and pure poking oriented, broken wallsplat, awesome stage, super friendly for the newbie

It was my first tekken game too and I still love it as much as I did before

I streamed this game again after so many years and it was amazing to go back to. I started on 5 but I have so much love and respect for 4 for its atmosphere, ost, its worlds, and im a fan of the arcade hardware it was built on. those water effects in jungle still take me aback

Feel like it’s the forgotten child of the franchise, but still loved.

Tekken 4, while not perfect, was and still is my favourite Tekken game of the series. I liked how each character had deep and meaningful personalities. Music was fantastic. Stages still look amazing to this day. I had endless battles with my bro back in the day too. This was a very very special game

Thank you for the music bro, my favorite tekken content creator (don't tell Main Man) lol

Awesome heartfelt work.

Love music choice at the end with Nausicaa DOS by Rukuunetsu. Good music choice mate

When I was a kid I got my ps2 around 10yo and got Tekken 4 and FFX in a bundle, my father left the house when I was around 7 yo and both games had a tremendous impact on me due to their stories and relationships, your intro with the ffx music reminded me of that and I feel a bit dizzy and nostalgic now, good content :)

This was the first Tekken I was introduced to. So nostalgic.

Solid video T4 captured my childhood and this really puts it into words

Tekken 4 was my first game lol. I was like 7. Music and stages were next level

Tekken 4 still has be best storyline of all Tekken games. From Jin learning a new fighting style to Lei Wulong going into depression after his ex dumped him to Bryan fighting to live. I bought Tekken 4 during my high school years and I enjoyed it.

What stood out to me about this game was the improvement in graphics and the great soundtrack. I didn't appreciate it enough at the time for its great story as well. Nowadays, with all the world-ending events in 6 and 7, there's no space for deep personal stories for the characters like in this one. It would be silly for someone to join the tournament now looking for money or fame when the world is ending

So great to see Tekken 4 getting the love and attention it deserved all these years recently. The game could've been the Third Strike of Tekken if it had complex and competitive gameplay. Like Third Strike, Tekken 4 has such a unique presentation not just compared to other Tekken games but to other fighting games in general the same way Third Strike had this urban street feel to it that no other game has been able to replicate since.

absolutely wild timing that I picked up a used copy of Tekken 4 on the day you uploaded this

Tekken 4’s atmosphere is still unmatched to this day. It’s nonnegotiable.

I will never forget when I first got my PS2 and fired up Tekken 4 for the first time and saw Kaz was back. Hard to top that.

Oh Tekken 4 I miss you, it feels like just yesterday when we would have fun. I have so much fun playing the Tekken series my whole life but this definitely was a turning point that made me fall in love.

Tekken4 was my introduction to this franchise. It was so good! It was one of those games that I needed to finish all the stories of all the characters to get to know them and the game.

I always liked the tone and what ever sound effect they used for the narrators voice for the storyline

The prologue music was so EPIC ❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥....It really made you want to get immersed in the character you're playing

4...20 years ago nice arensalty