Edit: A lot of people have mentioned that I did not comment on the dynamic changes of the stage tracks in Tekken 4, since they have specific sections designed for round transitions etc. While I did notice that in one of the tunes, I didn't think much of it initially. Upon reading your comments, I am taking a closer look at this feature specifically, and I will do a short follow up video discussing how I feel about this feature in Tekken 4, as well as how that impacts my opinion on some of these songs. It should come out rather soon, so stay tuned! Old: Hope you have fun watching this one! Next up is Tekken 5, and I'm personally very hyped for that one, so I'll see you soon :)
I have a bit of trivia to add: Tekken 5 has a stage in The Devil Within which actually uses an early version of Didgerythm. It doesn't sound as pleasant to the ears, and Kitsch's chord progression is actually used in it!
@@neonthunder3261 I think you're talking about the stage 3 of Devil Within and I think it's a great theme, probably a bit better than Didgerythm, that fits more the Devil Within atmosphere than that Jungle stage I agree.
Hyped as hell for your analysis of 5 >:^J If you appreciated the variety in 4, it's definitely still present there. Might be interesting to directly compare and contrast each track in 5 with their remixes in 5:DR?
Tekken 4 is by far my favorite Tekken ever. One thing I absolutely adore about it is the aesthetic someone labeled "Digital Apocalypse," which is a perfect way to describe the early 00's PS2 era of gaming. I'm glad you finally covered this game
That was „theGamingBritShow“ in his video „The Atmosphere of Tekken 4“, I actually mention this in the video haha He‘s definitely on to something, and I also like this aesthetic. Thanks for watching!
Everything he outlined in that video about that aesthetic is perfect. It’s a shame commercially T4 failed. Then being on the ropes with Tag 2 I doubt something like this will be tried again. But man does T4 deserve the love it gets(everything but the gameplay lol)
For me Tekken 3, Tag and Tekken 4 were absolutely peak Tekken and no other game has come close to that. Yeah, Tekken 5 has a waaay better gameplay and I love all the other posterior Tekken for their gameplay and characters. But the personality these games had was unique. Every scenario was memorable, every game had a distinct style and everything looked so new and handcrafted. Tekken 3 was a revolution, Tekken Tag brought a technical leap and for the first time all the characters in one game and Tekken 4 was a huge technical leap and had its own ideas. It was a game thought for singleplayer while every other Tekken ever since has been thought for MP.
It's really important to mention that the tracks in T4 are formatted differently in gameplay with different rounds, there are specific sections of the tracks that are designed to work as round transitions, the tracks evolve between rounds and slowly more instruments and stuffs are introduced to them as the gameplay continues. I think this is really, REALLY important for tracks like Authentic Sky, where the round transition is a really forceful and chaotic drum hit that adds a sudden hit of energy to an otherwise very calm and foreboding track. Kitsch has a really strong transition too. I think that this is important enough to maybe change how you felt about some tracks, they really change the feel of them.
I don‘t know how I missed that, I‘ll have to take another listen then. If it really changes my opinion on some tracks, I might do a follow up video on this topic. Thanks for pointing this out!
Also, I personally believe the muffled sound for Mob was intentional. As you've pointed out in many of these songs, the choices made are almost telling a story or personifying the stages themselves. I think the muffling was a means to both convey that the music may actually be playing in the underground stage itself and to fit the Fight Club aesthetic.
I remember when this game released on PS2 everyone I knew loved Tekken 4, my family and friends would play it all the time, I wasn't aware that it was "mid" till few years ago
For me tekken 4’s soundtrack is top 10 material. There’s a certain techy ethereal element throughout, even in the darker tracks. That character select theme alone sends me straight to heaven every time.
I have to admit when it comes to atmosphere this is the most comfortable Tekken for me. The music definitely helped set the tone and fit each stage very well.
Tekken 4 was so beautiful, and the darker, more ambient atmosphere felt so nostalgic today as it embodied the new millennium hype that i experienced as a kid. I still remember playing it at EB games back in 2001 for the first time when I was 9.
I really like your presentation style, not overproduced like 90% of RU-vidrs today. Your commentary/analysis is also brief, and pertinent but you still leave room for further elaboration, and you evidently have a competent level of understanding for the topic you're talking about n shit. You also got a real pace and a solid sprinkle of humor here and there, real good stuff. You doing DR with Vanilla Tekken 5 at the same time? If so, good luck cuz that'll be a monumental task coming ahead. Solid Channel Certainly, there's good potential here
Thank you for your kind words, much appreciated! If you have any suggestions on how to improve this series, please let me know :) The plan is to do T5 vanilla and DR seperately, but I‘ll have to check how much overlap there is between them first to really decide.
Tekken 4 highly deserves praise for its OST I'm glad you also see how Tekken 4 is top tier among the Tekken Soundtrack Especially Authentic Sky, Kitsch, & Bit Crusher are among my faves as well as Fear (also cool to point out that Kitsch & Bit Crusher just so happen to be picked as Tekken 4 music reps for Smash Bros. Ultimate. Honestly wish Authentic Sky as well as Touch & Go also made to Smash, at least as remixes given the direction of Smash, but least glad we got Kitsch & Bit Crusher)
ABSOLUTELY , the music in TK4 is UNMATCHED Jet , Fetus , Rooftops , Parking lot , Underground , Arena , Honmaru , Epilogue , i can go on and on and can't say enough great things about the ost
9:14 Those voices are basically telling us the events during Tekken 4. Like how Heihachi started the tournament to lure out Kazuya and Jin from hiding. The mission that’s controlled is the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4.
Long have we waited, Dino content activated! To be real, last 10 months I have been waiting for this part of Tekken-series to be analysed. Its like Christmas, but in summer!
The reason those conga sections seem so overlong and the others so rushed is that the intro was significantly lengthened for the console release to include vignettes of the newcomers. The original was just the Kazuya & Heihachi portion, & the music flowed far, far better.
God this was a breath of fresh air. I'm a longtime fan of VGM as an artform and a """historian""" of the medium (for lack of better wording), and have long felt that analysis and critique of it is hugely underserved in both written and video spaces. Its either barely mentioned, rife with misinformation (unintentional or intentional) and blatant editorialism + and overall lack of knowledge when it is, or its focus is way too narrow (you can't breathe for analysis, good or bad, of Nintendo music, but good bloody luck if you want anything else). In this video alone, you've shown a commitment to letting the music breathe and speak for itself as much as the points where you express your thoughts, you have clearly done at least some research + have bothered to properly credit the names of the musicians involved (something that even some VGM analysis focused channels fail to do outside of the biggest of big name composers), and you approach the critique with technical understanding of music composition and production in a way that comes across naturally and quickly brings people who aren't in-the-know up to speed so they don't feel lost (which as a musician myself, I greatly appreciate- I don't like the idea of knowledge and terminology being gatekept or unexplained). I don't expect our opinions are always going to line up- hell, in this video alone I disagree with some points (I'm a sucker for synthesised text-to-speech voices- especially really-obviously-fake ones- and feel they do add to T4's musical atmosphere, and I both feel the extremely compressed and washed out mixing/texture of some of the tracks is deliberate + it works for me and I like it), but if I wanted someone to always agree with, I'd film myself and watch that. I'm excited to check out more of your work in this vein. Also, a resource that may be helpful for future video production; VGMDb.net. Its a site that catalogues official videogame soundtrack releases, and quite a few official releases not only name individual composers for tracks, but in some cases credits any session musicians involved, the sound engineers/mixers etc., and of course can give you access to official song titles if such information isn't confirmed elsewhere. Unfortunately some official soundtracks aren't as thorough, so its not always helpful, but its helpful more often then it isn't (and its also a great way of tracking the careers of the musicians in question). Another site thats useful for games that don't get official soundtrack releases is of course MobyGames, which will often list the credits for a given game on its database entry, though obviously its usually less thorough with regards to who composed what song + again not all listed games have their credits documented, but its another handy resource to have in the back pocket.
I've been so looking forward to this! Funny to hear you say Authentic Sky sounds fitting for a menu theme, In Tekken 7 and 8 I've had it set as the main menu track
I love T4. It was my first video game and my favourite Tekken OST. Authentic Sky and Aruarian dance (Samarai Champloo Ost) are the only songs I could study to, for some reason.
49:00 you are talking about Tekken 2 Kazuya's Theme arcade version (which of course was there), but somehow here arranged version is playing. Btw (my opinion) Fist for the fist theme in arcade version is better, because on of the part isn't too long (I mean that part where you have introduced new characters). Generally in Tekken games from 1 to TTT1 I prefer arcade themes, in T4 there might be subtle differences instead all different themes. Generally good video.
You're so right about Fetus, it really makes you care for the struggles of the fighter who decided to participate the tournament. I bought this game when I was a kid and at that time I didn't understand English language all that well as it is not my native language, but the music really carried the emotion alongside the striking imagery. It is a fantastic track and one of my all time favorites when it comes to game OSTs.
I don't even get the hate about the gameplay, sure it's unbalanced but so are a lot of other games. Bad balance has personally never bothered me unless it makes the game unplayable, I like the David vs goliath situations Jin creates but tournaments still had decent character diversity. Yes Jin was everywhere but I didn't mind since Jin is such a cool character and is fun to watch/play. Also, looking at high-level footage from back in the day on channels such as Psychorarity the stage infinites were incredibly rare and only happened once in top 32 if my recollection serves me right. People go into it expecting korean backdashes and fast movement, then dismiss it entirely when it doesn't fit that style. I personally like how korean backdash being nerfed up to a certain range makes the gameplay more brawly and in your face, forcing you to make quick decisions constantly and trades turtling for more active and intentional defense with emphasis on reads. Whiff punishing with korean backdash still exists it just doesn't come up as often and is more situational, due to you and your opponent constantly being at close-mid range there's a lot more emphasis on sidesteps and ducking to make things whiff which in my opinion is more skillful and active, it feels faster and your constantly making quick decisions while under pressure, 90% of the time you're always in range of an opponent's attack and vice versa. Also, while this is just personal preference I LOVE the short high execution juggles in this game. Just feels so much more impactful, grounded, and badass when you land a x2 EWHF juggle. it makes it all the more rewarding to land considering Tekken 4 has the smallest input buffer window in the series to my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong, idk the numbers it's just how it feels)
20:14 I'm surprised you didn't mention the drum drop for the KO. Perhaps because that's not in the official album version, but still, it might be what you were looking for EDIT: I actually find the bitcrush appealing. It doesn't hurt my ears and it feels purposeful in dingy underground environments like the parking area
T4 is by far the most cohesive Tekken game of the franchise; from the aesthetic to the soundscape. The individual aspects of most other Tekken installments are easier to pick apart and analyze on their own, but with T4 the visuals and audio feel almost inseparable. (Perhaps the closest they've gotten to that is T5 with the Urban Jungle stage and its soundtrack.) I wish Tekken would aspire to achieve this level of coherence again in the future. As a music lover with AP (absolute pitch) I never noticed how Lights sounds centered in the key of F major but a lot of the melodic movements just dance around that and refuse to resolve back to that note. It's interesting how even in the results screen after the dust has settled the game still wants to keep you on your toes. Some of the eerie tracks like Fear and Unknown actually bring to mind the Silent Hill soundtracks. That series does an amazing job of creating an ambiance of unsettling dread, rather than going for easy spikes of fear through jump scares, and its music reflects that idea. Hopefully you'll consider giving the soundtracks a listen as well, particularly the first 4 games. By the way, an interesting connection between Silent Hill and Tekken is the female singer for some of the SH tracks is Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, who is currently the voice actress for Nina in T7-T8. Anyway, thanks for this awesome review! Been enjoying your musical journey through the Tekken series so far, and can't wait to see the next ones!
Even though in most of these soundtracks I feel like we are antithesis spirits, I do like and appreciate your analysis and opinion. Plus I do find it entertaining when it contrast with mine and vise versa. (Yes I do like Mob.Lol) Can’t wait for Tekken 5. 😊
i'm making a marathon on your videos and i really enjoy them, as a musician it makes me very happy someone does videos on video games music with that said, there's two games i would have loved if you covered their music hitman blood money music and dragon quest 8 music
Thank you for your kind words! I‘ll weite your suggestions down for future videos, it might just take a while, since I have to choose the order of topics carefully so I can please the algorhythm gods haha
@dinosulic101 of course, I understand how difficult it is to make a video like you do, the research, script, editing, and everything else takes a lot of work and time, I also won't be offended if you end up not choosing my suggestions because I understand you're considering publics interest, with that said if you do end up making a video on hitman and dragon quests sound tracks that would be a bonus for me
While I understand you do not care for the arcade counterparts as much, I must say that the arcade version of Gym had a little more depth imo. This may have been the result of compressing the music when porting it over from the arcade version. Also, there is speculation that Quadra was an unused track from Ridge Racer V that was repurposed for Tekken 4. Overall, Tekken 4 is probably my favorite Tekken OST (and possibly game) because of everything it did different as well as the variety of genres. Still wish they would give this type atmosphere another chance, even if only for a spin-off series.
9:30 that effect was mainly for Jin (the character you see) and his character and past, the mission is controlled therefore after tekken 3 who went berserk he came, trained and now he's in control. Tekken 3, 4, 5 were the peak of Tekken series in my opinion, sure it had few paranormal stuff like a couple of players but it was primarily martial arts gaming , Tekken 4 had few more techniques from 3 and 5 had legit techniques from martial arts and I loved it. The music was also peak as well but from 6 and after they fell at everything by crossing them with other games and putting too many sci fi and paranormal stuff thus making like the rest of the modern series thus making it boring, even when it comes to the music applied the same
So let me explain to you about the Underground stage music…So IMO they used a distortion on it to give it urban grimey atmosphere you know what im saying?
It’s probably the best, the jungle theme 🔥 Touch and go porbably has to be my number 1 top 10 TEKKEN songs They need to turn the TEKKEN 4 songs up on the JUKEBOX for TEKKEN 8 because TTT2 and TEKKEN 7 jukebox sounds balanced. Many classics in TEKKEN 4
I think the music itself is some of the darker, yet most ambient ones in the series and it gives the game a more, gritty yet realistic vibe which i loved, tracks like Fear, Fetus, the epilogue music, Authentic Sky, Uninhabited, and Hon Maru are just so chilling yet very engulfing. Its a shame Tekken abandoned this sound for the most part but i like how in DR with tracks like shattered dreams, they came back and brought back some of the ambience, and i like how Tekken 6 also used some elements of it too. I think Tekken 8 so far is very close to replicating the sound with how some stages like Midnight Seige and Deep Space are composed.
Have you ever listened to this game's arcade soundtrack? It's not as different from the console version's as the previous games, but some tracks such as touch and go, bit crusher, gym and uninhabited are different enough to be reviewed on their own, and in some cases I do prefer them over their ps2 counterparts.
Tekken 4 story and aesthetic wise is def the best tekken. I actually dislike the story / vibe of many of the subsequent tekkens, despite the gameplay being great. Tekken 4 had a seriousness to it that really gave it a coolness / edge. The music is perfection, 'Fear' was my most listened to song in 2023 on Spotify.
I would have loved to hear your thoughts on Draw The Waveform, it's one of my favorites from this OST. It's also a shame you don't cover the character ending themes. I love Xiaoyu's Tekken 4 ending theme, its so sweet and cozy. It almost reminds me of something you'd hear on a Katamari sound track
I distinctly remember people hating the Tekken 4 soundtrack back when the game was new because it lacked energy for a fighting game, coming off of T3 and Tag 1's Playstation OSTs. The Strongest Iron Arena was probably the favourite back then. The best description of the Tekken 4 I've heard is that it sounds like music the composers would put on their own albums, as opposed to being suited for a Tekken game. I like the moodiness of the Tekken 4 soundtrack in general. I think the compositions suffer from the same issues that the songs in the album version of Daft Punk's Human After All. It kind of sounds a bit repetitive.
I have a really soft spot for oscillator sync and the romplers of the late 90s/early 2000s so I’d actually go as far as to say Tekken 4 has the best soundtrack in the series.
"there's something about purple suit Kazuya and skyscrapers that I find alarmingly satisfying." Hey, same buddy. Also, Quadra was never actually meant for Tekken 4! A prototype version originally debuted on the Ridge Racer V Official Bootleg soundtrack. EDIT: Also, ending on a shot of my all time favorite character in what is so far her finest moment is the best tease for T5.
