Tekken 6, one of three fighting games being released by Namco Bandai this year (the other two being Soul Calibur IV and Dragonball Z: Burst Limit), has finally been released in Japanese arcades, three long years after we first saw the trailer for it at E3. The newest installment in the Namco fighter series has 7th generation console quality graphics, the biggest moves list to date, and the most characters in any Tekken game yet. Most intriguing to me, however, are the shocking new plot twists. Characters are choosing sides here, and they’re probably not the ones you’d expect. The biggest shocker of the 6^th Tournament of Iron Fist is that Jin Kazama is now the bad guy, and Kazuya Mishima is now the good guy (maybe)! Several prophecies say that if these two ever get together and battle, the (real) devil will emerge from Hell and destroy the Earth. Intriguing. This is a Tekken of unparalleled proportions, if you couldn’t tell already.

As per usual, everything going on in this tournament is a direct outcome of the happenings of the previous one. Jin was the champion of Tekken 5, after defeating his great-grandfather, and his prize was control of the ultra- huge Mishima Zaibatsu, also known as Mishima Financial Empire (MFE). He beat the crap out of everyone and everything in his path, from bears and kangaroos to robots and enchanted trees. He did “lose” a fight to tae kwon do expert Hwoarang, but as soon as he was felled, that capricious devil gene of his kicked in, and he arose as Devil Jin. With a superhuman shockwave, produced by Devil Jin, Hwoarang was sent flying and was knocked unconscious. I guess that’s OK by Tekken standards, whereby robots can shoot guns, ninja can wield swords and breathe acid, monsters can breath fire, dinosaurs and bears can utilize gastric blasts, and deistic beings can shoot lasers from their eyes — against unarmed opponents. You would figure that Jin, the man who was obsessed with wiping out the cursed Mishima bloodline, would do something good with the MFE, but no. He’s really a dick all of a sudden. There’s no explanation as to why, but I’m pretty sure that the Mishima blood is winning the fight against the Kazama blood running through his veins.

Jin uses the enormous wealth of the MFE to militarize and use the Tekkenshu, or Tekken force (MFE foot soldiers), to do his now evil bidding across the globe, which just so happens to include bombing churches while weddings are taking place in them. They run around creating panic as they seize things on Jin’s orders. Oilfields, businesses, space colonies, candy from little children — anything Jin wants he gets. Many people’s lives are ruined, and widespread riots start happening around the globe, which leads to political strife and war between nations. After a period of doing this, Jin professes that the MFE is now an independent nation, and declares war on any country that tries to stop his conquest. Who will stop this madman bent on world domination? Someone who is even more bent on world domination.

Enter Kazuya Mishima, the man who gave Jin that cursed devil gene. Kazuya was intent on exacting revenge on the executives of the biotech firm ,G Corporation, who had betrayed him by making an attempt on his life earlier in the year. Kazuya and G Corp had history together. 20 years ago, at the end of the 2^nd Tekken tournament, Heihachi (who had been thrown off a cliff the year before by Kazuya, who had been thrown off a cliff by Heihachi [who also threw Jin {who threw Heihachi out of an Aztec temple}out of a helicopter] 30-some years earlier) threw Kazyua into a volcano. There his smoldering corpse was found by G Corp. They had heard of the Mishima curse and the devil gene, and wanted to isolate that gene and exploit it. They brought Kazuya back to life, isolated the devil gene and incorporated it into his normal existence. Zombie-Kazuya subjected himself to many torturous tests and procedures, with the result of being finally taking on the devil’s power permanently. After the 5^th King of Iron Fist Tournament, Kazuya was able to infiltrate G-Corp and exact his revenge with the help of the muy thai fighter, Bruce Irwin. Kazuya then took control of G Corp and ran it from behind closed doors.

Kazyua used the power of G Corp to raise an army and declared war against the Mishima Zaibatsu. People the world over loved G Corp because it was the only force on Earth that was able to put up resistance to the MFE. Nobody knew that Kazuya was running things, or that he was only trying to stop Jin because he couldn’t stand the idea of anyone besides himself taking over the world. G Corp put up a huge bounty to anyone who could bring Jin Kazama to them alive. Upon hearing this, Jin called the sixth King of Iron Fist Tournament, to the surprise of nobody. Jin hired assassin Nina Williams to be his personal bodyguard, and took capoeira master Eddy Gordo into the ranks of the Tekken soldiers in exchange for a personal favor. Many wanted to get at Jin for various reasons, but after the extensive militarization of the MFE and the hiring of his elite bodyguards, the only way to do so would be to enter the tournament.

Wang Jinrei, the martial arts master from whom a good chunk of the participants in the tournament derive their styles, decides that the reason that the world is in such a chaotic state now is because of his inaction. He knew about the cursed Mishima bloodline since the time when he used to train with the inventor of Mishima-style katate, Jinpanchi Mishima, 80-some years ago. Wang had previously decided to let the many others who wished to destroy the Mishimas do the deed, as he would rather avoid slaughtering his friends if at all possible. Wang now decided that he must put and end to them before they cause the apocalypse, even if he is 105 years old.

Famous tree-hugger and peace pipe smoker Julia Chang had heard the prophecy from another tree-hugger in Arizona, that if Jin and Kazuya were to fight, the world would come to an end.

“The Devil is sure to return from Hell, should Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima ever cross paths. These two must not be allowed to fight.”

Upon hearing this, she literally dropped her reforestation project and entered the tournament, leaving behind her a trail of organic granola and wampum.

The scene is set for the most exciting battle yet. This one could potentially end with nuclear holocaust or maybe the second coming of Christ. Here are a few more notable side-stories:

Due to the world chaos, boxer Steve Fox is not able to make a living anymore because there is no more boxing in the UK. Unfortunately for alpha-style fighter Paul Phoenix, the world chaos isn’t preventing the bill collectors from harassing him about his mountain of debt. His old friend and kung-fu master, Marshall Law, is also deeply in debt because of the medical bills incurred to pay for his son’s tragic accident. The three decide that their chances of winning the tournament are better if they form a team. When Paul and Marshall contact Steve, he is excited about the prospect of training in a martial art other than boxing and accepts the invitation into the triumvirate.

Ling Xaioyu, the 18 year-old mixed Chinese-style fighter with a heart of gold, once again enters the tournament with the best of intentions. In the 3^rd tournament, she wanted to build an amusement park with her earnings. In the 5^th tournament, she entered so she could use the money to build a time machine and stop Heihachi from throwing Kazuya off of a cliff when he was just a child (In her “what-if” ending, she did so and learned a lesson about causality). In the 6^th tournament, she enters to try and save Heihachi, who Jin was trying to kill. Of course, her loyal bodyguard Panda enters as well.

Heihachi entered the tournament simply because he was pissed off at everyone. At the end of the 4^th tournament, he was battling Kazuya on the top floor of the Mishima Zaibatsu building, in the final battle of the tournament. Out of nowhere, dozens of JACK robots, built and deployed by G Corp, burst through the walls in the middle of the fight. Kazuya went devil-mode and flew away, unscathed. Heihachi, on the other hand was trapped by the Jacks, who went into self-destruct mode, exploded and sent him flying from the top of the building into a cemetery, where he lay in recovery for quite some time. By the time he finally climbed out of the grave, the 5^th tournament had already ended, and he was furious. He then found himself under attack by the Tekken forces and found out that Jin was in charge of the MFG. Heihachi blew a gasket and entered the tornament, ready to kick some serious ass.

The wrestler, King, and ultimate fighter , Craig Marduk, are now the best of friends. King entered the 4^th tournament to avenge the death of his master Armor King, who was beaten to death by Marduk in a drunken barroom brawl. King, being the touchy-feely Mexican priest that he is, forgave Marduk and found common grounds with him. Sometime during the 5^th tournament, a person wearing metal armor and a jaguar mask attacked Marduk in the waiting room. This confused Marduk and infuriated King, and they both entered the tournament to find out who the impostor is. Note: the jaguar mask worn by Armor King is different than the one worn by king. It was given to him by a tribe in South America, and may have magical powers. It has been said before that this mortal world is “too mundane” for Armor King.

Yoshimitsu has in his possession a magical sword. He got the sword in the 2^nd tournament, just barely beating out rival ninja Kunimitsu to get it. We are just now finding out that this sword hungers for the blood of the evil. Yoshimitsu has had no problem appeasing the sword in the past, but from an apparent lack of evil for him to slaughter, the sword is starting to corrupt him (Soul Edge?). He enters the tournament for a chance to slay the evil souls and repress the hunger of the sword.

Brian Fury, the cyborg engineered by G Corp by using the recently deceased body of a drug dealer, has absolutely no reason besides boredom to enter the tournament. At the end of the 4^th tournament, while raiding the MFE vaults so he can use the money to help the poor and refugees, Yoshimitsu notices an unmoving Bryan Fury and takes him to the lab of Doctor Boskonovitch. Doc B sees that Bryan is all out of go-juice and installs a perpetual energy generator in him. Upon waking, Bryan goes ape shit and destroys everything in the lab and delivers Doc B a class-A ass whoopin’. Bryan then tried to figure out how to unlock the full potential of his newly enhanced cyborg body, but was stopped at every turn by Yoshimitsu. Bryan went berserk and started destroying everything, everywhere. He would randomly show up on battlefields all over the world and decimate both sides indiscriminately. Upon hearing of the 6^th tournament, he saw it as more of a challenge than his current undertakings and entered.

Feng Wei, kenpo master, entered the 5^th tournament because he had mastered his technique and killed his sensei effortlessly, and was looking to get to the next level. He had heard of the great power of the Mishima-style karate, and thought that learning it would be the key to becoming as powerful as he possibly could. He was able to obtain the God Fist scroll from the Mishima Zaibatsu, but upon inspecting it found that it only said “destroyer of all styles, the one true ultimate style, it transcends the power of the dragon God which exceeds all human ability.” Feng was confused and entered the 6th tournament to try and talk to Heihachi and make some sense out of it.

Lee Chaolan, living a lush and easy life in the Bahamas, wondered why G Corp suddenly militarized. As a major stockholder, he decided it would be fiscally responsible to find out what was going on. After paying investigators to find out what was happening, he was informed that his rival and adopted brother, Kazuya Mishima, was secretly the one in charge of G Corp. Lee entered the tournament when he heard that Kazuya would be present there.

Roger Jr. and Mrs. Roger (kangaroos with boxing gloves, Roger Jr. fighting from within his mother’s pouch) entered the 5^th tournament to find Mr. Roger, who had gone missing. When they finally found him, they saw that he was not in peril, but was instead living a carefree lifestyle of elegance, neglecting his responsibilities as a parent and living it up. Mrs. Roger divorced him right on the spot. Times became tough, trying to make it as a single kangaroo mother, so when the 6^th tournament was announced, the two entered to try and make ends meet.

I’m yet to read anything about gameplay, but a few videos I saw had some strange additions, such as an apparent “turbo” mode, for lack of a better word. When the health bar is almost drained, red tracers follow the characters’ attacks. It makes me want to say, “He’s on fire!” I’m yet to learn anything about the mechanics of the game, but as long as they learned their lesson about switching things up like they did in Tekken 4, I should be OK. There are a few new characters, including the 16 year-old daughter of an oil tycoon, but their tie-ins to everyone else’s story aren’t so great. I’m still having a hard time accepting some Tekken 4 characters into my heart, so it will probably be a while before I feel anything for these newcomers. I Haven’t played a single match of Tekken for 2 years now, so I missed out completely on the new characters introduced in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. My iron fist is rusting.

A lot of my info on the storylines comes from this mysterious story that I read back in the days of Tekken 3. I have no idea where it came from, but the info in it seems to be official stuff. The story talked about Jinpachi Mishima way back then, 8 years before he made his debut in Tekken 5. I’ve never found anything else about him in any in-game story, so I swear the story must have been something legit. I’ve always thought that it would make a great movie, but never wanted to watch the anime. Hark! There is a live-action Tekken movie being shot right now in Louisiana! Sweet. I just hope that 1. They use CG and make it perty. 2. The Streetfighter movie coming out doesn’t completely overshadow it. I always hoped that I could play Paul Phoenix when a movie was finally made. Not because he’s my favorite character, but because we have the same hairdo. Maybe if I buy a ticket online I could make it down to Louisiana and electric wind god fist the dude who they casted. Yeah, now I just need to get my hands on that God Fist Scroll.