5 Tips For Tekken Beginners

Let’s say you’re a TRUE beginner, as in Tekken 8 is your first fighting game. Or at least this is your first Tekken. Then the Arcade Quest mode is going to be where you should actually start. Not only is this the primary single player mode outside of Story Mode. But it also serves to introduce players to some of the fundamentals of Tekken 8 and its systems.

You’ll progress through various stages of Arcades while at the same time meeting NPCs that will guide you through a series of tutorials that explain how to fight. Within the first hour of Arcade Tour you learn basic movement, the Heat system, fighting against your own Ghost and get some introductory combos under your belt.

So if you’re looking for a place to start that has no cutscenes, no ranks and no pressure then starting at Arcade Quest is going to be where your journey should begin. 

One of the big things with Tekken as opposed to other fighting games, is that it’s the last standing 3D fighter that’s still considered the top flight. With the Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter series falling by the wayside over the years. This means that just about all of the mechanics of 2D fighters might actually be disadvantages in Tekken.

For one, zoning and projectiles are virtually non-existent in Tekken, so you’ll have to depend on movement and side steps to control space. Also, motion inputs like the ones for Hadoukens or Flash Kicks are more rare, and “special moves” aren’t really a thing. So it’ll do you a world of good to understand the combo and Heat systems in Tekken 8 before hitting online combat.

Once you decide which characters you want to learn, it’s time to hit practice mode or Arcade Quest once more and “get gud”. One of the biggest hurdles, in Tekken especially, is learning effective combos. Unlike Street Fighter or MK, pressing 3-4 buttons in succession mostly won’t result in a combo. Often in Tekken, you’ll have to pop your opponent up or bounce them off the ground to keep a chain going.

One way Tekken is trying to mitigate that learning curve is to provide auto combos at the press of a button for new players. Much like SF6’s Modern controls, this allows rookies to understand some of their characters' most basic attack threads which can differ wildly depending on the fighter.

If you’re playing King, you’ll see that his attacks lead into massive throws. Or if you’re playing you’ll see that dodging then attacking is her major game plan. Once you know what your character wants to do you’ll be able to master a couple of bread and butter combos that will allow you to stomp out the beginner levels of online play.

One of the big issues with fighting games in the past was that it was difficult to get game experience and improve without risking your Tekken points or rank. This is changing in a big way with Tekken 8. Super Ghost Battle is something that could fundamentally change how people train in fighting games. In this mode, you’ll be able to play against an AI that’s built from the data of actual players. So you can really nail down some of your weaknesses as you play.

Let’s say you’re really having a hard time against Kuma players that are really aggressive. Well, in Ghost Battle, you can find the data of some of those players or characters and train against it so you can be read the next time you’re in a ranked battle. You can even fight against your own ghost as well!

The biggest lesson is true for all fighting games: Be ready to put the time in. You’re not going to crush the world in week one and you’re also not going to master every character in a day. The beauty of Tekken is that there’s so much expression and character in each fighter that you’re going to be encountering new ways of playing for years to come.

So crack your knuckles and get ready for the next battle!