It is a great time to be alive as a decade-longing Tekken fan. The treatment they gave T8 mirrors TTT2 with small details like unique interactions, references, and so much opportunities for combos due to its mechanics.

Tekken 8 is SO MUCH FUN bro, it’s so good to be a fighting game fan these days, I’m feasting with this and Street Fighter 6

I came back to Tekken after 18-19 years, the last one I played was Tekken 5 on the PS2. Tekken 8 has been a blast to play. I bought an arcade stick recently, because of how good the game is, and I am super looking forward to playing Tekken with it.

Tekken is that one fighting game that even if u don't play it, you'll understand how cool it is when u watch the match

Been playing Tekken for decades, Tekken 8 feels so good, great gameplay, tons of content and features, great netcode, hope this sells like crazy so the series can continue to grow.

This is the best Tekken has been, ever since the days of Tekken 5.

I feel the same way about Tekken 8 as I did about SF6. I had stopped having fun with both franchises and thought "Well maybe I'm just not a Street Fighter or a Tekken player anymore" but then when I played SF6 I was hooked immediately. A good way for me to tell if I'm having fun with a fighting game is if I try characters I normally don't care about. In SF I ended up trying Ryu and Guile which I never would have done. Fast forward and I have been a Bob main in Tekken since he debuted but I don't have him in this game yet so I had a character crisis. Or so I thought, because every character I tried out was just fun to use. I settled on Asuka who I would NEEEVER have picked in any other Tekken. IMHO we currently have the best Street Fighter and Tekken games we've ever seen and they came out within a year of each other. New golden age of fighting games indeed.

Both SF and TK are at their best this Gen.

Really glad to see how amazing both Tekken 8 and SF6 are, outstanding times for both 3D and 2D fighting game fans

I've been playing fighting games since the late 80's, Tekken 8 is the first fighting game since SF4 that feels truly special. Tekken 1, 2, 5 on the Jukebox, they're banging.

I enjoyed MK1 but didn’t do anything past story mode. Just didn’t care about really playing more. I was hesitant to pick up T8 as I am not very good at fighting games and haven’t played a tekken since 3. So glad I picked it up. Most fun I’ve had with a fighting game in ages. So much so I even hopped online to fight other players. Despite losing a ton, I’ve still been loving it and can’t wait to play more. Still haven’t gone through story mode though!

The glory days of Tekken are back!

Max’s enthusiasm in this video is everything

This is a ''Don't ask Harada for shit'' out of 10

Pretty sure I'm going to buy Tekken 8 as my first fighting game in 20+ years. I remember beating Tekken 2 with all of the characters as a kid and one of my favorite things was the ridiculous CG endings that we got for each character. I'm excited to do that again with this roster

Haven't touched a Tekken game since Tekken 3 but while watching your playthrough I can definitely see the quality and effort that was put into this 8th entry. The amount of work dedicated to cinematics in the story mode alone is pretty insane. Made me want to pick it up and try it out for myself as a filthy casual.

Dude Tekken 5 DR was my first Tekken and one of my favourites along side tag 2. So hearing it's back to that level again is amazing to hear can't wait to play it.

I'm thrilled Tekken is getting the respect it deserves.

I played alot MK11 and MK1, but man, Tekken 8 is so much fun it's almost unreal. Labbing with Reina and then jumping into online battles was the best thing ever. I love the complexity of this game. I dont even mind losing against other, better players. Sorry but Warner Brothers can kiss my .... This is my main game now. I LOVE IT

Tekken 8 absolutely knocked out out of the park. The gameplay feels buttery smooth, visuals look out of this world in unreal engine 5, and a story mode looks to be the best ever came out of the fighting game genre. The netcode was even improved from the beta, a rare cry from most AAA games nowadays. Plus with all the train options along with can see of ghost battles there's just so much you can do for any type of player. It's insane. Everything feels well thought out and actually worthy of a modern game. It might very well just be the best Tekken, if not one of the greatest fighting games ever released. The fact that we're not even a weekend in and we've already seen a whole variety of different customization options for different characters that go from movie stars to various gaming icons to such a specific, accurate degree goes to show how much replayability and creativity this game allows us, despite the fact that we all seemingly thought the customization options were disappointing compared to the past entries. After Street fight 6's recent monetization issues and Mortal Kombat 1s... _everything,_ it's great to see the last of the big three deliver a fine game that truly deserves to be called AAA. The bar for fighting games and 2024 gaming has yet again been raised, and I'm excited for the future. Now please Harada, put Tifa and Yuji Itadori in the game I'm begging you.

This is my first tekken game and wow. I’m blown away. I played tekken 7 extremely casually but I’m getting more into this one and it’s so amazing

One tangent I kinda wanna harp on about, something about Tekken story mode that is just leagues above its competitors is that not only is it cool to watch and experience, its actually fun to play and experience IN GAMEPLAY. This goes for the Tekken 7 fights too but here it really leaps ahead, and compared to its competitors its night and day. Its not JUST the boss fights cause the other fights go hard too sometimes, but ESPECIALLY the boss fights, it sucks no other fighting game really goes this hard to make it interesting to play.

I played a few tekken games throughout the years but none of them hooked me like Tekken 8 has

Harada delivered ❤

Tekken 8 is the best Tekken ever made in my opinion

I love how Law's character episode has him fight rich people all the way through (Lili, Leroy, Lee, and Kazuya) before Paul. He always uses that same goofy "I hate rich people!" line for all 4 of them lmao

I bought MK1 thinking it was going to be amazing and sadly I was disappointed outside of the story mode. Tekken 8 checks all of my boxes for a fighting game plus some!

Dude, it's so amazing that fighting games have been awesome for the past few years. Love the current era of games.

as a newcomer to the series with this game i feel like tekken has mastered the "low skill floor high skill ceiling" approach. the games are crazy easy to get into, find a good poke and a launch combo and youre fuckin set to play neutral and body some fools. mechanically its incredibly simple, a direction and a button for most moves, gatling style and juggles instead of tight links, but theres an incredible amount of high level tech and mechanical prowess you can learn as you progress. lowering the skill floor and maintaining the ceiling is a direction i wish the modern fighting game scene would embrace rather than just simplifing the game

11:17 Probably the most important thing added for new and returning players.

I have always been a MK first fighting game fan. Surprisingly, SF6 didnt click for me, but god damn did Tekken do the opposite. It feels so amazingly weird to play a fully fleshed out fighting game after playing a lot of MK1, and im loving it so much. So happy I picked this game up

I feel like roster size should get a mention as a positive here too, especially when comparing everything to SF6.

As much as I enjoyed MK1, everything in Tekken 8 just feels so much better. I'll still play MK1 every now and then, but I think T8 is gonna be my focus for a while. Haven't settled on a main yet, but all the characters are really fun to play so I'm not really complaining!

Ironically to me what is making me the most interested in T8 is the customization! I’m not really familiar with previous Tekkens (tho I do remember seeing clips of bonker freaks in T7), but even then, seeing some pretty amazing custom characters so far, coupled with the gorgeous visuals is really making me itch to buy it right away! Seriously, I’ve even seen the main cast of Spy X Family adapted to perfection! Not even SF6 managed that 😅

I'm surprised the Tekken team didn't go to the Soul Calibur team and went: "Hey, we need your customization system for Tekken 8."

I feel like Tekken 8 is one of the few games that properly rewards players for learning more, which is great for the new and old player base

I am really loving Tekken 8! On the Rollback front, there's something on the options where i never seen in a fighting game that has rollback netcode, that is you can choose what kind of rollback you want between fluidity or responsiveness. which I think that is neat!

As someone who likes fighting games but isn't very good at them, I'm glad the complexity is there. It gives something to aspire to, and it gives ways to express yourself. I enjoy looking though my long move list and picking out one or two to put into my bag of tricks today. And when I get hit by a move I've literally never seen before, it makes the fight seem a bit more real and cinematic. When you see the exact same animations over and over, it breaks immersion a little bit. Also, simple games become too execution focused (as opposed to knowledge, strategy, mind games). So ironically, they kind of feel harder to me. When everyone has the same game plan, the people who are the fastest to react and never ever press the wrong button are the ones who win.

Playing casually since T2, I never felt any draw to hone my skills to any level higher than competitive amongst my family/friends. I felt similarly up through Tekken 7. As of the last week, I've become so engrossed in the process of really learning how the game is played at a higher level. I've put together a small local group, just my wife and some friends, but we're all taking improvement very seriously in Tekken 8. Local play has been a blast, and even online, which historically I've never been interested in much, has been way more positive. Everything about this game feels so incredibly accessible, and the path to improvement seems so clear, and attainable. We're all hooked.

Been waiting for a game like this since I got into fighting games in 2021. This is THE game. The depth, the feel, the look, the features, the everything is actually so well made. It's that video game you think about constantly up until you go to bed. 9.5/10 is a fair score for sure

I'm glad that Tekken 7's success didn't have Namco sit on their laurels and really tried to innovate with 8. The single player is good, the visuals are great, the new mechanics are really interesting and the online is mostly good, but that's not even getting into stuff like the new ghost AI and the excellent replay system that tries to teach you optimal punishes and lets you take control to lab out different things. Hoping they can patch up various netcode foibles and keep things going strong for a long time.

Tekken 8 has made me realize just how much I love Tekken. I've been playing since Tekken 5, and I agree that this is the best it's been in a VERY long time. They went all out in every aspect of the game, and it really is just incredible.

as someone who's tried getting into tekken many times in the past and it always completely overwhelmed me, i HIGHLY reccommend trying tekken 8. The arcade quest mode alone is the teaching tool I craved in the old ones, and all the training data + replay hints and tips and replay control for yourself OR any other replays you find online mean it'll be easy to improve no matter how high my ceiling goes. And with it being new, super popular and having crossplay and apparenlty the best online tekken's had before, there'll be tons and tons of other noobs to spar against.

2023 and 2024 has been great years for us fighting game fans. I’ve highly enjoyed Mortal Kombat 1, and playing Tekken 8 has been really fun.

As a current-day Tekken player, I couldn’t be happier But as a legacy Tekken player from the 90s, my heart is full. T8 is giving everything I had hoped for and more.

This is my first tekken. It’s daunting but I’m loving every moment of it.

Tekken 8 is so good it’s like I can just check off the gaming box for “Fighter” for the next 5-6yrs. SF6 is great too, but T8 is the King of the genre in my eyes.

really feel like the Dood’s review of Tekken 8 is _an event,_ like a small piece of real history

Man this game is great, to me it’s the best Tekken since Tekken 3, which is my favorite game in the series. They really knocked it out of the park in all aspects: gameplay, modes, netcode, etc. This is already my second favorite game in the series and will probably end up passing Tekken 3 as my favorite. I really have to give it up to Harada and his team, I haven’t had this much fun with Tekken in a long time.

If we dont count in overall bonkers balance and dmg scaling the only gripe i have is that chip devalues good defense and promotes frame trap cheeze, also with heat sometimes the lack of control of it kind of takes to much focus from the the fundamental gameplay atm.

Fighting game community has so much potential now and I'm happy to see it. SF6, Tekken8, MK1 and I know many more will be release in the future. Evo and other tournaments are gonna be lit as hell.

This is my first Tekken game (aside from briefly messing with T2 on a PS1 demo disc in the '90s) and I think it might already be my favorite fighting game of all time. The story mode was hype as hell even not knowing every reference, the side content is really cool and teaches a lot, and I'm legit having more fun with Reina and Jin than any character I've ever played in any FG. With Soul Calibur and DoA dead, I'm really grateful to have gotten into Street Fighter and Tekken with these new ones, and that they've made it so easy to do so.

This has been the most, honest, knowledge-based, experienced review ever. I heard nothing but facts.

As an Aussie I've had multiple matches with friends in America but not only is the netcode good, but I can actually react to their moves. It's honestly fantastic

I missed out on Tekken 5 but Tekken tag 2 was my favorite

I still remember being a kid in my barbershop, and messing around on an old T3 arcade cab. Now here I am in T8, diving in trying to seriously learn, and its been so fun

So far my main complaint is customization. It’s a step forward but also a step back. They introduced eye colors and types but we can change the color. The hair options are really lacking. The biggest offender is how you can no longer mix and match default costumes. If you even try to change the shoes on a default costume, it’s incompatible. That’s just silly to me, we’ve always been able to do that.

Only downside for me is that jins tekken 3 moveset isnt an alternate moveset you can choose, it would be cool to swap between kazama style, tekken 3 style and tekken 8 style

I think Reina is a great example of how to make stuff easier while keeping it rewarding, you can do her dash with the god wind step df3 input but you get rewarded more for doing the proper wavedash input, so more people can pick it up and see what she's about but if you want to get into her and learn her more you get rewarded for it. Loads of people complain about it but I'm down for anything that helps more people get into the game and I've already got friends who struggled to get into T7 and gave up on it who are well into T8 at this point. Reminds me of the Modern controls debacle in SF6, people always say they want more people into fighting games, but then when they try to make them more accessible a large number of those people complain about it as well

The feelings that swell up when I see Tekken get so much attention and praise is crazy to me.

I wish we could get a Korean backdash tutorial. It seems like such an integral part of high level game play and I'd love to have a dev setup tutorial.

Getting a ps2 and Tekken tag back in the day memories

I got burnt on MK1 but between SF6 and Tekken 8 it’s been a great rolling year for fighting games

Your videos got me into fighting games I got tekken 7 but I thought it was too complicated for me but watching tekken 8 makes me really want to re-attempt it

Tekken 8: Fighting game of the year

It's good to hear Max call out modern fighting games for being intentionally made shallow.

As someone who was a hardcore Tekken player back from T2 to TTT and was one of the first creators to have a website around Tekken, I left the scene after what I thought was peak Tekken, TTT. Tekken 5 was fun but nothing ever brought me back. I didn't like Tekken 7 really at all. Tekken 8 is a masterpiece. Still some things need tweaking but the game is amazing. Max hit everything on the head exactly right.

Tekken 8 is my first deep dive into the series (despite being a passive fan since the early 00's) and I'm loving it so much. There are sooo many tools in this game to get a newbie of the series like me to fully grasp the systems and start experimenting. I am quite bias but still this game is amazing!

I surely picked a great time to start playing fighting games. SF6 is amazing and so is Tekken 8.

I was never into fighting games before because I suck at remembering combos. The only memory I had was mashing buttons on an arcade Street fighters 2 long ago. But Tekken 8 got my attention because it feels nostalgic yet mysteriously new for me, like I always have been a Tekken player even though I just learned ewgf yesterday. Now, I went from not having a clue what a character was doing to having satisfaction when I got to punish a whiff. Ps: I literally cheering out loud for Jin while spamming 2 in special style in their final fight with the T8 ost playing.

I feel like the biggest change from T7 to T8, especially as a Law player, is the lowering of execution requirements to make a game plan work, which is something I wish more legacy games would do, as opposed to just gutting move lists.

Hey Max, just want you to know I have been watching your show for years and it brings me so much comfort and joy. The past 2 years I have been going through the hardest time of my life full of loss and addiction and this videos give me a jolt of happiness. I have played games my whole life but have always felt overwhelmed by fighting games. I just bought Tekken 8 and am absolutely in love. I am so excited to start a new hobby and I never would have tried it if not for your videos!! thanks dood

I am so freaking excited to watch tournaments for this game with how aggressive it is and the amount of crazy shit you can do. I can see diehard tekken old-heads not liking this game with how badly they nerfed defense, but man T7 was such a snooze fest for the last 2 years. It’s going to be so exciting to watch this game develop

Lee is coolest character 😎

I bought Tekken 7 not too long ago as my first Tekken. I am so glad I get to be here for the launch of Tekken 8. The game is incredible. Asuka is my go to still.

The end summed it up well for me too...I'm happy, very happy

The freaking Storyyyyyy ❤ OMG

Better then MK1, now tekken do have some top tier characters that cheap but fair. Mk1 has top tier with Bullshxt recovery better moves and yes spamming low punch and kick.

2023/2024 is a good time to play fighting games. I’ve played Street Fighter 6, Granblue Rising Versus and now Tekken 8! All have been really fun so far!

New Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tekken all withtin a couple months, now I just need Soul Caliber 7 and the dream is complete

Imo the biggest fighting game here in the philippines. Even for me, a non fighting game enthusiast, am still exposed to the hype for the Tekken franchise. If you know someone who had any playstaion, there's a high chance that the dude plays, or have played tekken. And is willing to spar with you.

My short review of the next gen fighting games: Sf6: Amazing. The new golden standard in features and functionality. Hold your complaints people, you guys are eating GOOD. MK1: Not for me or any of my friends. If you like MK you'll enjoy it, if you don't and have friends who don't play on the same platform, you will be disappointed. GBVS: Surprisingly really good. It's a pleasant surprise. Super fun, functions perfectly online, great f2p option. T8: Wonky launch but it is now in my main rotation of games. Finally functions online although I'm not entirely convinced it's rollback but hey, it works so I'll play along. UNI: I'm waiting for the player count to stabilize to decide if I go for the purchase but I gotta say, it's super entertaining to watch. This is the time to get into fighting games.

This is my first Tekken game as I did buy T7 on sale last year, but I didn't play much, prob less than 10 hours. I have had T8 for about 32 hours as of writing this comment, and I have 16.8 hours in it according to Steam. I'm kinda in love with it lmao, it's genuinely the most fun I've ever had with a fighting game ever. I beat the story tonight and liked it, but dude, this game is so god damn fun. I don't want to stop playing it. I got the premium edition and I can say with confidence that I don't regret that as I'm so hyped for Eddy and god I hope Bob and Marduk return as I love their lore. I would love it if Mokujin returned but I know that's never gonna happen. This is the best jumping on point for us new players easily and I highly recommend it for anyone on the fence!

Been trying to get into fighting games for a year. Bounced off SF6 (probably more my fault than SF6 and going to try it again.) Didn't try MK1, but so far Tekken 8 feels good/fun. It helps that it has a character I really like, even if it makes me a basic internet person. But Arcade Quest was so wholesome and fun and a great, staggered intro to the game mechanics. Still getting wrecked in ranked, but slowly making those matches more competitive with reviewing tutorials and practicing strings in the practice mode.

Wish SF6 casual mode had a character select screen option.

As someone who tekken 8 is my first tekken to hear past games had even more customization is insane 😂

Just finished the story and came straight here. Absolutely loved it. Haven't played any online yet but I know I'll enjoy it.

Tekken 8 is the first Tekken I've had as much fun with as I did with the first TTT and Tekken 4, which were the last games I really got into. I played the other iterations, but they just didn't click with me like T2-TTT. I've only been in training mode relearning Nina and Jun, but man is it fun to link those combos together in the new stages. The hit impact sounds are so satisfying, reminds me of when I first played KOF'98. And the jukebox mode is a God send! They even added TTT PS2 Soundtrack which is one of my favorites next to T2, 3, and 4. Bamco put their foot in this one. With this and KOF'15 and Fighting EX Layer, I've been eating pretty good fighting games wise!

This was a great review! As a casual I was a bit lost when you were trying to describe the semi rollbackness of the netcode.

I wish there was something more interesting with the Arcade Quest... imagine picking an Arcade and then battling other players/ghosts from other gyms and having a leaderboard that shows which Arcade has the most wins. Or something like Automated Tournaments (which apparently T7 had?). I'm mostly a casual player so something beyond just spamming Ranked matches would go a long way to keep me engaged.

I seriously hope they add more stuff for the customization mode I will buy it as dlc if they do it, I trust the Tekken team with this type of stuff

hands down, the fact that they help u so much with the replay feature ghost battles etc makes this game special af for a tekken

Max, thank you for expanding my path of love with video games. I used to just be a causal Mortal Kombat fan but in watching your videos I discovered that there’s so much more out there in the fighting games genre. I dove into Guilty Gear Strive, then Street Fighter and now Tekken (only series I had previously played in the PS2 days but hadn’t since) and I’m so happy that I get to experience how rewarding and enriching this Tekken 8 game is. Thanks man, it feels good to be part of a community where we are all getting the best it has to offer within. MK1, Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 🔥

I’ve been playing Tekken since PS1. This game gives me that feeling of greatness of the earlier games. Tekken 8 is one of if not the best one out of the franchise to me. Yes there’s a few things here and there but this is a very solid game… a love letter to the long time fans and the new comers. It’s not perfect but it’s amazing.

What I find crazy : in the replays of your matches the engine tells you what you should have done to fight in the most optimal way. This goes beyond a classic tutorial.

Good to hear it's got a good tutorial with Arcade Quest, I've not played Tekken since some early arcade days as a kid but I've ben looking at getting 8. Heihachi was my favorite but Reina looks like a sick replacement.

Tekken 8 has been an absolute blast and it is amazing that it is as big as Tekken 5 was! Tekken 8 has the potential to become the best Tekken to date! I can't wait to continue on following its journey

As someone who got into tekken with 7, 8 is the best Tekken game ever. I love the mix of mechanics. Plus Heat mode tickles my anime brain. Also the replay system is the first one to finally surpass the Guilty Gear Accent Core replay. Not only can you do replay takeover but it also shows you tips on how to react to different moves you got hit by.

I'm a complete newbie to tekken, other than playing a couple matches of tekken 3 against my cousin back when I was 12 (im 24 now), and a bit of t7 arcade but t8 will be one I'll stick with for the long run. Its feature-rich, very welcoming to new players who want both a casual experience and a way to really learn, and the community here on oceania servers are pretty cool along with very solid networking

Ive never been big on tekken but thats just cus 3D movement fighters have never been my fav but the huge list of moves is one of the things that always caught my attention and made me want to try it some day, i did try tekken 7 late and im playing a ton of tekken 8 now