Getting to style and profile following a victory has been part of video games sincePongwas new. But fighting games got to give players an avatar to do as much showboating as they did for each win. Whether it wasChun Li jumping on the spotinStreet Fighter 2, orJohnny Cagebreaking out the shades inMortal Kombat, in-game gloating had never been so much fun.
TheTekkenseries is no stranger to this feature and has produced some of the more memorable victory animations in the genre. They could be a show of skill like a martial arts routine, a taunting remark, or even a helping hand.Tekken’s win poses show the kind of style that only the long-running 3D fighting series could do. With the next project in the series on the horizon, fans can only guess what the characters will do next to strut their stuff after gaining another notch on their record.
10Devil & Angel Show The Power Of Good And Evil
BeforeTekken 5’s Jinpachi, the series’ bosses weren’t especially challenging. Some still had some nasty tricks up their sleeve, like inTekken 2.In this game, Devil Kazuya and Angel could fire an unblockable laser from the ground or from the air. If the player couldn’t tell which attack they were going to use, it would cut through their health bar quickly.
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Then, once they won a round, Devil/Angel would crouch down, charge up, then fire their laser right into the sky with a primal yell. It shows the power of their gimmick, though with a little time and practice, players can prove it is just that: a gimmick.
9Anna Shakes It
The victory poses in the first fourTekkengames (1-Tag Tournament) were simple animations that rarely had dialogue longer than one line. Though sometimes, a simple animation is all a player needs. Anna Williams, the sister of the series’ mainstay Nina, was always the more lascivious one with her sassy poses.
Tekken 2added a little booty wiggle and laugh to Anna’s repertoire, and this move would stick with her right until today withTekken 7. However,Tekken 3took the cake by giving hertwo butt-shaking poses. To get the second one, the player had to hold Circle/Right Kick during the Replay, then Anna would shake while making some more suggestive sounds.
8Hwoarang Takes A Seat
Tekken 4used the power of the Playstation 2 (and the Namco System 246 arcade hardware) to boost up the graphics, introducenew gameplay mechanics, and improve the win poses. This time, the winner could interact with their fallen foe in a variety of ways.
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One of the characters that benefited from this the most was Hwoarang. In the previous games, his Tae Kwon Do routines shows off his skills, but not his punkish personality. FromTekken 4onwards, he’d show it off by parking himself right on his opponent’s back as they tried to get up, while asking if they had any“special moves or something.”
7Bryan Ignores The Bell
Bryan Fury is a cyborg kickboxer with a sadistic streak. This actually came across in his debut inTekken 3, where he’d laugh madly when doing (or being hit by) certain moves.Tekken 4cranked up the notch by showing that the end of the round doesn’t mean the end of his “fun.”
In this game, Bryan would mount his fallen enemy and continue laying into them with some very nasty-sounding punches, laughing all the while. It shows that the character is as scary out of the player’s hands as he is in them.
6Strength Needs Style With Lee
Tekken 4may have brought Lee Chaolan back fromTekken Tag Tournament, but it wasTekken 5that gave him back his style. With a new voice actor in Ryōtarō Okiayu, the character would become flashier and more flamboyant than ever before.
The pose that would highlight this new direction was a simple one where he’d give the opponent a simple pointer (“You need to fight with more elegance”) before raising his fist, the camera pulling back to his fallen foe. Whilelater games would build upon thiswith his other moves, there are few poses that show off this much style with less effort.
5Lili Can’t Get Good Help These Days
Tekken 5got souped up for PSP withTekken 5: Dark Resurrection. The cast got rebalanced, music got remixed, stages got alternate versions, and some new characters were added. One of the more popular ones was Lili, the little rich girl from Monaco whose whole move set was based on showing off.
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Her slaps, kicks, and dance-like flips made her a force to be reckoned with. Even worse, if she beat her opponents, she’d treat them like dust on her boots. Most notably, she’d sulk to her off-screen butler, Sebastian, asking“Can’t you do any better than this?”Unless the other player put more practice in, Sebastian would have to search further.
4Lars Calls For Back-Up
Tekken 6brought back everyone fromTekken 5: Dark Resurrectionfor their PS3 and 360 debuts, along with their victory animations. Most of them remained the same, right down to the camerawork, which left it feeling like an HD version of its PS2 & PSP predecessors.
However, this installment did bring insome of the game’s more popular charactersin Bob, Alisa, and Lars. The illegitimate son of Heihachi, Lars has a more military attitude, despite his non-regulation haircut. One example of this is his win pose where he calls for his superior to send in a medic…while pressing his foot against his opponent’s back. At least he’s providing medical care.
3Jun Stops Devil Jin in His Tracks
Tekken Tag Tournament 2would give certain character teams custom victory animations, but only if the characters won the bout with a team move. The ones with Devil Jin usually involve his team member either being unable to handle his infernal power (Asuka narrowly avoids a laser, Hwoarang misses a punch), or merely observing it (Heihachi, Kazuya).
However, if the player teamed him up with Jin’s mother, Jun Kazama, she would show she’s gotten stronger since herTekken 2appearance. Devil Jin would walk up to her, only to be frozen in place and left struggling the moment Jun raises her hand. Clearly, the Kazama clan has more strength in their bloodline than the Mishima family would realize.
For the longest time, theTekkenseries didn’t really do guest characters. When their sword-swinging sister seriesSoulcaliburhad characters fromStar Wars,Tekkenlargely stuck to its own cast. The closest they had up to that point was Gon inTekken 3.
Then, as if making up for this,Tekken 7brought in Akuma fromStreet Fighter, Geese Howard fromFatal Fury/King of Fighters, andNegan fromThe Walking DeadTV series. He has the full Jeffrey Dean Morgan look, from the jacket and club to the wild attitude. It shows in one pose where he can’t help cracking a pun about his weapon:“Lucille is thirsty! She is a vampire bat!”If losing the match didn’t hurt, that joke certainly did.
1Noctis Phones A Friend
Finally,Tekken 7’sguest character rosterwould continue with Noctis fromFinal Fantasy 15. While he didn’t set the competitive online gaming scene on fire, the Tekken team did a good job bringing his personality into a fighting game. He even has some custom pre-fight dialogue with Lars.
But the best example of Noctis' crossover comes from his win pose where he calls his friends. He’ll either talk about his charm with Prompto, cooking with Ignis, or fishing with Claudio. They aren’t onscreen, but it’s nice to know they’re around, waiting to hear how Noctis beating his foes leveled his skills up enough for a side quest.
