Tekken Series Finally Comes to Switch 2, But Not With Tekken 8
The original Tekken is coming to all consoles including Switch 2 for the first time in over a decade, but it's the arcade version rather than the expected PlayStation port.
The first Tekken is coming to all consoles, but not in the version we were expecting
There are a few things we can say about the Switch 2 when it comes to third-party games—it's getting quite a few of them, but at the same time, there are games we're still waiting to see on Nintendo's console. For example, one series that hasn't been on Nintendo consoles for over a decade is the Tekken fighting game series, which hasn't received a new game on Nintendo since Tekken Tag Tournament 2 launched in 2012 on the Wii U. While Katsuhiro Harada, the former producer of the Tekken series for nearly three decades, said that a Switch 2 port of Tekken 8 could happen, it seems we're finally getting the series on the console, but definitely in a somewhat less expected form.
A trailer recently dropped unexpectedly for the first game in the Tekken series for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and for the first time on Switch 2. This announcement could have been perfect, but in a very strange way—and in a manner that somewhat characterizes Bandai Namco's remaster choices with this series lately (the ports of Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection and Tekken 6 available on the PlayStation 5 digital store are the PSP versions rather than the PlayStation 3 versions, for unclear reasons)—we're getting the arcade version of the original Tekken and not the PlayStation version. Why is that? We don't really know. On top of that, we're getting the Japanese version of the game rather than the American one.
Some of Bandai Namco's decisions are very intriguing, but at the very least, we're now seeing the first arrival of a Tekken game in a decade on a Nintendo console, and we can only hope we'll also get Tekken 8 on the console—with features like DLSS, it's completely possible right now. The arcade version port is available on the PlayStation and Xbox digital stores for about $17. As of now, the Nintendo digital store has not yet been updated, but the product is expected to be available for purchase in the coming days.