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Speaking to video-gaming website 1up.com, in an interview about the upcoming Dead Or Alive Ultimate tournament (which European gamers are not allowed to enter, much to the annoyance of the game’s considerable European fanbase), the well-respected games designer expressed a considerable distaste for Namco’s best-selling Tekken series.
In response to a question about whether Namco, with Tekken 5 “chickened out of the online arena”, Itagaki had this to say:
First they put in all of these half-finished “features”, then they take them right out again. Tag fights, elevation differences, walls. I don’t know if it’s because they’re impatient, or because they lack the ability, but no matter the reason those guys are a pretty weird bunch. Any of those things would have become a bonafide feature if they took the time to do it right (laughs). Oh, and come on guys, let’s quit trying to hide the prehistoric nature of the main product by tacking on some absurd “bonus game.” I have been saying this for 5 years, haven’t I? If you have the time to make an action-style “bonus game”, why don’t you create an honest-to-god action game and sell it as a standalone product? Oh, and if you’re going to bother including such a “unique” form of ball play, you should do a beach volleyball game instead (laughs).
Oh, that’s right, I forgot something important. You guys did do a “bonafide” action game, didn’t you? What was it called again? Oh yeah, NINA: Death by Degrees.
You can be the judge of his comments when Tekken 5 hits European shores this September. Dead Or Alive Ultimate is currently available worldwide, and gets the Pro-G review treatment here.
