Tekken is still weird and that’s what makes it great

Tekken is a celebration of mixed martial arts as it was for just a brief, magical moment. Sloppy, awkward, funny, and surprising. It's a combat sandbox for adult martial arts nerds longing for the days before Under Armor and rear naked chokes. A return to a world where you believed that if you grabbed a guy's wrist a certain way, he'd fall over. It was a beautiful dream, and Tekken is out here keeping it alive.
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[@Tomi-yy3fv]

Tekken is the reason I now believe I can take on a bear with my triangle hands.

[@Innuya]

Isn't this a bot that copied another comment?

[@niklasw.1297]

"Joined 20 Feb 2024", 20 random subscribers without videos, 'Videos' linked to another website in the about... Yeah, idk, must be real human

[@MrIceio]

Polygon is crazy for liking a butt bot comment.

[@JacobGeller]

This is basically exactly what I want from a fighting game video

[@dumberdummer]

Hey I know you

[@kamrankazemi8256]

omg king

[@liquidbiden]

Do a video on why tekken slaps hard right in the dick and balls area.

[@imreadingintoit]

*Video-Essay master has entered the chat* @JacobGeller

[@Electroporcupine]

*Nodding* Pat Gill.😊

[@keeganleech3573]

Seeing the title: oh yeah, that's a Pat video for sure.

[@RDR911]

Only videos worth watching on the channel anymore. They’re trying too hard to make that tiktok KZbin shorts chick BDG again.

[@wingedlionn]

so glad this is a universal experience

[@Goatmaster-ek8rq]

@@RDR911 Most of her shorts are indeed pretty meh and Pat definitely shines the brightest but I do think both Clayton and Simone put out inspired, interesting stuff.

[@sanityisrelative]

​@@Goatmaster-ek8rq I too have a fondness for britalist architecture so I always enjoy a Simone video

[@boxtupos7718]

Inoki did that, because he wasn't allowed tackle and throw Ali. So since that was out of the picture, he resorted to laying on the fucking ground lol.

[@danielluz1861]

Probably couldn't do leg and ankle locks either, otherwise that fight would be over pretty fast.

[@m0j026]

This gets me thinking. What the hell was he supposed to do then? Push Ali around? Try to toss a 100+ kilogram peak human being to the other side of the ring? With those rules, he was kind of destined to lose

[@algernopkrieger7710]

Pat will consistently get me to go. "Hmm, I wanna play that" with a game or genre I have never touched.

[@NoirLouisStream]

You should

[@Stevonicus]

One of my favourite Tekken facts is that Minoru Suzuki, a pro wrestling legend and super scary tough guy, did the mocap for King in the early games.

[@zero9945]

He also choked Harada

[@FeloPastry]

I think I learned that from a Pat video…

[@HBROGUH]

Whoa that is crazy I had no idea . Thank you for sharing this 🙏🏾

[@kumajin3621]

KAZE NI NARE

[@gelatobear9159]

It's been years since I first watched Pat's "How to get started with fighting games and have a nice time". I'm now watching this video with countless hours in Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, and now over 100 in Tekken 8 since its release in January, and I can confidently say that I am having a Nice Time with fighting games. Thanks, Pat!

[@TheJakeJackson]

You did this Pat, you opened the door to this fulfilling art form for so many new people looking this. You should be proud

[@RyanBounedara]

it's already been years*?! how time flies

[@kongchho8547]

didn't the video come out like last year?

[@hexavexagon1723]

Pat's insight into any random thing is always what I want. It's not just that he's a nerd who can't shut up about punch and kick, he has a particularly stark talent for finding important perspectives to consider things through.

[@TJ-xj3xz]

Tekken is also positively weird in it's gameplay and game mechanics. It's unfair, inconsistent, untraditional, and bold in many ways, but in a fun and intelligent way. Tekken is a prime example why having a game director who actually invented and cares about the game is so important. He knows what's good.

[@AuntBibby]

harada repeatedly has stated that the kind of rollback netcode 2d fighting games have is impossible for 3d fighting games. meanwhile, u can play tekken online on fightcade. also harada is supposedly the reason why the women in tekken's playable cast all have a identical bodytype (compared to street fighter having characters like Marisa)

[@garaktartv3647]

@@AuntBibby who cares about body type in a video game any way? especially in a video game where everyone is roided out of their mind in the first place.

[@garaktartv3647]

@@FGCfoof really? maybe I haven't played enough to make the distinction but it doesn't seem to bother me at least for now, I'll definitely keep it in mind. And yea King especially this time around beefed even more so then others up lmao his physique is godly.

[@crogan5141]

Struggling imagine a male character besides, like, jack with a unique body type, either

[@Garupan]

​@@AuntBibby Doesn't fightcade use save states which Tekken 8 doesn't have the luxury of using?

[@JuliusCaesar103]

Inoki's iconic performance would go on to inspire Tekken 8's Xiaoyu and her too low almost non existent hitbox, way to show your inspiration, Harada and team

[@FatherTime89]

One thing Tekken does better than any other fighting game is making it feel like your individual punches and hits have a big impact.

[@edwuano7]

that slamming sound when you can swap characters mid combo from TTT came to mind when i read this.

[@Kenlac92]

Movement combined creating and punishing whiffs

[@CuteLittleLily]

Dont forget the parry. Forward parry like reina did and the low parry that straight up flip the enemy with one of the best sound effect that just trigger kreygasm easily and chained into combo

[@mamahorseteeth9780]

This had me thinking about all the times in Elden Ring when a boss laid me out on my ass with a heavy attack and it occurred to me that it would be safer to stay on the ground while they whiffed a long, sweeping attack instead of trying to early-dodge out off the ground and back into their sword.

[@LimeyLassen]

You're right, Fromsoft games really illustrate that "what looks cool" vs "what's actually optimal" kinda tension

[@syris1952]

Video about fighting games that mostly talks about the history of martial arts in the 90's? Now THIS is what a real video should be

[@Fenrisaconite]

That lying down technique kinda reminds me of how weird it was fighting Nishitani Homare in Yakuza 0. He would pretend to fall over, and then slither around on the ground trying to stab you in the ankles and just generally try to psyche you out by making really horny gestures.

[@bananabike279]

I kept wondering throughout the video "where is he going with this" but now I understand, Tekken is a beautiful game to watch in motion with all it's mixed fighting styles

[@discgolfwes]

My hands are a triangle and I'm always sliding into these comments

[@deckie_]

I think it is exactly that confrontation between different styles that drew me to Tekken too, although of course there is a strong dose of habit

[@Lavarpsu10]

Man, the first 30 seconds have me HOOKED, Pat. I'm still a sucker for style vs. style competitions even though it's kinda bogus. The thing that has always been neatest about MMA is when unique discernable styles clash and we get to see the fun interactions. The unique real fighters who remain like Kyoji Horiguchi are true treasures.

[@siamehussain8392]

surprisingly, ufc nowadays still has fighters that specialise in a certain discipline stephen 'wonderboy' thompson somehow manages to win fights doing pure karate, and it looks like how it would in a movie same with israel adesanya, he basically does kickboxing only max holloway essentially does boxing

[@APerson-dq4hl]

Real people spent thousands of years before UFC fighting without weapons for real, for their lives, with not "almost no rules", but literal no rules. What they learned is that it's basically a question of rock paper scissors, or as they say in Asian martial arts, hard, soft, and hard-soft. There is no one perfect approach, everything can be countered. The more prevalent one approach becomes, the more people will work on how to counter it, in a never-ending cycle. People also focus too much on style and not enough on how good the fighter is, not to mention simple chance and luck.

[@_NotImportant]

The laying on the ground part is kinda funny considering King is also the only one in Tekken that has grapples for opponents on the ground.

[@devforfun5618]

some characters can lay on top of a character and punch, i just dont know how to trigger that consistently and panda can dance over a fallen enemy

[@SwagWagger]

pat was part of successfully getting me into fighting games and i think he's on his way to getting me into martial arts movies and television next lol

[@r.lum.r]

Patrick is so so good. I legit picked up tekken 3 because I was a taekwondo practitioner when I was young and hwoawrang made it look so cool. Brings a tear to me wee little eye to hear Pat describe it so concisely. Not to mention the yoshimitsus and bears on the roster. Lol.

[@zeywop]

pat i started to play fighting games right when ur video on how to play them and have a nice time came out. I don't know if i would have stuck with them without ur video but now they are basically all i play thank u for that

[@asspills]

As a fighting game non-fan, Tekken has consistently been the only fighting game that I love to watch. I'm not even interested in Street Fighter matches, pro or no. But I'll ravenously watch ANY video of people playing Tekken. It's the only one that looks like a fight, with all the chaos & weird hit box fuckery that makes two flailing bodies fun to watch.

[@SonahJ]

I can't get enough of your fighting game videos, Pat! You bring such a passionate energy to the FGC, and each video has opened my heart to more reasons to love fighting games. I can definitively say "How to get started with Fighting Games and have a Nice Time" reignited my love for a genre I may not have returned to. Now I understand there is a bond of brotherhood that can only be understood by two Potemkin mains that both just whiffed a HPB. I hope you stream Tekken 8 soon, I would love to download your King Ghost!

[@Iwatoda_Dorm]

These videos hit real hard. Keep up the great work Pat!

[@JoeJoe-ju7vz]

i missed this guy. need more content from him

[@LIONTAMER3D]

Street fighter player here: tekken is currently the most technically sophisticated fighting game out there. It takes more skill to win a tekken match against a high level player than is required by any other game & by a long shot.

[@7734jojo]

This video put my thoughts into beautiful, beautiful words. Id like to add one thing, growing up, I saw traditional martial arts as a cultural icon that represented different regions. Every nation has a flag, some variation of a dumpling, and a martial art. Which made me all the more excited to see Azucena announced because id get to see Peru represented not only by name but through the Rumi Maki inspirations in her fighting.

[@dialectiks]

Lovely video. I think SoulCalibur does a similar job at attending to our teenage fantasy scenarios: "Who would win, a Samurai or a Knight? Or a guy with a long stick?"

[@Voltecite]

I absolutely screamed when I saw this. Dude thank you for posting. I love your work

[@MarioGMan25]

And suddenly Dunkey's "Lazy Bear" fighting style makes more sense...

[@BlassstProsussin]

Tekken will always be the game where I feel like Jet Li in Kiss of the Dragon. Specifically the scene where he fights some twins and one of them is a really good kickboxer. Jet adjusts mid fight to make the kickboxer only box him. It’s a fun movie! Great job with this video!

[@crimsoninsight97]

Thank you pat for another great fighting game video! I actually just got back into trying out FG since playing Soul Caliber and Tekken on my PSP back in my high school days. I love to see breakdowns like this and this was a wonderful insight into the mechanics and history of sport and games.

[@underthel4390]

Pat, I appreciate your videos on fighting/martial arts/wrestling so much. Thank you for making them.

[@JolaAndile]

Polygon, this is an awesome breakdown of why Tekken reigns supreme!" The historical context you provided was truly insightful. And that "I am always sliding" quote from Segal? Pure gold! 😃

[@user-kz4ls7qt5l]

Tekken is a game that 18 years old me can play with a Grizzly bear who knows mishima style karate againt his 48 years old uncle who plays the bruce lee character and having a blast with it

[@gwen9939]

Always love a Pat video, especially on fighting games. Tekken's not only incredible for its homages to real martial arts, but is equally fascinating with its game systems compared to other fighting games. The Rock-paper-scissors with side-stepping, ducking, backdashing, and using evasive manoeuvres in general is so different from the much cleaner and calculated precise spacing and frame data of Street Fighter, while at the same time offering some of the most difficult but incredibly satisfying execution out of any fighting game. I love street fighter for its simple to understand, extremely hard to master formulas, but it doesn't outshine Tekken when it comes to how expressive a player is able to be.

[@serpentartist1348]

I love these videos so much. Fighting games aren't really my thing for a variety of reasons, but your videos on them are reliably fascinating

[@Michael_Lindell]

Weirdness is not something Tekken for granted. Aikido not!

[@AngelBeatYunara]

oh you, lol

[@OccuredJakub12]

Tekken 7 and 8 also lean into the hype of those wierd interactions with the slowdown that happens sometimes when two moves approach each other when one or both players are near to a ko

[@impendingfrog]

This is such a wonderful video. Such pleasing storytelling and delivery and context.

[@MemoryVague]

I would honestly buy a DVD collection of Pat's videos, Homestar Runner-style

[@Potatoes9000]

And I'm always sliding

[@luxerhusku2609]

I love it when Pat talks about Tekken and fighting games in general! :D

[@sozy5307]

Always a good day when we get more Pat talking about fighting games

[@lykosvon9142]

Pat never change, love we got people like you in these big companies. Your passion is inspiring and you’re an excellent representative for the FGC to casuals

[@peebo-hc6zd]

Yoshimitsu and zafina have entered the chat

[@TheDuckofLaw]

This is an excellent video - very well put together and a compelling discussion!

Pat why do we only get one of these per year man

[@noodler7764]

this is fantastic stuff, nice work!

[@crazyhorse52395]

Always love a Pat Gill video. You can almost always tell from the title when its a Pat video and you can be damn sure its gonna be great!

[@loxmark]

What a great vid. I never thought about fighting games this way! I only played MK but will play Tekken now.

[@thefollowingisatest4579]

Fun fact Ali almost lost his leg as a result of that fight.

[@rionsanura]

oo hoo hoo let's see some martial art presentation analysis

[@shambibble]

as a lei main, this entire thing just made me miss my boy 😭

[@yamagvchi]

I always find myself in that thumbnail situation when playing vs King as Steve lol. Takes me a while till I remember I can just stomp him or knuckle plow

[@vividao4123]

Funny story: An MMA had a guy with no limbs (well, just elbows and knees) fight a full-bodied opponent. The opponent couldn't get to him because he was way too low, was really fast, and none of his grabs could work. He just stood up and tried hitting him by punching downwards like Ali did with Aoki but now, instead of a guy just laying on the ground kicking you, poor dude had someone who was hypermobile on the floor. Most people chalked it up to dude having to hesitate because he didn't want to beat up a guy with no arms or legs but, if you ask me, it just showed how MMA has never really addressed any of the weaknesses of the arts that it's founded on but rather just used one martial art to bandaid the flaws of another. Which makes me think that games like Tekken should have characters with disabilities based off of real life disabled fighters as often their disabilities not only allow them to (rather paradoxically) circumvent the weaknesses of the arts they practice but expose weaknesses in other arts simply by virtue of them not being accounted for.

[@Cntrebasse]

what a great vid, reminds me of the Voldo one, which was also amazing

[@coleworld8265]

Patrick glad to see you're still enjoying Tekken and sad to see you're still a King main (derogatory). I hope I never run into you online and you have a great day! :)

[@nathanielb1119]

Pat you better do more fighting game content or else I’ll be sad

[@missingno9]

love the shoutout to CheeseYoni their choreography vids are sooooo good

[@DrTopHat]

This was really interesting, thanks Pat. I've always considered the more martial arts-y fighting games to be a bit uninteresting compared to the character variety in Soul Calibur & Smash Bros, but this really opened my eyes to what makes them special.

[@jezzuh9120]

Another great video from Pat

[@SamuraiSam]

really interesting stuff I had never heard, thanks for the vid

[@MikeBeydoun]

I can watch Pat talk fighting games whilst crying of pure joy and comfort forever. Bless you Pat ❤u are my fgc.

[@singledigitdan4563]

Patrick Tekken Gill does it again.

[@nickluck4100]

Tekken allows us to finally settle the ancient schoolyard debate of who would win between a kung fu guy and a dinosaur with boxing gloves.

[@nathang4682]

What a great video. Have watched many Ali fights but I was not aware of that, incredible lmao

[@cyprusmiraque]

Leaving a like on this video isn't enough. I need to add it to my favorites playlist

[@bassvargas]

This video would make Core-A Gaming proud! Very well done

[@daftprince2234]

I love pat gill's fighting game corner

[@thordy9526]

This is likely the most loving homage to King’s alley kicks that we’ll ever see

[@Michael_Lindell]

Stay weird Pat, that makes you great!

[@piperblechschmidt5447]

I can't believe Carly used Inoki's strategy towards Ali when she was fighting Shelby Marx

[@johncuda]

This is the stuff I support. Great analysis!

[@Robomori]

Pat's FGC videos fill the Core-A-Gaming hole in my heart

[@sneharashmi7553]

Thank You for voicing out one of the reasons I like Tekken! Laying on the ground for as long as you want! Never in my wildest thoughts I thought that some other soul loves this about Tekken let alone a content creator. Apart from the martial arts aspect, I've loved the input scheme of Tekken, the default of which is the most intuitive of all fighting games in my opinion. 2D fighters have fighters switch limbs when they change sides, & Virtua Fighter has open & closed stances which changes limbs. But Tekken? No matter which side of the screen a character is, the move comes out with the same limb & the attacks are readable in both cases. The default input scheme of Tekken makes it intuitive to figure out a substantial number of moves. For instance if a character has a string of down 1,2; most probably that character will bend down & then hit his left & right punches respectively. For me, Tekken is the ultimate martial arts fantasy !!!

[@NyxDiscordia33]

I'm not even joking when I tell you that I've gotten people to whiff entire strings because I just stayed on the ground. All the way from 1st Dan to Tekken King the 1st Dan will think you're gonna get up immediately because that's what they've been doing and it usually works for them because low ranks are aggressive on wakeup and the Tekken King will underestimate you, thinking that you're a low rank that's aggressive on wakeup kinda funny how that works out lol Sometimes just doing *nothing* can completely throw off your opponent's timing

[@Bobsteperous]

It clicked, the rhythm was in me all along

[@beelzebubbla]

Awesome video! Thank you.

[@pedroeubg]

comment for the machine

[@polygon]

i love the machine

[@crownysuccubus1524]

I've always said that treating "MMA Fighter" like a "style" in fiction is like calling "Health Inspector" a type of restaurant. The whole point is to test the quality of the thing it's involved with.

[@grandmajojo5211]

i love the character customization’s in the game!

[@donald55482]

I've tried so many fighting games and always have been bugged by the inability to choose how, or if, I want my character to stand up. It feels like such a simple thing coming from Tekken as my main game, but I use it in such ways that I can't train myself not to. Street Fighter and I think Mortal Kombat allow you to delay wake ups, but you can't just lay there. Tekken 8 has changed the system a bit to encourage player to get to back to neutral, but I'm still able to shut down my opponents offense with a toe kick, or even just laying there. It's always great to see someone whiffing moves cause they don't know their characters ground hitting attacks.

[@DoomRater]

I mean, they invited the "You'd actually just die if you trained and fought like this" guy to the matchup too. Looking at you, Miguel!

[@chaosvii4605]

“In TEKKEN they can lay down forever and you might not know how to hit them” Kazuya has entered the ring

[@bazza3664]

I was disappointed that Pat didn't show Bryan or Devil Jin's soccer kicks in the segment where he talks about getting folks off the ground. That shit is brutal hahaha.

[@pizza_suplex_content_hell7902]

Or Julia’s ff3. When I hit the 5th one in a row I start to feel bad -Pat

[@DannoHung]

The guy who created Baki is the father of the girl who created Beastars.

[@paxcaster]

pat gill talking about fighting games again? i will be there no matter what

[@RobotPlaysGames]

I will watch Patrick talk about fighting games all the time. Give me more.

[@tranngockha6562]

2:50 This is beautiful, what movie is this?

[@MrPooleish]

To quote Mike Tyson, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth

[@ricepony33]

Pat, do a video on Virtua Fighter.

[@dragonlordskater5028]

Thanks, great vid! I wanna play Tekken now

[@maxwelld37]

great video!

[@Snowstar420]

Excellent video

[@liswifi]

a title like this can only ever be a pat gill video

[@Mordalon]

This progression from distinctive styles to a less distinctive hybrid is seen also in Avatar the Last Airbender to Korra.

[@broadbandislife]

MMA has its specific context and circumstances which, in a competitive environment, impose selection pressures upon the participants that inevitably result in fair bit of convergent evolution. Back when people trained and fought to kill or die, though, you actually had a remarkable degree of variety within the practical boundaries imposed by human biomechanics and the available tools of offence and defence. ("Breaking fists on helmets is dumb" for ex.) People had some pretty pressing reasons to try and find ways to go about things better than the other guy, after all, and there were generally many ways to go about skinning any particular tactical cat when the only rule that actually applied was "do unto others before they do unto you".

[@durandal6010]

Another banger, Pat.