Tekken Special

Tekken Special
Tekken Special's title screen.
Developer	Gamtec(?)
Console	Sega Mega Drive
Date	1996 or 1997
Engine	Mega Drive Fighting Engine
Sound engine	High Seas Havoc
Alternate names/hacks	Tekken 3 Special

Tekken Special is a bootleg port of Tekken 2 for the Mega Drive. It is the Mega Drive counterpart to Tekken 2.

Overview

Tekken 3 Special's Gameplay. Note the fireball attack, which wasn't in Tekken 2.

The game's engine is heavily based on Virtua Fighter 2 VS Tekken 2 which in turn, inherits the Virtua Fighter 2 control scheme (A to block, B to punch, C to kick), the 2D fighting gameplay (automatic turning around, stages looping forever) and many of its other flaws (such as only being able to jump attack when pressing the attack button at the same time you jump, combos not connecting properly). The only notable changes are the inclusion of an actual jump punch, the recover attack command has been changed (to Up + B) and being unable to get hit while you're down. However, there's a new bug where if you get hit in the middle of the walk, you don't get interrupted.

The Tekken cast from Virtua Fighter 2 VS Tekken 2 returns, retaining their original moves (although some of their move commands have been changed for unknown reasons). This game also adds Yoshimitsu, Nina Williams, and Marshall Law as well to the roster. For whatever reason, except for Law and Kazuya, all the characters now have a projectile attack despite never having one in the original Tekken 2.

Arcade mode consists of fighting a pre-determined order of characters (although the order depends on said character) that leads to a simple screen saying "Congratulations!". The AI is notably cheap as they can block during any grounded attack and pull out special moves with ease and juggle you.

The fighters' graphics are now 2D sprites based on their 3D models. The original Tekken cast from Virtua Fighter 2 VS Tekken 2 seem to use the same bases (complete with alternate outfits and the wrong color for Heihachi) but have been completely redrawn and reanimated. The stages seem to be screenshots digitized and mirrored horizontally and lack any kind of animation. The sound engine is from High Seas Havoc this time around and most of the tracks seem to be from Fighters Megamix and Sonic the Fighters.

Movelists

Kazuya Mishima

• Demon Slayer - B, C, B (Only the first two punches.)
• Dragon Uppercut - Forward, Down, Down-Forward, Forward + B
• Left Splits Kick - Forward, Down, Down-Forward, Forward + C
• Leaping Side Kick - Forward, Forward, Forward, C
• Dragon Punch into Sweep Kick - Forward, Down, Forward, B + C
• Lightning Screw Uppercut - Back, Down-Back, Down, Down-Forward, Forward, B or Back, Forward + C or Back + B + C
• Rising Sun - Forward, C, C, C, C (Lacks the jump kick and goes straight into the two sweep kicks.)

Lee Chaolan

• Crescent Kick - C, Up, C (Only performs the flip kick.)
• Shaolin Spin Kick - C, C, B. C
• Rave War Combo - Forward, B, B, B
• Left Splits Kick - Forward, Down, Down-Forward, Forward + C
• Spinning Slide Kick - Down, Neutral, Down-Forward, C (Makes Lee hop into the air instead.)
• Silver Cyclone - Down + B + C
• Projectile - Forward, Back, Down-Back, Down, Down-Forward, Forward + B

Paul Phoenix

• Jab + Straight - B, C, B
• Flash Elbow - Forward, Back, B
• Hammer Punch - Down, B+C
• Phoenix Smasher - Down, Down-Forward, Forward + B
• Neutron Bomb - Forward, Forward, C
• Shredder - Back, C, C
• Triple Kick Combo - Forward, C, C, Forward, C
• Burning Fist - Back + B + C
• Projectile - Forward, Back, Down-Back, Down, Down-Forward, Forward + B

Jun Kazama

• Whiplash - B, C, B
• Double Lift Kick - Down + B + C
• 3 Ring Circus - B + C, B (First two parts.)
• 3 Ring Circus - B + C, B, C
• Tooth Fairy - Forward, B + C
• Scissor Spin Kick - Forward + C
• Windmill Kick - Back + C
• Spinning High Kick - Back, Down-Back, Down, Down-Forward, Forward + C

Yoshimitsu

• 3 Kick Combo - C, C, C
• Knee Bash - Forward, Forward, C
• Harakiri - Down, B+C (Yoshimitsu will turn around unlike the normal Harakiri in Tekken 2.)
• Sword Poke - Back, Back + B
• Stone Fist - Back, B, B, B
• Shark Attack Blow - Forward, Forward, B+C, B+C, B+C
• Spinning Harakiri - Forward, B + C
• Roll + Swipe - Back, Down-Back, Down, Down-Forward, Forward, B

Heihachi Mishima

• Flash Punch Combo - B, B, C, B
• Dragon Uppercut - Forward, Down, Down-Forward + B
• Heavy Power Punch - Down, Forward, B
• Jumping Mid Kick - Forward + C
• Axe Kick - Forward, Down, Down-Forward + C
• Spinning Demon - Forward, Down, Down-Forward + C, C, C (This move seems (near?) impossible to pull off due to the command buffer.)
• Lightning Hammer - Down + B + C
• Lighting Wave - Forward, Forward, Forward, Forward, C

Nina Williams

• Blonde Bomb - Forward, Forward, B + C
• Fireball - Back, Down, Forward, B
• Left Backhand Body Blow - Back, B
• Can Opener - Forward, C, B, C (Nina performs the other kicks in mid-air since she jumps rather high.)
• Winding Kick Combo - Down, C, B, Forward, C
• Hunting Swan - Down, B + C
• Creeping Snake - Down, C, B, B, C
• Flash Kicks - Down, C, C, C, C
• Jail Crusher - B, B, Down, C, C

Marshall Law

• Rave War Combo - B, B, C, B
• Triple Head Kick - C, C, C
• Running Side Kick - Forward, Forward, Forward, C
• Catapult Kick Low - Down, Up + C
• Shin Kick, High Kick, Mid Kick - Down, C, C, C
• Charge Power Punch - Down-Back, B + C
• Flaming Kick - Left, Right, C (Seems to be an original move, not from Tekken 2.)
• Back Flipper - B + C, C
• Crescent Kick - C, B + C
• Front Kick to Somersault - Forward, C, C
• Shin Kick, High Kick, Mid Kick, Flip Kick - Down, C, C, C, C

Stages

• Kazuya Mishima - Jun Kazama's stage (same theme as Law)
• Lee Chaolan - Paul Phoenix's stage (Theme: Theme of Bahn from Fighting Vipers)
• Paul Phoenix - Lee Chaolan's stage
• Jun Kazama - Prototype Jack's stage (Theme: Theme of Raxel from Fighting Vipers)
• Yoshimitsu - Baek Doo San's stage (Theme: Theme of Pai from Virtua Fighter 2)
• Heihachi Mishima - Kunimitsu's stage (Theme: South Island from Sonic the Fighters)
• Nina Williams - Ganryu's stage (Theme: Flying Carpet from Sonic the Fighters)
• Marshall Law - Kuma's stage (Theme: Theme of Grace from Fighting Vipers)

Differences with Tekken Special

• Tekken Special controls and mechanics are based on Virtua Fighter 2's due to the fact it was built off of Virtua Fighter 2 VS Tekken 2 while Tekken 2 sticks closer to the original game.
• Tekken Special adds Nina Williams and Marshall Law on the roster.
  • Tekken 2 doesn't seem to have any leftovers of these two characters and given their sprite style, they may have been intended to be Mega Drive-exclusive.
• Both games have slightly different move commands. Tekken 2 uses commands that are closer to the original game while Tekken Special seems to slightly modify some of the commands.
• Both games have some differences in the move sets:
  • Tekken Special adds a bunch of moves not found in the original Tekken 2, most notably projectiles for most of the cast. Yoshimitsu ends up gaining another special attack where he rolls along the ground and slashes at the end of it.
  • Yoshimitsu has his normal Harakiri in Tekken Special with his Spinning Harakiri being a separate move command. In Tekken 2, the command for his normal Harakiri just has him perform the Spinning Harakiri instead.
  • Jun's move set has some changes between both games: Tekken Special has her Spinning High Kick while Tekken 2 has her Windmill Kick into Tooth Fairy combo. Also in Tekken 2, her two-hit punch combo has her repeating her left punch twice with Whiplash using a different command.
• The soundtrack is completely different between both games: Tekken 2 reuses from Virtua Fighter 2 VS Tekken 2 and Rockman X3 whereas Tekken Special appears to have ripped the soundtrack from Fighters Megamix.
• In Tekken 2, everyone has their original stage while Tekken Special mixes them up and mostly has sub-bosses' stages.
• Tekken 2's ending has the text animated and placed higher up.

Trivia

• A title hack exists known as Tekken 3 Special which appears to be more known. This hack increases the resolution of the title screen (and the options screen, creating some empty space) to accommodate for the "3" in the title. However, this, in turn, makes the menu and the title screen off-center.
• Wang Jinrei's stage is present in the ROM but cannot be accessed during normal gameplay.
• There's an unused character in the ROM: Jack-2. You can access him by changing the value in the RAM address 0x020A (or 0x030A for 2P) to 09 while on the character select. He appears to be completely functional although many of his special move commands don't seem to match with his original move commands. If the second player selects him, he uses Wang's unused stage.
• Lei Wulong's name (as Lei) can be found in the ROM with the other HUD names. Unlike Jack-2 however, there doesn't seem to be any other remnants of him other than his name.
• The idea of projectiles used in a Tekken game predates Tekken 5, where the final boss Jinpachi Mishima was the first official character in the series to use projectiles.
• The back of the cartridge has some screenshots and the title logo from Tekken 2, but the character artwork was taken from the PSX cover of Tekken 1.
• Voice samples for the Tekken 2 announcer are in the ROM, but aren't heard in-game, possibly due to a programming bug. The Tekken 2 announcer would see the light of day in later games using the Mega Drive Fighting Engine, such as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - The Fighting Edition.

Gallery

Tekken 3 Special's title screen.

Box and Cartridge.

Back view.