Tekken’s popularity did not remain confined to arcades for long. The series was anearly success on the PlayStation, with its debut entry being the first PS1 game to sell one million copies. What helped Tekken succeed on consoles, apart from its substantial storyline, was the inclusion of several different additional modes.
From the third game onwards, Tekken went all-out with the inclusion of additional game modes. While there are fighting game staples like time attack, the series would also veer into strange new directions with these extra modes. Here’s every extra mode in Tekken, ranked.
10Arcade Quest
Tekken 8
The kindest thing that can be said about Arcade Quest is that it teaches newcomers some gameplay elements. Aside from that, it is a truly bizarre and unnecessary inclusion in the Tekken canon. It allows you to create aMii-like avataroutside the Tekken universe, where you and your digital friends go through a story that feels, by and large, like an interactive fluff piece.
Given that playing this mode means you’ve already bought Tekken 8, it makes no sense for Arcade Quest to essentially be an ad for Tekken 8. The dialogue is truly cringeworthy, with characters praising Tekken 8 for its new gameplay features and waxing lyrical about its takeover of the fighting game market. We’d much rather just play ranked matches online.
9Treasure Battle
Tekken 7
Treasure Battle is a misguided combination of Dark Resurrection’s Gold Rush and Tag Tournament 2’s Ghost Battle. It lets you fight AI opponents forcustomization money, and occasionally features a gimmick match. You may only be able to do damage to airborne enemies, or both fighters may move faster.
Due to its gimmicky nature, Treasure Battle isn’t useful for getting better at the game. If you’re playing Tekken 7 regularly in any capacity, you have no need for extra customization money, making that incentive all but pointless.
8Gold Rush
Tekken: Dark Resurrection - Tekken 6
Though this mode appears only in the PSP versions of Tekken 5 and 6, it served as a fun distraction given the lack of direct online competition. It allows you to fight characters while earning massive amounts of gold. The more varied your combos, the more you’ll earn.
Opponents can fight back and rob you of your gold, with the game ending once your coffers run out. The money you earn from Gold Rush can be spent on character customization, which was a relatively new and exciting feature from Tekken 5.
7Scenario Campaign
Tekken 6
The repetitive Scenario Campaign of Tekken 6 is seen as one of its weakest inclusions, even though it’s crucial to the game’s plot. It also unveiledcharacter dynamicsthat fans had only imagined before. The mode was only included in the home console versions of the game; the PSP version had a straightforward story mode.
Scenario Campaign wasn’t well-received by the Tekken fanbase, but it did well in presenting the Tekken plot through a medium other than game manuals and ambiguously canon story episodes. It also helped set a template for how Tekken 8’s plot would be conveyed.
6Tekken Ball
Tekken 3, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Tekken 8
One of the sillier and less refined game modes, Tekken Ball is nonetheless a blast to play in small doses. It’s a deadly game of volleyball where the ball landing on your side of the court deals damage. The ball can be charged todeal extra damage.
Tekken Ball lets you use the regular fighting gameplay in a new, interesting manner. It’s a fun mode, especially if you play against a friend. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll check it out more than once or twice before jumping back to versus mode, though, which makes its inclusion in Tekken 8 a surprise.
5Survival Mode
Tekken 2 - Tag Tournament 2
A fighting game staple, Survival mode has you go through as many opponents as possible with a single health bar. Only a fraction of your health recovers with each victory; the objective is to see how far you can go.
Survival mode serves as an interesting gauge of skill. If you don’t get the high score, the games bluntly tell you to practice more. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be practicing for survival mode again: the feature was phased out in Tekken 7, and there are no signs of it returning in Tekken 8.
4Team Battle
Tekken 2 - Tekken 6
If you thoughtThe King of Fighters’three-member teams were daunting, wait until you see how The King of Iron Fist handles it. Team Battle lets you select up to eight characters and pit them against the CPU or a friend, with characters switching out once they’re defeated.
Team Battle was one of the most substantial modes in the game that encouraged you to learn multiple characters. Unfortunately, the mode was phased out in Tekken 7 and has not returned in Tekken 8. Given the increasing prevalence in the Tekken fanbase of learning only two or three characters, Team Battle would be a good incentive to branch out.
3Tekken: Devil Within
Tekken 5
While you now have to pay for season passes just to get all the characters in Tekken 8, the fifth entry had games within the game. Not only did it come with the arcade versions of the first three Tekken titles and the early 3D space shooter Starblade, but it also had Tekken: Devil Within. This was an entirely separate action-adventure game with platforming and puzzle elements to go with its beat ‘em up combat.
It’s noZelda, but Devil Within was surprisingly substantial for something included as a minigame. There were over five areas to explore, a separate soundtrack, and a small cameo from Tekken 3 characters Gun Jack and True Ogre, who are not available in the main game.
2Tekken Force
Tekken 3 - 4
Tekken 3 had extremely high production values for a PS1 game: besides its litany of fighting modes, it came with a beat ‘em up minigame. In Tekken Force, you’re able to pick any character and take them through four side-scrolling stages while fighting progressively stronger enemies. You can eat chicken to restore health, and your enemies vary based on your character’s rivalries.
Tekken 4 upped the ante with an even better version of the Force mode. It switched to an over-the-shoulder perspective and had stages dripping with atmosphere, while also improving the scoring and health recovery systems.
1Tekken Bowl
Tekken Tag Tournament, Dark Resurrection, Tekken 7
If you bought the PSP version of Tekken: Dark Resurrection just for this mini-game, you turned a profit. That’s how much of an endlessly compelling goldmine of joy Tekken Bowl is. It constantly keeps you coming back for more. First introduced in Tekken Tag Tournament, the mode has since returned in two more games.
Apart from its well-designed bowling gameplay, it also gives you crumbs of characterization on your chosen character: Bryan laughs maniacally when he trips, while Hwoarang is implied to be ambidextrous as he can switch his bowling side.
