The Original 1994 Arcade Tekken Hits Modern Consoles Tomorrow
The original 1994 arcade version of Tekken arrives on PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2 on June 25 via Hamster's Arcade Archives 2, the line's first Namco System 11 title.
On the same day the industry reminded us how it feels about preservation, here is the version I actually like. The original arcade Tekken, the 1994 coin-op, is coming to modern consoles tomorrow, June 25, through Hamster’s Arcade Archives 2.
The important word there is arcade. This is not the PlayStation port that most of us cut our teeth on. It is the actual Namco System 11 board, emulated accurately, and it is the first System 11 title Hamster has brought to the Arcade Archives 2 line, reportedly because getting it right takes more horsepower than the original Arcade Archives series could give it. It is launching on PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2.
You get the preservation-minded package Hamster always ships: the raw original alongside an Original mode, High Score mode, a Caravan time-limited mode, Time Attack, and VRR support. It is local two-player only, no online for this one, which is fine. Tekken was always a game you played with somebody sitting next to you.
This is what good preservation looks like. The 1994 arcade build of one of the games that made the 3D fighter a genre, and made the PlayStation worth owning, now legally playable and accurately emulated on hardware you already have. Namco released this thing in December of 1994. Thirty-one years later you can drop into the King of Iron Fist Tournament without hunting down a System 11 cabinet. Buy that one.