Justin Wong shares his thoughts and experience of Tekken 8 post-release and compared it to Street Fighter 6.
During an appearance on Fighting Game Select, EVO and fighting game legend Justin Wong discussed his thoughts on Tekken 8 versus Street Fighter 6.
Tekken 8 released on January 25, and has caught the attention of the fight gaming community, who are praising it for its innovation and content. Here's what Justin Wong had to say about Tekken 8.
Tekken 8 has a better Story Mode
In terms of his opinions on Tekken 8, Justin Wong had a lot of praise, saying he was particularly impressed by the story mode of Tekken 8, which trumped that of Street Fighter 6.
"Tekken 8's story mode in terms of single player content is much better than Street Fighter 6's World Tour, which isn't really a story mode, it's just about your creative character," said Justin Wong. "It's not about Street Fighter 6 lore. You don't really see the characters kind of suffer, go through hardships compared to Tekken 8…Tekken 8 though, I was losing it like oh my God, I was so hyped…the character development is really really good".
Tekken 8 has more innovative features
When it came to innovations, Justin Wong also felt Tekken 8 had the edge over Street Fighter 6. Tekken 8's replay function allows the player to not only watch a completed match, but also take over.
Players can jump into the replay at any time and playout a particle scenario, allowing a hands-on approach to understanding gameplay decisions. Justin Wong said he felt this innovation opened up huge potential for community knowledge sharing.
"I've already seen people post on Twitter. They'll see like a top player versus another player and you see the top player lose and somebody will say 'hey I took over your replay and you could have done this right and that'".
Justin Wong downloaded Ghosts of pro players in Tekken 8
In addition Justin Wong gave a shoutout to Super Ghost Battle, another new innovation which allows players to compete against AI ghosts of themselves or their enemies.
"There's also Super Ghost Battle, which is something Street Fighter doesn't have. The one thing about Super Ghost Battle that stood out to me is you can download other players' ghosts, an AI programmed to mimic that player's style," said Justin Wong.
"I downloaded Arslan Ash's ghost, Sonic Fox's ghost, Knee's ghost, and I was playing against them. They executed their combos, the movements, the punishes—almost the bread and butter moves they were known for. It was really engaging to fight against an AI version of the players you usually see in tournaments."
Justin Wong went on to share that when developing his own AI ghost that he actually lost to it several times. "My AI ghost whiffed punished me, he was kicking me in the shins, he was doing my own thing against me... and I found that really cool."
"It's a really good way to train, if you're a new player and don't understand how to play Tekken but don't want to play ranked matches. Just download a ghost of top players and try to fight against them, because they will teach you a lot. It's the next evolution."
"Street Fighter 6 doesn't have that replay function, you can't just play AI Daego," said Justin Wong.
"My AI ghost whiffed punished me, he was kicking me in the shins, he was doing my own thing against me... and I found that really cool."
Street Fighter 6 had a better launch than Tekken 8
While Tekken 8 might have the edge on features and story mode, Justin Wong said Street Fighter 6 still had the best start.
"I think Street Fighter 6 had the best launch, mainly because the only thing that wasn't working was the Team Battle rooms, or something to that effect. However, the Battle Hub, ranked matches, and private rooms were all functioning quite solidly from the launch," said Justin Wong.
"From what I remember, there weren't any significant issues that stood out or made you think, 'Oh man, I can't believe Capcom messed up on this.'"
Meanwhile for Tekken 8 the launch was a lot more turbulent.
"The launch of Tekken 8 had a lot of hiccups. The servers were overwhelmed, and my game kept crashing," said Justin Wong. "There were simply too many people, and the game repeatedly crashed, displaying a 'fatal error' message. However, after about two hours had passed, they managed to fix the issues, and the online experience was amazing."
Street Fighter 6 struggling at the moment says Justin Wong
Justin Wong mentioned that Street Fighter 6 is currently facing issues related to its input system, which has been a point of contention among players. Additionally, the competitive scene is not in its best shape.
"CPT is not doing the best with just like all these Lukes and Kens right now. I think Street Fighter 6 is still a great game, people still love the game, but you know there are some issues," said Justin Wong, who went on to say Season 2 might be a chance to address the issues and reignite enthusiasm for the game.