Completion time: 19:20

We launched PSX Mania with the original Tekken. It aged exceedingly poorly, to such a degree that it was almost offensive. It has been a long while since I touched Tekken 2 however. I know the second and third games were pretty damn badass, even years later, or at least the third, since I have played Tekken 3 somewhat recently. Did 2 age as gracefully? For the majority of it, pretty much yeah.

I still get thrown off playing these games and not being able to double tap up or down to move around the stage, but as is, everything still works well. Player models are oh so slightly less chunky. Gameplay is still tight. The big pain in the ass though comes from how damn long it takes to get off the ground once you get knocked down. It’s excruciatingly slow, and had it been sped up, this would have easily gotten a 10.

Nonetheless, there’s plenty of value still in Tekken 2. I’d still prefer the third, but at the same time, this more than has its place in the PS1 library, and really, you should pick it up if you’re collecting PS1 games (or at the very least, good PS1 games you’ll come back to time and time again).

Rating: 9