Almost time to fight

Tekken 3D Prime Edition is less that a week away, the second major 3DS release of the year so far. It's a fighting series typically associated with experienced and mature gamers, but in the latest Iwata Asks Katsuhiro Harada has spoken about his desire to bring Tekken to a broader range of players, and explained why 3DS is the perfect platform.

His source of inspiration, Super Smash Bros, may surprise some, but it shows how Prime Edition has been designed to cater for all gamers. This is easily one of the most entertaining Iwata Asks interviews, so we've picked out some of the best bits for you to enjoy.

Also, when we made this game for the Nintendo 3DS system, we had a different type of customer in mind than ever before. There was a reason for that. When I watched an American pro-gamer tournament called Major League Gaming, they had a Tekken and Super Smash Bros. section, and the type of participants and their reactions really made an impression on me. The participants at Tekken were all over eighteen, it was a group of big, brawny guys. Some of them were almost in their forties.

I was like, "It'd be faster if you just fought in real life!" (laughs) On the other hand, Super Smash Bros. had everyone from adults to kids, even women so I thought they would be all playing cheerfully together, but there were these deafening cheers coming from them playing tournaments, like "Auuugghhh!" I saw that and I was convinced that participants feel the same things while they play Super Smash Bros. and Tekken.

Seeing that and thinking, "I want these people to play Tekken, too!" was one of the things that lead us to release it for Nintendo 3DS.

Are you looking forward to Tekken 3D Prime Edition? More importantly, will it make you go 'Auuugghhh' when taking the fight to others?

[source iwataasks.nintendo.com]