Anyone who’s been a regular reader of Cultured Vultures will likely know that we’re big fans of fighting games around here, with one particular fighting game being Tekken 7. Bandai’s Namco’s magnum opus of a 3D fighter is arguably the best active fighting game on the market right now, with a varied roster of characters, a decent selection of modes and gameplay that’s both incredibly smooth and satisfying, while rewarding those dedicated to putting in the grind.
Naturally, because fighting games require extra content these days to sustain their own shelf life, Tekken 7 has multiple sets of DLC Season Passes that include new characters, arenas and features that bolster an already huge game. Granted, fighting game DLC is still some of the most egregious in the entire industry, but Bandai Namco have made a decision that seems more perplexing than most.
Earlier this week, the Japanese publisher announced that Tekken 7 would receive a new retail version of the game, titled the Legendary Edition, that launches on November 12th for PlayStation and Xbox and includes the base game and 8 DLC characters for €29.99, which works out to around £25/$35. It’ll probably mean the British version will still cost £30, but that’s another issue in itself.
The real problem is the idea that Bandai Namco are selling a Legendary Edition of Tekken 7, while failing to include all previously released characters. The Legendary Edition will feature all 36 launch characters, along with Armor King, Anna Williams, Marduk, Julia, Lei Wulong, Zafina, Ganryu and Kunimitsu. It’s a decent head start when it comes to the DLC, but that’s all it is: a head start. For a so-called Legendary Edition, it should do more than that.
It’s just perplexing to me that a new retail version of Tekken 7 wouldn’t include all the previously released DLC. The entirety of Season 1 is missing, which featured the Tekken Bowl mode along with SNK guest character Geese and Final Fantasy XV protagonist Noctis, while the only character missing from Season 2’s roster is The Walking Dead’s Negan (who is also the best character, don’t @ me). From Season 3, newcomers Leroy and Fahkumram are omitted, while Lidia, another newcomer from Season 4, is also excluded.
That’s six characters left out from the Legendary Edition, which again undersells the idea that this is a Legendary Edition if it can’t cobble together all previously released content. On top of that, most of the omitted content is stretched across different seasons, meaning if players want to catch up, they’ll have to purchase individual characters instead of the convenience and discount that comes with a Season Pass. It’s a bit of a confusing mess, in all honesty.
Bundle editions like this are often a great way for new or lapsed fans to flock to a fighting game without having to shell out extortionate amounts of money for the game and all its DLC. Street Fighter V has profited immensely from this approach, with Capcom releasing an Arcade Edition in 2018 that included all of Seasons 1 and 2, while the Champion Edition in 2020 included Seasons 1-4.
At that point at least, both versions included all available content for a heavily discounted price, but you could argue that the Arcade Edition was immediately nullified by the fact it launched the same day as Season 3. The same could be said of Champion Edition, with Capcom announcing a fifth and final season of content after the success of Champion Edition. In both instances, the idea of a complete version of Street Fighter V was rendered void by the addition of more content.
It’s a fair point, in that it’s hard to play catch-up when more content keeps dropping, but both Arcade Edition and Champion Edition had the decency to be lines in the sand, so to speak. They both included everything up to a certain point, so they were complete in terms of what they were offering. You were receiving either two or four full seasons of content for a reduced price, with the promise of “hey, if you like what you’re playing, there’s more coming”.
Tekken 7’s approach of arbitrarily picking and choosing content from the previous four years and slapping it into a retail bundle feels haphazard by comparison, especially when it’s still up in the air on whether or not Tekken 7 will even get any more content or not. A fifth season would be nice, but I’d also just take PS5/Xbox Series X | S updates that improve the loading times and resolution. That’d be lovely.
It’s important to note that this issue isn’t to do with the Legendary Edition’s cost either, but specifically the weird choice to omit certain content. It feels like the Legendary Edition would make for a decent companion release to a Complete Edition or something, which could’ve bundled everything together for a higher price point. It’s a really baffling decision and I’m struggling to see why Bandai have gone about it this way.
The vast amount of fighting game DLC can often make some of the biggest titles feel insurmountable to a more casual audience, but bundles like this give players a chance to dip their toe back in and even sample some new content. However, when they’re implemented as if they’re a half measure, which is the case for Tekken 7’s Legendary Edition, they lose their value as a result.
READ MORE: Best Fighting Game Stages: Tekken 5’s Moonlit Wilderness
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