Tekken uses the superior 4 button limb based system of combat, something all 3d fighters should use. It is the most intuitive control scheme for a 3d fighting game, and it amazes me others don’t use it. With Tekken you have more options than other fighters, thus adding more depth. Look at other control schemes when compared to Tekken:
Virtua Fighter - 3 buttons, punch, kick, and guard. Now this is extremely limiting. Unlike Tekken, where you can choose which limb you wish to use to attack with, in VF the game determines it for you. I press punch with Jacky, I could get a right jab or a left jab. Compare this to Tekken, where if I want say a left jab with law, or a right cross, I can hit the corresponding limb buttons. This allows for maximum intuitiveness.
Tobal - This uses 3 main attack buttons, High, Mid, and Low. This is one of the worst control schemes imaginable. You have no control over limbs or your attacks being punches or kicks, the game determines all that for you. The buttons simply decide whether your attack hits high, mid, or low. This is highly unintuitive and extremely limiting. It is also shallow. In Tekken, you have to figure out on your own which moves hit at which heights. Tobal it pretty much tells you, you know when you hit the high attack button, any attack done with that button will be high. Where is the depth in that? Instead of discovering things for yourself, the game just hands it to you. Tekken makes you work for that information.
Now another thing, take a character like Hwoarang. If he were in a game like VF or Tobal, he’d be ruined. Tekken’s superior limb based system of combat allows him to have so many moves. he can switch freely between stances, and has many kick attacks using both legs. Were he to be in VF, he’d be extremely limited and shallow, as now you simply press a single kick button for all his attacks. Tobal would be even worse, you’d now all the heights of the kicks laid out right before you, making him extremely predictable. What if someone was watching your stick as you play, and they saw the buttons you pressed as you attacked, they’d know which way to block since the buttons freaking tell you what height the moves goes.
Lastly, Tekken’s control scheme allows for something that is simple to learn, but hard to master. Games like VF and Tobal try to cover up their shallow control schemes by making the moves harder to do, using complicated motions. Look at Akira’s movelist in VF, his moves are loaded with nonsense motions like down back, down forward, diagonal up left, punch guard, forward kick. It’s needlessly complicated to fool players into thinking the game has depth.
Honestly, any new 3d fighter now is going to have to adopt the 4 button limb controls of Tekken if it wants to thrive. It’s simply superior to all other control schemes.
