Tekken finally comes to Nintendo Switch 2, and it's mostly been worth the wait
After 14 years, Tekken's back on a Nintendo console.
After years of wondering why BANDAI NAMCO's Tekken games were yet to appear on the Nintendo Switch, the wait finally ended on June 25, with the first game being made available as part of Arcade Archives 2 on Switch 2, thanks to developer Hamster.
Available for $19.99 / £14.99 from the eShop, as well as Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5, you can play the original arcade version of Tekken, but also with several modes, like Practice, Time Attack, and Score Attack.
Of course, I've been playing Tekken non-stop since its release - here's why I strongly recommend buying it for your Switch 2, along with one request for Hamster.
To note: Andrew Elmore has recently published a fantastic video on the Namco Museum collections. Give it a watch.
King of Iron Switch
I've been a big fan of the Tekken series since I first played the demo version of Tekken 2 on the infamous demo disc that came with my PlayStation console in July 1997. I remember this as clear as yesterday - only two fighters, Jun and Lei, to pick from, there was no music, and you could only fight the other before the demo ended.
It blew my mind that you could also play as these fighters in different costumes - and their names below the life bars would be red instead of blue! For eight-year-old me, who had previously played Mortal Kombat and Rise of the Robots, this was revelatory for me.
I was gifted the full game about a year later, and I spent weeks unlocking all the secret characters. Tekken 2 is a game I remember fondly, but my first experience with the first Tekken game was on an arcade machine in a leisure centre. I found it slower, blockier, and Prototype Jack's appearance creeped me out. Admittedly, it still does in a way, with his construction-like appearance and huge drill for an arm.
But over the years, I came to enjoy the first entry as much as Tekken 2. From its music to playing Galaga nonstop just to unlock Devil Kazuya, the game is very memorable to me.
So I'm still at a loss as to why it's taken so long for a Tekken game to return to a Nintendo console. The last one was Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition in 2012, with its bizarre yet addictive Mushroom mode. So, to see Tekken come to the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusively is long overdue for me.
A sign of things to come?
This arcade port plays perfectly. The different modes are welcome, as well as save states for players who are struggling in the later rounds, especially with the final boss, Heihachi.
Of course, with any fighting game on the Switch, you'll have a hard time performing those special moves with a Joy-Con 2 controller - but it's possible, and I found the latency to be great regardless.
The audio is first-class, too. Every tune of the levels and every audio effect from each punch, kick, and throw sound crystal clear, with no noticeable latency. I've always loved Tekken's music, and the original shines here.
Combined with button remapping, turbo fire, and display settings, Tekken is well worth the $19.99 / £14.99 price. But one aspect I'd love to see is access to the secret characters.
You see, in the arcade port, you would reach stage 8 and face a secret character. But in the PlayStation port of Tekken, they would also become playable after completing Arcade mode as different characters, and there were other methods to unlock Heihachi and Devil Kazuya. And if you played Tekken via an arcade emulator like MAME, you could enable a hack to unlock them all. From Kunimitsu to the haunting Prototype Jack, it massively extended the game's replayability.
A big part of Tekken's appeal is its secret fighters and how you unlock them - and that can't be done here. Despite the secret characters being hidden, mirroring the original arcade release, it'd be nice for Hamster to find a way of making all of these accessible in some way as a bonus feature.
Playing the first Tekken game in 2026 - it holds up well. The music is fantastic, and the characters are varied and will keep you coming back for more. Yes, it feels stiff compared to later entries in the series, but the original Tekken is a unique moment in time when 3D fighting games were very new to players. The moves, whilst difficult at times, are always fun to pull off, and when paired with a third-party controller, you feel like you're back in 1995, playing the game on a PlayStation console all over again.
Overall, I'm glad that we finally have a mainline Tekken game to play on Switch 2. It's taken far too long, and I would still love to see a remastered collection, complete with widescreen support. Above is an image taken from an emulator with a widescreen hack enabled, showing how possible it can be. Nevertheless, I'll take this arcade port of Tekken.
It also means that the chances of other System 11 games on the console, like Point Blank and Tekken 2, have increased. I'm hoping these arrive sooner rather than later, complete with secret characters ready to unlock. But for now, I'm happy to play the original Tekken on Switch, legally.
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