So you’re playing a lot ofTekken 8. You’ve put some time into the cast, maybe picked out a main, and now you want to go learn some sick combos to run in the practice room. Problem is, how do you read it? Move notation inTekken 8is deceptively simple, but that doesn’t mean everyone can learn it right away.
Especially considering that you might be coming from another fighting game scene with its own style for move notations, having a handy guide is helpful for learning the basics. And that’s what this is: a short little explainer on how move notation works inTekken 8.
The basics
Tekken 8, andTekkenon the whole, is afour-button game. (Well, outside of thetag button.) Bandai Namco’s series boils fighting down to some simple basics: right and left punch, right and left kick. If you’re looking at a PlayStation controller, that maps to Square for Left Punch and Triangle for Right Punch, with Cross and Circle mirroring positions for kicks.
But these obviously don’t cover the gamut of controller options, nor is “down-forward Square” a particularly wieldy shorthand; heck, as an arcade game, you’re mostly just working with a square set of buttons. So the broadly acceptedTekkennotation is:
If you need an additional visual to help solidify your learning, then the artists at Destructoid (read: me) and Wide Kazuya are here to help too.
Knowing directions is also important. Unlike anime fighters that use numpad notation,Tekkenusually (usually) has directional inputs as alphabetical letters. Additionally, a lowercase means tap, while an uppercase means hold. So in practice, this looks like:
A few additional commands to know, depending on your character:
And lastly, some serial directional inputs on the stick or D-pad for good measure:
Reading the move notations in-game inTekken 8
Now, you may have noticed this differs a bit in-game. Inside the client,Tekken 8uses buttons as a handy shortcut rather than numbers, which is a helpful visual indicator.
However, there are a few alternatives thatTekkenuses for directional inputs. Namely, those arrows: a white arrow and black arrow. What they mean is:
It’s actually quite helpful visually, toseethe directions with arrows and buttons rather than have to translate it in your mind’s eye. But if you read combos online, on a forum or discussion board, you’re probably going to see a lot of numerical and alphabetical notation, rather than graphical.
When can I hit buttons?
Hold on, partner, we’re not done yet. Now you know basic inputs, but if you’re looking at a combo, that also means knowingwhento push the buttons in sequence.
Part of learning this is just feeling out the cadence of hits. The practice mode combo challenges inTekken 8provide agreat starting point; with the percussive beats in the demo mode, you can literally hear what the button presses should sound like in rhythm.
For online combo-posting, there are a few shorthands:
InTekken 8, the system will note some of these graphically, like showing both 1 and 2 pressed for a 1+2 command. The brackets [ ] indicate the swift, immediate succession of inputs that you’d see in a ~ input.
Put all theTekkennotation together
Okay, congratulations. You’ve learned the basics. You should now know enough aboutTekken 8combos to read 1, 1, F2, 1+2 and know what that means.
Granted, there’s still a wealth of additional info to seek out there. Characters have stances, usually abbreviated down, that require their own special notation. And even common inputs, like the Electric Wind God Fist, get abbreviated for ease of interpretation to “ewgf”.
These inputs have been built up over years and years of playing and sharing info online, through forums likeTekken Zaibatsuthat have since been recorded for posterity through variousWordPressesand community forums, all of which were crucial for preserving the info here.
