TGS 2012: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Caters To Casual Players

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition won’t just have you eating up Mario’s magic mushrooms. It also promises to be more accessible than ever to casual fans of the Tekken series.

The Wii U gamepad was demoed by producer Katsuhiro Harada together with TTT2 Wii U Edition in a media preview yesterday. While gameplay and combos remained the same as those on other consoles, players will be able to programme their own combos for display on the Wii U’s screen.

Much like the 3DS version of Street Fighter 4, these combos can be pulled off simply by tapping their respective buttons on the screen. Up to four combos can be programmed currently, though Harada-san said through a translator that they haven’t yet ruled out the possibility of players being able to scroll through a list of combos during less stressful modes of gameplay.

The Wii U edition of TTT2 also promises – with Nintendo’s blessing – exclusive Nintendo-themed costumes for characters. Mario and Zelda were named as examples. There is also the Mushroom Battle mode, first made known to gamers last year.

Mushroom Battle mode will see mushrooms from the Super Mario series of games popping up in the arena. Red mushrooms will cause your character to grow in size when you ‘eat’ them; yellow ones propel them to their maximum possible size, and purple ones will cause them to shrink. The star power-up will also make its appearance here, which predictably gives your character immunity by turning them invincible for a limited time.

Size will matter in Mushroom Battle mode. A larger character will have a larger hitbox, but may also miss hitting a character much shorter than him or her. Smaller opponents will also not be able to throw a larger opponent. The same occurs if your character is too small to be grabbed by your bigger enemy.

There certainly is a lot more in store for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition, though Harada-san has said that they can’t share too much information right now. We’ll be looking forward to these updates in the future. The game is part of the Nintendo Wii U’s launch titles, and is schedule to be released within the launch window period (1-3 months estimated).