Unsurprisingly, in a Fighting Game like Tekken, you're bound to come across some quirks and features - most of all entire characters - that are bound to raise an eyebrow in terms of how overpowered they are.
As you can imagine, some of these characters also run the risk of becoming High Tier Scrappies for the same reasons they break the game (and are all but abundant in tournament play, to boot).
Tekken
- For a game filled to the brim with game-breakers, King in the first Tekken stands out with his Elbow Sting (df+1). Not only is it a very quick mid-attack, but if the opponent ever blocks it their guard is broken for so longnote King could hit them with any launcher he pleases. To counteract this they could deliberately try to get hit by it so you wouldn't be guard broken, except if it hits them, King recovers fast enough that nothing can interrupt him from just doing another Elbow Sting, which then loops the situation over and over.
Tekken 2
- While they fixed King's Elbow Sting in Tekken 2, in its place were a plethora of throws that cannot be broken, the most lethal of which was Wang's Waning Moon, which is unique among all the throws in Tekken 2 in that in exchange for doing almost no damage by itself it stunned the opponent for so long that Wang gets to hit the opponent's back with any launcher he pleases.... except the resulting combo could very easily One-Hit Kill them.
- Bruce's 1,2,d4,3 string. The last two hits combo into each other and it knocks down. Normally this wouldn't be so bad, but the problem is, if you block the jabs, the last two hits are guaranteed to hit, so Bruce has practically a 10f knockdown unblockable that does about 40%... Tag 1 tried to fix it by making the last two hits not combo, while that still means he has a guaranteed low from a jab string it's not nearly as broken.
- Bruce also has the 3,2,1,4 string. A long range, safe, CH launcher string that made him very difficult to approach, and if Bruce does get a CH from it, he can do a very easy combo that does 90% damage. Normally you only need to do the first three hits to launch, but the low itself is also a launcher which gives him another, less damaging combo, so if you block the first three hits, and don't block the low, Bruce will still be doing a lot of damage.
- Kazuya's mist step essentially made him into the only character with a sidestep in a game with no tracking moves, he changed the way you approach him because one step and he could launch up with WGF, and if a Kazuya player doesn't feel confident in the punish, he could mix you up with a WGF (It was a mid back then) and hellsweep.
Tekken 3
- Not only does Ogre in Tekken 3 has the widest sidestep in the entire game despite his size, he also inherited Wang's Waning Moon from Tekken 2 whole-sale. While his movelist doesn't allow him to OHKO the opponent, the resulting Skyscraper Kick is still enough to remove almost 50% of a health-bar.
- Honorable mention to Forest Law, whose mid-low-mid Junkyard string (b+2,3,4) caused Namco to add a universal low parry to later entries (from Tekken 6 onwards), as in Tekken 3 unless your character had their own low parry it was impossible to deal with as after the low it always ends in a safe mid launcher, and if the low kick connected with the mid on counter hit, then you may as well kiss the round goodbye.
Tekken 4
- Due to the dominance of the game-breakers in Tekken Tag Tournament, people would resort to continuous Lag Cancel backdashes in order to avoid being in contact with them, and with the fact that every stage in Tekken Tag Tournament had infinite width, there weren't much incentive to not repeatedly backdash away from the opponent resulting in a very stale game where people would run away from each other's game-breakers the entire match. Tekken 4 would try to stop this sort of playstyle by not only introducing walled stages, but also disabling backdash canceling altogether once both players are at a certain distance between each other, but by doing so it inadvertently compounded the strength of its own game-breakers:
- Jin with his brand-new Kyokushin Karate movelist, was the absolute posterboy of Game-Breaker Tekken characters - not only did he have a parry that can never be punished, he also had, among other things, a high-mid (2,1) jab string that gave him advantage if blocked, his L.L.R.K (f,N,d,df+4) was an unreactable low knockdown sweep that had an extremely skewered risk-to-reward ratio (if it hits, Jin gets 40 damage and a knockdown; if it's blocked, most characters can only hit him with a 15 damage WS+4 that doesn't knock down), and the infamous Just Frame Laser Scraper (b,f+2,1,df+2), where by very slightly delaying the last hit of his Laser Scraper string it will turn into an unblockable launcher. Even if you blocked the first two hits of the string you only had a 3 frame window to sidestep the last hit.
- Steve benefitted the most from the nerfed movement in Tekken 4, as now it was much much harder for the opponent to escape his barrage of safe pokes, the fastest jabs in the entire series, multiple high strings that somehow cannot be ducked even when blocked and gives him advantage, and his dreaded Quick Hook (d+1 in Tekken 4, b+1 in Tekken 5 onwards.)
- Lee's Left Right when canceled into his Mist Step (1,2,f,N) enabled him to perform the juggle combos Tekken is known for in a game with a heavily reduced emphasis on them, and the most noteworthy of all of his moves that could cancel into his Mist Step was his Rear Cross Punch (SS+2 in Tekken 4 and 5, b+2 from Tekken 6 onwards), which is plus on block highnote done from a sidestep that could combo into his Left Right Mid Kick (1,2,4) string if it's canceled into a Mist Step, which would take out 50% of an opponent's lifebar in one go.
Tekken 5
- Due to the all of the complaints for Tekken 4, Namco decided to make Tekken 5's gameplay closer to that of Tekken 3, and as a result all of the moves that would've been a game-breaker in the previous games if they weren't overshadowed by the true game-breakers on their respective games would start to rear their ugly heads:
- Heihachi had a jab combo that would take out 50% of an opponent's life bar in one go, and it was completely safe on block. See 1:09 of this video
. - Feng's Stunning Palm (df+1) and Rising Heel Kick (WS+4) would force the opponent into an extremely tight Quick Time Event in order to not be launched if they hit a crouching opponent, and they're both very fast safe mids (Stunning Palm was plus on block even - it is now neutral as of Tekken 7) which meant that Feng could just use them as super-charged little pokes. His Sweep Kick (db+4) also had a skewered risk-to-reward ratio (if it hits, Feng gets a juggle combo that could take out 50% of the opponent's health bar; if it's blocked, only few characters could retaliate with their own juggle combos).
- Bryan showed how faulty the series's tech rolling was, since due to the fact in Tekken 5 and before for some reason you weren't allowed to block low after tech rolling, it gave Bryan lots of opportunities at the end of his juggle combos especially near a wall to force a Morton's Fork on the opponent - either tech roll and be launched by his Snake Edge (df+3) low sweep that they cannot block, or stay down and end up getting hit by the Snake Edge on the ground anyways. His iconic Taunt Jet Upper (1+3+4 into f,b+2) was also much easier to perform in this game than it is in later entries because of said Taunt being +16 as opposed to +14 on Hit.
- Similar to Steve in Tekken 4, Nina in Tekken 5 had a plethora of multiple high strings that cannot be ducked for some reason and gave her advantage on block. Still, her most notorious game-breaker was her Blaze Stinger (uf+1). When used at the end of her juggle combos it would force the opponent to the floor and glue her right next to the opponent, letting her choose from the multitude of options she has to deal with every single thing the opponent could do, some of which could give her another juggle combo which allows her to go through the entire guessing game again.
- Steve was THE game-breaker of Tekken 5 and is considered by a majority of veterans to this day to be the most overpowered character in the entire series (bosses aside), having essentially everything that made him a game-breaker in Tekken 4 carried over including his infinite (which was less highlighted because of the sheer dominance of Jin). All Steve needs to do to perform this infinite is dodge an opponent's attack with his Double Stinger string (3,1,1) - if it hit the opponent's side or back the entire string would combo, and the opponent is staggered from the last hit of the string for so long that Steve has the time to drink a cup of tea before doing it again.note Steve's entire dominance almost single-handedly caused the creation of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection in order to take down him a peg.
- Heihachi had a jab combo that would take out 50% of an opponent's life bar in one go, and it was completely safe on block. See 1:09 of this video
- While Steve and the rest of the game-breakers from the original Tekken 5 did get rebalanced, the characters that were right below them before now ended up ruling the roost in Dark Resurrection:
- Heihachi's design in Tekken is that he's supposed to be an aggressive pit bull with very high-quality high and mid attacks but with nearly non-existent low attacks in return, except in Dark Ressurection they gave him a damaging unreactable low sweep in the form of Acheron's Plight (df+2+3,2), almost completely mitigating his intended weakness.
- Both of Devil Jin's dash lag-cancelable moves caused issues - Parting Wave (b+1~df) allowed him to force a wavedash mixup on the opponent even if it's blocked, while the dash cancel at the end of his Twin Lancer string not only makes it safer, but when used at the end of combos it glued Devil Jin right next to the opponent the same way Nina's Skull Splitter did in original Tekken 5. His Obliteration command grab (hcb,F+1+2) also gave him some ridiculous okizeme on top of doing a sizeable amount of damage.
- Dark Ressurection would be the last game with 8-frame jabs, as characters with them like Julia (whom of which can outright launch you on counter hit) and Steve could out-speed characters who had 10-frame jabs, completely changing how the frame data of certain characters worked as moves that was supposed to be safe now could be punished by 8-frame jabs and moves that were supposed to give a mild advantage became disadvantegeous in the face of the risk of being interrupted by the 8-frame jabs.
Tekken 6
- In Tekken 6, Bandai Namco for the most part has stamped away all the game-breakers and would-be game-breakers from the previous games, but the newcomers added to Tekken 6 would end up becoming game-breakers of their own:
- Bob was very frequently derided as the "perfect character" during Tekken 6s prime - he had nearly everything a Tekken character could hope for from high combo damage, a deadly mix-up game with his Cutting Coppa (f,N,d,df+4) sweep, and plethora of safe low and mid pokes, the most infamous of which was his Coupe Chop (d+1), a decently quick mid chop that was neutral on block, floored the opponent if it was a Counter-Attack (which guaranteed a follow-up in his Whopping Kick [b+3] for even more damage), and could hit opponents trying to sidestep to his weak side. Nevermind that it also hit grounded opponents reliably and consistently, either.
- While not on the same league as Bob and Lars, Bruce would also be a runner-up because of his ease of use combined with his excellent (and very easy) wall carry, and very high (and again, easy) combo damage. For perspective, from his fastest Launcher (df+2) Bruce can carry the opponent from one end of the stage to another with a combo as simple as this - df+2 > 3,2~f+1 > 3,2~f+1 > 3,2~f+1... - and so on. And that's without using Bound moves, mind you.
- Lars was a very slippery character to deal with, as a lot of his moves even down to his basic Alert L mid poke (df+1) has him inexplicably duck or jump during certain frames of their start-up, causing the opponent to feel like none of their moves could ever hit him out of his moves.
Tekken 7
- While Tekken 7 is considered by a majority of the competitive fanbase to be one of the most balanced installments in the series, even this one isn't safe from a few (if minor at best and downright infuriating at worst) game-breakers of its own.
- Akuma was quite overpowered in his initial Fated Retribution debut despite being balanced by his steep execution requirements - his signature Demon Flip was able to be linked in combos, giving him meterless combos that can take 50% of your health in one go. His Crouching Jab (d+2) also recovrered significantly faster on hit and on whiff (the latter of which was nerfed in Season 3) which, as you'd expect, led to quite a lot of damage. Akuma also hit much harder in Fated Retribution than he does currently as of Season 3; jabs, launchers, d+2, his iconic Shun Goku Satsu/Raging Demon super, and so on.
- In his initial release, Leroy quickly went from one of the most hyped newcomers in a long time to one of the most reviled. He had it all - excellent and safe offense, next to no execution combined with high damage combos, one of the best parries in the entire game (parrying EVERYTHING except for lows, throws, and projectiles), strong block and whiff punishment, unquestionably the best stance in the entire game in Hermit, and the list goes on. It got to a point where there was six Leroy players in EVO Japan 2020's Top 8 (the other two players stuck with Julia and Kazumi), and the winner (Book, who normally mains Jin) outright stated as part of his closing message "just pick Leroy". And that's not taking into account the notoriety that Leroy accumulated online, either. Yikes.
- While not as bad as Leroy was initially, the final DLC character of Season 3, Fahkumram, has also been met with growing disdain from the community in the months since his release in March 2020. Common complaints include his very wonky hurtbox, having (again, like Leroy) little to no execution in his damage output, absurd range because of his long limbs (excellent whiff punishment is a given here), usurping the main gimmick of resident Low-Tier Letdown Gigas (chargeable moves that guarantee free mix-ups on block), and the fact that, for his size (being the same as token Mighty Glacier Craig Marduk if not taller), he has an excellent backdash and better than average sidestep.
Tekken 8
- Jin's new low, Scourge (d+2), is basically his grandfather's Eishomon (db+2) and his Devil counterpart's Broken Mace (same input as the latter) on coke and horse amphetamines in the pre-Alpha and CNT builds of the game. The move has it all, really - advantage on hit, evasion, damage, leads to a painful combo on counter hit, okizeme (especially since it can hit grounded opponents)... for those that played both online Betas of the game, the number of times they'd run into a Jin player not using this move could be counted with one hand.
- Earlier builds of the game had Kazuya's Kyogeki Goutsuiken (df+3+4,1,2) as a contender for one of the most broken moves in the entire game. The move is a series of four easily hit-confirmable hits that dealt well over 70 damage by itself (more than any combo in the game) and was a natural combo once the first two hits connected. Simply put, if Kazuya hits you with this, you're pretty much dead, especially if your back is at the wall. Throw in the pushback making it harder to punish, and you can probably imagine every Kazuya player abusing this string to the high heavens and back.
Tekken Tag Tournament
- Two families were a game-breaker above everyone else in Tekken Tag Tournament:
- Even though they fixed both Ancient and True Ogre's Waning Moon, in it's place were a plethora of quick unreactable unduckable unblockables, with True Ogre having a very long fire breath (d+1+2) that can even hit the opponent as they're tagging out in addition to a horn attack (df+1+2) that reliably hits opponents while they're floored.
- While the Mishima family's trademark Electric Wind God Fist (f,N,d,df+2) is broken in a bunch of games, Tag 1 takes the cake, and Heihachi's EWGF is worth really talking about, since unlike Jin's, it's a special mid instead of a high, and Jin himself could also make it into a special mid by doing the move then pressing the tag button, it turned it into a game-breaker par excellence, because unlike in the other games it can no longer be ducked to avoid it, which means your only option is to block it, which gives them advantage over you. Trying to sidestep it is no longer an option either, because it had the widest lateral hitbox out of all the Electric Wind God Fists in the entire series (though Tekken 7's iteration in Season 2 comes fairly close, but not by much), and even whiff punishing it was difficult since the move didn't have extra recovery frames on a whiff like in later games, to the point that if you duck Jin's EWGF with Kazuya, trying to punish it with WS 1,2/Twin Pistons could still be difficult to do.
- While Devil doesn't have an Electric Wind God Fist, his Twin Pistons string is arguably even scarier, as it was not only a proper mid which means if you try to duck under it it would hit you and launch you, it was also even faster than the Electric Wind God Fist (13 frames compared to the Electric being 14) and had a much easier input (df+1,2), and although it didn't give advantage unlike Electric Wind God Fist, it was still safe on block.
- Lei's Haha steps. Essentially it allowed him to do a better backdash cancel, which combined with his razor rush, could make him very hard to approach.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
- As of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, there is no top tier. There is only "Mishima Tier", because every single Mishima (Kazuya, Heihachi, and Devil Jin, in that order) dominate the top tiers due to their insane juggles, tag combos, and damage output. Jinpachi, despite his original status as an SNK Boss, has been completely rebalanced and is not considered a Game-Breaker because he is not a "traditional" Mishima (he does not possess his son' wavedashes and has a different variation of the Wind God Fist).
- Sidestep and stun your opponent to death with a Double Stinger here!
