Arika are perhaps best known as the developer of the Street Fighter EX games, but lately, they’ve been busy helping with the development of Nintendo 3DS titles. The Tokyo-based developer worked on the 3D Classics line of classic game ports for Nintendo, and they also worked with Namco Bandai on Tekken 3D Prime Edition.
Development of Tekken 3D Prime Edition took place at the same time as Tekken Tag Tournament 2 while the team working on the latter game was in crunch mode. It was for this reason that Namco Bandai turned to Arika for assistance. You may recall that several months ago, Arika released screenshots of a test fighting game project for the 3DS on their website.
In an Iwata Asks interview with Nintendo’s president, Tekken series producer, Katsuhiro Harada, says that he was most particular about wanting to have the game run at 60 frames-per-second at all costs.
“If someone says, ‘It lags when it’s made 3D, then you get the impression that that’s the kind of game Tekken is, so right from the beginning that was a condition that I wasn’t willing to budge on,” Harada shares.
Harada reveals that the idea for Tekken 3D Prime Edition came to him after watching how wide a range of people Super Smash Bros. appeals to. Along with the 60fps rule, another one of the earliest decisions he made with regard to the 3DS title was to include the Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D movie on the same cartridge, as he felt it would complement the 3D screen.
Food for thought:
1. Both Harada and Street Fighter producer, Yoshinori Ono, got into videogames through Space Invaders. Both developers also expressed to Iwata how much they like Balloon Fight for the NES, on which Iwata was the lead programmer.
2. The Iwata Asks for Tekken 3D Prime Edition is a very interesting read, even if you only have a passing interest in fighting games. Harada has a very interesting opinion of Tekken’s strengths and shortcomings.
