Umm, did you play Yoshimitsu? He was my second most favorite character and his playstyle was anything but grounded. Although I guess his spinning crouch kicks where he spins around like a fidget spinner before falling over (if you keep mashing the button) is on the ground.
Then there was, of course, the grounded stab yourself in the belly so you can stab the person behind you move. Ooof, that gritty realism.
Regards,
SB
That doesnt make it a flashy "anime". If that was the case, COD would have been considered a flashy "anime" because humans eat a shitload of bullets before they die.
Assassin's creed would have been considered a flashy "anime" because characters eat blades and knives on their bodies without limping or dying, your character heals by doing nothing, his bones dont break when he falls from 10 meters and there is some element from the supernatural. Regardless it is considered to be based on reality.
For comparison Kage in Virtua Fighter can jump 10 meters above and land with his head on the ground without turning his skull into a brain omelet. He can even throw his opponent 10 meters in the sky, jump in mid air, grab him, do a few flips before he lands him on the ground.
Yoshimitsu was presented how a mysterious Ninja Cyborg might have looked like in a movie. He felt like a convincing character and less of a cartoon. Even as a cyborg, Namco gave him realistic humorous undertones, that gave the impression that his abilities had believable limits. Spinning too much made him dizzy like a human even though he was a cyborg. Spinning too much on the ground made him lose balance and fall. That elevated his believability.
Terminator is sci fi but he feels grounded and believable compared to lets say, Guyver. Jack was like the former originally. Jack is literally an overblown anime character in Tekken 8 who can even summon/manifest machine attacks out of thin air. His design is just too much now.
Or lets take Alyssa who is literally looking like a waifu who can throw limps and heads and regrow them out of pure energy, She isnt based on any martial arts movie. She is clearly a character ripped straight out of an anime.
It all has to do with your presentation and knowing the perfect balance between gameplay, realism and fun. Tekken used to have a more grounded presentation, even with its not so realistic elements.
Tekken was all about the cliches and stereotypes of all the martial art movies including their serious and humorous undertones and at the same time knew it was a game. Now it is all the cliches and stereotypes of gen z anime.
Tekken was never Ergheiz, Street Fighter or Tobal.
