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Fight your way inside our sneak peek at Dynamite's new The Art of Tekken

By Jeff Spry
Art of Tekken Hero

Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Tekken are the Coke, 7-Up, and Pepsi of video game fighting franchises, and all three have their loyal followers and individual merits.

But it's the punch-happy, kick-crazy brawlers of Bandai Namco's Tekken that take the top spot in overall sales, with over 47 million copies sold since the martial arts tournament smackdown was first introduced back in 1994.

Fighters like Jin, King, Nina, Ogre, Eddy, Gun Jack, Panda, Paul Phoenix, Heihachi, and Yoshimitsu have elevated this property to legendary status. Tekken has become a household name scattered across multiple platforms, sequels, spinoffs, feature films, and tie-in merchandise, all the way up to 2017's Tekken 7 hit.

Tekken 7

Now, in honor of Tekken's 25th anniversary, Dynamite Entertainment is releasing a lavish new The Art of Tekken coffee table book on July 30, which celebrates the fierce franchise's accomplishments with an insane array of art created by a talented force of painters and illustrators — and SYFY WIRE has an exclusive look inside the pugilistic pages.

 

Art of Tekken Cover

Written by Jerald Hull, The Art of Tekken: A Complete Visual History is a premium 250-page hardcover that follows the martial arts series history through a visual spectrum of iconic game designs and memorable characters. It's also packed with in-depth interviews and revealing BTS facts from a range of Bandai Namco developers, while also chatting with the rabid players who made this pop culture phenomenon one of the best-selling fighting game series in history.

Dynamite's deluxe volume is an eye-opening retrospective of arguably the most indispensable, influential fighting game ever invented. Namco originally released Tekken a quarter century ago for arcades and the PlayStation console, and immediately redefined the genre in three bold dimensions with its intense, colorful gameplay, cutting-edge graphics, and operatic storyline.

Tekken Slice

“Tekken is one of the most iconic and influential video games of all time and has long been a cornerstone of the fighting game genre," Dynamite president and publisher Nick Barrucci tells SYFY WIRE. "We’re honored to work with the developers, publishers, and community to create this essential tome for the franchise that fans of all stripes will love to add to their collections.”

Celebrate Tekken and its King of Iron Fist Tournament with our exclusive peek at The Art of Tekken: A Complete Visual History in the gallery below, then tell us if your collection of gaming art books is up for the challenge.