Julia vs Xiaoyu in Practice Mode in Tekken Tag Tournament
Practice Mode, also known as Training Mode, is a mode featured in Tekken games.
Description[]
Practice mode is simply an opportunity to practice moves on a dummy. Players can practice and figure out combos, special attacks, etc., without the worry of a health bar, time limit or counterattacks.
History[]
Practice Mode made its debut in Tekken 2, where it was limited to a CPU-controlled opponent which did not block or retaliate, only standing up after being knocked down. In that game, the only major feature was to practice 10 Hit Combos, where the game would provide a list of each character's combo strings, if applicable, and was known as Chain Training. After selecting a combo from the menu, the input will appear on screen as a guide to performing the move. A chime will indicate a button press, while the button in the sequence will light up to indicate a correct input. To provide further assistance, it is possible to have the computer pull off the move automatically, offering a visual example of how the move is executed and when to press the next button in the sequence. Additionally, the full list of attacks the characters have are not completely present, and could only be found through experimenting with inputs.
The player also has the option, from Tekken 3 onward, to set the CPU opponent's attack pattern, either fighting normally at a selected difficulty level or repeating a certain attack, allowing players to practice blocking and countering these attacks. Tekken 3 also introduced the ability to set up the opponent to crouch, guard, roll or Ukemi when knocked over, or even to use a human player using the second controller (useful for practicing Attack Reversals, throw escapes and the like), although it could also be used in this mode to play infinitely without needing to worry about being knocked out or running out of time. Hit data, and frame coloring was also introduced to help players grasp how safe some moves were.
A secret option in Tekken 3 was a recording mode, which allowed the player to record combos and then play them back. To enable the recording function, the player has to enter the 1P Freestyle menu and hold the four shoulder buttons (L1, L2, R1 and R2) and press 4 (Circle). It cannot be enabled in in any other mode. The recording mode later became a standard feature in Tekken Tag Tournament without needing to enter a code.
While Tekken Tag Tournament kept most of Tekken 3's changes, a small addition was hit ranges now being color-coded, also helping distinguish normal mid attacks from special mids. Aside from Chain Training was the introduction of Combo Training, where the player had to perform a set of twelve randomized attacks with a timer.
Starting with Tekken 4, almost all of a character's attacks, with the exception of mimicry characters like Mokujin and Combot, are fully listed though certain interactions and secret moves such as the Electric Wind God Fist and the Lethal Skyrocket were not listed. A unique feature in Tekken 4 only was that whenever a move or string was performed, the name of the attack will come out shortly after the move's completion. Both Chain Training and Combo Training were removed, but Tekken 4 would introduce Defensive Training, where a player could select a specific move from the opposing character's command list. If multiple moves were selected, the opponent will perform the set at random. Tekken 4 would also be the first game in the series to include the Health Bar and a Stage Select in Practice mode.
A slightly different mode known as Training would also be added, where the player would perform a set of twenty attacks with a timer.
The system remained largely unchanged in both Tekken 5 and the PS3 Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, but the PSP version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection notably had split normal training, from CPU training, and Defensive training. Additionally, the PSP version also had a small tutorial regarding the basic moves and attacks of the game, and was also the first in the series to include a command history, showing the exact inputs the player was giving. An extra type of practice, known as Command Training was added for the PSP version, where the player could practice the attacks and sample combos used for Command Attack.
The command list was also reorganized in the following order (Note: please look at Move Terminology for reference on command inputs):
- Attack inputs going from: 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 1+2 > 3+4 > 1+4 > 2+3
- Simple directional inputs going from: N > f before moving clockwise until u/f >
- After the simple directional inputs are the complex inputs: f,f > b,f > b,b > f,n,d,d/f > f,f,f > b,d/b,d,d/f > hcf
- After all the complex directional inputs are special attacks: WS > FC > SS > BT > Attacks on downed enemies > Inputs with 3 attack buttons (e.g: 2+3+4, 1+2+3, etc.)
- The final set are as follows: 10 hit combos > 1+3 > 2+4 > Side throws > back throws > Command throws > Special Throws ( Crouching, Ground, Air or Wall throws) > Parries or reversals > Most multi-throws
- Stances are arranged subjectively by character.
Tekken 6 would keep almost all the extra additions that the PSP version of Dark Resurrection added with the exception of separating the different practice modes, Tutorial, and Command Training, even in the PSP version. While the console versions of the game included the stage select, which allowed the testing of combos with the stage gimmicks, the PSP version had no luxury and the player was forced to pick between an infinite stage or a flat, walled stage. The game would also introduce the Position Reset function, which puts the characters back in the stage's starting position. In the console version, this also reset all stage gimmicks. The dummy's actions also now has a secondary action, which they automatically perform after receiving a single hit or string.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 would add several new, and more complex functions for practice mode. Dummies are now allowed to guard after taking a single hit or string, and the player can now change their starting positions, such as how close they are to the wall, saving a specific spot of the stage where the position will reset to, if the player and or the dummy will be grounded during the position reset. The player can also choose whether they want to reset all the stage gimmicks or not. Defensive training also received a major improvement as the player can now manually record the dummy's actions for 30 seconds. One change, however, was that the dummy can only perform five different actions, including the individual recorded actions. Rage is now toggleable, but can give an inaccurate combo value if the player uses tag combos and or tag assaults. An input delay to simulate an online environment was added. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 would also be the first game to show if when attacks successfully punished an opponent, and was the first to add icons to attacks with special properties (e.g: triggering Bound, tag bufferable, homing, etc).
Tekken 7 would originally leave most of Tekken Tag Tournament 2's changes untouched with the exception of characters temporarily losing their Rage if they used a Rage Drive mid-combo in order to give the true damage of the combo without the player having to manually turn Rage off mid-combo. During a free update for Season 3, Punishment Training was added, where the dummy will perform a random attack that is punishable on block. The player is also given a "recommended" punishing attack depending on how unsafe the dummy's attack was. A paid feature, however, is to also add frame data, further showing how good or bad some attacks are on hit or on block.
In Tekken 8 attacks that trigger Wall Splats, wall breaks, or balcony breaks are now marked, while combo damage is now also split between the total combo damage, and the recoverable health from the combo. Most previously secret moves are now fully listed in the command list, and additional properties such as inputs to cancel attacks or transition to stances have also been added. Throws now also have their break command listed beside them. Online Practice Mode is also introduced, which can be accessed in the Tekken Fight Lounge. It allows for two players to practice together without worrying about the time limit or remaining health.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament, there was a bug involving Eddy Gordo and Tiger Jackson, where the combo counter against hit would not reset after consecutive hits if they were not knocked to the ground. Additionally, in both games, as Eddy and Tiger's idle stance constantly reset their position, it was impossible for a player to practice on their side angles if set to default standing.
- From Tekken 4 and onwards, upon playing a move preview, the chosen character will demonstrate their selected move on a dummy who is on the same side as the cpu character.
- In Tekken 4, the dummy is a grey humanoid with no facial features.
- In Tekken 5, it is a monotone colored dummy that looks like Mokujin, though players believe that it's Tetsujin.
- In Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Mokujin himself is used as the demonstration dummy, though in Tekken 6, Mokujin doesn't have chains.
- In Tekken 7 and 8, it looks like the humanoid dummy from Tekken 4, but with robotic features.
- The training dummy used in the move previews since Tekken 4 assumes Jin Kazama's stance.
- In Tekken 5 and Dark Resurrection, if Defensive training is being used with Mokujin, then the original character's full movelist will be used when selecting attacks. In Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, it will instead use Mokujin's own command list, which only lists Mokujin-ken, and making the mode useless.