New Tekken Art Book Is A Must-Have For Hardcore Fans

Tekken is one of the longest-running fighting series in video gaming. Bandai Namco first kicked things off with the original Tekken in 1994, and the series continues to this day. That's surprising considering it came out during a time when fighting games were flooding the market. Coming soon, Dynamite Entertainment is releasing a book that celebrates the long-running series called The Art Of Tekken: The Complete Visual History.

The over-sized 250+ page book goes into great detail about the beginnings of Tekken, up until present day, giving the history of the gaming series. Additionally, The Art of Tekken delves into individual characters, covering every major character, even some of the weird ones, like Roger/Roger Jr., the kangaroo fighter.

Many of these characters get multiple pages, showing off concept art, how they've evolved over the years, flavor text about the character's in-game history, and images of their most notable moves. Check out the King/King II section below. It's pretty cool to see the models of the character throughout each game in the series.

Gallery

The copy Dynamite Entertainment sent us was the deluxe edition. It comes with a hardcover slipcase, and four exclusive prints of Tekken characters. This deluxe edition will cost $100, but if you don't need all the bells and whistles, the regular hardcover version of this book will be $40. It will be available on July 30, and you can pre-order either of the versions on Barnes & Noble.

While the book does go into great detail about everything in the world of Tekken, it does have one mildly-problematic area, and that's the order these characters are presented. Instead of alphabetical order, the characters are categorized into these groups: Mishima Clan, Japanese Fighters, American Fighters, World Fighters, Experiments, Assassins, and Crossover Fighters--which is where Gon and Akuma are located, in case you were wondering.

Gallery

Because of the way this is laid out, it can be a little tough to find the character you're looking for, unless you have an extensive knowledge of the fictional Tekken universe. Additionally, not every character has three full pages dedicated to them. Most times, they get one full page, but that aspect is fine because who needs multiple pages on Dr. Boskonovitch, aside from myself?

If you can't wait until July 30 for this book to come out, check with your local comic book shop, as some stores will have copies for sale on July 17.