Tekken 7's Jukebox Mode is One of the Game's Best Features

By no means am I competitive fighting game player but I've been a fan of the Tekken series ever since I played Tekken 2 on the PlayStation in 1996. I've played just about every entry that has made it to consoles except Tekken 6 and while I'm a few months late to the party (as per usual), I finally picked up Tekken 7 earlier this week. The game has more Mishima drama then all the previous Tekken games put together, tons of old faces along with a few new ones (I'm liking Lars a lot), and as always, it feels great landing combos on your opponents. Maybe it's the sound effects used, but there's just something so satisfying about connecting hits. And for all the great technical and gameplay stuff Tekken 7 has going for it, I found myself getting super jazzed about the PS4 version's Jukebox mode.

Anyone that reads this blog knows how much I love video game music. Can't get enough of the stuff. Just as I became a fan of Tekken's 3D fighting back in the mid '90s, so too did I become a fan of it's music. When I booted up Tekken 7, I was met with a pleasant surprise in the form of Jukebox mode. This mode allows you to make playlists featuring the music from every single Tekken entry that was given a console release. That's Tekken 1-6, Tekken Tag Tournament 1-2 as well as the music from Tekken 7. This also includes the arcade versions of Tekken 1-3 as well as Tekken Tag Tournament. That's a whole lot of Tekken beats to choose from.

Tekken 7 does have some good music but a lot of it is on the "too loud" side, almost to the point of some tracks being not much else besides noise. So you can imagine what an amazing feature the Jukebox mode is. Not only can you replace Tekken 7's more grating tracks, but the music in previous Tekken games is just really freaking awesome. Some of my favorite tracks from past Tekkens include include Ring a Bell (Tekken 2), For Hidden Characters (Tekken 3), The Strongest Iron Arena (Tekken 4, and Poolside (Tekken 5). 

You can select whatever song you want from any of the above listed Tekken games to play on any of the stages in Tekken 7, two songs per stage. However, It isn't just limited to stage music. Like Tekken 2's PS arrange of the character select theme, Are You Ready? Or what about Tekken Tag Tournament's PS2 arrange of Character Select? You can throw down to both of those. Even the numerous Staff Roll themes can be selected. If you don't feel like going through Tekken 7's many stages and hand picking a bunch of tracks, you can just set it up so it only plays music from a specific Tekken game such as Tekken 5 or Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

The amount of music options Tekken 7 gives you is astounding. Well, for the PS4 release, that is. I have no idea why such a feature is exclusive to the PS4 and XBO and PC owners get screwed. Maybe Sony thew some money to Bandai Namco to keep the Jukebox mode on PS4. Your guess is as good as mine. Hopefully, this feature hits other versions of Tekken 7. Along with the fighting, having complete freedom of your music in Tekken 7 is an incredible feature, one of the game's best.