Street Fighter X Tekken does the thing crossover games usually only promise. It puts Ryu and Kazuya in the same frame and makes the meeting mean something.
Capcom developed the 2012 fighter with Dimps, with QLOC handling the Windows version. It shipped on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita and PC. The roster pulls 19 fighters from Street Fighter and 19 from Tekken — 38 in the base game.
The Pandora Object and a Tag Team Rule
The single-player Story mode hangs on a cubical object that crash-lands in Antarctica. Researchers cannot say what it is for. They only know that when beings fight near it, it releases a water-like energy that feeds the combatants more power. They call it “Pandora.”
The rules borrow from Tekken Tag Tournament, not from Capcom’s earlier crossovers. A round ends the moment one fighter’s health bar hits zero, so the winner is whoever takes the most rounds. Every match is a team of two, and the game leans hard on the tag.
Cross Rush, Switch Cancel and the Cross Gauge
Tekken characters keep their own feel. They run Tekken-style combos on the primary four buttons, while Street Fighter characters use the six-button layout. Projectiles like the Hadouken stay on the Street Fighter side.
A three-sectioned Cross Gauge fills as the fight goes on. It pays for EX Attacks, Cancels, Super Arts and the Cross techniques. Switch Cancel swaps partners mid-combo. Cross Rush launches an opponent, swaps, and continues the combo. Cross Arts need a full gauge and chain both characters’ Supers.
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Gem System | Equip gems to power up character attributes |
| Pandora Mode | Temporarily augments a character’s strength and abilities |
| Cross Gauge | Three-sectioned meter for EX Attacks, Cancels, Super Arts |
| Cross Rush | Launch, swap partners, continue the combo |
Twelve DLC Fighters and a Vita Code
Twelve extra fighters, six per side, arrived as DLC on July 31, 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and on February 6, 2013 for PC. The Vita version packs a code for all 12. PlayStation 3 owners can get them free through the Vita version.
Sony platforms also carry five exclusives: Cole MacGrath from Infamous, the mascots Toro and Kuro dressed as Ryu and Kazuya, Pac-Man in a Mokujin-style mech, and Mega Man drawn from the North American box art of the first game. Mega Man and Pac-Man went free on PlayStation 3 on March 13, 2012. Nathan Drake was considered and dropped.
Yoshinori Ono was plain about the Xbox 360 gap: “We do have the exclusive characters for the Sony platform.”
The Gem System Is the Real Divide
The roster and the mechanics hold up. The gem loadouts are where players split. Gems let you tune attributes before a match, which adds a layer the genre rarely asks for — and a layer that turns some fights into preparation contests.
That is the trade Street Fighter X Tekken makes, and it is worth taking. The Pandora Mode burst and the tag rules give matches a rhythm no other Capcom crossover has. The Vita exclusives are a strange tax on everyone else.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
