While hard-core fighting fans could likely bicker all day long about what the "greatest fighting game" is, there is no question as to what the most popular might be. No doubt about it, Namco's Tekken is the fighting game champion, at least in terms of broad appeal. Now after months of rumors that Namco would be bringing Ridge Racer V to Nintendo GameCube, it seems that it might be accompanied by Namco's biggest franchise.

Namco posted financial losses for the first quarter of 2001. Although the losses were caused in part by the decline of the coin-op market, Namco also cites the problematic launch of Sony's PS2 as source of the profit-loss. Namco is disappointed in Sony's broken promise to deliver enough PlayStation 2 consoles worldwide. What makes this significant is that along with posting losses, Namco simultaneously announced it would support Nintendo GameCube. No titles were announceded, but IGNCube reports sources have confirmed both RRV and TTT (Namco's current PS2 offerings ironically) will come to NGC.

Why Tekken Tag Tournament and not Tekken 4? Apparently, Tekken 4 is being worked on and was originally set for release this year. However, Namco felt that its newest effort should be a significant upgrade to the series instead of just a touch-up. Therefore, Tekken 4 is planned for sometime in 2002. Although TTT on NGC would be a pretty old game on new hardware - it would still be a phenomenal launch title. Any N64 owner can tell you - any Tekken is better than no Tekken.

There's little reason to complain, TTT is quite possibly the best version of Tekken to date. Despite the slight alteration from previous installments (tag team play) it works as an enhancement, allowing you to tag out your partner. If you have played it, its gameplay is almost identical to Tekken 3. Fans of the series should feel right at home although it is very much "same-old in new packaging."

Gameplay aside, TTT is heavy on the eye-candy and boy is it sweeeeeet. Backgrounds are so highly animated that it is often easy to get distracted by what is going on. You can expect the NGC version of TTT to boast superior visuals over the PS2 version.

All characters from previous Tekken games are here (there are over 33 selectable - most must be unlocked), with each character featuring an arsenal of unique fighting moves. TTT boasts several game modes as well, including single player, standard arcade, versus, team and one-on-one versus modes. The PS2 version also featured a mini-game called Tekken Bowl Tournament. It is unknown, what, if any exclusive modes the NGC port will feature.

We'll keep you posted on developments on whether this gets official confirmation. It's looking real good though.