Tecmo’s booth this was one of the biggest, loudest and most entertaining booths at E3. 
by Aceinet

In the end Tecmo proves quality not quantity is what matters most.

Ah the Tecmo booth.  When I first walked up to the Tecmo booth I wondered “Why are so many people hanging out in front of the booth?”  But as I got closer to the booth I noticed that Tecmo had a huge video screen that had game footage playing and actors were on stage playing a game with the E3 guests.  Everyday Tecmo would have the actors play different games with anyone that attended their booth.  It was fun and humorous but when I had the chance to talk to Tecmo I realized that Tecmo is first and foremost about quality videogames.

I had a chance to sit down and talk to Melody Pfeiffer with Tecmo regarding Tecmo’s lineup of games for 2004.  The only new game Tecmo had on display at E3 was Gallop Racer 2004 for PS2.  The rest of the games are being released for Xbox sometime later this year, Dead or Alive: Ultimate, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly and Gun Griffon.  Most of the games were on display in video form only on the huge video wall at Tecmo’s booth.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see any exclusive pictures or videos of the upcoming games.

I had one burning question for Tecmo; why was Dead or Alive: Ultimate delayed.  Melody mentioned that the developer will only release the game when it’s ready.  The game was originally pushed back when Ninja Gaiden was delayed for some final fine tuning.  This caused DOA: Ultimate to get pushed back, but with the delay Tecmo is putting a ton of development into the game.  When DOA: Ultimate is released later this year, it will be the most advanced version of DOA released on any system previously.  As you might have heard the game will contain both Dead or Alive 1 and a reworked version of Dead or Alive 2.  Both versions of the games will include online play.

Tecmo was also discussing the Ninja Master Tournament going on right now for Ninja Gaiden.  The tournament will run until sometime in the Summer, but Melody had mentioned until sometime in June.  The tournament will decide who the ultimate Ninja master is by finding only the best players in the world.  Everyone has said Ninja Gaiden is really tough. But in order to even have a shot in the tournament you will have to finish the game.  The tournament is being coordinated with Microsoft/Xbox Live and Tecmo.  Get the skills ready because you’re competing against the best of the best.

Another game we discussed was Gun Griffon for Xbox.  This version is the latest addition in the Gun Griffon series, last seen on PS2.  The game is still being developed by original developer Game Arts and will include online play via Xbox Live.  The video on display at the booth showed a very impressive demonstration of the game with amazing looking graphics for the stages and mechs.

Gallop Racer 2004 is the only PS2 game scheduled for release this year by Tecmo.  At the Tecmo booth one of the games the actors played with the E3 attendants was a raffle on who would win the race with the horses in Gallop Racer.  The actors would give a certain number of guests a ticket with a number.  If your horse with that number came in first then that person would win a prize.  It’s a cool publicity stunt to get everyone looking at the Gallop Racer game.  Some of the new features in Gallop Racer 2004 are a Big Revolution ability, which is ability to feel what a perfect ride, a new breeding system, new stages, new camera angles and new riders for the season mode.  Look for Gallop Racer 2004 in September 2004.

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly rounds out Tecmo’s lineup for 2004.  The game is based on the PS2 version but with new features not found in the PS2 game.  A first person view gives players a limited sense of sight for more dramatic sense of gameplay.  Survival mode is another new feature for the Xbox version that has enemies attacking you one after another.  The only goal is to survive.  A new area in the game called “A God’s Village” is another exclusive for the Xbox version.  Of course the Xbox version will feature enhanced graphics over the PS2 version.  Fatal Frame 2 is scheduled for release in November 2004.

It seems the Tecmo booth was all about sensory overload but they’re not overloading gamers with a huge assortment of games.  The fact that Tecmo is willing to delay hit titles until they are absolutely finished is an attribute that other developers might want to follow.  Even though they only have four titles for the rest of 2004, gamers should expect quality titles from Tecmo.  Quality over quantity isn’t something you see everyday.