Over the past month, the Japanese have been privy to special treatment from Namco. Three separate Japanese cities have had the pleasure of testing out a beta version of Namco's highly anticipated Tekken 5. Well, thanks to a lot of hard work from a few Namco Arcade employees and the event staff of the annual Evolution Fighting Game Championships, Tekken 5 finally made its US debut this past weekend.

The version displayed at Evolution was roughly 40% complete. All 20 readily selectable characters were featured, but as you might expect, none of the rumored 10-11 time release characters were to be found. The roster of playable characters included: Craig Marduk, Marshall Law, Hwoarang, King, Raven, Asuka Kazama, Feng Wei, Christie Monteiro, Paul Phoenix, Jack-5, Lei Wulong, Nina Williams, Steve Fox, Kazuya Mishima, Ling Xiaoyu, Jin Kazama, Lee Chaolan, Julia Chang, Yoshimitsu, and Bryan Fury.

Each character has retained many of their Tekken 4 attacks, with several receiving new, and very useful attacks for Tekken 5. Yoshimitsu, for example, now has a new hovering technique, where he uses his sword to hover just inches above the ground. He has several mix-up attacks from this new stance, and he can move from his previous high altitude hovering technique to the new lower one in a smooth transition. Many other characters also received similar treatment, with Craig Marduk now having air and ground throws, and Jin Kazama receiving a new stance that evades all high attacks.

While there are too many subtle changes to each character to go into now, one thing we did notice about the gameplay in Tekken 5 is that it feels very similar to Tekken 3. It's no secret that many Tekken fans feel Tekken 3 was one of the best in the series, and that Tekken 4 (while still being a solid fighter in its own right) took the series in an unwanted direction. With Tekken 5, Namco has listened to the fans, and made this 10th anniversary edition of Tekken, a mixture of only the best aspects from each game in the main series (sorry, there's no tag option here).

Running on brand new, System 256 arcade hardware, Tekken 5 is easily the best looking game in the series. Even with stiff competition from Virtua Fighter, Tekken 5 manages to pull off some of the best animations we've ever seen. The characters animate so fluidly, it was hard to believe we were looking at Tekken. In addition, the new backgrounds present in the beta version further help in bringing the game to life.

One of the stages was a burning Honmaru (Heihachi Mishima's residence). As you fight, the building burns all around you. Smashing your opponent into a wall sends fire and burning wood everywhere. Another stage has you fighting in a cave filled with gold coins. As you move around and slam your opponent into the ground, coins fly up and get scattered across the ground. In other stages, anytime you hit the ground with force, chunks of concrete would fly up as a crater was created in the wake of your fall. While you won't find multi-tiered stages ala Dead or Alive or Mortal Kombat: Deception, these new stages in Tekken 5 offer just as much interaction with a more realistic take on enclosed arenas.

Another new feature for Tekken 5 is the ability to customize your character. While the card system was not active in the beta version, several outfits were available to show off what can be done. Kazuya Mishima can be customized with a pair of devil wings and some facial adjustments that truly make him look evil. Jack-5 can mount a few rocket launchers on his ankles and a gun on his shoulder. There will be over 40 items for each character, so players will have a wide selection to customize their characters with.

Tekken 5 is scheduled to hit arcades around October or November. However, Namco will be shipping the cabinets (specialized for the new card system) to arcades in September. If you don't see a Tekken 5 cabinet by the end of next month, you'll need to ask your arcade operator what's going on. Namco is also planning a national tournament for Tekken 5 that should get underway around February. The PlayStation 2 version isn't expected to hit Japan until late next summer, so don't expect a US release until at least Fall 2005. We'll have more on Tekken 5 as we approach its arcade release.