Yohei Shimbori Now Works on Tekken 8

There was no intention of me writing this as a professional news article because I really am in distinct shock, and I'm sure there will be more articles pertaining to Yohei Shimbori in the near future that will go that route but for now let's just take it in as the holy shit moment that it is.

At first, I will admit that I had to check multiple sources to believe this was real, but Yohei Shimbori is now a Producer/Director Assistant for Tekken 8. Now I think while that it is indeed a surprise; it should not be of a surprise to most of us because of all of the signs Dead or Alive players have seen throughout the development cycle of Tekken 8. This brand jump to say the least has made things interesting as there are going to be a lot of former doubters or even advocates of Shimbori at Koei Tecmo thinking "well maybe it's time we show the world we don't need Shimbori" or "this might be a way to open up business and make some real fucking money."

While I was scrolling through the responses on X I saw a lot of mixed emotions from the Dead or Alive community, but perhaps the smartest response was from FSD Nichol (give this guy a follow) that stated:

The DOA players had it right the whole time. Crazy new environmental interactions, unbreakable throws on counter, stuff we have been trained to deal with for quite some time. Happy to see where Shimbori ended up after that fiasco with KT! Looking forward to Tekken 8.

The genius behind Katsuhiro Harada was to theoretically state that if you don't see the value in Shimbori and if you don't want him; I'll take him. That being said this opens an entirely new level of business if Koei Tecmo and Bandai Namco can come to some terms. It would mean opening the Tekken roster to Dead or Alive characters; and now that they have Shimbori even the most purist of the DOA fandom would jump to the opportunity to play.

Even if Dead or Alive 6 was met with a mixed reaction, it doesn't mean that Yohei Shimbori can't recover his career in a different way and despite my personal feelings (and many others) I hope that he succeeds, and I hope the people upstairs are open to making good business decisions that would satisfy both fanbases.

 

I don't see anything wrong with this statement. Cool is good. My only gripe with Shimbori was that he tried to walk it back in the worst way possible with that embarrassing EVO presentation.

Still, I'm glad that he was able to find a new place in the production of Tekken 8. I like the elements he helped introduce to DOA and he didn't deserve to be scapegoated by KT and the fans.

That presentation ironically got 6 more interest than it would have otherwise. Actually that whole fucked up scenario with core values would have been great PR if his bosses weren't a bunch of chicken shits and didn't walk THAT back too. If you've already become a famous meme, might as well use it to your advantage.

 

Is this their way of saying that there is a crossover in the future? Will doaXtekken be a thing? Oh look everyone season passes! I sure hope there is not another 90k tournament a month after the release of tekken 8 or when doaxtekken be a thing. I predict cosmetics and skins are on its way instead of GNU CHALLENGAAAAAHS! X.x

 

DOA5&DOA6 failed BOTH in the end to make this Franchise Great again like during the AMAZING DOA2&DOA3 Times.
Now we shall see if Tekken 8 will stumble too... Making Shimbori in a way the "destroyer of Fighting Game Worlds"

 

We were both there at the dawn of time, and we both know nobody played 2 and 3 competitively outside of a select few. I'm not sure I want to return to that "Great"ness, even if I personally did enjoy the smaller hitboxes of that era.

 

But Rikuto 3.1 freestepping...

 

I wish Shimbori nothing but success. Almost four years after DOA6's death, everything surrounding its early demise has spiraled into a bunch of misinformation (even some observed in this thread). His character assassination by Koei Tecmo management and Gamers with capital G, has made him anxious to use social media even today. I feel so sorry for the guy. Moving forward, I hope this input is better valued at Bandai Namco and that he can distance himself away from the DOA franchise and be remembered in better light by the general public.

 

But Rikuto 3.1 freestepping...

That's more of a thing Ponton advocates for. I enjoy the speed and fluidity of it, but I never found it to be a consistent mechanic for actually dodging most things. Like yes, it WILL dodge stuff but there isn't an established science behind it to make it work 100% of the time when you want it to, even if the rate is high. More often, you would be using an actual sidestep attack to get the job done consistently.

My favored step would be a combination of the speedy freestep in 3, plus the limited evasion of the command step in 5 which requires MU specific knowledge and timing but is completely consistent.

 

Freestep is always going to be weaker to whatever they're used to unless DOA suddenly decides to stop moves from retracking in DOA since that's also a major factor. Games like SC you can just free step and retracks go out the window while in tekken it's side dependent

 

That's more of a thing Ponton advocates for. I enjoy the speed and fluidity of it, but I never found it to be a consistent mechanic for actually dodging most things. Like yes, it WILL dodge stuff but there isn't an established science behind it to make it work 100% of the time when you want it to, even if the rate is high. More often, you would be using an actual sidestep attack to get the job done consistently.

Yep I agree with you.

 

We were both there at the dawn of time, and we both know nobody played 2 and 3 competitively outside of a select few. I'm not sure I want to return to that "Great"ness, even if I personally did enjoy the smaller hitboxes of that era.

Yes we were both there and I know that there was almost zero tournaments held back in the day... Esp. in Europe. But I was not talking about that but more about the "reception/impact" of the DOA Franchise back then.
It was unfortunately not the right time... Both DOA2&DOA3 were great Games when they released but fighting Game Communities were just growing to a noticable number and older franchises like Tekken or SF dominated the early days... Much like today.
Even the Great SoulCalibur had trouble to gain a foothold in the competitive scene until SC2 came around.
For the record, here in Europe DOA was ALWAYS a niche Game in Tourneys... No matter if we talk about DOA3 or DOA5. I know DOA4 and DOA5 were played seriously in France, but even that Community was Small and I went to France a few Times back then.
Only in the US could DOA gain bigger Tourney attraction afaik

 

Here in America we modify the DOA games to make them tournament viable.

 

5 worked out because Team Ninja modified it several times until it was good.

The rest of them? Yeeeeaaaaa....

Yes we were both there and I know that there was almost zero tournaments held back in the day... Esp. in Europe. But I was not talking about that but more about the "reception/impact" of the DOA Franchise back then.
It was unfortunately not the right time... Both DOA2&DOA3 were great Games when they released but fighting Game Communities were just growing to a noticable number and older franchises like Tekken or SF dominated the early days... Much like today.
Even the Great SoulCalibur had trouble to gain a foothold in the competitive scene until SC2 came around.
For the record, here in Europe DOA was ALWAYS a niche Game in Tourneys... No matter if we talk about DOA3 or DOA5. I know DOA4 and DOA5 were played seriously in France, but even that Community was Small and I went to France a few Times back then.
Only in the US could DOA gain bigger Tourney attraction afaik

Oh I'm aware. I spend a large portion of my time in Finland, in fact I'm here right now. Can't get DOA fights to save my life. In this area its pretty much just Tekken or bust, so I guess this development at least somewhat helps in that regard.

 

5 worked out because Team Ninja modified it several times until it was good.

The rest of them? Yeeeeaaaaa....




Oh I'm aware. I spend a large portion of my time in Finland, in fact I'm here right now. Can't get DOA fights to save my life. In this area its pretty much just Tekken or bust, so I guess this development at least somewhat helps in that regard.

Tell Aunt Chisa I said Hello.

 

This is super wholesome, you love to see it

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1736761944378626175

 

This is super wholesome, you love to see it

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1736761944378626175

As long as he's happy, it is what it is. This is reality, and the sooner I accept it, the better.

But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

Asuka always felt like a DOA character to me, but now with DOA DZs and throw punishes she really is a DOA character wow.
Plus she got DOA'd in the model department too lmao Asuka has literally never looked as good as she does in 8, never, she always had a weird face this is the first time she has actually had a normal looking face.

 

Part of DOA6's budget went to the official DOA6 WC pot and most of its development was outsourced to KT Vietnam. TN had like a skeleton crew working on the game, with the rest working on Nioh 2 (thanks, Kou Shibusawa). They had new employees working on the animations, which is evident in how looney tunes Diego animates. The game just looks low budget because it is. It needed another year in development. DOA5 barely got greenlit and when it did saw its budget slashed in half too. KT just does not care about DOA as a property.

History repeating itself. Tōkidenshō died so DOA could live, now DOA died so Nioh could live.

With virtually all of Tecmo’s available assets being poured into the other fighter, Angel Eyes suffered a harsh development cycle, characterized by team members being reassigned and a lack of resources, especially time. The team even began receiving threats from higher-ups if the game performed poorly!

The team is told by upper management that "If this game doesn't sell, who knows what's going to happen to you all!"

@Matt Ponton living 4 parallel universes ahead of us all as usual, this needs to be framed

A bunch of us saw the signs but oanisd actually did the work and put the footage together side-by-side, over a year ago, so they deserve the credit if anything.

 

shimbori being told by KT that they're not interested in making any new FG and he fled to tekken

 

Asuka always felt like a DOA character to me, but now with DOA DZs and throw punishes she really is a DOA character wow.
Plus she got DOA's in te model department too lmao Asuka has literally never looked as good as she does in 8 never she always had a weird face this is the first time she has actually had a normal looking face.

Where Tekken falters in comparison to DOA though is simply in playfeel. If Shimbori can keep chipping away at its stiffness, the better.

DOA shines in how smooth and responsive it is. (and its funny seeing people play T8 remarking that it feels more responsive than previous Tekken games. Hopefully that's a result of Shimbori's involvement. As an aside, I don't trust Epic Games in making their engine optimized for minimal input delay.)

 

This explains why I thought the Tekken 8 beta was dogshit. The only relevant news to come from this is that DOA might actually have a chance now.

You haven't changed haha... it's been awhile broski.