Tekken 8’s Super Ghost Battle — A.I. & Fighting Games
With the advancement of technologies in the modern age ever rapidly expanding, especially with the use of machine-learning Artificial Intelligence (AI), it was only a question of when, not if, this same technology can be implemented into video games for our enjoyment. Tekken 8’s new Super Ghost Battle game mode is the amalgamation of these two concepts, and brings in a great and easy way to experience the competition of the fighting game at your leisure. The game mode offers you the ability to fight with a “Ghost” AI that has learned to mimic the capabilities of its human player, both in strength and weaknesses. This allows the Ghost AI to not only feel like a real player, but grants them the capability to act as one as well, due to unintentional mistakes from human-like errors such as mis-timing or mis-inputs during gameplay. As a long-time series fan who has been playing the game competitively, I can say with certain that this new game mode has potential to be ground breaking in introducing beginner and casual players fourth into the competitive nature of Tekken.
Super Ghost Battle uses Bandai Namco’s AI learning system which essentially mimics the player’s pattern, movement, and attacks when playing the game. It takes all their tendencies, combos, movement, etc. and mimics them to a point where you are essentially fighting a robot trained version of that player. But it doesn’t just stop there, the AI is able to go as far as to mimic their mistakes as well, which further allows the AI to better reflect the “human”-ness of the player to better immerse the challenger into fighting a “real match” in this regard. The AI will also not perform anything it was not taught how to do, for example, defensive options such as retaliation, movement dodging, and punishment attacks (Guaranteed attack follow up after blocking disadvantageous moves from the opponent) will have to be demonstrated by the player the Ghost is learning from, in order to be mimicked by the AI. This means that fighting player Ghosts that have extraordinary defensive skill will be a lot tougher than those in which do not. Furthermore, the higher ranked the Ghost is, in Tekken’s unique ranking system, the better it will perform during gameplay. Ghosts can be downloaded from other players online, as well as comes packed with Ghosts of all levels and ranks from the developers themselves.
From a beginners perspective, this game mode is the absolute perfect way to get their feet wet when trying to understand how the game is played with real players. Newer players are able to experience a fight that mimics one against a real opponent from the comfort and leisure of their own pace. This leaves out the tensions or frustrations new players may feel when competing against other real players, creating a safe and welcoming environment to practice in. From an intermediate’s point of view, this allows them to further develop their game pattern recognition for certain combos and attacks that are specific to a certain character, as they can challenge specific Ghost characters that they are struggling with competitively. This makes not only learning the game much more enjoyable, but greatly expands their game-knowledge on the game itself, thus vastly improving their overall skills. Tekken and fighting games in general are a lot about pattern recognition, and the more you’re able to familiarize yourself with a character, the more comfortable you will become within the match-up.
Get E.J. Roberts’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
In conclusion, Tekken 8’s new Super Ghost Battle is a super great breath of fresh air in not only allowing you to experience a great and fun game-mode, but also another great tool in helping you learn and understand how to better improve your skills in Tekken. Whilst this game-mode is the replacement for real players, it is a unique and great alternative for casuals and intermediates alike, as well as an enjoyable and fun experience. I have yet to personally scratch the surface with this game-mode, as Tekken 8 has not released at the time of this writing, however expect more coverage on this game-mode and more, as the game releases in the near future.
E.J. Roberts
~ Freelance writer. Available for jobs/inquiries @ 200wordessay@protonmail.com
