Anniversary: Tekken Is 30 Years Old Today 1
Image: Bandai Namco

Fans of the Iron Fist tournament should be aware that Namco's Tekken series turns 30 this weekend.

Created by Seiichi Ishii, the original Tekken was released on 21st September 1994 on the System 11 arcade board, which was based on the PS1 hardware.

This made a home port relatively easy, and in 1995, PlayStation fans got a true rival to Sega's iconic Virtua Fighter (Ishii was a designer on that particular game before joining Namco).

The focus of the original Tekken was very much around Kazuya Mishima and his father, Heihachi Mishima, who famously hurls his son off the top of a mountain to test is strength.

Since the release of the first Tekken in 1994, we've seen eight direct sequels and several spin-offs, with the latest game arriving this year. The series has sold an impressive 58 million copies.