Tekken 8 bot demolishes competition by spamming one button

[Daniel Sims]

WTF?! Fighting games are known for their emphasis on tactics and quick decision-making, but sometimes button mashing can be frustratingly effective. One Tekken 8 player has demonstrated this by programming a bot to press the same button repeatedly – with surprising results.

Twitch user "jimmashima" is currently running what is definitely the strangest Tekken 8 stream by choosing series mainstay Eddy Gordo and setting a bot to mash (thus the username) a single button. The technique doesn't win every match, but the bot has progressed further in ranked play than most would have anticipated.

It does nothing but repeatedly press 3, corresponding to the simple left-kick attack. However, spamming the button in Tekken 8 doesn't endlessly repeat the same kick.

Someone made a bot that plays Eddy and only presses 3. It's currently Vanquisher rank #TEKKEN8
https://t.co/f7dkdgomkG pic.twitter.com/wMREsHUX4w

– Moonsault Slayer (@VolSkimmer) April 27, 2024

When used with capoeira fighter Eddy Gordo, it produces a surprisingly varied combination of low, medium, and high strikes that can be deceptively difficult for beginners to defend against. A single opening can lead to serious amounts of damage. As a result, jimmashima's bot has earned over 12,000 points and progressed as high as Destroyer rank as of publication – the 14th of Tekken 8's 30 tiers.

It's unclear whether the stream is a comment on Tekken 8, Eddy, or the players losing to the bot. In any case, the balance adjustments the character received from this week's patch don't appear to have diminished the effectiveness of jimmashima's strategy.

Although Eddy has been a series regular since 1997's Tekken 3, Tekken 8 didn't include the character upon its late January launch. Instead, he appeared as the first of four planned DLC characters early last month for $8. Next up is Karate fighter Lidia Sobieska, arriving this summer.

Two more unnamed characters will appear in the Fall and Winter. Data mining suggests they could be Vale Tudo user Craig Marduk and Muay Thai boxer Fahkumram. Another round of characters will arrive with Season 2 next year, but information on their identities is scant. Chances are good that they might include Anna Williams and Armor King II.

For those wishing to view high-level play between human competitors, the Tekken World Tour recently finished its first major event – Evo Japan. Several more are planned throughout the year, including the US Evo tournament from July 19 to July 21.

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Tekken 8 bot demolishes competition by spamming one button

 

[The Talking Tech]

Sadly I couldn't get into Tekken.....on a side note whatever happened to Dead or Alive?

Ever since its creator left the company that franchise became just a money grab with little reason to play....I guess like Tekken itself.

 

[kira setsu]

Anyone who has played somewhat seriously and gave a spare controller to their kid bro/sis has been beaten like this lol.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Can confirm that button spam was at least decently effective in Tekken 2 when you got tired of planning anything and just wanted the fight to be over.

 

[redgarl]

Yeah, at low level, this is true for almost any fighting games. The best example is SF6 and Drive Impact. At lower level you will spam this, however if you do that at the High level and the pro level, you will lose instantly.

 

[amghwk]

I like Eddy's look in Tekken 3. In fact, he's my favourite character to use in Tekken 3. Still playing it in Duckstation now.

 

[toooooot]

I am a stranger to this game, but one thing seems obvious. A bot can press a button faster than any human, even if his speed is fractions of hundredth of a second. It is obvious that these things can do certain things much faster.
But this is a thing to consider when making games. If there is a possibility to win by just spamming a button faster,
it should be limited. I feel like a game or a tool that could disable all tools that give advantage in competitive games could become the way to provide truly competitive games where player skill and nothing else wins the game.
Does anyone here remember macros for bf games? I recall Dice tried to fight them is they could for example greatly decrease recoil allowing a gun to be much more accurate which counts in bf.
Most of these things are cheating. And anyone who realizes that his skill mean nothing does not want to keep playing. Competitive games are really fun when you are competing against other players, not their bots and aids.

 

[user478318]

This is one of the reasons Riot pushed Vanguard on all games now....