Tekken Wii U: 60fps, low image latency

Tekken on Wii U will run at 60fps, has impressive image latency, and will make use of the console's touchscreen controller in interesting ways, designer Katsuhiro Harada has revealed.

Harada has seen the upcoming console up close and personal, and is impressed with the results of latency tests - news sure to please frame-obsessed fighting game fans.

"The speed of the image transmission feature from the screen to the controller is impressive," he told Nintendo Gamer.

"The first time I saw Wii U, I thought, 'isn't the delay longer than one frame? If it is, it's going to be difficult for fighting games.' But when I heard that the latency actually isn't more than 1/60th second I was really happy."

The development team's goal is to get the fighting game running at 60fps, Harada revealed.

"In reality most games offer a variable frame rate of no more than 20fps to 40fps," he said. "But one of our major objectives will be to fix the frame rate of our game at 60 so it becomes a match about movements and no longer a match about visuals.

"Of course, with a frame rate of 30 images per second, we still get very nice visuals, but you can't compare our 60fps games with those that have low frame rates - we're taking the fight into an entirely different dimension altogether."

According to the report, Harada doesn't think Nintendo is planning to enter the graphics race with the Wii U.

Instead games will stand out courtesy of the touchscreen controller and the unique features it enables.

For Tekken, one of these unique features may be using the controller's screen to display an interactive strategy guide.

"I've often heard about or seen fighting-game players playing with a strategy guide open at their feet," Harada said. "So it would be useful if we could, for example, distribute an enhanced digital version of the guide that the player could see while playing, and even touch to have a live preview on the main screen."

Tekken Wii U was announced during Nintendo's E3 2011 press conference as part of a long list of titles due out for the console from third parties.

Little is known about it, although we expect more information at E3 2012, where Nintendo will unveil the final design of its Wii successor, due out in time for Christmas.

Another idea Harada has for the Wii U's second screen is to use it as a drawing board, letting gamers design their own patterns for character customisation.

"Another thing I would like to do is use the capacity to write on the screen," he said. "I'd like to implement a feature such as being able to customise the character by drawing and painting on the screen."

Tekken Wii U footage from last year shows how this may manifest itself in-game. It also shows live-editable stages, lending the 3D fighting game a Smash Bros. feel.