Fighting Games Friday: The REAL Tekken 8

Tekken 8 was clearly going to look better visually than previous installments through being planned for release only on current-generation hardware, specifically the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series of consoles, and PC via various distribution platforms. The first trailer shown during the State of Play stream shortly before Tokyo Game Show certainly appeared to show this, in a supposedly real-time demonstration that featured Kazuya and Jin fighting it out on a rainy stage with dazzling hit effects that made a larger visual and audio impact compared to those from prior installments. The models for both characters were redone for the first time in years, a sure sign of what we were in for.

You might know where this is going. That video was only slightly more “real” than the tech demo for Tekken 6 shown supposedly running on PlayStation 3 hardware back in 2005. The real Tekken 8 has since been shown at The Game Awards and a few demonstrations afterward, which shows how the initial gameplay video was bit of a misrepresentation.

Several more returning characters were revealed in the new trailer, including Paul Phoenix, Marshall Law (no relation to “Martial Law”), King, Lars Alexandersson, and a new Jack variation fittingly known as Jack-8. They’ve notably returned with new designs to distinguish their character models from previous games; they also look notably gaudy. The last few Tekken installments have featured characters with ridiculously overdesigned outfits, which previously reached new heights with the then-new default threads given to the cast in Tekken 7: Fated Retribution. Little did anyone know that this was the start of a trend, because the team at Bandai Namco has topped themselves yet again, and it’s not just my Tekken 4 nostalgia showing.

King’s default outfit looks as if he wasn’t looking as he dressed himself given the mismatched aspects, while Paul’s is… well, I don’t know where to start. This installment is likely to have a story mode again, and I certainly hope there’s a plot around why Law looks like he’s been juicing. There are exceptions to this, like Kazuya’s slick and stylish outfit, who’s been suave since rocking that purple suit in Tekken 2.

The biggest attraction among the roster, however, is Jun Kazama. Jun was last seen in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 a decade ago, but this will importantly be the first canonical game she’ll be returning in since Tekken 2 in the 1990s. She was thought to be killed by Ogre, but director and producer Katsuhiro Harada confirmed that she was only “missing.” No one truly dies in fighting games, as proven by too many examples, but this also means Ogre’s kill count consisted of, uh, maybe only the original King? Perhaps he was never truly a villain.

Jun returns in a new outfit, one of the better ones in this game, courtesy of Mari Shimazaki. Shimazaki contributed designs to a number of prior Tekken and Soulcalibur installments from Bandai Namco, but she’s primarily known for providing the character designs for the Bayonetta series.

Hey, what happened here? We were supposed to be talking about how the graphics here don’t look anywhere near as good as the “reveal” trailer. It was very smart of Bandai Namco to include a bunch of info about the characters and fighting systems alongside this, to ensure that discussions would be more about the details rather than the initial video being unrepresentative of the real product. The true Tekken 8 doesn’t look bad per se, but it’s a clear downgrade, and people should have known better than to expect a fighting system that would be so cinematic in a practical fighting setting.

Speaking of that: The little gameplay Bandai Namco detailed is worth dicsussing too… briefly. One purpose of the newest trailer was to show the Heat System, which characters can use to pull off more powerful abilities. In action, they look similar to EX moves from the Street Fighter games or several other 2D fighters, or enhanced attacks following a V-Trigger activation in Street Fighter V. Couple this with the Rage Art supers from Tekken 7, and it’s clear the franchise is taking yet another element from its alternate-dimension brethren. When a franchise is the last 3D fighting game standing, it has to adapt.

It would appear that Bandai Namco has plans to constantly show Tekken 8 in action from here, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if it’s given another demonstration soon — perhaps by the year’s end. Jun aside, only returning characters who’ve made appearances in several recent installment have been shown, and most have been part of the franchise since its inception nearly three years ago. New characters will have to be shown eventually, but I’m hoping for another returning character who hasn’t been seen in a canonical installment for a while, perhaps to the tune of “Michelle Chang.” They could even give Ogre another shot at being a villain. Until the next battle.