Harada finally addresses fan demands for Tifa Lockheart in Tekken 8
Square EnixTifa Lockhart is one of the most requested guest characters for Tekken 8, and Harada has finally broken the silence on whether or not they plan on bringing her to the game.
Tekken wasn’t a franchise known for hype guest characters until the 7th entry came around. Tekken 7 was largely marketed around Akuma coming to the series, a move that’d pay off in spades when it came to generating hype around the title when it hit consoles in 2016.
The game would go on to feature Geese Howard, Negan, and Noctis as guest characters, sparking speculation that Tekken 8 would have more guest characters in store.
Harada did as he often does and answered the question directly over Twitter. A fan asked whether or not we’d end up seeing Tifa in Tekken 8 at some point, and he gave a reply that determined the fate of DLC characters as a whole.
Harada addresses Tifa rumors in Tekken 8
Guest characters have become a key part of fighting games, with many developers choosing to put other media properties into their games and fully realize them as playable characters.
Games like the Smash Bros. series and more recent Mortal Kombat entries have been pioneers on this front and have featured some of the biggest crossovers in the FGC, and the hype around which crossover character could be next creates a ton of hype around reveals.
However, according to Harada, crossover characters may take a while to come to Tekken 8.
“We all know she is attractive and I understand that. But as yet we have not decided anything about guest characters etc.” was what Harada had to say on the matter.
Considering Eddy’s been revealed for Season 1 already and that development for all four slated Season 1 DLC characters is likely underway, there’s a good chance that guest fighters are a ways out. But certainly not off the table.
Either way, Tekken 8’s been received very well by both critics (us included) and casual fans, and there’s no doubt that it’s got a bright future with a ton of DLC characters in store if it maintains this level of hype.
Alternatively, some players have been using Tekken 8’s customization tools to do it themselves with some mixed results.