Tekken 8 keeps player’s late brother ‘alive’ with in-game AI copy
Tekken 8A Tekken 8 fan unfortunately died a short time after the game released, but the game’s Super Ghost AI system has kept his recorded ghost as something his brother and other players can still fight against.
Tekken 8‘s Super Ghost AI system doesn’t create a perfect copy of a player, but it’s a pretty convincing imitation. It’ll move like that player, use the same moves as that player, and have the same strengths and weaknesses as they do.
One Tekken 8 player’s brother was grinding the game hard when it came out, but unfortunately died just weeks after its release. However, he played enough to have a well-trained AI ghost that replicated his move set.
As a result, the late player’s brother asked if there were any way he could keep his brother’s ghost alive. This prompted a response from Harada himself and other key staff on Tekken 8, who offered their support and condolences.
Tekken 8 devs help keep player’s late brother alive in-game
It all started with a Reddit post from a user who told the story of how his late brother loved Tekken 8, but died just a short time after its release. He hoped to go to locals with him to compete, but never got the chance.
“[My brother] was a huge Tekken fan and had been putting so many hours in grinding, trying to rank up. It was our hope that we could eventually join local meetups here in Texas as brothers, but unfortunately we will never get that chance.
“Now, I know that AI ghosts are normally poor imitations of the players they belong to, but my question is: If I save my brother’s AI ghost, do I get to keep that ghost, or is all saved data on my end deleted as well? I would still like to play against my ‘brother’ from time to time.”
The last portion of the post saw the user thanking Harada and the rest of the devs for giving him this last month with his brother: “Thank you to Mr. Harada and the whole Tekken team for giving me and my brother one last great month of joy together. The last thing I saw him doing the night before was playing this game. I’m happy he got to play it before he had to go…”
This prompted a response from Game Director Kohei Ikeda, who not only offered his support to this player, but explained how he could download the ghost and hold on to it forever as long as he keeps the data locally.
Harada, the man who’s been the face of Tekken for decades, also reached out personally.
“Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I have personally sent message cards and other messages to many ceremonies. If it helps someone feel any better, please tell him to contact me.”
This looped back to the original Reddit post, with moderators making him aware of the developer response so that he could speak with Harada.
“Wow, I never imagined Mr. Harada responding. This brought so much joy. I thanked him directly. You guys are so awesome.”
Though this story is a tragic one, it also shows how much the FGC works to keep people together – especially when the creators of one of the most popular titles in the genre are willing to reach out to and support the people who grew up playing these games.