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What the heck was that Tekken project tease all about, and when can we expect more information about it?

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Posted by Justin 'AdaptiveTrigger' Gordon • August 8, 2022 at 6:46 p.m. PDT • Comments: 38

Last night on the finals stage at Evo 2022, it was announced that a battle update was coming to Tekken 7. This was quite a surprise as it was widely believed that post-launch development for Tekken 7 of any kind was finished.

However, this wasn't the Tekken announcement that simultaneously hyped up and confused fans. Within the same span of time as the Tekken 7 battle update announcement, there was a puzzling tease of some sort of Tekken project.

As the information about Tekken 7's battle update was cutting out, us fans could hear a familiar tune. Indeed, it was the theme that played at the end of the arcade mode of the very first Tekken.

Nostalgia really begun to kick in as we then cut to Kazuya Mishima's ending in the original Tekken. After defeating the final boss of the Iron Fist Tournament, Kazuya could then be seen carrying the unconscious Heihachi towards the edge of a cliff.

The music really didn't fit the scene as Kazuya dropped Heihachi off the cliff. Kazuya can then be seen giving the camera a hilariously awkward smile. This ending probably seems strange to those not familiar with the Tekken series without additional context, but it's become such an iconic scene and important plot point by now.

Suddenly, the scene then shifted to an updated appearance for Kazuya. Indeed, his smile this time feels more sinister than it did back in 1994. An announcer different from that of Tekken 7 then told fans to simply "Get Ready."

Get ready for what though? Unfortunately, this question was never answered as this was literally the end to what Bandai Namco intended to show everyone.

While the rest of us were confused, those of us that watched Evo 2022 live saw that Katsuhiro Harada of Bandai Namco definitely felt like there was something here to be excited for.

We're not given much to work with here, but there are actually a few possibilities that might come of this.

Tekken 8?

This seems like the likeliest option considering how "8" obviously comes after "7." The next entry in the mainline Tekken series would have to be Tekken 8. Even though there's a new battle update, there weren't any announcements of new characters — and it's been that way since Lidia Sobieska was released back in March 2021.

There have been plenty of unsubstantiated rumors that Bandai Namco has been working on Tekken 8, and the timing feels just right considering how Tekken 7 originally hit the arcades back in 2015. A new gaming generation is already upon us with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

As such, fans have been eagerly awaiting news about AAA fighting games for the new generation. Capcom has already answered the call with Street Fighter 6, so it seems logical that Bandai Namco would want to put Tekken 8 on the table as well.

Furthermore, it's worth mentioning that Tekken 7 effectively ended the same way as Kazuya's arcade mode in the original Tekken. Instead of dropping Heihachi off a cliff, he dropped him in a volcano. Still, the energy of the two moments was the same.

Remastered versions of older Tekken titles?

Considering the focus on the original Tekken scene, this could be hinting at a remaster of some of the older Tekken titles. Perhaps something like Tekken, Tekken 2, and Tekken 3, but with Tekken 7's graphics.

However, it's worth mentioning that Kazuya has gained a few scars on his face since his younger appearance as seen in the original Tekken. More than that, the existence of the Devil Gene within Kazuya is on full display in his updated appearance as his left eye emits an eerie red glow.

At best, Kazuya's true nature might've only been hinted at in the original Tekken. Indeed, this is definitely a more mature version of that weird, smiling Kazuya we all know from that Tekken arcade ending.

Tekken X Street Fighter?

This one seems like a real longshot seeing as how Capcom's Street Fighter X Tekken was released back in March 2012 to criticisms from critics and fans alike. Needless to say, Tekken X Street Fighter has since been shelved for another day.

Back in June 2021, Harada specifically talked about how Tekken X Street Fighter was roughly 30% done before the project "died." The translation of what was said here was a bit confusing to us non-Japanese speakers, so Harada later had to clarified what he actually wanted to communicate to viewers of Harada's Bar.

According to Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken X Street Fighter has been delayed indefinitely as nobody is currently working on it. However, he was very adamant that Tekken X Street Fighter has not been canceled.

It's hard to see this recent Tekken project tease as being related to Tekken X Street Fighter considering it was just focused on Tekken content. Indeed, we'll probably still be waiting quite a few years before we hear about Tekken X Street Fighter, but the possibility can't be disproven outright at the moment.

When are we going to learn more about this Tekken project?

Information about Bandai Namco's mysterious project is currently very scarce, but we did happen to notice that The Game Awards Twitter account did Tweet about the big reveal as it was happening. The Tweet ended up echoing that we should "Get Ready," without providing additional context on what we should be getting ready for.

The Game Awards has been scheduled to take place this year in December as it always has, but an exact date has not yet been narrowed down. This seems like a likely time period in which we'll get more information regarding this unknown Tekken project.

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