Heihachi Mishima will finally be appearing in Tekken 8, as he will join the roster as the third DLC character in fall 2024.
The gigantic news was announced at EVO 2024 and it’s a welcome announcement as fans have been waiting for the King of Iron Fist since he wasn’t part of the roster at launch. It made sense at the time as he met his end in Tekken 7’s story, but he was such an vital pillar that fans wanted him to return in some form.
We had the opportunity to speak with Tekken’s Katsuhiro Harada and Kohei Ikeda about Heihachi’s return, and they shared their thoughts on bringing him back to life.
“Tekken 7 really focused on the story arc between Heihachi and his son, Kazuya, so we really wanted to show that final ending, and he clearly died at that point,” Harada said. “But then after that happened, Tekken 8 came out, we put a lot of effort into the story, and the fans seemed really invested. And when that was happening, we felt like the players missed him too. Of course, we did too. So then we decided to do it.”
Despite this, preparations for Heihachi’s return were underway in the background.
“We kind of prepared for Heihachi,” Ikeda said. “Reina was one of them because of the bond she has with Heihachi. And then, if you look closely at the 30th anniversary logo, it’s made up of devil wings. There are two different styles, but if you step back and look, it actually looks like a silhouette of Heihachi’s face. Right? So we did some background preparation.”
While they weren’t ready to share many details about Heihachi, they did have a few teasers.
“As you can imagine, it’s a bit too early to talk about a lot of the details of his character, but to give you some pointers, he has a very strong playstyle throughout the series, so we tried to replicate that in Tekken 8,” Ikeda said. “So that’s what we’re focusing on. But also, if you’ve seen hints of the monks’ backstory in the footage and what he has to do with them, that could also determine some of his moveset.”
Heihachi is the third DLC character for Tekken 8, following Eddy Gordo and Lidia Sobieska. While his arrival is electrifying, fans can expect a lot more, including the first story DLC in the Tekken series. This up-to-date chapter, “The Dark Awakens,” will continue the clash between the Kazama and Mishima families and will be available as a free update for all players in the future.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Send an email to news@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and next ICT Tok.
