One of the biggest pieces of news coming out of Evo 2024 was the announcement that Heihachi would be coming back to Tekken 8. This rules because it’s both the return of the series’ most iconic villain, but also because this particular update might change the way the story of Tekken progresses going forward.
What’s so special about Heihachi in Tekken 8?
Tekken 8, like most modern fighting games, is no stranger to DLC characters. It had previously added Eddy Gordo, the fan-favorite capoeira fighter introduced way back in Tekken 3, and is about to introduce Tekken 7’s Lidia, the — I kid you not — Karate-fighting Prime Minister of Poland.
Heihachi, however, will be the first DLC character in Tekken history to feature a return powerful enough to push the plot forward. That’s right, even though Tekken 8 had seemingly concluded in the most epic way imaginable for a fighting game, that’s actually far from the ending of the game’s story. With Kazuya out of the picture (for now), Heihachi wants back in.
How is Heihachi even back?
Despite its extremely over-the-top plot, the Tekken series has yet to feature an instance of actual resurrection. A bunch of Iron Fist Tournament contenders such as Armor King, Jun, and Baek, have already seemingly died in past games, only to just come back a few games later with vague explanations similar to “I actually wasn’t all that dead. Also, I’m here to do battle, why are you asking me all these questions?” I totally get that, because why would you throw away a beloved character that already fits the highly precise gameplay ecosystem of the game?
In regards to Heihachi’s return, well, I just don’t know whether he’s actually coming back from the dead, or if he’d just been enjoying a nice little restorative nap inside a volcano. Also, I’m fine with whatever explanation, and I think most fans will be as well. Serving the plot is important, but the main driving force of a fighting game will always be its gameplay.
Heihachi had seemingly died at the hands of Kazuya at the canon ending of the original Tekken, then supposedly once again right at the start of Tekken 5. Heihachi surviving against all odds is no surprise to anyone who’s been with the series for a while.
Please enjoy the beautiful moment below of a panel where series head Katsuhiro Harada states that Heihachi is “completely dead”. Nobody is able to take him seriously, and I’m pretty sure the man himself had to use all of his strength to avoid breaking character:
Harada then even had the gall to come to Twitter and rub it on hour faces that he’d been playing us like a fiddle all along. And we’re all just absolutely here for it, because is it even a lie if we’d been on it the entire time?
What’s new about Heihachi?
The most important question, probably, is what will Heihachi be attempting to do in Tekken 8? Are we about to see a more back-to-basics approach as Jin and Heihachi go for a more realistic battle at the end of the extended campaign, or has Heihachi finally unlocked a super power of his own? I mean, he mustn’t have survived falling into a volcano just out of sheer luck. Personally, I’d love to see a DLC campaign that reminds me of the more grounded days of, say, Tekken 3. And, given the more personal nature of the very final battle seen in Tekken 8, I’d argue that it’s not completely out of the cards.
Whatever Heihachi’s revenge plan might be, I like the idea of an evolving plot inside a fighting game. Tekken 7 was the best-selling and most-enduring game in the series, and if Tekken 8 wants to do even better, this is a smart way to keep players engaged. I wasn’t originally too hot on the plot of Tekken 8; I believed the series had gone off the rails plot-wise a long time ago, but I actually enjoyed seeing all the hard work put into the massive scope of Tekken 8’s campaign mode.
It remains to be seen whether Heihachi’s DLC will feature such grandiose action setpieces as Tekken 8’s campaign, but the idea of seeing the plot advance with at least some of the DLCs is definitely a welcome one. Heichachi will be the penultimate programmed DLC character to release for Tekken 8, so it remains to be seen whether the supposed final DLC will offer yet another explosive conclusion to the story of Tekken 8.
