What franchises could potentially have guest appearances in Tekken 8?

Now, as most gamers are aware, Tekken 8 is set to come out soon. As of now, the release date isn’t set. But given the fact that the beta is currently happening, one can assume that the game is coming fairly soon.

As of now, Harada has already stated he was focusing on the main characters of the game and that people shouldn’t expect to see guest characters. But in this era, where pushing video games as a service is the norm, it’s reasonable to expect guest characters will possibly be part of the game, even if as DLC. Now with that said, we can speculate which franchises may lend their unique characters.

Virtua Fighter

Let’s start with a classic rivalry. Virtua Fighter was Sega’s Franchise that was in direct competition with Tekken back in the arcades. Unfortunately, however, time hasn’t been kind to the franchise. The last mainline entry to the series was Virtua Fighter 5. And that itself was rereleased twice. A pairing of these two franchises would have been considered a dream match pre-2000’s. Plus it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility. After all, Sega’s already loaned out Virtua Fighter characters to the Dead or Alive franchise, which brings us to our second potential guest franchise.

Dead or Alive

Dead or Alive is Tecmo Koei’s venture into the 3D fighting realm. What set this one apart was the counter function. The pace of earlier games of this franchise were actually faster than Tekken’s. Although eventually, Tekken’s gameplay has sped up in recent years. This might be a good game to draw guest characters from. The only question would come in the form of the counter mechanics. If left intact, That would give the DOA character(s) a distinct advantage. Just look at how powerful both Akuma and Geese Howard are in Tekken 7 because they kept the gameplay of their home games.

The Last of Us

The Last of Us is a possibility. Especially with the television show getting the love and praise it does. Now while a character like Joel might be cool to use here, the problem is that this will feel like a retread. Tekken 7 already had Neagan, another character from a post-apocalyptic world. So although possible, this one is probably the least likely.

Yakuza / Like a Dragon

Now Kazuma Kiryu from Yakuza or as it’s rebranded as, Like a Dragon is the guest character I’d be most interested in seeing as a guest. Considering how the character plays in the Yakuza franchise, I think Kiryu would fit pretty well into a Tekken game. I can even imagine this character being left intact the way Geese Howard and Akuma were for Tekken 7. Meaning his move and special would be intact. So if Kiryu was brought into Tekken 8, I’d expect him to be able to use various heat actions.

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy 7 would be a prime candidate to lend characters. And with the next part in the remake series, rebirth scheduled to come out in early 2024, it would be a good way to capitalize off the hype with a bit of extra brand awareness through Tekken, not that it needs any. Plus, it’s not like Square Enix hasn’t done it before. Noctis was in the last game so this wouldn’t be a stretch at all.

There are plenty of other potential franchises to draw from. Even though Harada told us himself he wasn’t working on that right now, it doesn’t mean he won’t in the future so it’s fun to guess and speculate.