If you’ve always thought Tekken‘s roster was lacking something but couldn’t put your finger (lickin’) on it, Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada knows – it’s Colonel Sanders.
Despite his best efforts, however, Harada hasn’t been able to convince KFC to give the all-clear to include Sanders as a fighter – or, indeed, fashion a Waffle House-inspired fighting stage.
“A long time ago, I wanted to have Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken fight,” Harada said in an interview with The Gamer. “So, I asked to use Colonel Sanders and go to the head office in Japan.”
Harada says his suggestion was turned down by a “bad look”.
For a brief while, Harada simply concluded that KFC didn’t want to share its iconic mascot with any game, but given he’s since turned up in a dating simulator, the team has since presumed it’s the fighting FKC takes issue with, not gaming itself.
“[Harada] went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and tried to get Colonel Sanders,” game designer Michael Murray added. “They weren’t very open to the idea.
“[Colonel Sanders] appeared in games after that. So maybe it was just him fighting against someone [that] was posing a problem for them. But it just goes to show how difficult these types of discussions are.”
Don’t forget that Heihachi Mishima, antagonist of the Tekken series, is set to make a return to the series in Tekken 8 this autumn.
Heihachi’s reveal was announced at this year’s Evo fighting game esports event in a new trailer, along with a new story mode chapter called The Dark Awakens. He’ll be the third DLC character added to the game since its release earlier this year, following Eddy Gordo and Lidia Sobieska.
