Katsuhiro Harada is the legend behind "Tekken." If there's any person that could easily be held responsible for the long-running multi-million franchise, it would be him. He's been with the game since the development of the original version. Now he's ready to gift fans with the highly-awaited "Tekken 7."
In an interview with Anime News Network, Harada shared his thoughts about "Tekken 7" and its status as the leading figure in arcade games. In the past, fighting games had arcade releases before game console versions hit the market. "Street Fighter V" and "King of Fighters XIV" have completely skipped arcade releases, but "Tekken" remains one of the very few who've maintained a strong arcade following.
"Many fighting games couldn't have an arcade release even if they wanted to, because nobody would buy them at that sort of price. Tekken is one of the few still able to command that sort of premium," Harada said.
Going into the specifics of "Tekken 7," Harada gave his two cents on the Nina Williams redesign. One of the long-running fan favorites is donning a new costume-a wedding dress. He hinted that Nina's new costume is tied up to a backstory which players will find out soon in the game.
There are a lot of new characters in the upcoming "Tekken 7" release. Among them is Akuma of "Street Fighter," who's been confirmed as a guest character in the game. He's described as an enemy the "Tekken" have to face. As to why Akuma was chosen to be the guest character, Harada explained that it's not just because he's really cool, but also because he doesn't feel "out of place at all in Tekken."
More recently, it was announced that Bob, who first appeared in "Tekken 6," will make a comeback in the new installment. According to Game Spot, a new character was also revealed in the form of Master Raven. Many, however, believe this character to be related to "Tekken 5" Raven. Master Raven's fighting type is ninjutsu.
Other characters joining "Tekken 7" are Kazuma, King, Heihachi, Asuka and Paul.
"Tekken" 7 release date is slated for early 2017 on Steam.