Tekken 7 made waves within the gaming community when Akuma was announced as a guest character, and he looks fucking awesome. Guest characters in fighting games aren’t a new phenomenon, but one that can be used to boost the sales of a particular game.
The inclusion of Rash, Arbiter and General RAAM made Season 3 of Killer Instinct practically essential, whilst Ezio from Assassin’s Creed was considered an inspired choice for the Soul Calibur universe. Let’s not talk about those Star Wars characters though.
Bandai Namco are looking to further apply the “guest characters = profit” formula to Tekken 7’s season pass, with an additional two guest characters lined up to join an already formidable lineup of martial arts masters and wild animals. But who could these guests be? Let’s take a look at a few possibilities.
A Soul Calibur Character
The obvious choice, given how Namco develop both Tekken and Soul Calibur. The two games already share plenty of crossover, with Yoshimitsu being a mainstay character across both games, and main Tekken bad guy Heihachi appearing as a guest in the PS2 version of Soul Calibur 2. As for who the guest could be, the more recognisable choices would be Nightmare, Mitsurugi and Ivy. As hype as Nightmare vs Panda sounds, their attack reach would far exceed most Tekken characters and would ultimately render the game unbalanced. The ideal choices would be Maxi or Taki; agile characters who dominate at close range.
A Street Fighter character
We already have Akuma, why not shoot for some more?! Again, it isn’t the most inspired of choices, given how Namco and Capcom are practically best buds since Street Fighter X Tekken, but it’d be a decision guaranteed to cause a buzz. Street Fighter has a huge back catalogue of characters to choose from, making the job of picking one in particular difficult. My heart says Cody, with his tricky knife game and Criminal Uppers, but my head says M. Bison. Kazuya needs to feel the power of the Psycho Crusher.
Brad Hawk
A more obscure choice, but still a Namco owned character, Brad Hawk was the star of the underrated PS2 beat ‘em up Urban Reign. A brawler for hire and the baddest man on the streets, Brad fights using a mixed style of kickboxing, professional wrestling and devastating submission holds. He has a moveset that’s practically made for Tekken, with plenty of juggle combos, air grabs and throw chains. The obscurity of Urban Reign makes Brad’s inclusion unlikely, but stranger things have happened.
Kazuma Kiryu
If anyone is going to fit right in with the Tekken universe, it would Kazuma Kiryu. The Dragon of Dojima and star of the Yakuza franchise, Kazuma has been cracking skulls on the fictional streets of Kamurocho, Tokyo for over a decade, and he shows no signs of slowing down. Kazuma decimates opponents with a broad, street fighting style that encompasses swift punches, hard hitting roundhouses and a few curb stomps for good measure. Place a gun to my head and ask who I’d want to join the Tekken 7 roster, I’d go with Kazuma.
Dante
You know, it’s been awhile since the last Devil May Cry game. A proper one, anyway. As much as I enjoyed DMC, it wasn’t up to the same standard as Devil May Cry 1 or 3. Still, what better way to drum up interest in a new game than to appear in one of the most popular fighting games of all time? Armed with a variety of demonic weaponry, you can rest assured that Dante would have some of the fanciest and best looking combos in the whole game. Some might say Dante wouldn’t fit into the Tekken world, but take a look at fighters like Ogre, Devil Jin and pre-order character/vampire Eliza then kindly shut your mouth.
Akira
At this point, I’ve given up all hope of seeing Virtua Fighter 6 become a reality. It’s a fantasy too beautiful for this dark world. Alas, I must place my desire into something slightly more reasonable, like series posterboy Akira Yuki turning up and bodying Feng into next week. A master of baji quan, a Chinese martial art that translates into “eight extremities fist”, Akira is all about short range elbow, shoulder and knee strikes. Whilst he might not have the same juggle combo capabilities of the Tekken crew, he’d make an interesting defensive alternative.
Tekken 7 is released on June 2nd for PC, PS4
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
