Tekken 8 Guest Characters: Featuring Dante from the DMC Series

In 1998, when Tekken 3 released on home consoles, Tekken series welcomed its first guest, a cute little dinosaur named Gon. Few at that time actually knew that Gon was the protagonist of a manga and not an original Tekken character.

After that game, however, the doors were closed. Tekken characters would go on to visit other series like SoulCalibur or even Naruto, but we wouldn’t see another guest in a Tekken game until the most recent title.

And what a set of guests it was. Noctis and especially Negan were some of the most surprising choices Bandai Namco could’ve made. Meanwhile, Akuma and Geese have become notorious, as nerf after nerf they would remain on top of the S tier Olympus.

Partly because of that, many players have become either cautious or opposed to the idea of guest characters, but while staying critical of their implementation, it’s important to remember the positives. Such as adding variety to the gameplay or giving new people an opportunity to discover and enjoy fighting games.

With that in mind, today we want to talk about some of the characters that we’d love to see in Tekken and look into what they could bring to the table.

Baki Hanma

It’s no secret that when Tekken developers designed the characters, they were inspired by many of the action classics starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and others. However, these influences go beyond movies and into the realm of manga and anime. 

Fans have long suspected that Feng’s appearance is a direct reference to one of the Baki the Grappler characters, while the more recently added Fahkumram could be referencing Baki’s art style with his exaggerated muscle.

With so many fans among the players as well, Baki himself could be a very welcome addition. His strength and speed are immediately apparent, but Baki is more than a wild brute and has some interesting techniques of his own, it’s intriguing how some of those could transition to Tekken in the form of unique mechanics.

Tifa Lockhart

It’s impossible to make a list of guest characters without mentioning one of the most frequently requested ones. Tifa gets a lot of love from the Tekken community for her classic design, caring personality and, of course, her gameplay, which mainly revolves around hand-to-hand combat and martial arts.

Given that we already have Noctis, collaborating with Square Enix is not out of the picture. And with the second part of Final Fantasy 7 remake coming out next year, it could be an excellent opportunity for both companies to promote their games.

But for now, the Tifa fans will have to settle for some of the exceptional well-made fan mods.

Leon S. Kennedy

When talking about guest appearances in a fighting game, especially one like Tekken, you usually don’t hear about too many characters who specialize in firearms. However, Leon from the Resident Evil franchise is a notable exception.

When we first saw him in Resident Evil 2, Leon was just a rookie, albeit a well-trained one. Yet, by the time he appears in RE4, Leon had become a fully-fledged fighter who can take on a spec-ops soldier in a one-on-one knife fight or fend off zombies with powerful elbows, kicks, and wrestling moves.

With RE4 remake hype and its release being just around the corner, perhaps this special agent could one day square up and fight in the King of the Iron Fist tournament.

Slayer or Giovanna

And now for a wildcard. With Guilty Gear Strive currently being one of the most played fighting games, and Bandai Namco publishing both Strive and Tekken 7, the opportunity for a collaboration is more real than ever.

Of course, many of the Guilty Gear characters would be hard to fit in with their crazy abilities and weapons, but there are three fighters who maybe have a shot - Slayer, Potemkin and Giovanna. Basically, the characters who mostly rely on their own fists and feet. 

Since Tekken already has quite a few big brutes like Potemkin, we’re placing our hopes on either Slayer or Giovanna, with the exciting possibilities of implementing a spirit wolf as a unique mechanic or sinking your teeth into your opponents as the dandy vampire gentleman.

Solid Snake

Let’s be real, we all have either made a Dragunov custom that makes him look like Snake, or ran into at least a few role-players online who love to imagine that they’re playing “The Legendary Soldier”

Metal Gear Solid has a fair share of iconic characters and even more fans who would love to play them in other games. Even though they’ve yet to make their way to a traditional fighting game, you can find Solid Snake in Super Smash Bros. while his apprentice, Raiden, is slicing and dicing in PlayStation All-Stars.

Perhaps in Tekken 8 we’ll see Snake apply the CQC techniques to Kazuya outside of Smash, but if not, it wouldn’t be the first time that he kept us waiting.

Dante

When you hear the name Dante, the first association is probably with stylish combat involving lots of stabbing and shooting. Yet, the Devil May Cry series actually has a rich history of melee combat. 

Starting with Dante using Ifrit in original DMC, and going all the way to DMCV where you can do some stylish dodges, parries, and attacks with the Balrog, which fuses techniques from both traditional boxing, and capoeira. With so much material, you can easily reassemble Dante as a fleshed out fighting game character, with a special Devil Trigger mechanic. 

Not to mention, the fighting game community already has a sizable crossover with the fans of character action games, as most of us enjoy the deep combat and sick combos that they allow you to pull off.

Ryu Hayabusa

By far the most iconic ninja character in all of video games. Ryu Hayabusa started his journey all the way back in the NES classic, Ninja Gaiden. The series that continued to challenge gamers for decades.

While Tekken already has a few ninjas with Ravens and Kunimitsu, Ryu is very much distinct enough to stand apart from everyone else. He even appeared in Dead or Alive games, where his gameplay featured a remarkable amount of flashy grabs and cool defensive techniques.

With Ryu being such a storied fighter, it could be interesting to see him go up against the Manji clan or the many strong villains of Tekken.

Kasumi

Speaking of Dead or Alive, this series used to be a worthy competitor to Tekken in the late 90s and early 00s. While it’s not as popular or successful as it once was, it’s still an incredible franchise that has a lot to offer in terms of systems and characters.

And if we were to get one guest from the series, who would be a better choice than Kasumi, the face of the entire franchise? Even people who have never played the games might remember her from the phenomenal Dead Fantasy action series by the late Monty Oum.

Despite also being a ninja character, like Ryu, Kasumi is unique in her focus on speed and deception through delayed attacks and a variety of strings. Generally, she’s a well-rounded and simple character, which would make her familiar to DoA fans and simple to pick up for new players. Or for a twist on Kasumi with even stronger ties to the Ninja Gaiden series, how about her purple haired sister Ayane?

Ryo Hazuki

If you’ve played Shenmue, you already know why Ryo Hazuki on this list. Ryo’s ongoing, perhaps never to be resolved quest to investigate and avenge his father’s murder starts out the way you’d expect from an adventure game. You go around, ask questions, look for sailors, and get closer to the truth one awkward interaction at a time (whilst also constantly getting sidetracked buying capsule toys, taking care of injured kittens, bumming around in arcades, driving forklifts and playing lucky-hit). However, there are also times when Ryo must put his martial art skills to the test, such as the infamous 70 men battle.

This is where you realize that this game was designed by the father of 3D fighting games, Yu Suzuki. The combat, at least in the original games, is based on the Virtua Fighter fighting system, which means it has quite a bit of depth to it. Strings, evasion, complex grappling system, parries, counters, all on top of the constantly evolving move list and an ability to train specific attacks.

Ryo Hazuki was already a perfect character for a fighting game back in 1999, and it’s criminal that he never made it into one. Speaking of Virtua Fighter…

Goh Hinogami

Yu Suzuki’s other brainchild needs no introduction. Without it, Tekken probably would never have even existed, or at least definitely not in the way we know it today. Not only due to the obvious, ongoing influences, for example sidestepping and walls were both pages taken out of Virtua Fighter’s book, but also many of the original Tekken developers being hired by Namco after their work on Virtua Fighter.

There are many potential fighters to pick from, but there’s one in particular that stands out due to his eccentric fighting style and a memorable design - Goh Hinogami. In a world of stoic martial artists and hot-blooded brawlers, Goh finds himself between the two archetypes. 

While his Judo is refined and impressive, his bloodlust is also second to none, which gives his every attack a special degree of violence that you wouldn’t expect from someone who represents the traditional martial arts.

Kyo Kusanagi

From one classic franchise to another. True to its name, King of Fighters has been one of the most prolific and longest running fighting game series out there. 

Before there was Marvel vs. Capcom or Super Smash Bros., SNK created the first major crossover series, combining original KoF fighters with their other classics, like Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, and many others.

Since Tekken already featured Geese, one of the greatest KoF villains, it would be appropriate to go in the other direction and invite the poster boy hero, Kyo Kusanagi. We’d love to see Kyo’s slick design and fiery fighting style rendered with meticulous detail and smooth animations that Tekken is known for. Alternatively, his rival Iori Yagami is arguably an even more iconic design, who perfectly matches Tekken’s stylish, gritty aesthetic.

Makoto

Before Tekken subverted expectations by making a large character like Bob into a speedy fighter, Street Fighter did something similar with Makoto. Unlike most characters that are light and relatively short, her gameplay is all about slow movement and powerful strikes.

Unlike Akuma, with his terrifying mix-ups and decent zoning, Makoto is more focused on solid footsies and decision-making, rewarding players who know when it’s the right time to go in and hit hard. A perfect character to rehabilitate Tekken players from the previous Street Fighter guest.

Jax Briggs

We couldn’t end this list without giving some recognition to one of the most successful fighting games franchises of all time. If you’re choosing a guest from Mortal Kombat, you’d be spoiled with choice. A series that started with only seven characters is now getting pretty close to one hundred.

Putting aside the klassic ninjas and femme fatales, we want to highlight the cybernetically enhanced powerhouse who was with us since 1993, Jackson Briggs. As a more traditional hand-to-hand fighter he’d be right at home in Tekken, and his mechanic with heated up arms could lead to many interesting possibilities when it comes to gameplay.