We’re a few weeks out from Tekken 8’s first anniversary since it was released at the tail end of January 2024, which means that we’re likely looking at Season 2 content starting up sooner rather than later.
There’s been no official word yet on what we might see for Season 2 as far as new roster additions goes beyond a brief teaser that seemed to suggest a certain someone, so let’s have a look at some characters that really should be joining in sooner rather than later.
Before we get into the picks, let’s first establish that the teaser back in December very clearly was hinting at Anna Williams. Showing a missile with a lipstick mark on it which is then fired at Nina is hard to read any other way.
So, since Anna has clearly been hinted and is likely going to be part of Season 2, I’m not even going to go into her chances here. In my mind, she’s already essentially confirmed.
Another thing I’d like to mention is that if it were up to my personal tastes I’d like to see Miguel Caballero Rojo but since guest character Clive Rosfield has already been referred to as “Miguel in cosplay” at length due to their similar appearance, I’m just going to let go of my Miguel dreams for the time being.
While Jackie Chan movies might not be the moneymaker they were back in the ’90s, the appeal of Jackie Chan-based Lei Wulong is still very much alive.
As one of Tekken’s most classic characters, Lei Wulong has a very good track record in the franchise, since his debut in Tekken 2 he’s been part of all the main franchise entries before Tekken 8 as well as the two Tekken Tag Tournament titles.
Although his pick rate isn’t always that high, he’s still an iconic character that a lot of people including myself kind of feel like needs to be in for it to feel like Tekken. On top of that, due to his unique play style, the actual Lei mains usually just spend their time waiting for him to be added before they get serious with a new title.
At the end of the day, Lei is more of a character that people expect and want to see more so than themselves want to play… But I think that’s fine. There’s always room for additions that are more for spectator purposes or character specialists.
In Tekken 7, he was added during its second season, so let’s see if history repeats itself for Tekken 8.
Probably the most popular character that isn’t currently in the roster, or at least one of few at the top, Julia Chang has been a lock in Tekken games (though in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 she entered as her wrestler persona Jaycee instead) ever since her debut back in Tekken 3.
Before her, her adoptive mother Michelle Chang was a roster member in Tekken 1 and 2, so Julia was a natural successor to an original Tekken character, meaning that while she herself hasn’t been in every Tekken game, the gameplay essence of her has always been there.
Although she received quite dramatic changes several times, first with the aforementioned Jaycee persona in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and then later again in Tekken 7 where she adopted more of a streamer persona with a penchant for environmental activism, specifically engaged in reforestation activities.
A fairly diverse character in her various pursuits, Julia has enjoyed an iconic status within Tekken and has a pretty stellar fanbase. In Tekken 7, she definitely saw a lot of play at high levels and stands out as one of the more requested characters right now. Much like Lei Wulong, she returned in the game’s second season, so maybe the same will hold true again for Tekken 8.
At this point, it feels like I’m just rehashing Season 2 of Tekken 7, but honestly… There were a lot of good picks for that early DLC session in the previous Tekken game.
While Armor King at first glance can seem like he’s just a reskin of King, nothing could be further from the truth. They are actually very varied in their movesets and general gameplay approach.
Not quite as focused on grabs as his tag team partner, Armor King is more of a movement-based striker who excels at keeping his opponent in check with relentless offense. While King is more of an extreme character with certain very strong points, Armor King is much more of a fundamentally based all-rounder.
Though the current Armor King is actually the second one, the Armor King persona has a pretty good track record for roster appearances, only really missing out on Tekken 3 and Tekken 4 since the original Armor King’s inception in the very first game.
As alluded to at the start of this segment, Armor King was indeed another one of the Tekken 7 Season 2 additions… So if he were to make his return for Tekken 8’s second season, it would be history repeating itself in his case much like for Lei and Julia.
Honestly, what can I say? I’m a sucker for kunoichi characters.
She’s definitely not an unpopular character, especially after her Tekken 7 iteration entered the scene, she’s definitely more of an oddball pick than the previous ones that are more mainstream candidates.
Like Armor King and Julia, she is a legacy character in the sense that the original Kunimitsu debuted back in the original Tekken 1 and then showed up again for Tekken 2 as well as the two non-canonical Tekken Tag Tournament games.
Her daughter appears in Tekken 7 as Kunimitsu II and will most likely be the main Kunimitsu moving forward, assuming that Bandai Namco want to keep her in the rotating cast of Tekken rosters.
Series producer Katsuhiro Harada has in the past noted on Twitter that even though he got a lot of requests for Kunimitsu, her play data didn’t seem to reflect the rate of requests, suggesting she was quite unpopular with players.
This however changed in Tekken 7 when Kunimitsu II made her debut, with Harada mentioning back in 2021 that her play rate, especially online, was actually quite high now.
Given the popularity of Kunimitsu’s relaunch, she seems like a prime candidate to bring back and hopefully soon. If we’re lucky, as soon as Season 2 for Tekken 8, rather than the long wait for Season 4 fans had to endure in Tekken 7.
Now this is a character who hasn’t seen the light of day for quite a while… But honestly, outside of the classic Mishima family drama, who else feels like a proper boss character for Tekken than Tekken 3’s Ancient Ogre?
Appearing as the boss character in Tekken 3, he’s never made a canonical appearance since then although he was present for both of the Tekken Tag Tournament games.
He was even so notable that when Capcom made their Street Fighter X Tekken crossover game, they chose Ancient Ogre as the Tekken boss representative to be a counterpart for their own Akuma — quite a statement, if you ask me.
While Ancient Ogre has been gone for ages from any canon entry in the Tekken series, his presence definitely still lingers… The fact that he’s even clearly referenced via Jin’s flashbacks in Tekken 8’s story mode means that he’s an enduring presence even after his presumed death.
The main argument against bringing Ancient Ogre back is that, well, he’s supposed to be dead. But let’s be honest… death clearly means nothing to the Tekken developers.
I think Ancient Ogre would be an amazing addition to the cast and it’d be very exciting to see him rendered in the modern, beautiful graphics of Tekken 8. It’d also be nice to have a powerful boss level character that isn’t part of the Devil Gene lineage, so… Here’s to hoping.
Do you agree with our picks? Is there anyone else you’re pinning your hopes on for the impending Season 2? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Event Hubs
