We’ve previously reported that Bandai Namco’s Katsuhiro Harada wanted to put Kentucky Fried Chicken mascot, Colonel Sanders, in a Tekken game, but a recent interview with The Gamer reveals a few more details on the admittedly bizarre idea.
Obviously no such deal ever came to fruition, but both Harada and Tekken 8 Producer Michael Murray chime in on the ordeal, specifically noting some specific negative responses from both Bandai Namco and KFC.
Guest characters have been all the rage in recent years for fighting games as Mortal Kombat has repeatedly brought in popular culture icons like Jason Voorhees, Terminator, and The Joker over the last decade while Tekken has welcomed the likes of Negan from the Walking Dead, Akuma from Street Fighter, and Noctis from Final Fantasy.
Even Street Fighter has gotten in on the mix, welcoming SNK’s Terry Bogard into Street Fighter 6 as the first ever instance in which a non-Capcom character has been playable in a Street Fighter game.
With such a theme in full swing, the idea of a fast food mascot joining the fray isn’t quite as farfetched (though still not the most intuitive of marriages).
Harada told The Gamer that when he went to head offices in Japan to propose putting Colonel Sanders in a Tekken game, he was merely given a “bad look” that told him all he needed to know.
The veteran developer reportedly did not attempt to push things any further, garnering from years of experience when a fight is and isn’t worth having.
Of course, it may have just been the case that Harada felt he needed a green light from the other major business involved, KFC, to prompt Bandai to follow suit. Michael Murray describes how Harada also went to Kentucky Fried Chicken with his plea.
“[Harada] went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and tried to get Colonel Sanders. […] they weren’t very open to the idea,” Murray told The Gamer. “[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,” he finished.
To be fair, we can think of a healthy handful of other potential guests that we might pick for Tekken before bringing up the Colonel. That said, it’s not impossible to see some kind of fast food-themed campaign for Tekken to emerge at some point, given its fan base’s infatuation with the idea of having a Waffle House stage established within King of Iron Fist canon.
Are you hoping to see more guests in Tekken 8? Chime into the comments below and share who you think would be a good fit to join the roster in 2025.