Tekken 8 Game Director kills hope for Tifa Lockhart guest character… at least for now

Tekken's Game Director Katsuhiro Harada has answered a fan request for Tifa Lockhart to be a Tekken 8 guest character. The topic began after Harada shared pictures from his visit to the Taipei Gameshow 2024.

At the Taipei Gameshow 2024, Tekken 8 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth were interestingly being promoted at the same booth.

Tekken 8's Game Director Katsuhiro Harada shared images illustrating this on Twitter on January 25, which led to multiple replies asking for Final Fantasy Tifa Lockhart to be a guest character. Harada decided to indulge the masses and actually deliver a response.

Tifa is one of the most iconic female characters in gaming, and her fighting style and appearance would fit perfectly with Tekken 8. She is also one of the playable characters in the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. However, according to Tekken 8's Game Director, no decisions have been regarding guest characters.

"We all know she is attractive and I understand," said Tekken 8's Game Director Katsuhiro Harada in response to social media interest in having Tifa Lockhart as a Tekken 8 guest character. "But as yet we have not decided anything about guest characters etc.."

While some might think a Final Fantasy crossover would make no sense given it's not even the same genre, they'd be surprised. There is in fact precedence for a Final Fantasy x Tekken crossover, given that Final Fantasy XV's lead protagonist Noctis was a guest character in Tekken 7.

Another perhaps fascinating fact is that Tifa Lockhart already appeared in a fighting game published by Bandai Namco - then Namco - in 1998 for the Playstation 1. In the game, she even was given her own projectile attack. The game was called Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring, and it featured six characters from the Final Fantasy franchise:

Tekken 7 was the first time Bandai Namco experimented seriously with guest characters, also known as licensed characters. Prior to Tekken 7, the only licensed guest character was Gon who appeared in Tekken 3, a rather adorable tiny comic relief dinosaur from a Japanese platformer for the Super Nintendo.

For Tekken 7, there were four guest characters all from well known franchises:

Given the modern fighting game communities affinity for crossovers and the hype it can drive, it is almost inevitable we will see guest characters in Tekken 8. However, based on Harada's comments, it might not be for a little while. That said, we do have confirmation of four Tekken 8 DLC characters coming in 2024.