At the 2014 Evolution Fighting Game Championships (Evo) earlier this month, Namco Bandai unveiled a brief Tekken 7 trailer and promised more details at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). Today, Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada took center stage at the company’s SDCC panel to reveal more information about the upcoming title.
Tekken 7 represents the end of the Mishima storyline that has served as the backbone of the Tekken franchise since the beginning. Because of this, there’s been a renewed focus on the story elements in Tekken 7, which will feature an opening cinematic directed by Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed, Space Pirate Captain Harlock) who also worked on the animated feature Tekken: Blood Vengeance. The game will also feature character designs from Mari Shimazaki (Bayonetta), Yusuke Kozaki (Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes), Ninnin (Duel Masters, Cardfight!! Vanguard) and Kenichiro Yoshimura (Max Anarchy/Anarchy Reigns).
While most of the information shared at the panel revolved around the story elements of Tekken 7, Harada did confirm that Lars would be returning with a new redesign from Ninnin. In addition, as many Tekken fan assumed, the game will be one-on-one instead of the two-on-two mechanics of the Tekken Tag Tournament series.
No further details on Tekken 7 were provided, but Harada did take the time to confirm that Tekken x Street Fighter is still in development. The game was originally announced back in 2010 alongside Capcom’s Street Fighter x Tekken, but very little on the game has been discussed since that time. At Evo 2014, Harada mentioned he was working on three games, so it’s a safe assumption that Tekken x Street Fighter is one of those three. We’ll have more on Tekken 7 and Tekken x Street Fighter as information becomes available.
