One central thing which long-running fighting game series tend to do is put a heavy emphasis on their long-beloved legacy characters — especially those who have been there from the start. We see it often with other franchises, for example Street Fighter 2’s world warriors and even the boss characters from the Street Fighter 2 games, but what about Tekken?
Well, Tekken 1 originally had eight characters in its arcade release as well, though sub-bosses and the final boss being unlockable on home versions brought the total roster for Tekken 1 to 18 characters, though many of them were just different models with cloned movesets, but even so many of them became long-running fan favorites. So who from Tekken 1 is missing from Tekken 8?
Before getting into the specific characters missing, I will note that if you want to get real technical there are more characters missing — Tekken 1 has a different King than the second King who is currently active in the games, the JACK character is replaced a new upgraded JACK model for every game, and so on.
Characters like this who basically had their movesets or concept inherited by others aren’t going to count… unless their replacement is also missing from Tekken 8 of course. Finally, Armor King (who is also technically a different character, since the current one is Armor King II) isn’t in Tekken 8 yet, but we know he’s coming so I won’t be counting him either. Now, let’s get on with the list.
Honestly, Wang is probably the least likely to come back of the original cast since he’s simply never been that popular.
When Tekken’s cast was smaller and they regularly brought back most characters, we’d see Wang return both in Tekken 5 and Tekken 6, but he was one of only a few characters who never came back in Tekken 7.
While not being in Tekken 7 doesn’t automatically disqualify you from returning, series producer Katsuhiro Harada has often spoken on how much they look at playrate and analyze data when they’re looking at which characters to bring back in their titles.
When it comes to an old guy who uses traditional Chinese martial arts, I think it’s safe to say that his role has been effectively usurped by Tekken 7 newcomer Leroy Smith who took off with fans in a much bigger way.
It wouldn’t be fair to say that Leroy inherited Wang’s moveset by any means, but the general role is the same and honestly, with Leroy seeming to stick around for the long haul, there probably just isn’t much room for Wang anymore.
Also, to be honest, it doesn’t help that most everyone seems to think that Wang is dead in the story. I don’t believe he’s ever actually been killed in Tekken, but in every game he’s in it just … feels like he died.
Contrary to Wang, there’s definitely not anyone who has taken Ganryu’s role in Tekken… and there probably never will be.
Ganryu isn’t necessarily a high popularity pick either, but he does fill his own strange niche and Harada himself also claims to like him (though he has also said that it’s a joke, so you can never be sure.)
Given that sumo wrestling is a martial art that’s recognizable enough that basically every martial arts-based fighting game has it represented but still niche enough where you’re not going to fill your roster with multiple practitioners, it’s doubtful we’ll ever see Ganryu be replaced in the way Bruce from Tekken 2 has been.
That said, sumo also isn’t all that popular for picking so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see Ganryu get skipped over. His redesign in Tekken 7 did win him some fans, but he’s still a fairly low priority pick as far as additions go when characters like Lei, Miguel, Bob and the next two characters on this list are still missing in action.
Originally seen as basically the forgotten character of Tekken after being out of the running since Tekken 2 (besides the Tekken Tag games which made sure to include all characters from the franchise), Kunimitsu was one of those characters that had a small but dedicated fanbase who kept asking for her.
Finally, in Tekken 7, Kunimitsu did… sort of return. Much like many other Tekken characters, Kunimitsu received a successor as her daughter took up the mantle of Kunimitsu II and joined Tekken 7 in its fourth season.
This relaunch of Kunimitsu proved extremely popular and saw the character gain a bunch of new fans, with her moveset also being a lot more flashy and reminiscent of the cool aspect you’d often associate with ninja characters.
The first Kunimitsu will probably never return in playable fashion, but she is at least revealed to still be alive, so fans of the old character can rest assured that she’s out there chilling somewhere.
Given how well Kunimitsu II took off with fans, I’m honestly shocked that she’s still not part of Tekken 8, especially now that we’re two years in.
As Tekken 8 marches on, it definitely seems like Kunimitsu is going to be a “when” rather than an “if”, since she’s one of the few missing characters fans actually have been clamoring to see return.
Finally, we have Michelle Chang, the only character on this list who actually was one of the original eight arcade characters in Tekken 8.
Despite this, she herself is extremely unlikely to return, honestly even moreso than Wang… but that’s because she’s had a successor since Tekken 3 who has taken over for her (who is also actually the one pictured here — sorry Michelle!)
Back in Tekken 3, Michelle’s adoptive daughter Julia Chang was introduced and she’s been a mainstay to the series ever since. Much like Kunimitsu, I’m genuinely shocked that Julia is still missing at this point in the game — she also felt like someone who should’ve been on the launch roster, to be honest.
One of the most recognizable Tekken characters with a lot of fans, Julia who keeps the spirit of original fighter Michelle alive is even more of a question of “when” rather than “if”, to the point that I’d be amazed if Tekken 8’s third season isn’t revealed specifically with Julia as the prime character to get people excited.
In conclusion, the only character who’s still missing from Tekken 1 with any form of likelihood at all is… genuinely Ganryu.
But if you’re considering moveset successions (which you should, because otherwise King and Armor King also don’t count), then we’ve got a good shot of seeing Kunimitsu II and Julia Chang representing their respective mothers as well.
Who are you hoping to see return in Tekken 8 in the future? Let us know in the comments.