This interview has been edited for clarity.
Depending on who’s being asked, the charm of fighting games will take different forms. For casual viewers, the health bars make it easy to follow the winning or losing party at that point, while competitive players find satisfaction in reading an opponent, blocking, evading or countering their moves, and executing combo chains – the flashier, the better. Sometimes, however, a character’s skill set contributes to only half their popularity, with the other stemming from design.
As the longest-running story in video games without reboots, retcons, or revisions, the Tekken franchise is no stranger to variety. Humans? Duh, check. Androids? Been there, done that. Sentient animals? Triple check. The same fighting spirit carried into Tekken 8 with the likes of Kuma, Panda, and Alisa, and its Season 3 Pass will bring back three familiar fighters of distinct natures, plus a mysterious fourth: the ninja Kunimitsu, launching on 27 May for Character Pass owners, and on 1 June for everyone, the oversized yet agile Bob (this Summer), and the kangaroo powerhouse Roger Jr. (Autumn).
First introduced in the original Tekken, Kunimitsu is a title given to two characters in the series whose beginnings can be traced back to a former member of the Manji Clan, and was later succeeded by her daughter in Tekken 7. The addition proved welcome, as former chief producer and 21-year series veteran Katsuhiro Harada confirmed her position as one of the most-used brawlers on the roster.
Citing her accessible play style and fast attacking speed for the high pick rate, as well as exposure from esports professionals such as seven-time EVO champion Arslan Ash, franchise producer Michael Murray explains the approach behind tweaking certain elements of her kit to fit into Tekken 8.
“We thought she would work out quite well with the Heat System, and we wanted to keep the same feel – that quickness and aggression – to her,” he shares in a virtual interview with select Southeast Asian media, acknowledging fanbase concerns that Kunitmitsu may become “super oppressive”.
“We tried to make her as fun as possible [by] continuing to make sure that she’s still accessible and not very difficult to play, while also ensuring that the damage is reasonable compared to the rest of the cast.”
The statement didn’t take long to ring true in a separate online hands-on preview. As an amateur player who only commits a handful of manoeuvres to memory and tries to figure things out along the way, the nimble fighter was more beginner-friendly than expected, even if a single misstep can prove punishing. The lack of complex inputs and her fluid, dynamic flair make it tempting to attack relentlessly, especially going from one combo to another, with hesitation serving as one’s biggest enemy. Complacency needs to be managed, too – it’s all too easy to misjudge Kunimitsu’s reach and overestimate the damage dealt.
Like before, Kunimitsu’s playbook is rooted in three stances: Setsunagake, allowing her to close the distance with opponents, Katon, and facing backwards, each with its own subset of techniques. Triggering Kusabiyuki lets her shift into Setsunagake upon a hit or block, unlocking access to familiar moves such as Frost Slide and Kasumi Slash, which opens up a follow-up opportunity on counter hit that leads to an air combo.
Building on the existing ability to branch into teleporting attacks and other tricky moves, Katon now includes Veil of Night, granting players a follow-up hit upon a successful strike, while the back-to-the-opponent list remains largely unchanged. What’s new across the board, though, are the various Heat Engagers – from Twin Crescent Slash (during Setsunagake) and Severing Snow (during Katon) to Kaisen Ryujin (while rising) – and Flame Dance moves.
Specially tailored for the Heat System in Tekken 8, the latter centres around the ninja’s two connected swords, starting with Waxing Moon, a long-reaching, safe-on-block mid-move that can double as a combo starter. Using a low-hitting string to break the opponent’s defence is Waning Moon, available during Katon, and joined by Flame Riot: Lunar Mirror, which features a fast startup and long reach.
Speaking of defence, the regular player may find that Kunimitsu still struggles against a defensive approach. Her weak lows sting more than they bite, and her arsenal of linear attacks is vulnerable to side-stepping, as experienced during an Arcade match against a blocking-focused, evasive Ghost, an AI-controlled clone of a player, on Law. Observing the opponent’s behaviour, playing mind games, and switching up Kunimitsu’s attacking pattern or rhythm would later be key to victory, especially with her Power Crush, Blazing Fire Lilies, proving handy for interrupting a rush assault, albeit short-ranged.
Win or lose, one thing’s for sure: flashy is a language she speaks well. Where each fighter has their own stylish hit effects, Kunimitsu builds a spectacle out of striking colours and frenetic action, even if the blend can become distracting or oversimulating during select stages like Phoenix Gate. Her Rage Art, marking a visual step-up from before, is one such example – when triggered, a flurry of flower petals and whirlwind slashes plays out across the screen as she unsheathes the Kuatatou, or nine cursed blades. True to the smoke-throwing nature of her ninja identity, however, there’s more that lies beneath the pretty veneer, extending to the new Fire Blossom Breath execution.
“Just a little thing, the fire that she breathes [out]? There’s a small dagger that she throws upward that you may want to play around with, and see if it’s linked to some cool stuff,” teases Murray coyly.
Introducing novelty is standard fare when bringing back old faces, which is never as easy as it sounds, and a process that the team revisits regularly. Popularity plays a big part in a character’s return across the franchise, he shares, but other metrics of appeal are also taken into account, such as player demographics and the general skill level associated with them.
Using franchise staple Lei Wulong as an example, the series veteran explains, “Everyone’s like, ‘We need Lei to make a proper Tekken’, but did people actually play him when he was in the game? Not so much. I’m not saying that Lei is never going to be in Tekken 8, that’s not the point – because it takes so many resources to add a new character to the game, especially the new design elements and their gameplay, we really prefer it when players actually use that character.”
That isn’t an issue for Kunimitsu, who, as previously mentioned, had one of the highest pick rates in Tekken 7, and her few recognisable cues work to her favour here. Compared to Paul’s signature red gi or yellow kurenai (the ‘紅’ kanji on the left side of the gi), for instance, the fox mask is her only defining characteristic, with her revamped costume now based on the key colours of red and white.
The ninja-like presentation, too, has been further refined, taking the form of fire-related effects and new moves that evoke ninja imagery, including the Utsusemi no Jutsu real-world technique, where ninjas substitute themselves with a log, harking back to the early days of Hanzo Hattori’s fighting chops in SNK’s Samurai Shodown series.
“She’s a ninja, and making her feel like a proper ninja was [the main focus], because there are so many people who go nuts for ninjas, anime, and games, so [we had to] make sure that the flair was really cool,” shares Murray, adding that the kitsune, a mythical fox spirit with supernatural powers, was the other cultural nod integral to Kunimitsu’s core identity.
“This one has nine tails, and leaning into the spirit fox element of her lore was something we did with the design this time, which proved a little difficult in terms of translating that to a non-Japanese audience.”
To address the gap, the Tekken 8 team integrated kitsune motifs into her outfit, and this concoction of influences would later form the basis of her look. In Season 3, Kunimitsu’s role in the narrative involves going undercover as a student at Mishima Polytechnical School to dig for information on the Mishima Zaibatsu, and accepting Reina’s deal of leaking G Corp’s invasion plans in exchange for the Kuatatou.
Alongside unique dialogue with Reina and a special introduction with Raven, who was her father’s student, a lot of attention also went into “making sure that the costume doesn’t look like [what] an older woman [would] wear,” by combining the traditional Japanese aesthetic with modern elements, namely sneaker culture.
The greatest challenge overall, though, was building her 3D character model from the ground up – as with every other brawler – because it didn’t look quite the same as before, so there needed to be a careful balance between the two versions.
Murray elaborates, “The process of tweaking the face to get it to look like what everyone remembers from the previous iteration, even before the costume, took a lot of time, and especially with female characters, the face has to look like what so many players have in their memory. [Reconciling that] with what it actually looks like and trying to make a model that satisfies everyone is very difficult.”
It wasn’t the only balancing act that the team had to tackle. While it was tempting to keep the Season 3 roster a mystery to encourage discussion among the community, the longtime producer acknowledges that character reveals would give some fans a better idea of whether they want to buy the pass or just the individual fighter.
“One of the reasons we didn’t do that initially was that we always saw the fanbase [engage in speculation], and you see this on Reddit. Who is the character? We know there are four, but who are the other three? Is it Wang Jinrei, Jinpachi or Ogre?” highlights Murray.
“The fan base was having a lot of fun trying to figure out what the characters were, and we didn’t want to take that away from them.”
With the last fighter yet to be disclosed, the guesswork will certainly run wild.
Kunimitsu is scheduled for early-access launch in Tekken 8 on 28 May, before officially releasing on 2 June.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
