When you regularly throw your next of kin down into an active volcano for the smallest of slights you probably should have a couple of heirs hidden away as a contingency plan. Well yesterday night during a EVO Tekken 8 Showcase which aired last night, Bandai Namco General Manager Katsuhiro Harada and producer Michael Murray sat down and dropped a metric ton of information during a special edition of Tekken Talk with the biggest bombshell being the final fighter of base Tekken 8 release, dubbed “Purple Lightning” Reina.
While she isn’t ascribed a last name per say, fans have speculated some sort of relation to the
Mishima lineage due to her moves being a combination of Taido and Mishima style Karate. Despite being a fairly dainty woman, don’t let her looks deceive you as she is described by the team as someone who “exudes a charismatic sense of evil”. The Taido portion of her moveset was refined and inserted into the title via the assistance of Mr. Tetsuji Nakano, who has won the Taido World Championships four times, visually her look was produced by Mari Shimazaki, whose series contributions includes work on Josie Rezal and Kazumi Mishima from Tekken 7 as well as the lead character designer of the Bayonetta.
She is said to have a pivotal role in the story of Tekken 8 and with the confirmation of the death of the Mishima patriarch Heihachi, will she be one of those who seek to claim his right to the Mishima Zaibatsu, alongside Kazuya, Lars, Jin, Lee and who knows who else (maybe even Kuma the bear…who can say?!?)? We’ll hopefully learn that and more Tekken 8 comes out on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on January 26, 2024!
Make sure to give it a pre-order at Amazon here.
TEKKEN 8 – Reina screens/art:
TEKKEN 8 – Victor screens/art:
TEKKEN 8 – Reina Reveal & Gameplay Trailer:
It’s time for them to learn their place.
Reina storms the King of Iron Fist Tournament in #tekken8