Bandai Namco has officially unveiled the fourth character that will be coming to Tekken 8 as part of its Season 3 Character Pass. Rather than digging into its deep history, however, the company has decided to bring in a new crossover character in the form of Yujiro Hanma from the manga series Baki the Grappler. Check out the teaser trailer announcing the character below.
It is worth noting that Bandai Namco hasn’t officially unveiled how Yujiro will look in the game, however, with the teaser only makes use of artwork from throughout the manga’s pages to showcase the character. Yujiro Hanma will join the roster of Tekken 8 in Early 2027.
Yujiro is the father of the protagonist of Baki the Grappler, Baki Hanma, and serves as one of the primary antagonists throughout the manga series. Interestingly, the father-son drama that forms the throughline for the manga also happens to make Yujiro a perfect fit for the Tekken roster, with the fighting game’s plot essentially being kicked off several decades ago due to Heihachi’s hatred of his own son, Kazuya.
In the manga, Yujiro describes himself as the “Strongest Being on Planet Earth”. Throughout the series, he has shown himself to be capable of almost-impossible feats of strength, endurance, speed, agility, and flexibility. His entire goal throughout the story is to have a child who could one day surpass him in all aspects of combat, which also leads to him tormenting Baki on a regular basis in an effort to make him stronger.
The Season 3 Character Pass will kick off its release schedule on May 27th with the arrival of Kunimitsu. She will be followed by Roger Jr. in Autumn, and Bob, who made his debut in Tekken 6, in Winter.
While Kunimitsu originally made her debut with the original Tekken, the one coming to Tekken 8 is actually Kunimitsu 2 – the daughter of the original Kunimitsu. This current incarnation of the character made her canonical debut with Tekken 7. However, the character has also made several other appearances, including the non-canon Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
If you’re curious about her fighting style in Tekken 8, check out the gameplay reveal trailer that was released earlier this month. The trailer focuses on Kunimitsu making use of her martial arts abilities, along with ninjutsu and agility, to take down foes. Some of her moves include counters, teleports, and even mid-air counters.
As for the story implications of Kunimitsu’s arrival, the kunoichi seems to already be familiar with Tekken 8 newcomer Reina, as well as Raven, who is revealed to have been a pupil of her father. How these story developments will play out over the course of Tekken 8‘s lifetime remains to be seen, however.
Yujiro’s arrival in Tekken 8 will be the fighting game’s second major crossover character, with Final Fantasy 16 protagonist Clive Rosfield having made his debut with the Season 1 pass of the game. Interestingly, rumors at the time had indicated that it was going to be Final Fantasy 7‘s Tifa Lockhart instead. In strange turn of events, Tifa is rumored to be instead coming to Street Fighter 6 as part of its next season pass.