Tekken Director Katsuhiro Harada has responded to fans wanting Kirby to join the Tekken 8 roster to repay Sakurai for putting Kazuya in Smash Ultimate.
The internet was stunned a couple of years ago when Kazuya was revealed as the penultimate DLC fighter in Smash Ultimate and now fans want some compensation.
Kazuya has been one of the most dominant Smash Ultimate fighters, with Team Liquid’s Michael ‘Riddles’ Kim winning big tournaments with the Tekken antagonist, in large part due to the fighter’s insane zero-to-death combos.
Now, with Tekken 8 coming, fans have requested that Harada broker a deal with Sakurai and Nintendo to have Kirby be a guest fighter in Tekken 8, but his response may not be what they were anticipating.
Is Kirby joining Tekken 8? Harada responds to Smash x Tekken crossover
On Twitter/X, Harada saw a message from a fan asking if it was possible for Kirby to be in Tekken, but seemed to rule out the possibility.
“You want me to negotiate such a difficult deal with Nintendo?” he asked, implying that getting Kirby into Tekken would be a major challenge.
You want me to negotiate such a difficult deal with Nintendo?By the way, the scene where Kazuya drops Kirby in the Smash Bros. trailer came about because Mr. Sakurai had always wanted to do it.I rather insisted that I didn't want to antagonize Kirby's fans lol. https://t.co/uvxHPmtEVm
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) September 11, 2023
Tekken 8 isn’t even releasing on a Nintendo platform, and it would be very unlikely that Nintendo would let Kirby just randomly show up in a PlayStation and Xbox game giving how protective they are of their IP.
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That said, Nintendo has let its characters appear in other games when they’re on Nintendo systems, such as Link being playable on the GameCube version of Soulcalibur 2.
Harada went on to talk about Kazuya in Smash, referencing an iconic moment from his announcement trailer where the Tekken fighter tried to drop Kirby off a cliff, but he ended up just floating away.
“By the way, the scene where Kazuya drops Kirby in the Smash Bros. trailer came about because Mr. Sakurai had always wanted to do it. I rather insisted that I didn’t want to antagonize Kirby’s fans,” he joked.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Kirby will be showing up in Tekken 8, but it would be amazing if he did. Could you imagine all the new powers and hats he would have by absorbing the game’s cast? Oh, the possibilities.
For more on Tekken 8 and Super Smash Bros, be sure to keep it locked to Dexerto.