With Mike Tyson headlining a panel for Tekken 8 and a fan-made image of him spreading across the internet, players want him and other professional fighters to make an appearance in the upcoming fighting game.
Tekken stands alongside Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat as one of the most recognizable and long-standing franchises within fighting games. And, with the eighth mainline entry in the iconic fighting game series on the horizon, fans are hyped to see what Tekken 8 has in store.
The Closed Network Test is already live, with players hopping in and giving some of their favorite characters from the series a try. Additionally, a Comic Con panel discussing the upcoming game featuring Mike Tyson and other professional fighters has only added to the hype.
However, an image of Mike Tyson – where he looks just like a Tekken character – has fans wondering if there’s any possibility of him getting added to the game.
Tekken 8 fans want Mike Tyson in the game
The Tekken series is no stranger to putting some truly bizarre characters on its roster, and Tekken 7 expanded that out to include characters from entirely different franchises.
Akuma (Street Fighter), Geese Howard (Fatal Fury), Noctis (Final Fantasy 15), and Negan (The Walking Dead) make for a particularly diverse set of characters from a whole slew of different franchises that had never been in the series before.
However, adding real-life fighters would take that to a whole new level. And fans of the series are down for it.
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While it’s unclear whether or not this image posted to reddit been produced by AI, its quickly spread all over social media by fans hoping to see him in game as a representation of what he could look like.
“Iron Mike in the Iron Fist Tournament?” remarked one fan on Reddit. Dozens of fans spoke about how they wanted to see him in the game and referenced his achievements as a fighter. Meanwhile, some people went further and speculated what his move set could look like.
“Was actually thinking of what if they added another boxer to Tekken. If they made Mike Tyson a guest character, I’m sold all over again. They’d have to give him the peekaboo stance though, for sure. It’d be a crime if they didn’t.”
Fighting game commentator and veteran competitor Rip even speculated about these fighters replacing or becoming skins for existing fighters in the Iron Fist Tournament.
A boxer, an MMA star, and a wrestler headlining TEKKEN 8 at SDCC …Imagine if Mike Tyson replaces Steve Fox, Cris Cyborg replaces Marduk and Xavier Woods replaces Armor King 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/FHrh0DHuo8
— Rip (@reepal) July 19, 2023
While it may not seem likely that we get real competitive fighters in Tekken 8, it’s also hard to say that the possibility is entirely off the table with the series’ track record. Who knows what could happen?