Katsuhiro Harada, chief developer of the Tekken sequence, has provided a captivating perception into the making of the combating recreation franchise’s characters, particularly their dialogue — and in the course of revealed why one Tekken character in explicit turned well-liked regardless of saying nothing in any respect.
Harada tweeted in response to at least one consumer who requested a few line of dialogue spoken by the character Reina in the not too long ago launched Tekken 8, however the reply went on to explain the strategy of including dialogue to Tekken characters, kicking off with Bryan and Yoshimitsu in 1997’s Tekken 3. Earlier than that recreation, Tekken characters didn’t converse, however it was felt that with the demise of the arcade scene in the West and a shift towards consoles, there was a have to strengthen characterization.
That is when Bryan’s well-known “Muwahaha!” giggle comes in, however solely when the digicam was not pointed at the character’s face as a lot as potential on account of {hardware} limitations.
“So I made a decision to incorporate dialogue akin to laughter or sure!! in the throwing scene the place Bryan turns his again to the digicam’s gaze and in the scene the place Bryan is down (and Nina stomps),” Harada stated. “I additionally wished to specific Bryan’s character as each a sadist and a masochist.”
Subsequent Tekken video games launched on extra highly effective {hardware} added extra characterization, though, as Harada factors out, there’s an irony in Bryan changing into a personality recognized for not talking a lot in any respect. One other Tekken character who doesn’t converse is Dragunov, and Harada provided an perception into how that got here to be — and revealed his shock at the character’s reputation regardless of his silence.
Briefly, Dragunov was designed as the “detrimental” to Lili’s “constructive”, with the expectation that Dragunov wouldn’t be a well-liked character, whereas Lili could be. Certainly, Harada requested the builders to “maintain his persona down, maintain him plain, and he doesn’t should be so well-liked.”
And so, Dragunov doesn’t converse in Tekken 5: Darkish Resurrection, the 2005 replace to Tekken 5 in which he was launched. This additionally helped lighten the load on the growth workforce, as Dragunov had few facial animations, little or no lip-sync, and no extra dialogue to localize.
Harada stated he was nervous about Dragunov as a result of he had turn out to be “soooo plain and brooding.” However then one thing surprising occurred: “the sober Dragunov, who didn’t converse in any respect, on the opposite, turned well-liked amongst Tekken gamers as a result of he was distinctive.”
The conclusion: instances have modifications, Harada advised.
“In the 90s, if you did not have characters talking dialogue as quickly as potential, ‘they would not have any characterization!’ I believed.
“However I see, in a world the place it’s regular for recreation characters to talk after a generational change, I discovered the reverse, that not talking can be a matter of individuality.
“And even right this moment, it’s uncommon to discover a combating recreation character who doesn’t say a phrase in any respect whereas combating, at the begin of a spherical, or all through the complete win-pose (even Kuma and Panda talk). Is there some other combating recreation character that does not discuss as a lot as Dragunov?”
This isn’t “iisou” however “iizo” (like “iizoou!” just a little stronger than “iizo!”). The nuance is NOT JUST “That is good,” however features a “Good! Go forward, I dare you!”.
Initially, this specification was developed by me throughout the growth of TEKKEN3, when Nina made a selected… https://t.co/lQqTCbuOfh
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) June 5, 2024
So there you might have it! Harada simply dropped Tekken deep lore, delighting veteran followers of the sequence. However this isn’t the solely scorching matter Harada has mentioned on social media not too long ago. This week, months after he was made painfully conscious of followers’ grassroots motion to get an official Waffle Home stage in the long-running combating recreation sequence, and having obtained tons of details about the American Southern diner chain through memes, viral movies, and earnest replies from followers, Harada stated he was nonetheless baffled at the “tradition” of Waffle Home.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.