Tekken chief Katsuhiro Harada is now additionally the chief producer of Shadow Labyrinth, the shock Pac-Man spin-off first revealed in one of many episodes of Amazon’s anthology animated collection Secret Stage earlier than a reveal trailer for the online game itself at The Recreation Awards 2024.
All of which begs the query: might The Swordsman, the principle character from Shadow Labyrinth, seem in Tekken as a visitor character? In some ways it might make sense, given each Tekken and Pac-Man are owned by Bandai Namco, and The Swordsman is an precise humanoid fighter who wields a sword. But what does Harada himself suppose?
IGN put that query to the person himself in a latest interview, and his response instructed such a crossover is definitely doable.
“Maybe,” Harada responded when requested, “as a result of the sport setting could be a great crossover for Tekken, atmosphere-wise.”
It seems that Harada explored the potential for including Pac-Man to Tekken as a visitor character lengthy earlier than Shadow Labyrinth was a factor. But designs for the character, which noticed Pac-Man as a head on a muscular humanoid physique, horrified unique Pac-Man creator Tōru Iwatani.
“A few years in the past, Iwatani-san, the unique creator of Pac-Man, was nonetheless in the corporate once we had been right here. And I considered perhaps utilizing Pac-Man as a visitor character,” Harada remembered. “So I had the artist provide you with a sketch and it turned out to be that the character had like a Pac-Man head, but the physique was this actually muscular bodybuilder kind.
“I confirmed it to Iwatani-san, and Iwatani-san received so upset and scolded me fairly closely. So I used to be shocked that, ‘Oh, I can not simply be fairly liberal with the Pac-Man IP, I’ve to be extra constrained.’ On the time I used to be a bit shocked, but now due to the environment of this [Shadow Labyrinth], it is one thing that may very well be thought-about.”
Iwatani, by the best way, is outwardly absolutely on board with Bandai Namco’s plan to take the Pac-Man IP in completely completely different instructions. “Iwatani-san appears to comprehend that that is one thing that is wanted at this level,” Harada added.
2D motion platformer Shadow Labyrinth stars The Swordsman, a personality whose solely aim is to “eat” as they try to flee a maze. It’s a Metroidvania of kinds, and a big departure for the world well-known arcade franchise. In the meantime, Tekken 8 will get Clive from Remaining Fantasy 16 as a DLC character.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.