Why Yakuza’s Kazuma Kiryu should be in Tekken 7

If you didn’t know, the upcoming Tekken 7 has teased that they would be delivering two guest characters in the next couple of years after the game launches. Back in April, Tekken 7‘s loud mouth game director and producer Katsuhiro ‘Don’t Ask For Shit’ Harada tweeted to ask people suggestions for guest characters, suggestions went from  Goku to Bayonetta. But who was the most requested? Yakuza‘s Kazuma Kiryu was the most fan requested DLC guest character. I never thought about it prior to this tweet but I think Kazuma Kiryu would fit right into Tekken 7 and if anything, would benefit both companies by promoting each others brands.

Kazuma Kiryu already has a ton of fighting moves

Yakuza‘s Kazuma Kiryu already has a ton of fighting moves in the Yakuza games, which I think would make the characters transition into a fighting game a piece of cake and even give the Tekken developers a ton of moves to work with. From having a variety of finishing moves, heat climaxes and other systems that the Yakuza Studio have put together throughout a decade, there is a lot to look through. Even Yakuza 0 introduced a few new ‘younger’ gameplay styles. As seen above, the Yakuza series also shares its like for flashy hits, crushing punches and other stylized graphics that are also shared by the Tekken developers. Being able to play in Kiryu Kazuma’s Fury Dragon’s Pride combat style would be pretty awesome and I feel that his fighting style would translate rather easily into the Tekken fold.

I would love for Kazuma Kiryu’s character to borrow moves from each of his past games to create an older, styled veteran. It seems ‘older characters’ are in as the Tekken 7 cast has aged since the first game debuted back in1994. Aging characters is also something that is part of the Yakuza franchise, as Kazuma is 48 years old at the end of Yakuza 6. I think his character in Tekken 7 should be based either on him in Yakuza 6 or shortly after. Plus I think Yakuza‘s Kazuma Kiryu character interactions with some of the main cast of Tekken would be rather funny.

 

Kazuma Kiryu fits the Tekken character design

The Tekken franchise and SEGA’s Virtua Fighter have a twisted history, for example the first Tekken game in 1994 was directed and designed by Seiichi Ishii who just happen to also worked at SEGA-AM 2 prior and helped design Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing. Its not a surprise that the Tekken franchise was highly influenced by Virtua Fighter, seems that character designs also made the move. While we can bring in characters and compare them, I feel that the likeness that makes both franchises look similar comes in the way that SEGA and Namco designed their characters. The proportions and use of 3D graphics in each game have been rather similar for some of the main cast.

Akira Yuri would even go on to influence other SEGA in-house games including Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue (which started off as Virtua Fighter RPG) and even our main man Kazuma Kiryu. While I feel that any of these main characters could fit into Tekken, it seems that Kazuma Kiryu fits the best due to wearing a stylish suit that would rival Kazuya Mishima himself. OK, so maybe the suit is a bit far fetched, but let me explain why, as a company, SEGA would be better off using Kazuma Kiryu instead of another older IP…

SEGA is still going to make Yakuza titles

While its always hard to pick a guest character when it comes to SEGA because the company has a ton of fan favorite franchises throughout its existence. I think Yakuza‘s Kazuma Kiryu is a safe bet because SEGA is still going to continue the franchise. While Yakuza 6 was ‘the end’ of Kazuma Kiryu’s story, the Yakuza Studio has confirmed they are working on another Yakuza project. If this new project will be a  prequel, remake or star a new main character, SEGA hasn’t confirmed yet? But SEGA seems to be all for continuing the Yakuza brand, even if it has had over a dozen entries already (including spin-offs). The Yakuza series is SEGA’s longest running, new IP since going 3rd party and I think Kazuma Kiryu deserves to be a guest character in Tekken 7. Not to mention, Yakuza‘s Kazuma Kiryu was also the most requested guest DLC character by fans online. Having an ongoing franchise that SEGA supports being represented in a big title, such as Tekken 7, would be not only great for SEGA but also Namco-Bandai. It would be great for SEGA to expose a different type of audience to their game, the same way it would be to get non-fighting game fans exposed to a 3D fighter such as Tekken 7.

While we can go ahead and name other older SEGA franchises that could also work as a guest spot in Tekken 7, if SEGA isn’t going to do anything with a franchise it just teases fans and does nothing for the company long term. For example, its great that Dead or Alive 5 had Virtua Fighter characters in the games, but SEGA never capitalized on it by releasing Virtua Fighter 6. I also expect to see Shenmue fans demand that Ryo Hazuki deserves the spot more, which is a valid argument  but SEGA seems to have Yakuza as a higher priority. Not to mention the Yakuza franchise has started to pick up steam in the West, Asia and remains rather popular in Japan. While Shenmue hasn’t had a new entry in a very long time with SEGA. Yes, I know that Shenmue III was announced by Yu Suzuki a few years ago and I backed the KickStarter. But SEGA seems to be silent on the whole thing and don’t seem to be too interested in general. Which I find to be a shame, but that’s another story for another time.

But what do you think about Yakuza’s Kazuma Kiryu being a Tekken 7 DLC character? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

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