Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada has previously said that he'd love to get Colonel Sanders in the series as a guest fighter. Now, it turns out that he actually pursued this, only to be shot down by both his own bosses and KFC itself.
This comes from an interview with TheGamer's Axel Bosso, who sat down with the Tekken boss as well as the game designer, Michael Murray. Here, the pair explain why it's difficult to get brands to agree to these collaboration ideas - and why that means we probably won't get a Waffle House stage either.
The Tekken series has seen its fair share of surprise guest fighters, and it turns out that longtime director Katsuhiro Harada once attempted to get the rights to use KFC’s famous mascot, Colonel Sanders. Tekken saw a resurgence earlier this year with Tekken 8, which earned much praise for its plot, graphics, and more “aggressive” martial arts gameplay.
Before Tekken 8 charged its way into the arena back in January, the series saw the occasional appearance by special guest characters, though this trend hasn’t quite reached the extent of other fighters like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. 2015’s Tekken 7 was especially noteworthy for its guest DLC combatants, featuring unlikely contenders like Fatal Fury’s Geese Howard, Final Fantasy 15’s Noctis Lucis Caelum, The Walking Dead’s Negan, and Street Fighter’s Akuma – the latter of which was even featured in Tekken 7’s story campaign. Many speculate that Tekken 8 will continue this with its own DLC, though no guest characters have been revealed yet.
"A long time ago, I wanted to have Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken fight," says Harada. "So, I asked to use Colonel Sanders and go to the head office in Japan."
Harada says he was given a "bad look", and the idea was shot down. He didn't try to fight it, so don't expect Colonel Sanders to appear in Tekken 8 anytime soon.
KFC might not be the first thing casual audiences associate with gaming, but the popular fried chicken brand has made some surprising promotional efforts in recent years. From tie-ins to existing games like Diablo 4 and Genshin Impact to mock consoles and dating simulators where Colonel Sanders could go out with Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village, KFC and its mascot have become something of a meme in the gaming world. More recently, the Colonel appeared in plastic form as a playable character in Funko Fusion, complete with a chicken-launching bucket cannon.