Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Heihachi is the man who will not die in Tekken’s longstanding lore. The King of the Iron Fist and off-and-on head of the Mishima Zaibatsu has been “killed” several times over and just comes back stronger and more nefarious every single time. When Bandai Namco invited me to try an early look at the character, I was delightfully surprised to see that very quality sits at the centerpiece of his potential in Tekken 8. Heihachi is still Heihachi, but he has a new trick that’s likely to make him a force to be reckoned with by Round 3 of any match.
To kick things off, I got to try the new story mode chapter featuring Heihachi, as well as Lidia and Eddy. One awesome thing I have to share is that the new story will be free and it lets players try Eddy, Lidia, and Heihachi even if they don’t own them, so it’s a neat place to find out if you like any of the DLC characters so far at no extra cost.
In the new story, we find Heihachi having somehow been saved from his fate at the bottom end of a volcano in Tekken 7 and whisked away to a remote temple operated by a group known as the Tekken Monks. Heihachi has forgotten his memories and himself, but he knows he is a Mishima and he knows he desires to fight and hone himself. The Monks, knowing who he was before, believe he can be redeemed and pushed to a “good side” of Mishima martial arts.
Thus begins an ill-advised effort to help Heihachi find inner peace while teaching him even deeper secrets of the Mishima style. Sure, it’s like trying to rehabilitate Jason Voorhees by hiring him as a camp counselor, but Lidia and Lars believe it to be necessary as well because Jin’s war with Kazuya is happening concurrently to this story and the Tekken Monks, Lidia, Eddy, Yoshimitsu, and Lars believe Heihachi may be a key to saving the world if Jin fails. It’s a cool companion story to the events of the main game and doubles as a great option for players that haven’t gotten in on the Season Pass to see if they’ll like it.
Moving on to the battle and gameplay of Heihachi Mishima… He’s Heihachi Mishima. If you’ve played any Tekken game since the very beginning, you should probably have an idea of what you’re in for. He’s got great mids, his sweeping leg uppercut, the OG Electric Wind God Fist, and most of what returning players would expect to see. I have a feeling he’ll be the most offensively superior of the Mishima users again, and part of that is in the way his version of the Heat System is implemented. Of course, every character in Tekken 8 gets stronger when they’re in Heat state, and Heihachi certainly gets improved and new moves when he’s in Heat, but he also has a special mechanic tied to it. Simply put, every time he activates Heat, he gets a permanent buff and can increase his potential up to three times, maxing out by Round 3.
It feels like Heihachi might be heavily balanced around this increase of power. What it does is make key moves in his arsenal stronger and more dangerous both offensively and defensively. His EWGF gains less frames of recovery, his axe kick becomes able to bounce enemies off the floor for more combos. He becomes more versatile and you end up having to deal with greater pressure. Beat him down and he just comes back stronger…
The catch is that Heihachi can only activate Heat once per round, so it will take him at least three to get to his full power. Until then, I’d actually argue that he might have some of the worst damage output of any character in the game early in a match. I went through most of his moves and assembled the most optimal routes I could string together in a short time, the way I often have on Tekken it to the Lab. In his early round state with no Heat buffs in Arena (Underground), I was able to pull 84 damage out of him with a wall explosion, Heat Smash, and Rage Art. That’s a combination of factors that would normally give me at least 110 damage on almost every other character I’ve labbed so far. But I wasn’t able to extensively test the mid or max end of that spectrum, where Heihachi is at two or three buffs. I have a good feeling I’d be able to hit or exceed the benchmark in Heihachi’s powered-up states.
Heihachi also has one more thing that sets him apart from other characters in a rather exciting way: His Heat Smash. Most characters’ Heat Smashes can be categorized into a ground slam that can activate floor hazards, a thrust that can activate wall hazards, or a command throw that doesn’t activate either. Heihachi’s Heat Smash comes in two forms. If you activate it with a regular input, he’ll do a ground slam Heat Smash. If you hold forward when activating, he does a thrust Heat Smash. In that way, Heihachi is one of the only characters in Tekken 8 that has access to all stage hazard mechanics off of his Heat Smash, which is an amazing benefit for him. Simply put, this version of Heihachi feels like a character you’re going to have to figure out how to get ahead of early before he gets too strong.
Tekken 8’s version of Heihachi is exciting as heck and the new story will be a good sample of the DLC so far for players that have been on the fence about it. I can count on one hand the number of characters in my extensive knowledge of fighting game history that grow in power as a full match progresses (Manon from Street Fighter 6 comes to mind as a recent, but still unique example), and it makes all the Heihachi Mishima things all the more interesting. He’s still the character fans have known for years with his key fighting elements, but with this new setup where he turns into a powerhouse by Rounds 3 to 5. In that way, the skills and gameplans that emerge for fighting with or against Heihachi in Tekken 8 are going to be fun to watch. I can’t wait to see how it turns out and will probably be dabbling for quite some time in all of his buffed forms.
These impressions are based on a preview build of Tekken 8 containing the new DLC and Heihachi as a playable character. The DLC is set to launch on ____ on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.