Yoshimitswho?
That was our immediate reaction when we first saw Bandai Namco’s latest character reveal for Tekken 7 – who isn’t a new character at all but actually one of the series’ most fearsome fighters, reimagined as a bizarre tentacled warrior!
Looking completely unrecognisable, and like he just stormed off the set of a hentai flick, we think the new Yoshimitsu actually has a touch of HR Giger’s artistry about him. An amalgamation of biological and mechanical, from the glowing cephalopodan appendages adorning his bonce to the bone-like armour fused to his body. Even the segmented head, with translucent dome revealing skull underneath and an exposed set of razor sharp-teeth seem to reference the creature from the original Alien movie designed by the Swiss.
Yoshimitsu has been part of the Tekken legacy since the very beginning when the fight franchise kicked off in 1994. In his twenty years he’s become one of the game’s most popular characters and has had a fair share of wardrobe changes throughout his career, including one with insect-like wings, but all have referenced the original design which combined skeleton, cyborg and ancient samurai.
Some elements of that idea remain in this new sci-fi inspired look and his fighting style and move-set appears similar to what we remember but the appearance change is pretty extreme compared to those that came before it. It’s cool, without a doubt, but man is it weird!