It’s been a good few weeks for Tekken fans.Bandai Namco has slowly released trailers for every announced character appearing in Tekken 8 so far. Kazuya’s incredible trailer kicks off the trend, followed by Jin (opens in new tab)Law, Paul, King, and this week we’re featuring Swedish fighter Lars Alexandersson.
It’s my favorite trailer I’ve seen so far, and Lars has finally ditched his jumpscare-worthy Tekken 7 look in favor of something a little more manly in his 20s. It’s a little more thrashed on the scale of the anime, but I feel like that’s true for much of Tekken 8’s cast right now.
The trailer shows some of the new moves thrown into his toolkit, allowing him to pull off some new lows and combo extenders. Bandai Namco has also made full use of that Mishima blood, giving Lars an electrifying particle effect that makes him one of my favorite characters visually. Super Move) is one of his best since seeing Kazuya’s demonic form. Interestingly, it seems to draw a lot of inspiration from his appearance in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, a nod to another fighter revealed by Bamco.
Lars hasn’t always been the most popular character to be introduced to Tekken, but I’m not going to disrespect anyone for being too anime in a game filled with fighting animals, robots, demons, and incredibly anime-ish eyebrows. No. His design is a leap forward from Tekken 7, and I can’t wait to see what Bandai Namco comes up with next.
That leaves us with only two fighters that were announced without trailers: Jack-8 and Jun Kazama.We’re just over a week away from EVO Japan, with Jack-8 coming out this Friday or next Tuesday. There is a possibility.Jun is a bit special, his first regular appearance in 27 years (opens in new tab), and her first game since Tag Tournament 2 in 2011. We have a feeling Bamco will save her for a bigger reveal at EVO and perhaps the unveiling of her new character: Will Lucky Chloe try to manifest?
