5 directions Tekken can go in 2026

Earlier this month, Tekken Director Katsuhiro Harada announced his retirement, ending almost 30 years of service with Bandai Namco’s Tekken series. First voicing characters Kunimitsu, Law, and Yoshimitsu in the first two games, before becoming a producer on the subsequent titles, his influence has been huge on the series.

With Tekken 8 going through a rough patch, due to the release of Season 2 earlier this year, which overpowered many attacks and also cheapened the story by bringing back Heihachi Mishima, fans have been up in arms about the series lately. However, with Harada leaving at the end of the month, here are five things Bandai Namco can do for the series in the near future.

The two Tekken Tag games are well-loved by players, as they bring almost every character in the series together in one game and allow players to control two characters in a match thanks to a tag system. The last game, 2011’s Tekken Tag 2, was a fantastic game that featured almost 60 characters, as well as the return of Tekken 3’s Tekken Ball Mode for the Wii U version. Despite the game not selling as well as Bandai Namco expected, we can’t help but feel that a new Tekken Tag game would be a smash hit for a 2026 audience.

Fans love it when characters long-forgotten make an overdue comeback – the previous Tekken Tag games thrived on this. To have a new entry work off the Tekken 8 engine, and perhaps have it come to Nintendo Switch 2 to herald the series’ debut on the platform, could be a great way to service some fans who feel let down by Tekken 8 Season 2’s changes.

If Bandai Namco is following its timetable with how previous seasons were released for Tekken 7, we’re likely to see Tekken 8’s Season 3 announced early next year. But with the changes that are still present in the game, thanks to Season 2’s errors, it could be beneficial for Season 3 to retcon some story beats, as well as bring in some fan-favourite characters.

For starters, Heihachi’s reappearance after his demise in Tekken 7 felt very cheap, not helped by the fact that he’s part of Season 2’s DLC. Instead, he should be rewritten as an image, a projection made by Ogre or Azazael, and he is, in fact, still dead. The balance patch should also be reverted to how it was before Season 2, as well as bringing back some characters like Kunimitsu, Doctor B, and Ganryu.

Although Bandai Namco has dipped its toe in several movies, both live-action and anime, it feels like a missed opportunity that the company hasn’t fully committed to the series through other media. From comics to a Netflix series, the Mishima story could be given far more depth for players to enjoy if it expanded outside of the mainline games.

Imagine a two-season anime series that delves into the early days of Heihachi and Kazumi, or what really happened to Jun Kazama between Tekken 3 and Tekken 8. In addition, comics that tell stories of other characters who have been sidelined or have disappeared recently. From Kunimitsu to Ganryu, it could give far more depth to these and help progress the overall story until the inevitable Tekken 9 arrives.

With plenty of remakes in recent years, from Resident Evil 2 to the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, the same efforts haven’t been seen in the fighting game genre. Granted, we’ve seen remasters, like Tekken Tag HD in 2011 and Dead or Alive 1 & 2 Ultimate in 2004, but not full-blown remakes.

With this in mind, Bandai Namco should consider remaking the series’s most popular entry, 1998’s Tekken 3. Keep the same number of characters from the original, but remake every stage, every mode, including Tekken Ball mode. Additionally, feature a Photo Mode and a way to switch between modern and classic graphics. This would be a perfect way to introduce new players to a previous entry, as well as bring back Tekken 3 to older players.

It’s baffling that Tekken has yet to appear on a Nintendo Switch console. Since its 2017 debut, Bandai Namco has refused to bring out a port of Tekken for the Switch, and it’s never explained why. Considering the console has become a great home for plenty of fighting games, such as Marvel vs. Capcom, Street Fighter 6, and more, Tekken’s absence feels like a big oversight.

This mindset from Bandai Namco should change. To start, a Tekken Collection would be great. This could include a port of the Tekken Tag 2 Wii U version, complete with its exclusive Mario and Luigi items like the Super Mushroom. In addition, a ‘GOTY’ release of Tekken 8 would be great, giving players instant access to a bunch of players and modes, as well as having crossplay support. These efforts would be a great way to end Switch owners feeling left out for so many years.