Tekken 8 marks a new high point for the series, and fans are already clamoring for additional DLC characters to be added. Some are calling for crossover characters like Tifa Lockhart, while others are eager to see the return of long-gone favorites to the roster.
Those latter fighters are the ones we’re dying to see most, and a few in particular are at the top of our list. As such, we’ve compiled them in this totally serious list of the 8 Tekken characters who should finally return as Tekken 8 DLC characters.
Jack 7 (Tekken 7)
People may mock Jack 7 for being ridiculously similar to the Jacks that came before him, but that’s selling the former premier model of the bipedal weapon short.
His shock of red hair and cybernetic accents help him to stand out even among the eccentrically dressed crowd of the Tekken franchise. Few can lose sight of him as he smashes and crashes his way across the battlefield, and his move set ensures he can deal plenty of punishment to whatever winds up in front of him.
And that’s assuming he still has your bog-standard Jack move set. If he was smart about using his monthly $25 allowance, then he may have learned some new techniques a la a discount martial arts class.
Jet Pack Jack (Tekken Tag Tournament 2)
But then, why bring back a carbon copy of Jack when you can bring back a doppleganger with a jet pack?
Yes, a Jet Pack Jack would be the perfect addition to a DLC pack. He can have better aerial maneuverability to make him harder for opponents to track, and a slew of new aerial moves would help him give most any enemy a smack.
Admittedly, it might be hard to design around a character that can go and remain airborne in most any combat situation. But then, it would also give Devil Jin and Devil Kazuya some much needed competition in terms of fighters with flight capacities.
Gun Jack (Tekken 3, Tekken Tag Tournament)
While Armor King might hold the title of most innovative change to an existing character, you have to admit Gun Jack remains his own character amid the Tekken franchise’s fighters.
Whereas Jack might hide his mechanical side in certain skins and versions, Gun Jack was always focused on flaunting his robotics. Clad in chrome with only a smidge of artificial skin on his face, it’s plain to see that he’s more of a cold machine than his mechanized counterparts.
Granted, his attacks and behaviors would be almost identical to Jack 8’s unless Bandai Namco comes up with some flashy new moves for him. But hey, what’s another nearly-identical reskin of an existing character sold as a new fighter? Mortal Kombat did it for years, so Tekken has to be clear to take advantage of the trend a few more times.
Self-Modified Jack (Tekken 6)
Tekken may pride itself on its semi-realistic graphics and art style, but that won’t do much to sway fans of Street Fighter 6 toward what Tekken 8 has to offer. As wacky as it is, Tekken 8 just doesn’t have the whimsical and imaginative character designs of Capcom’s trademark fighter.
Luckily, Bandai Namco has a character who can make up for this shortcoming in the form of the Self-Modified Jack. Cobbled together with whatever Jack could get his hands on, this Frankenstein’s monster of a combatant would be host to an entirely new move set by necessity and breathe some cartoon-y life into the wider roster.
To be sure, designing a character with this many bells and whistles would be a nightmare for the developers. But then, how many chances do you get to bring out a long-forgotten character like this and make them fully playable?
Giant Jack (Tekken Tag Tournament 2)
Overpowered as they may be, giant characters are an important part of the Tekken franchise. As such, making the Giant Jack from Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a fast and easy way to inflate their numbers.
Towering high above even the Jack units, this behemoth with the capacity for flight is more mech than man-sized combatant. A stomp from him could flatten Azazel, and the Ogre would be lucky to so much as dent a part of his steely pant legs.
And before anyone calls this out as a broken character waiting to happen, let us assure you that we want him brought into the series in his entirety. For all of his overwhelming might, he should also be moments away from falling apart thanks to shoddy craftsmanship and bolts falling out of him continuously until he disassembles completely.
The Jack Horde (Tekken 5)
Though Jack is regularly used as a jobber character to show off how much stronger every other character is than them, the Jacks from the Tekken 5 intro were a different beast entirely.
Moving as a deadly legion to overwhelm Kazuya and Heihachi, they swarmed their opponents like the wave of hive-minded weaponry they were. And if not for Heihachi and Kazuya’s plot armor, their ability to incapacitate and obliterate their opponents would have surely spelled the end of their targets.
It always seemed like such a great idea for a fighter, and Tekken 8 finally has the technology and plot behind it to bring this horde-esque fighter to life. By incorporating the instantly regenerating nano tech of Alisa Bosconovitch into a Jack, these terrifying walking bombs can become a roster member proper. They can spawn and explode as necessary during the fight to smash, grab, and otherwise terrorize other players with a constantly morphing wave of generic fury.
Jack 1 (Tekken)
Though it might have been the first in many iterations of the series’ trademark character, it’s undeniable there was something special about the first Jack.
Deceptively human in appearance and robotic in his movement, this archaic macho man has all the swagger of a top of the line toaster advertised in glorious 180p. His look is in sharp contrast to the current aesthetic of the series too, with plain clothes to fit his straight-forward combat style.
Bandai Namco doesn’t even have to go that hard with upscaling him to match the rest of the cast. They can leave him as is, with your foes forced to contend with blows from an amorphous blob of pixels torn kicking and screaming from the past. If there’s a better form of mental warfare that can be used in a match than that, I don’t want to know what it is.
Jane’s Jack (Tekken 2, Tekken 5)
Ok, we’ve officially run this joke into the ground. Luckily, that means we’re being entirely serious when we say the addition of Jane’s Jack — complete with Jane herself — would be a legitimately great move for Tekken 8.
Whereas most of the other Jacks throughout the franchise have been violence-driven weapons, Jane’s Jack stands as a machine capable of emotion and protection. Time and again, he has stood by Jane’s side as her mechanical companion; and she has ensured he remains as such with upgrades and modifications.
Shit-posting aside, it would actually be awesome to see a tweaked and modified variant of Jack added to the roster in a way that incorporates Jane into his attacks and character design. His move set can offer techniques wherein Jane assists him in dealing out punishment, and he can carry specific visual queues to signal that he is — and always will be — Jane’s knight in chrome and synthetic skin armor.
