Fried Chicken Fury: Tekken Tournament Missed Opportunity?

Tekken with Colonel Sanders? No, But Not For a Lack of Trying

Colonel Sanders appearing in Tekken is not going to happen, according to Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada, even though he has been dreaming about it for several years .

Harada’s Colonel Sanders > mascot of
global

fast food chicken joint KFC, has long been a personality that Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada wanted to Tekken with Colonel Sanders? No, But Not For a Lack of Trying incorporate

in the fighting game franchise. However, according to Harada in a recent interview, KFC, along with Harada's own superiors, have declined his request. "A long time ago, I wanted to have Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken compete," Harada informed The Gamer. "So, I asked to use Colonel Sanders and visit the head office in Japan." This isn't the first time Harada has talked about wanting the Colonel to appear in the Tekken series. Harada had previously said in an old episode on his YouTube channel that he'd welcome the KFC icon as a guest fighter in Tekken. Harada additionally shared that he received a "bad look," when his Tekken x Colonel Sanders dreams were dashed. So, fans shouldn't expect any KFC crossover to occur in Tekken 8 for the

immediate

future. Game designer Michael Murray elaborated on Harada's interaction

with KFC in the interview with The Gamer. Apparently, Harada had personally

contacted

KFC to try to secure Colonel Sanders, but "they weren't very Tekken with Colonel Sanders? No, But Not For a Lack of Trying receptive

to the idea," Murray said. "[Colonel Sanders] appeared in games afterward. So maybe it was just him battling someone [that] was causing a problem for them. But it just goes to show how challenging these types of discussions are."In previous interviews, Harada would declare that he had "envisioned" adding Colonel Sanders in Tekken if he had absolute freedom to do so. "Quite honestly, I imagine Colonel Sanders from KFC in Tekken. Together with Director Ikeda, we have a concept for this character," said Harada. "We know how to do it well. It will be really exceptional." Though, it seemed that KFC's marketing department wasn't as keen about such a collaboration as the Tekken director. "The marketing department, however, does not want to approve, because they believe that players will not enjoy it." Harada added, "Everyone discourages us against it at every turn. So if anyone from KFC reads this interview, please reach out to me!"
Over the years, the Tekken franchise has been able to pull off some pretty astonishing character crossovers, such as Akuma from Street Fighter, Final Fantasy's Noctis, and even Negan from The Walking Dead series. But apart from Colonel Sanders and KFC, Harada had also entertained the idea of adding another renowned food chain in Tekken—Waffle House, which also doesn't appear probable to happen. "It's not something that we can accomplish on our own," Harada previously said regarding fans' demand for Waffle House to appear in the game. Still, fans can anticipate the return of Heihachi Mishima, resurrected from the dead as the game’s third DLC character.