Tekken 3, way back in 1997, had plans to include a new animal character in the fighter roster—a salmon. It was quickly judged too ridiculous to justify a $1-per-play cost in an arcade. Well, Tekken Revolution is taking suggestions for new characters, and the fish is one of them. And the others are even weirder.
Syake (pronounced Sha-kay) is on a list of 10 candidates in this Facebook poll, which is just downright weird. Fish-man is joined by "Zombie Bride" "Giant Praying Mantis," "Average run-of-the-mill Old Man," and "Female Paul."
"For some inexplicable reason, Paul is transformed into a girl, but the appearance is of a very cute girl," says this description on the official Tekken site. "The concept was thrown out in 2 seconds, as it was too off-the-wall."
I have no idea if this is all being done tongue-in-cheek or what, but the game's official Facebook page has opened the poll, and voting on it closes tomorrow. Syake's Tekken 3 concept is described as shitting out eggs with the kick buttons, with the punch buttons making it flop around, "which was quite an idea at the time." No shit.
Tekkenpedia has series producer Katsuhiro Harada—no stranger to strangeness himself—confirming that: "It was really a salmon so, no matter if you press punch or kick, the character just flops around making a flapping noise."
Average run-of-the-mill old man is simply "You average old man, like the one you find in almost any neighborhood," according to the site. "He is not a martial artist, so he is pretty weak. It was an idea mentioned early in the series, and thrown out the instant it was mentioned." No shit.
Alright, well, let's take this at face value. The poll is open but they are not revealing results after you vote. The top three vote-getters will have concept sketches done, and then, at San Diego Comic-Con next week, a winner will be chosen by Harada and the audience at the Tekken panel. The character then will be released in Tekken Revolution, but "timing of release is TBD, as the difficulty in development of the character depends on the concept chosen."
And that's important as, according to Syake's writeup "If, for some unforeseen reason, this character is actually chosen, development may be quite difficult."
New Original Character [bios from Tekken Revolution official site, via Polygon]
Poll [Tekken on Facebook]
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