Bandai Namco has dropped a new trailer for Tekken 8, and while this one is mostly focused on everyone’s favorite Kangaroo, Roger, it also included a brief tease of one of the most ridiculous characters in anime: Yujiro Hanma. The sneak peek at the Gigachad of fighting anime is quick, but it does show off the character’s infamously toothy grin and morning-splits flexibility that would make Jean-Claude Van Damme jealous.
While there’s no release date yet for when Hanma will be added to the game, the trailer still lists him for the winter season, and Bandai Namco says he’ll get his own Tekken 8 trailer at the Tekken World Tour Finals on January 17, 2017. That suggests Hanma will be added to the game soon after, if previous Tekken 8 trailers are any indication.
If you’re unfamiliar with the source material, Hanma is essentially the apex predator of strength within the Baki universe. While most characters in the manga are somewhat limited by the rules of physics, Hanma is an anomaly: an undefeatable collection of muscles that can do the impossible. Why? Because he’s Yujiro Hanma.
While his son, Baki, is the protagonist of the manga and anime, Hanma is arguably the breakout star thanks to the sheer absurdity of his feats. US presidents have to regularly swear their loyalty to him, he once stopped an earthquake by punching it, and even being struck by lightning doesn’t bother him. Because he’s Yujiro Hanma.
If there’s one thing his Tekken 8 character model accurately captures, it’s the ridiculous amount of muscle mass he has. Tekken 8 was built in Unreal Engine 5 and designed to showcase hyper-realistic human anatomy in real time. To pull this off, the developers doubled the digital bone structure from Tekken 7 to 8 for each character and implemented a system that automatically triggers auxiliary bones to drive realistic muscle bulging, twisting, and tightening based on character positioning and movement.
On top of that, dynamic muscle striations, bulging veins, and sweat effects are also baked into each character, while a special dual-mesh system prevents clothing clipping. All of this is a lot of fancy tech for a split-second glimpse of muscles bulging before they land a knockout blow, but it feels custom-made to show off Hanma’s physics-defying physique.
Since launch, Tekken 8 has expanded its roster with several new and familiar characters, including a reborn Heihachi Mishima, Anna, and Final Fantasy 16’s Clive Rosfield. It hasn’t been smooth sailing recently, as several controversial balance updates, gameplay systems that stripped away defensive options, and aggressive monetization choices have led to community backlash.
Longtime Tekken development chief Katsuhiro Harada also left Bandai Namco late last year, and he has since set up a new studio at SNK.
