Video Game / Tekken 8

This page assumes that you've played and completed Tekken 7's Mishima Saga storyline, as well as the Character Episodes, spoilers for the aforementioned game, as well as all Tekken games preceding this one will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

Fist meets fate.

Come, humanity! Unleash the dogs of war!

—Kazuya Mishima

Tekken 8 is a 3D fighting game developed by Bandai Namco and Arika and the eighth mainline entry in the Tekken franchise.

Heihachi Mishima is dead (for real this time), and while he's finally managed to kill his father for good while also decimating the Mishima Zaibatsu and everything the old man stood for, Kazuya Mishima has decided that's not enough. Six months later, he begins an invasion to Take Over the World and bring it under his iron fist. The only thing standing between Kazuya and realising his plans is the ragtag resistance group Yggdrasil, with the charge being led by his son Jin Kazama, determined to end the carnage his family has wrought against the world…

… and Jin ends up failing his task. With the world in his grasp, Kazuya announces his intention to reshape the world in his image: a world where only those who are strong enough without overly depending on any weapons are allowed to exist. For that, he announces the eighth King of Iron Fist Tournament with a higher stake: the losers will not only be executed, but their country will be wiped out with his overwhelming power of Devil. As Yggdrasil and their allies set out to infiltrate the tournament, Jin, weakened from his first attempt, sets out to regain his power for one last fight with his wicked father and end the Mishima blood feud once and for all.

The game was released on January 26, 2024 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, being the first mainline Tekken game to forgo an arcade release altogether.

The game's playable roster includes:

Italics indicates DLC. Bold indicates boss-only.

• From Tekken: Kazuya Mishima/Devil Kazuya^note Playable in Kazuya's Heat Mode, Paul Phoenix, Marshall Law, Jack (as Jack-8), Nina Williams, Yoshimitsu, Lee Chaolan
• From Tekken 2: Jun Kazama
• From Tekken 3: Jin Kazama, King II, Ling Xiaoyu, Hwoarang, Bryan Fury, Kuma II, Panda, Eddy Gordo
• From Tekken 4: Steve Fox
• From Tekken 5: Asuka Kazama, Emilie "Lili" De Rochefort, Raven, Sergei Dragunov, Feng Wei, Devil Jin
• From Tekken 6: Lars Alexandersson, Leo Kliesen, Zafina, Alisa Bosconovitch, Azazel
• From Tekken 7: Leroy Smith, Claudio Serafino, Shaheen
• New to Tekken 8: Azucena Milagros Ortiz Castillo, Victor Chevalier, Reina, Angel Jin^note Playable in Story Mode, True Devil Kazuya

DLC Releases

• Season 1:
  • Eddy: April 5, 2024
  • Character #34: TBA Summer 2024
  • Character #35: TBA Fall 2024
  • Character #36: TBA Winter 2024

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Tropes

• 11th-Hour Superpower:
  • Jin's Devil form turns into "Angel Jin," with white wings and a suit of golden armor, after he comes to terms with his Mishima and Kazama sides, allowing him to fight True Devil Kazuya on relatively equal terms. He loses this power, and the Devil itself, when he purifies the gene from himself and Kazuya just before their final battle.
  • It's nowhere near as flashy at a glance, but Jin utilizing all of the martial arts styles he once fought with in the past in addition to his Kyokushin Karate makes him nearly as powerful mechanically as Angel Jin. He automatically parries attacks simply by standing or crouching in the right position for them without attacking, has incredibly potent, high damage combos, callbacks to old infamously overpowered strings from the past like 4's incarnation of his Laser Scrapper, which causes a guard break rather than simply be unblockable, the capacity to heal himself with Power Stance, and more. With practice, or even just Stylish Controls automating things for you, you can put on a show and thrash Kazuya fairly effortlessly despite the valiant offense he mounts against you.
• All for Nothing: This entry mainly focuses on Jin Kazuma settling the score against Kazuya Mishima. However, despite the long journey, it is entirely possible to invoke this if he loses to Kazuya in the last phase of the Final Battle, losing his life and triggering the "Despair" ending.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Although the game hypes up Jun Kazama's return to the series, she only appears as a Spirit Advisor in the main story, with a very small cameo as her real self in the "Hope" ending, and it's not even made clear whether she actually survived Ogre's attack or not. Averted in her Character Episode, where we not only we get the confirmation that she survived, but how as well as why she didn't appear any earlier. For at least half the time, she was literally in a coma.
  • Reina's mysterious origin is also never fully explained. All we know is that Heihachi is her father, and she also has the Devil Gene.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Tekken 8 makes no compromise in making the game much more accessible to newcomers; the most for any Tekken game, in fact. Worth noting that for longtime players, some of these simplified input changes can also overlap with Damn You, Muscle Memory!, unfortunately.
  • Instant running moves are now much easier to do in this installment. As opposed to the running animation triggering when you're a set distance from the opponent, here, it's triggered as soon as you press forward three times. Notably, King's Instant Shining Wizards are now much simpler to do as a result of this change, compared to them being much harder in 7.
  • Crouching command grabs that had a Slide-style input^note FC df,d,df in Tekken notation (such as Bryan's Chains of Misery, Asuka's Falling Rain or Kazuya's Gates of Hell) are now performed simply by pressing FC db+1+2. Due to Rage Arts having a unified command input across the cast, the change was made to prevent accidental Rage Arts while crouching, as was the case on some occasions with Asuka back in 7.
    • For some characters, while the original inputs for certain moves still exist and grant more damage, new, simpler inputs have been added to make them easier to perform. For example, Jack's Debugger is now performed with a simple df+1+4 input, but the original half-circle input still exists.
  • Characters like King or Nina, who have throws with various different Action Commands to perform, are now much simpler; both to start and continue them. For example, Nina's Crab Hold chain can be started by simply pressing f+1+3, then inputting one button after the fact.^note Though the original inputs now increase the damage, like with Jack-8's Debugger and Megaton Blast. The same goes for King and his chain throws, which in addition to some being simplified to one button like with Nina, have also had their original inputs simplified so that fewer inputs are required to perform the move.^note In previous games, King's Rolling Death Cradle had to be performed by pressing 1+3,3+4,2+4,1+2,1+2+3, which either needed some serious practice or heavy use of button binds. In 8, however, RDC is now simplified to just 1,3,4,2,1+2, reducing the number of inputs required.
    • A post-release balance patch gave defenders an easier way to break chain throws by simply holding the necessary throw break button to escape a certain chain rather than having to guess the correct break at the start of each throw link.
  • Heat Mode, in addition to providing buffs and other benefits to characters for as long as it's active (such as King getting a Power Crush version of his Jaguar Sprint command dash or Nina's gun-based attacks being buffed) also makes certain moves easier to perform, particularly with Kazuya's and Jin's Electric Wind God Fist/Hook Fist, respectively. In exchange for reducing the Heat Timer, the regular versions of the moves become their Electric counterparts, while performing the original just frame inputs will not reduce the timer, providing players who have practiced this input a field advantage while Heated. The same goes for Kuma during heat, who unlocks Fresh Wind Bear Fist with DF 2+3, or just like the Mishimas, you can simply do the Just Frame Input manually to save Heat.
  • Playing a character with stances and not sure what their transitions are? Don't know if a certain move has special properties (e.g., Punch Parrying) on startup? Consult the Move List and check the bottom right corner of the move's name and input; you'll get quite a bit of detail that ranges from stance transitions to even throw break inputs. Especially handy for studious players who spend copious amounts of time in Training Mode.
  • Relating to the above — the game has a densely packed Training Mode that has all the resources any discerning player could ever need. In-game frame data, Q-learning that allows you to fight against yourself and improve (and even download the ghosts of pro players to personally get a better sense of their playstyle and gameplan), Replay Takeover to make it much much easier to learn counterplay against moves or flowcharts that give you grief online; the whole nine yards and then some.
  • Taking a page from Street Fighter 6's "Modern Controls", Tekken 8 introduces "Special Style", a gameplay option that allows one to perform combos, special attacks, and such with simplified button presses, making the game much more accessible to newcomer players.
  • There's no risk of losing rank points or getting demoted below yellow ranks.
  • Backing out to character select in Arcade Mode does not negatively affect the "perfect" counter for facing Azazel, True Devil Kazuya, or Angel Jin.
  • During the final chapter of Story Mode, Jin changes to Mishima Style, though him nor the game outright tells you this allowing Tekken 3 fans to get a pesant surprise. That said, if you don't realize it by the time the round is over, Kazuya blatantly says Jin has switchted to Mishima Style, allowing you to understand what's happening for the next round and the round after when he goes into his Kazama Style stance.
• Apocalypse Wow: Devil Jin's ending has him obliterating the Earth with just a powerful Devil Beam alone, reducing a good chunk of the planet into a smoking crater, and the scene ends with him laughing jubilantly at the sight of said destruction. This gives the prospect that even Kazuya could have done the same thing in his Devil form aside from blowing up space satellites but chose not to.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Due to his role in causing World War III two games prior, Jin gets asked some important questions at various points of the story:
  Leroy: Do you see your past sins in Kazuya Mishima? Now answer me... Who are you?
  Devil Jin: How are you any different from Kazuya Mishima?
• Art Evolution: The budget and scope of this game blast the fidelity of Tekken 7 away. Rendered in Unreal Engine 5, Tekken 8 showcases some of the cleanest and most realistic visuals possible seen in the series, with minute details like skin and hair showing incredibly improved fidelity. Jin and Kazuya battling in the rain even shows fully rendered water droplets.
  • Several classic costumes are also included, with extra detailing that was practically impossible with previous versions, with even outfits from TTT2 and 6 having improved detailing.
• The Bad Guy Wins: This has already happened before the story begins. With Heihachi dead and gone, Kazuya has begun conquering the world unopposed. Jin makes a last effort to stop him but his attempt fails and Kazuya completes his conquest by declaring his new tournament where the losers will have their countries destroyed. This can happen again if Jin loses the final battle. Kazuya kills Jin, gives him a Mishima send-off (Re: Throws him off a cliff) and resumes ruling the world with an iron fist. He still loses the Devil Gene, but he decides he can do without.
• Bait-and-Switch Credits: The game's intro sequence depicts Ling Xiaoyu, Panda, Yoshimitsu, and Bryan Fury taking part in the final battle between Yggdrasil and G-Corp that takes place in Chapter 10 of the Story Mode. In reality, the former two were with Jin at the time, far away from the battlefield, and neither of the latter two have any involvement in the game's story beyond their fight with each other during the first round of the tournament in Chapter 5.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: One of the stages, shown in various preview vids, is called "Into the Stratosphere" and takes place on a rock hurtling towards the Earth. The lack of oxygen is a non-issue, as all fighters are capable of slugging it out on this stage without fear of hypoxia.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: While in Yakushima, Jin enters a spiritual world where he fights his Devil self in several dimensions. In an ironic subversion of how this usually unfolds, after two battles where the player defeats his Devil self, he approaches again looking as human as he ever has and dressed in Jin's current outfit, and the point of view is flipped before the battle starts, putting the player in Devil Jin's shoes to break Jin free of his unwillingness to rely on his Devil side.
• Battle in the Rain: The gameplay reveal trailer has Jin and Kazuya fight on the Fallen Destiny stage, which is set on the coast of an island in the rain during a storm.
• Battle Intro: For the first time in series history, characters not only have entire flourishes before entering their Idle Animation at the start of the round, but character-specific special intros now have their own unique cutscenes instead of strictly unique dialogue in conjunction with special poses.
• Big Damn Reunion: After four games of not being able to see each other, Jin and Xiaoyu finally get to meet up once again after Jin saves Zafina from being thrown to the ground by Kazuya.
• Bittersweet Ending: Surprisingly mostly on the sweet side despite the significantly darker theme of the story. Jin succeeds in defeating Kazuya and has purged both himself and his father of the Devil while also finding peace with himself and resolving to move forward and try to atone with the help of others, and Jun finally returns as she approaches Kazuya's unconscious body, now having a chance at saving him since he no longer has the Devil Gene, with Jin's last words before he departs the battlefield indicating he's also hopeful that he will reunite with his mother when she's finally finished and he restarts his relationship with Xiaoyu. Lars, Alisa, and Lee survive and the credits show Yggdrasil will continue to protect the world under their leadership. However, Jin's goal to eradicate the Devil Gene from the world proves to be a partial success, as Reina is revealed to be Heihachi's secret daughter, seemingly Kazuya's sister, and has now unlocked the Devil Gene after surviving Kazuya's attack, intent on reclaiming the Mishima Zaibatsu and honoring Heihachi's legacy, meaning the conflict of the Mishima Family is still far from over.
• Book Ends: Since debuting in Tekken 3, Jin started out using both the Mishima style Karate along with Kazama style martial arts before switching to traditional karate from Tekken 4 and beyond. In his final battle against Kazuya, Jin re-learns the Mishima and Kazama styles, and integrates all of them with his current style.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • This is the first game in the entire franchise where series mainstay Heihachi Mishima is absent. Justified because Heihachi was Killed Off for Real at the end of Tekken 7.
  • Previous entries have always been launched in arcades at least a year or two before their eventual console release. Tekken 8, however, is the first entry in the series that is launching on home consoles first, and also one of the first major Fighting Games launching exclusively on the ninth generation of consoles (plus PC).
  • This is the first time in the series since Tekken 4 where every character on the roster isn't guaranteed to have a universal leaning throw (typically a forward input plus 1+3 or 2+4). Instead, some characters have unique guard-breaking throws (such as Asuka's Destabilizer, which now has a mid and low follow-up new to this game; the former being a Heat Engager) or their old chain grab starters (such as Nina's Crab Hold) mapped to the input.
  • Tekken 8 is the first game of the series to implement an Install-style of Comeback Mechanic that can be activated at any time either manually (R1/RB or 2+3) or after certain moves (known as Heat Engagers) connect on hit. This notably takes inspiration from Bloody Roar's Beast Change mechanic, granting the user various buffs and benefits that vary depending on the character.
  • While kyu ranks are indirectly removed from 7's online matchmaking due to characters auto-promoting to 1st Dan at the start, this game removes them entirely with 1st Dan being the next rank after Beginner.
  • 8 is the first game where the main villain from the previous game is still a main villain in the very next game, as other games either kill off the villain from the game before (Ogre, Jinpachi), seemingly killed them but they're actually incapacitated (Kazuya in 3, Azazel), or the villain is around but isn't the main threat (Heihachi), but Kazuya not only killed Heihachi in 7, he's continuing the war.
  • This is the first game since Tekken 4 to omit Infinite Stages entirely. Though to compensate, stages are now much larger than they were in previous games. The best examples being the Yakushima and Coliseum of Fate stages, which are some of the largest stages seen to date.
  • This is the first game since Tekken 2 where you can't chicken a reversal (Meaning, reverse the reversal) ^note the phrase originated from the successful negation of the reversal being accompanied by the Tekken 3 "Chicken!" sound clip. This is likely to give more defensive options since the game has more focus on aggressiveness.
  • This is the first game where the tournament is not hosted by Mishima Zaibatsu, as Kazuya, who's G-Corporation's leader, is hosting it.
  • This is the first game where all the characters in the roster are a part of the main story, including those who don't have any connection with the Mishimas nor involved within their conflict. Justified since Kazuya declared war on humanity and announced a tournament which puts everyone at risk of not only losing their lives if they fail, their home countries will be obliterated as well.
  • This is Jun's first canonical appearance since Tekken 2, and by extension, her first canonical appearance since the time skip of Tekken 3.
• Brought Down to Badass: After Jin uses the power of purification on himself and Kazuya, both lose their Devil Gene powers and are brought down to the level of normal human martial artists. They nonetheless remain powerful fighters who can inexplicably create electricity and punch through rocks with their fists.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Tekken: Bloodline aside, this game sees the return of Jun Kazama — who hasn't been seen in a mainline entry since Tekken 2 — as a prominent figure in the story.^note Also including her cameo in 4, the very last time Jun was playable in any capacity was in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, which released in 2012.
  • Raven makes his return for the first time since Tekken 6 (Tag 2 aside), having sat out the previous game where his Master stood in his stead.
• Call-Back: Several from the game's trailers.
  • The game's first teaser plays back the iconic moment of Kazuya tossing Heihachi off a cliff in the first Tekken. As the camera zooms on Kazuya's smirk, the scene abruptly transforms into a preview of 8's graphics.
  • The gameplay trailer shows a fight between Kazuya and Jin. The stage being shown, Fallen Destiny, contrasts with the Brimstone & Fire stage from 7. The difference between the two stages is that the latter takes place in an active volcano, symbolizing Kazuya's burning hatred for Heihachi, which culminates in the latter's death, while the former takes place on a coastline near the ocean in the rain during a heavy thunderstorm that has gigantic hurricanes that eerily reflect the silhouettes of Kazuya and Jin's Devil forms in the background, symbolizing the last remaining of the Mishima bloodline.
  • One of Kazuya's new intros has him pose in much the same way as he did in one of Tekken 7's promotional renders for its arcade version. Also counts as an Ascended Meme of sorts since this exact render is associated with the "I'M NOT GONNA SUGARCOAT IT" meme that spawned around the Mishimas' trademark Electric Wind God Fist.
  • King's Rage Art in this game ends in a call-back to his predecessor's infamous Octopus Stretch throw from Tekken 2, which would K.O. the opponent the very moment it connects, but was difficult to pull off and not even listed in that game's Move List.
  • The Punch Parry from the Tekken 6 intro where Paul and Bryan used Phoenix Smasher and Mach Breaker against each other returns. This time, it's part of their Battle Intro.
  • Azucena's home stage is a composite of Hidden Retreat (albeit with alpacas in place of sheep) from Tekken 6 and the Pirate Cove from 5, as the floor break leads into an underground temple with gold coins strewn about like the latter.
  • Relating to the above, one of Azucena's (a very proud coffee lover with a family business) rivals in her trailer is none other than Lili. Coffee vs. tea debates aside, one of Lili's remarks in the previous game during Eliza's Character Story was that Eliza could do with more coffee and less blood... As long as Lili asks nicely.
  • All the way back in the first Tekken, Kazuya's profile mentioned him having a hobby of collecting sneakers, a detail most likely meant as a throwaway line intended to make him appear as a fairly normal protagonist prior to his villainous nature being revealed in 2. Thirty years later, said hobby makes a grand return in the release date and exclusive content reveal trailer, with Kazuya being shown to possess an entire room filled with neatly organized sneakers.
  • In the same release date trailer, Raven declares that "Heihachi Mishima is dead" as he did in the intro movie of 5... except this time Heihachi really is dead.
  • One Story Mode cutscene has Jin riding on a bike as a throwback to the intro back in Tekken 6, and manages to destroy Kazuya's helicopter with it. Too bad for him (and his bike) that Kazuya is Made of Iron and casually walks out of the wreckage unfazed. The theme which plays during these sequence is a remix of "Burning", the arcade intro to Bloodline Rebellion.
  • The initial theme song for Descent Into Subconscious contains direct pulls from both Tekken 6's "Blowin' Up the Enemy" and Tekken 5's "Antares".
  • Angel Jin's Rage Art has him taunt True Devil Kazuya by claiming that his "delusions of grandeur" will end, reusing the same line Heihachi used for his Rage Art against Kazuya in the finale to 7.
• Cast from Hit Points: One of Jun's main selling points. Unlike the rest of the cast, whenever she uses her light-based attacks, she'll actually take damage alongside the opponent, but if she uses her Miare stance or the aforementioned light attacks while in Heat Mode, she'll heal herself very quickly. Zafina also has this with her moves utilizing Azazel's claw; however, unlike Jun she has no means to heal herself.
• Casting Gag: Marisa Contreras, Azucena's voice actress, is mostly known for acting in commercials in her native Peru. Given Azucena literally cuts a commercial if she takes a round with her Rage Art, she's a pretty appropriate pick for the part.
• Central Theme:
  • The sins of your past do not determine your future. But you have to face your inner demons head-on as you move forward.
  • In the face of uncertainty, believe in yourself and the people who trust in you. Throughout the Story Mode, Jin manages to reconnect with his friends and rivals, entrusting their hopes to him in order to settle the score with Kazuya and save the world.
  • Breaking the cycle of hatred. Jin confronts the devil within himself and acknowledges how destructive his path of anger and hatred towards his own Devil Gene and the Mishimas was. Following this, Jin strives to not end up like his father and grandfather. He confronts Kazuya to protect what's precious to him, not to destroy him, and after defeating Kazuya, Jin simply spares him rather than repeat the act of being thrown off the cliff like what the latter and Heihachi did to one another.
• Clothing Switch: In the character customization, any playable character can be also customized into wearing another character's outfit. For example, Jin can be given Hwoarang's Taekwondo dobok, and Hwoarang himself can even wear Jin's parka jacket.
• Combat Breakdown: In the final fight, with Jin having purified the Devils of himself and Kazuya, the two are forced to fight with their martial arts alone, instead of with their overtly supernatural powers.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The events of Tekken 6 are definitely still fresh in Kazuya's mind, seeing as he's quick to call out Jin for his actions back in that game as he waxes poetic about the Devil being the root cause of their conflict.
  • As has been the case since the aforementioned game, the rivalry between Asuka and Lili is still going strong, with the former's Tekken 7 ending (where Lili moves into Asuka's home, to her confusion and chagrin) being acknowledged in their respective backstories.
  • Speaking of Asuka, her rivalry with Feng all the way back from Tekken 5 (which was only prominent in the original version of 5 and slowly lost focus over time in favor of the aforementioned feud with Lili) is finally acknowledged again during their special intro, with Feng simply (and non-verbally) telling Asuka to Bring It after she finds him.
• Creator Cameo: Members of the TEKKEN Project team pop up as possible opponents in Arcade Quest and Super Ghost Battle, with one notable person being series director Katsuhiro Harada. Beating Harada's ghost in Super Ghost Battle even nets you the "Godfather" achievement/trophy.
• Cross Counter: In a bit of a Brick Joke of being the series' recurring motif, the battle between Jin and Kazuya finally ends with them connecting the punches on each others faces. Whoever wins this can vary as noted elsewhere.
• Darker and Edgier: 8 ends up as the darkest entry in comparison to the previous games. The Mishima blood feud is far from over even with Heihachi gone, Kazuya succeeded in taking over the world and even the tournament evolves from more than just a mere Blood Sport, but the stakes are raised further to the point losers not only get rewarded with death, but also kiss their country goodbye. Even Kazuya in his devil form outright obliterates innocent people right before Jin's eyes just to show how far he just gone off the deep end.
• Deadly Game: From the demo: At the end of Chapter 1, Kazuya announces a new King of Iron Fist Tournament. This time, however, the stakes are much higher than simply control over the Mishima Zaibatsu: those who lose risk not only death, but the obliteration of their country. Of course, this doesn't come to pass as Yggdrasil attack the tournament site after the first round, prompting Kazuya to go to Plan B.
• Divergent Character Evolution: With this being the first mainline Tekken game to have both Jun and Asuka Kazama, their trailers show multiple new moves to change their playstyles, even more so than the moveset differentiation they already underwent in Tag Tournament 2. Jun has a more defensive approach that allows her to recover health with certain moves, while Asuka's aggressive moves can lead to longer combos.
• Downer Beginning: Kazuya already succeeded in taking over the world after killing Heihachi in the previous game. But Jin's attempt to stop him fails miserably despite being able to control his Devil form, allowing Kazuya to put Jin in his place in the worst way possible.
• Dramatic Irony: Ever since Tekken 4 it's already been established that Jin hates his Devil form and wants to get rid of it. Yet Kazuya still asks if Jin is denying himself as a Devil Gene bearer.
  Kazuya: "Would you deny even yourself? You're a fool, Jin Kazama."
• Earn Your Bad Ending: Even on the hardest difficulty, the final battle takes effort on the player's part to lose. Blocking while standing or ducking parries Kazuya's mid and low attacks respectively in and of itself, and Jin fully replenishes his health automatically at least once during the last phase, which determines the ending. You have to go out of your way to let Kazuya beat on you to see the bad ending.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After a long journey in letting go of the past, accepting on who he is, and now realizing that he has friends by his side, Jin Kazama has finally gotten the redemption he has been after for so long, and the war had officially ended after he defeated Kazuya in their final battle.
• Final Battle-Induced Shirt Loss: In the final battle Jin and Kazuya both lose their shirts after transforming into Angel Jin and True Devil Kazuya and subsequently falling to the ground after their forms give out.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: After the first round of fight and cutscene during the final battle, Jin performs his Tekken 3 pose, complete with his theme from said game. Sure enough, on the very next round, Jin pulls out his Tekken 3 movesets.
• Flying Saucer: Several appear in Azucena's home stage in reference to conspiracy theories regarding extraterrestrial involvement in the construction of ancient sites such as Peru's Macchu Picchu.
• Friction Burn: One of the stages shown in preview vids, "Into the Stratosphere", takes place on a large meteor careening towards Earth. In the background, pieces of the meteor can be seen breaking off and burning up. When the fight reaches a match point, the stage starts burning up even more, resembling the volcanic battleground from the climax of Tekken 7.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Played With. Jin and Kazuya’s final clashes after they had lost their devil genes. Jin has to pull from all the fighting styles he had learned. Not to mention pushing through with every ounce of determination he has and getting one Heroic Second Wind after another in order to even try to keep up with his father. Kazuya? All he needs are his one style accompanied by The Power of Hate and his tenacity, yet he manages to overwhelm his son and put him on the ropes again and again. It is when Jin mustered up one last heroic willpower fueled by The Power of Friendship and You Are Better Than You Think You Are on himself that he gained one more push to then defeat him and finally end their showdown once and for all. With all that said, the sheer versatility in Jin's moveset gives him an edge overall when it comes to parts of the battle the player controls, with his Power Stance healing him and the Kazama style's sheer defensive potency makes it difficult for Kazuya to even land hits consistently.
• Heel–Face Turn: After spending the past several games taking the Protagonist Journey to Villain, culminating in starting World War III to draw out the alleged Greater-Scope Villain behind his family's cursed blood, Jin has had a Heel Realization and is back to being a heroic character. At worst he's an Anti-Hero with a big chip on his shoulders due to his past actions, more akin to his characterization in Tekken 4 and 5.
• Here We Go Again!: No sooner does Jin purge both himself and his father of the Devil's power does Reina, Heihachi's Bastard Bastard daughter, awaken to her own Devil. Clearly, the Mishima family drama is far from over.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: Kazuya summons Azazel once again… only to absorb the demon into himself to become even stronger.
• History Repeats: Like 7, the story culminates in a drag-out brawl between a father and son of the Mishima bloodline which involves several call-backs to the history shared between them... and much like that fight, it culminates with the son defeating his father.
• I Got Bigger: Tekken 8 is the first entry to have official heights in-game, revealing that several characters with previously recorded heights have been given height increases in this game. Some characters, like Ling Xiaoyu, make sense because they are still young, but others, like Nina, don't because they are very far from teenagehood. (With Harada confirming that, where Nina is concerned, it's not the height of her heels being added to her height since Lili's recorded height is her height without heels.) Ironically, the teenage Xiaoyu gets the smallest increase in height.
• Immune to Flinching: The Power Crush, returning from Tekken 7. Unlike before, however, rather than taking damage while attacking, you take Scratch Damage when being attacked during the armor frames (similar to SFIV's Focus Attack, which Akuma carried over in his guest appearance in 7), allowing you to gain back the health you lost from tanking hits with your Power Crush.
• Indy Escape: Leo's ending has them doing this with their dad after he breaks a piece off of a ruin artifact and triggers a boulder.
• Lag Cancel: The Heat Dash allows the player to cancel the recovery animation of their Heat Engager (such as Paul's lauded Phoenix Smasher, aka Deathfist) — be it on hit to launch the opponent into a combo, or on block to press your offense against the opponent.
• Large-Ham Announcer: All of the character reveal trailers and introductions for the Story Mode tournament's top 12 are voiced over by MMA legend Lenne Hardt, who brings her signature bombast to every fighter introduction.
  Get ready for the next battle!
  TEKKEN 8!
  NEEEEEWWWW CHALLENGERRR!!
  [FIGHTER NAME]!!!
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: For those that didn't play the Mishima Saga in 7, Jin's merge with his Devil side can seem a little out of nowhere; especially since the Sequel Hook that hinted this took place in that game's Stinger.
• Lighter and Softer: In contrast to the main story going Darker and Edgier, the Character Episodes in the game are a lot more lighter in tone, with many characters who previously had rather serious endings such as Kazuya and Jin now having fairly silly moments in them. Justified, as the lighter tone is a result of the state of the world not being quite as bad as it is in the main story.
• Made of Iron: Tekken characters continue to shrug off what should be fatal injury with nothing more than a few scratches. A shining example is the end game of the story mode, wherein the now entirely human Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima somehow survive re-entry into the earth's atmosphere and the subsequent splashing of the chunk of obsidian they were fighting atop in the ocean and proceed to have their longest bout ever after the fact.
• Meaningful Name: One of Kazuya's new moves is called Parricide Fist. Parricide is the generic term for the murder of one's family. It's called that because it's the exact same move Kazuya used to kill Heihachi in 7.
• Mini-Game: Tekken Ball returns after its last appearance since the Wii U version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and since Tekken 3 when going by mainline entries.
• Multiple Endings: Unlike other Tekken games, this game features two endings.
  • Hope: The game's proper ending, where Jin finally defeats Kazuya. Confident that the Devil Gene is gone from the world for good, he leaves to reunite with Xiaoyu and the rest of his allies. Meanwhile, the still-alive but incapacitated Kazuya is visited by Jun. The credits roll with pictures showing the fighters allied with Yggdrasil (including Law) and the United Nations conducting operations to help the world recover from the war and snuffing out the final remnants of G Corporation.
  • Despair: An alternate ending that plays in the event the player loses to Kazuya in the final phase. Jin is defeated and subsequently thrown off a cliff by Kazuya, who still intends to fight on even without the Devil Gene at his disposal. This version of the credits depicts G Corporation and its allied fighters (except for Law) completing world domination and wiping out all resistance to their rule.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Nina's ability to go Guns Akimbo while in Heat is taken straight from her spin-off game, Death by Degrees (on top of integrating her dual pistols from games past into her regular moveset). Additionally, the finishing blow on her new Rage Art (also named after said game) references that game's Critical Strike, where she strikes the opponent with a concentrated blow to the heart.
  • Lars' new Rage Art in this game is almost taken wholesale from his guest appearance in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2.
  • The Gamescom 2023 trailer shows a shot of Kazuya entering a massive room filled with his various pairs of sneakers, a nod to the manual of the original Tekken game, which listed sneaker collecting as his primary hobby.
  • The cinematic intro references some elements from previous Tekken games:
    • It begins with a shot of a white dove flying through the ruins of the Urban Square stage and passing by Jin, contrasting the black crow which was seen in the Tekken 6 console intro where Jin is about to declare war on the world.
    • Reina is introduced walking past a crowd in the opposite direction, referencing Jun doing the same thing in Tekken 2. She can also be seen adopting a similar pose to Jin sitting on the throne of the Mishima Zaibatsu as seen in his ending from 5.
    • Jin can be seen resting on the same trees that he did from the console intro to Tekken Tag Tournament.
    • Lars, Lee, Leroy, Leo, Zafina, Claudio and Hwoarang are all seen performing attacks and poses in a multi-colored void, referencing the roster of Tekken 5 doing the same in that game's console intro.
    • Jin and Kazuya end the intro by preparing a Punch Parry, mimicking the clash they perform during the intro for Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion.
  • When the tournament's finals occur in the story mode, the cutscenes introducing the fighters are set to the character select themes from previous Tekken games: "Driving Beats" from Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection (Steve VS King), "Dist Thins Out" from Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion (Paul VS Kuma), "AIM TO WIN" from Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Shaheen VS Dragunov), "Blood, Sweat and Fists" from Tekken Revolution (Yoshimitsu VS Bryan) and "Fight Night" from Tekken 7 Season 1 (Lili VS Azucena).
  • The preview video for the finalists of the tournament is set against a dark backdrop with the combatants posing and performing moves against it, calling back to the various main menu screens of Tekken 7.
  • The BGM of the corrupted Coliseum of Fate, where Azazel is fought, is a remix of "Sacred Dark", his theme from Tekken 6.
  • In the story, Jin defeats Hwoarang by reusing his original 10-hit combo from Tekken 3, with the camera angles and eventual final hit that Hwoarang fails to block also mimicking Jin beating him in Tekken: Bloodline.
  • Jin's self-reflection and subsequent battles against Devil Jin are set to themes associated with the latter in addition to his Face–Heel Turn. The first is "Antares" from vanilla Tekken 5 - the theme of Devil Jin's home stage as the sub-boss of that game. The second is "Blowin' Up The Enemy" from Tekken 6, representing Jin's sub-boss appearance, and with the stage returning to a facsimile of the Gargoyle's Perch stage from that game as well. The last is "Snow Castle" from Dark Resurrection, fittingly representing the Devil Jin persona's Heel–Face Turn.
  • In Chapter 15, the intro of the second phase of the final fight has Jin adjusting his right bracer like he does on the cover for the PS1 version◊ of Tekken 3. Further emphasizing on this, a remixed version of Jin's Tekken 3 theme plays during this scene, culminating in Jin fighting with his Mishima-style moveset from 3 for the next two phases. At the end of this section, when Jin blocks Kazuya's punch he assumes a stance and performs the Lightning Screw Uppercut as he does at the end of ''3's'' attract mode. When Jin later shifts to using Jun's fighting style, the battle theme is replaced with a new remix of "Landscape Under the Ghost ~Kaminano~" from Tekken 2, her debut game.
  • The version of Jin playable in the final phase of the Final Battle notably combines elements of Jin's Kyokushin karate from 4 onwards, his original Mishima fighting style from 3 and some moves taken from Jun, but they also contain some specific references on top of that:
    • Jin can charge up the final hit of his Laser Scraper string to cause a guard break, referencing how it used to be unblockable in 4. The infamous Just Frame Laser Scraper can be performed the same way it was done previously by delaying the final hit, at which point it regains its unblockable status.
    • Jin's df1, 2 could be cancelled by wave dashing as a glitch during the original Japanese arcade run of 3. It returns here, except its follow-ups a more limited in nature.
    • One of his strings here has him perform the first two hits of his Rage Drive from 7.
• Never Trust a Trailer: Downplayed. The Final Battle of Story Mode is almost the same as the reveal trailer. It's just that it omits the fact that Jin and Kazuya have lost their Devil Gene after Jin's Angel Form purges it from the both of them, most notably with Kazuya no longer having a red left eye which he had since 4. They don't even wear their alternate costumes used in the reveal trailer. Also, their dialogue is entirely different; the trailer spoken lines do not feature anywhere in the game proper.
• Next Tier Power-Up: After extracting him from Zafina and beating the original Devil into submission, Kazuya absorbs Azazel and transforms into True Devil Kazuya. Later, after coming to terms with his Devil and gaining the power of Purification, Jin transforms into Angel Jin to fight against Kazuya once more.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Of the three surviving members of the Mishima Family, Lars is the Nice, Kazuya is the Mean and Jin (and to a lesser extent, Lee) is In-between. The fourth Mishima, Reina, plays Nice before she ends up being another Mean after becoming a Devil.
• Nostalgia Level: Descent into Subconsciousness consists of three floors that reference previous games. The first floor is a warped version of Hell's Gate from Tekken 5, the second returns to Gargoyle's Perch from 6, and the final floor takes place in a landscape similar to the forest and lake view Jin and Jun are seen in from the opening to the first Tag Tournament game.
• One-Winged Angel: Kazuya summons and subsequently absorbs Azazel, turning into a more monstrous version of his Devil form called True Devil Kazuya that he uses in lieu of his usual Devil form for the latter half of the story mode.
• Punch Parry: In a bit of a recurring motif, a lot of characters end up doing this with each other. The battle between Angel Jin and True Devil Kazuya ends with them exchanging punches that cancel each other's powers out, making both human again.
• Reimagining the Artifact: The tournament itself. From Tekken 1 to 5 the tournament was where the Mishimas decided to deal with each other (Or in 3's case, where Jin deals with Ogre), but in 6 and 7, because of the war, the tournament was only there to justify other characters' presences but Mishimas don't use it to fight each other. 6's story is entirely from Lars' point of view and he doesn't participate on the tournament, and whether the tournament was canceled or had a winner isn't clear. In 7 Heihachi starts the tournament and was planning to reveal Kazuya's devil powers there, but changes plans after fighting Akuma, deciding to use him to reveal Kazuya's devil powers and cancels the tournament, all without really affecting the plot. Tekken 8 brings the tournament back to relevancy by having Kazuya host the tournament and declare that anyone who loses during it will not only get killed, but have their country destroyed as well, and there are matches that'll happen in the tournament during the story mode.
  • Between the story mode and the Character Episodes, the scale of the tournament varies. While the tournament is a properly held event in the Episodes, the story mode only depicts the first round of the finals in Rome; after Jin's match, Yggdrasil and the United Nations forcibly evacuate the coliseum before Kazuya attacks Zafina and absorbs Azazel, postponing the tournament with no clear winner even when the story ends.
• Resource Reimbursement: Some characters have attacks that inflict damage on themselves, like Jun, Zafina, and Yoshimitsu. This damage is always recoverable, allowing them to gain it back by attacking their opponent.
• Revision: The narrative bridges the Devil Gene origins as explained in Tekken 6 and Tekken 7 to form one complete narrative so they no longer contradict each other; it turns out that Azazel is in fact the origin of the Devil Gene, he has given his powers to families and clans of the past who worshiped him, the Hachijo family is just one of said families, as such Kazumi is merely the origin of the Devil Gene in the Mishima family through her son Kazuya. With the expanded narrative that the Devil Gene can come from several sources after Azazel, it may also explain the future developments with Reina, who's Heihachi daughter, can awaken the Devil Gene.
• Rule of Cool: Into the Stratosphere is a textbook example. Fighting on top of a meteor hurdling towards the Earth at terminal velocity? Hardly an inconvenience for most of the roster. Let alone the literal (half-)demons that are Kazuya and Jin.
• Rule of Symbolism: All over the place.
  • The reveal trailer shows Jin and Kazuya fighting during a raging storm on a coastline. Contrast this with the volcano that was the site of Heihachi and Kazuya's final battle in 7.
  • Jun is introduced stood in a bright white void, reflecting on her early portrayal as the Big Good of the Mishima feud.
  • The "8" in the title erupts from a broken chain, symbolizing that Jin has cast off the shackles around his Devil Gene powers and that this may finally be the end of the Mishima feud.
• Sanity Has Advantages: In the intro to story mode, Jin fights Kazuya and does fairly well until they both go into Devil mode. Jin eventually becomes so overwhelmed with anger that he flies into a berserker rage, at which point Kazuya handily puts him down because he's lost his ability to do anything other than mindlessly attack.
• Scratch Damage: A unique case. Like in other fighting games (notably Street Fighter), an overly defensive opponent is penalized by way of losing a portion of their health that is recoverable. Unlike in other fighting games, however, said chip damage doesn't regenerate over time, but rather it regenerates by attacking the opponent and going on the offense yourself.
• Scenery Gorn: Some stages are in states of distress, and fall into greater disrepair as time passed. Midnight Raid takes place in a bombed-out building. Into the Stratosphere takes place on a falling meteor. Fallen Destiny takes place in the middle of a raging storm as a ship in the background gets ripped in half by a tornado, with one half of the stage washing up near the battleground.
• Secret Final Campaign: While Jun and Reina are playable from the beginning, their Character Episodes are the only ones not to be accessible from the start. Instead, you will have to clear The Dark Awakens to unlock them. This is because Jun is assumed to be dead throughout the story, whereas her Character Episode not only confirms that she is alive, but also provides the explanation regarding her absence in previous games. As for Reina, her Character Episode begins with the revelation — shown in The Stinger of The Dark Awakens — that she is Heihachi Mishima's daughter.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the beginning of the story mode, cinematic presenting a submarine is a close recapture of Metal Gear Solid introduction sequence, along with the camera shots.
  • Law, being the Bruce Lee Clone that he is, has an homage to Enter the Dragon where after bludgeoning the opponent with his nunchuks, he leaps on top of them and stomps them much in the same way as Lee's character from the aforementioned film. If he scores a K.O. with it, his facial expression even changes in much the same way as Lee's does, too.
  • One of the stages seen throughout the trailers looks very similar in aesthetics to The Bog (and its multiplayer counterpart Bog) from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, being set in a war-torn desert city at night.
  • Asuka's Rage Art is very similar to Adult Gon's Jajanken Guu.
  • Hwoarang's trailer begins with him doing a very familiar slide on his motorbike.
  • Victor Chevalier's katana is a legally-distinct HF Blade, specifically resembling Jetstream Sam's.
  • Bryan Fury's Character Episode ending has him basically becoming a warlord from Mad Max after becoming the new head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, complete with him and a war party driving over a desert landscape consisting of big armored cars, bikers, and his own personal tank that has a big ostentatious throne for him to sit on.
  • During the Final Boss, Jin makes a pose similar to Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star as if he's invoking the Big Dipper, the series' signature constellation the martial art Hokuto Shinken is based off on.
  • The Avatar Customization item "T-Shirt (eagle)" has a design directly referencing the album cover of Judas Priest's "Screaming for Vengeance", down to the font used for the lettering being directly based on the band's logo.
  • One of King's new moves, "Rapid King Onslaught", is a true-to-life RKO. And he can hit it almost out of nowhere.
    • Speaking of King-related shout-outs, one of the Yggdrasil soldiers allied with King during Operation Rebellion despairs at fighting G Corporation's soldiers, stating that they are "all elite".
• The Stinger: In the mid-credits scene, Reina reveals herself to have survived Kazuya's attack on Yakushima. Revealing herself to be the daughter of Heihachi Mishima, she activates her new Devil form...
• Super Mode: For the first time in the series, there's the Heat System. While active, the player is heavily incentivized to go on the offensive, gaining character-specific properties that range from being able to perform Guard Breaks with certain attacks to performing Heat Smashes, a powerful blow that serves as the spiritual successor to the Rage Drives from 7.
• Thanatos Gambit: This is how Reina awakened her own Devil Gene. She makes a suicidal ploy to take a full charged Devil Beam from True Devil Kazuya, which seemingly killed her until she opens her eyes, followed by her irises turning red. She planned this because the Devil Gene will activate if the host is at the brink of death.
• Theme Music Power-Up: During Jin and Kazuya's climactic duel, the music switches as Jin cycles through the different fighting styles that he's learned throughout his life. After the first two rounds, a remix of Jin's "Tekken 3" leitmotif plays as he switches to using Mishima-style karate (fittingly starting when he strikes the pose seen on the cover of the PS1 version of "Tekken 3". After another two rounds, he switches to Kazama-Style Self-Defense, with a remix of "Landscape Under the Ghost ~Kaminano~" from Tekken 2, his mother's debut game, playing in the background. The last two rounds are then accompanied by the opening theme "My Last Stand" playing in the background. Becomes a triple case of The Day the Music Lied if Jin loses the fight.
• There Is Another: By the end of the game's Story Mode, it's revealed that Kazuya and Jin aren't the only ones who possess the Devil Gene. That person in question turns out to be Reina, who actually succeeded in awakening her own dormant Devil Gene by taking the brunt of True Devil Kazuya's full-powered Devil Beam.
• Took a Level in Badass: Across the board, fighters showcase a lot more unique and destructive shows of power, be it utilizing supernatural powers, brandishing weapons, learning new fighting techniques, and so on. Kazuya and Jin for example utilize their Devil forms in regular attacks rather than under special conditions, Jun accents her attacks with her own life force, Nina and Marshall integrate guns and chucks respectively in their movesets, Jack and Bryan better showcase their technological superiority through various VFX and animation tweaks, and even supposedly "normal" fighters like Asuka and Hwoarang perform superhuman feats of strength in their Rage Arts. The first chapter of The Dark Awakens shows this off rather clearly; Jin uses Mind over Matter to launch several cars towards Kazuya at one point, father and son fight through the air and destroy several buildings just by being dragged through from top to bottom as if it was Dragon Ball, and Kazuya tops his feat of shooting down a Mishima Zaibatsu laser satellite from the ground by destroying several city blocks with a supercharged Devil Blaster aimed at Jin, then targetting the entire Yggdrasil communications network while he announces the new King of Iron Fist tournament; the still-flaming and descending remains can even be seen in the background of several shots afterwards.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The reveal trailer for Reina makes it abundantly clear that she's a Mishima by having her show off the Wind God Fist and having the same lightning buildup during her attacks that Heihachi did. The Story Mode initially has her playing it off as her just imitating what she watched online, but in the post-credits scene after beating the game she affirms her heritage as Heihachi's daughter.
• True Final Boss: The arcade mode ladder usually culminates in a boss battle against Devil Kazuya. However, progressing through it by balancing the number of perfects and rounds lost after clearing Story Mode will replace him with Azazel, True Devil Kazuya, or Angel Jin.
• Turns Red: Just like in Tekken 7, when your health is at 20% or lower, your character will enter Rage, wherein they gain increased damage and can perform Rage Arts, which also return from 7 and now share the same command across the cast^note either down/forward plus both punches (df+1+2 in Tekken notation) or the Right Trigger — R2/RT much like Climax Super Special Moves in 'The King of Fighters XV''.
• The Unreveal: The exact nature of Reina's connection to Heihachi Mishima is never explicitly stated in the story mode, with the closest being Nina saying "You’re Heihachi's…". Subverted in The Stinger and in her own Character Episode, where she directly calls Heihachi her father.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: Chapter 10 plays like a reimagined version of Scenario Campaign, with a few fights being in a Beat 'em Up format as multiple enemies are fought at once, rather than one-on-one; some mechanics are thus altered or introduced, such as a lock-on for engaging different foes alongside Heat being a regenerating resource during these fights instead of being one-time-use.
• Villain Has a Point: You know you messed up big time when even Kazuya Mishima of all people calls you out on your bullshit, as Jin learns.
  Jin: Mishima... Kazuya! Your very existence brings turmoil to the world!
  Kazuya: What a bunch of bull. You're the one who started this war.
  • To Jin's credit, he is completely aware of this, and plans to atone at any cost. And it's not like Kazuya's actions are accomplishing any better.
  Kazuya: Do you have any idea how many lives you sacrificed?
  Jin: Yeah. I must atone for my sins!
• Vocal Evolution:
  • Tekken 8 marks the first time since Tekken 4 that most of the cast has re-recorded battle cries and dialogue (namely during their intros and outros). For some characters who retained their voice actors (such as Kazuya or Paul), their voices sound noticeably older and more weathered compared to their prior appearances.
  • Weirdly inverted with Ryōko Shiraishi's take on Asuka in this game, since she sounds noticeably higher-pitched here than she did in previous entries.
• The War Sequence: Chapter 10 revolves around a large-scale battle between Yggdrasil and G Corp, with players taking command of Lars and his allies a field as they fight through waves of G Corp soldiers, along with some 1-on-1 fights against some of the fighters G Corp recruited.
• What If?: In contrast to the Character Episodes in Tekken 7, which showed what happened to characters while the main plot was going on, the Character Episodes in 8 are explictly non-canon, taking place in alternate scenarios compared to the main story, generally maintaining a lighter tone as well. Typically following one of the following:
  • Most of the scenarios center around the Mishima Zaibatsu, instead of being decimated by Kazuya after the events of Tekken 7, attempting to pick itself back up by holding the King of Iron Fist Tournament themselves to find a new leader, similar to Tekken 5.
  • Claudio, Yoshimitsu and Zafina's centers around an alternate version of the main story, where Azazel manages to fully resurrect in the Colosseum and not be consumed by Kazuya.
  • Jin and Jun's episodes revolve around Jun managing to be physically present during the main story, whereas in the main story she only manages to assist as a Spirit Advisor.
  • Devil Jin's episode takes the Downer Beginning of the start of the game and makes it even worse, with the UN forces refusing to ally with Yggdrasil and destroying their base, killing off Lars, Alisa and Lee. Enraged, Jin gives in fully to his anger and vengeance and goes on a warpath against them and the rest of the world.
• Wham Line: "You'll understand soon enough." Spoken by Reina in response to Kazuya demanding to know who she is. Reina then proceeds to take Heihachi's fighting stance and use the Electric Wind God Fist on Kazuya.

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If it takes forever
No surrender
Now or never
My last stand!