The Legacy of Tekken
TEKKEN 8 – “Story So Far" with Brian Cox
Succession's Brian Cox recently recapped the story of the Tekken games ahead of Tekken 8’s impending release in a new video. The Tekken series of fighting games stretches back to the PlayStation 1 era, and has consisted of eight mainline entries, numerous spin-offs, and a few manga, film, and anime adaptations. The main storyline of Tekken centers around the King of Iron Fist Tournament, a martial arts competition hosted by the sinister Mishima Zaibatsu corporation that grants the winner control of the company, and possibly the fate of the world.
The Feuding Mishima Family
Many fighters have competed in the King of Iron Fist Tournament throughout the Tekken games, but the heart of the series lies in three generations of the feuding Mishima family. It started with Heihachi Mishima, the cruel patriarch of the Mishima clan and leader of Mishima Zaibatsu, and his son Kazuya Mishima, who served as the primary protagonist of the original Tekken and later became a recurring villain himself. 1997’s Tekken 3 saw the introduction of Jin Kazama, Kazuya’s son who inherited his Devil Gene, a genetic abnormality that grants its bearer great demonic powers at the cost of corrupting their mind.
The Three-Way Rivalry
In a new video posted on the official Bandai Namco Entertainment America YouTube channel, Succession star Brian Cox walks viewers through the long and twisted three-way rivalry between Heihachi, Kazuya, and Jin to help them catch up in time for Tekken 8. Cox describes how Heihachi tossed a five-year-old Kazuya off a cliff as a test for the Devil Gene, which in turn drives Kazuya to seek revenge on his father. The story then shifts to years later, when Heihachi trained his grandson Jin as a means of enacting vengeance against Kazuya, only to betray Jin by shooting him at point-blank range and triggering Jin’s own Devil Gene.
