Bryan Fury has reappeared as a playable character in Tekken 8, but unfortunately, not as Tekken’s producers intended.
Bandai Namco have accepted the early reveal, and so the official trailer is live on their YouTube channel. However, this did not stop Project Tekken General Manager Katsuhiro Harada to lash out on Twitter.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Harada sent a now deleted tweet that said: “What the xxxx Bandai Namco Euro. That’s why I warned you years ago not to post on a timer. Well, I’m going home now, thanks! Ha ha ha.”
Michael Murray, who is a producer on Tekken 8, gave this apology on Twitter as well:
“I apologize to the fans who saw that particular thing in not the way @Harada_TEKKEN and I had wanted it to happen. I feel bad for all you guys and also the dev team who gave up weekends to work on it :(“
It is somewhat strange for have all this hullaballoo over Bryan Fury, a character who is, in the narrative of the Tekken series, one of the most despicable human beings who you can play.
For those who don’t know Tekken’s story, Bryan was originally a Hong Kong police officer, who secretly had connections to drug smuggling. Lei discovered those connections, and Bryan was killed in a shootout with police, possibly by Lei himself.
Bryan is already a resurrected zombie/cyborg in his debut in Tekken 3, thanks to the work of mad scientist Doctor Abel.
In Tekken 4, Bryan enters the tournament with the knowledge that he is dying. He hopes to become owner of Mishima Zaibatsu to make Dr Abel prolong his lifespan, but he fails.
In his ending, he is saved by Yoshimitsu, who brings him to Dr. Bosconovitch. Bosconovitch successfully prolongs his life by adding a perpetual power generator in his body.
Bryan then shows his gratitude by attacking Dr. Bosconovitch and Yoshimitsu’s men, to escape the facility and immediately test his new body. He even kills some of those men, making Yoshimitsu swear bloody revenge.
Bryan hasn’t had much character development since then, becoming a war mercenary and picking up even more enemies, such as Bob. In this new trailer he is shown facing off against Paul Phoenix, which is as suitable a rivalry as any. A zombie cyborg that possibly can’t be killed, versus a middle aged fighter who wants to prove he can still go. Of course, suiting his character, his win animation shows him shooting off a gatling gun and throwing it at the viewer.
Tekken 8 will be releasing in the fiscal year 2023, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows via Steam. You can watch the official trailer below.