It’s always an interesting thing to see a developer take their “bread and butter” and then infuse it into another franchise. For several years now, Bandai Namco has been working with Nintendo on various projects. Sometimes, they lend a hand in developing certain games, and other times, they’ve straight-up worked under Nintendo to make interesting IP or crossover titles. One of the best and most unique examples of this was Pokken Tournament. The game was to take the beloved pocket monsters that have graced Nintendo systems for about 30 years and then infuse them with a true fighting game aesthetic that Bandai Namco is known for via its own franchise.
Pokken Tournament came out on the Wii U and was later ported to the Nintendo Switch, where it saw success on both systems, and some people are still playing it today. That’s why someone posted on Twitter recently that Pikachu seemingly has the same moveset at points as Heihachi Mishima, which is quite the thing when you think about it. That might have been passed off as a “coincidence” until Katsuhiro Harada himself revealed that this was indeed an intentional Easter Egg. Oh, and no, Pikachu isn’t another “child of Heihachi.” That would be weird on numerous levels:
Obviously, the “too late” joke is because the game came out many years ago, and people are just realizing the Easter Egg, but hey, no one said that gamers were the “quickest of the bunch.” Plus, they were likely focusing on the Pokemon themselves in the battles versus trying to see what Harada and the Bandai Namco team put in as little references to its other franchise.
Seeing something like this is cool, though, and something to be encouraged. When developers work on properties that aren’t their own or do a new franchise after having a hit one previously, they often include Easter Eggs for people to find. Sometimes, they even use Easter Eggs to tease what’s coming next! Naughty Dog famously did this when it teased its post-apocalyptic series, and everyone should know about the various teases that Pixar does with its own movies.
The real question here is whether Heihachi Mishima would have a Pikachu as his Pokemon partner! The answer to that is multi-layered, because it has to do with the particular Pikachu he gets, and whether that Pikachu lives up to Heihachi’s near-impossible standards. Still, anything is possible, and we all know that Pikachu can be strong in the right trainer’s hands.
