Heihachi DLC Ignores Prior Tekken Lore

Tekken 8 was supposed to be the ‘end’

It’s been over a year since Heihachi returned because of Harada’s favourtism and inability to carry on the story without the devil gene. I noticed fans were pretty torn on his return, with lots welcoming it, while a sizable amount has disdain. Well, we did think it was the end of the Mishima story, and Tekken 8 was supposed to finalise it. To be honest, Heihachi could’ve returned and the story still could’ve ended if they hadn’t randomly brought in Reina. We’ve been informed Heihachi has an unknown amount of illegitimate children across the globe which was obviously something the developers will just use when they feel their story is getting dull; they simply design a new child and have them reshash the same story again. This format really undermines the initial struggles that Kazuya went through, but I don’t think they care about him much anymore either. We’ll see I guess?

Where’s the unique interactions?

There are no special interactions with some specific, prominent characters from Heihachi’s story. This includes both Lee Chaolan and Ling Xiaoyu, who both have had some of the the most off-screen interactions with him; the former is obviously being extremely important to the Mishima bloodline story.

This is likely due to developers (and I use this term loosely as a catch-all) not caring, understanding and/or knowing about Heihachi’s story to this date. Alternatively, the same could be said for both Lee Chaolan and Ling Xiaoyu, where it seems they want to write off any previous knowledge Heihachi had of them because they don’t see it as important. I have previously mentioned this theories, so I won’t hammer on, but it is kind of ridiculous. Ling Xiaoyu is famously on Heihachi’s ‘Liked’ category in Tekken Tag and he even gave her a theme park. Heihachi’s gentleness to the female sex isn’t unknown - he is more kind to women than man by leagues and it’s something players have picked up as a character trait for him.

It is extremely odd Lee doesn’t have any interaction with Heihachi, but the rest of the family does. Jin, Kazuya, Lars and Jun all do (poor Jun, she deserved a better father in law). You could say maybe it’s blood related but…wait, no, Jun is there! She’s a Kazama, and we know that Asuka Kazama got the sideline treatment too. There’s lots of fans across sites asking why these interactions are missing, but I will take some Youtube ones below.

I think Heihachi ignoring him is the only feasible way they can explain this. It still doesn’t make much sense, though. In Tekken 6’s scenario mode, Heihachi has a lot to say about Lee starting up his own company (non-canon). I also just find it weird that no words would be said, not even a ‘Keep out of my way’ if this was the case.

Tekken has never had a ‘good’ story, but it is in the records for having the longest! I guess dismissing the old, canon lore is a way for them to keep rehashing the same trite again and again. Don’t hold out for any acknowledgements or future interactions.