Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada actually tried to get Colonel Sanders as a guest character for the fighting franchise but was rejected by KFC.
Game designer Michael Murray talked about the matter during a recent interview where he detailed what exactly happened. He said that KFC was not very open to the idea of having its marketing face added to the series.
Tekken Almost Got Colonel Sanders
Harada said that he wanted to have Colonel Sanders fight in a Tekken match. The rejection of his proposal was apparently accompanied by a "bad look." Despite this, the mascot actually made an appearance in a video game.
This was with "I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin' Good Dating Simulator." This was a dating sim that KFC commissioned and released for free on Steam. It was launched on Sept. 24, 2019, and was meant as a promo for the fast food chain, according to IGN.
The Tekken series director also addressed fans' requests to add the Waffle House as a stage for the franchise.
Harada said that this was not something that they could accomplish on their own. He pointed to the need for Waffle House's unlikely approval for such a DLC collaboration.
It is possible that KFC turned down Harada's offer because it had to think of its own branding. With the Waffle House stage, the series director noted that players can turn to modding in order to bring their wishes to life for now, The Gamer said.
The news comes as Tekken 8 is set to release its third DLC character, Heihachi Mishima, sometime in the future. The previously-thought-dead series veteran will be part of an upcoming story expansion for the game that will be free.
Other Potential Guest Characters
With KFC's rejection of Harada's proposal, many fans are thinking of which other mascots will be popular if added to the fighting game series as guest characters. These include Mr. Muscle who represents the cleaning product.
This particular character would fit nicely within the Tekken franchise given his superhero look and strength. Another mascot that players could look forward to is Julius Pringles who is the face of the highly popular chips.
Another off-beat choice would be Microsoft's Clippy, the helpful little companion who would give assistance to people as they worked on their documents, according to Rock Paper Shotgun.
The upcoming DLC character for Tekken 8 was first revealed during this year's Evo fighting game esports event. He was shown in a new trailer and will follow Eddy Gordo and Lidia Sobieska.
