Tekken 8’s Yujiro Hanma reveal has Street Fighter 6 devs thinking about Baki again

Street Fighter 6’s producer and director shared their thoughts on Yujiro Hanma’s inclusion in Tekken 8 and spoke on the possibility of future Baki collaborations.

Street Fighter 6 is the latest fighting game to turn heads with a bonkers guest character reveal, confirming Tifa Lockhart as the next — and only — guest character for its Season 4 DLC.

This announcement follows another equally wild reveal after Tekken 8 unveiled Yujiro Hanma as its final character in its Season 3 DLC.

We got the chance to chat with Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama and producer Shuhei Matsumoto at Summer Game Fest, and we just had to ask them about their thoughts on Yujiro’s inclusion in Tekken 8.

Street Fighter 6 devs aren’t opposed to another Baki collab

Nakayama-san, specifically, was excited about ‘The Ogre’ coming to Tekken, but expressed some curiosity as to how his admittedly absurd power scaling will translate to the rest of the game’s cast.

“It looked great, and he obviously fits that series very well, too. But in the manga, he’s extremely strong, so I wonder how they’re gonna make him work in the game?” he mused.

Tekken isn’t the only fighting game to collaborate with Baki; Street Fighter 6 notably partnered with the series in 2023 and 2024, though only via in-game cosmetics. 

CAPCOM / Akita Shoten

Given Tifa’s addition to the game, as a character from an entirely different genre, we questioned Nakayama about the possibility of bringing on Baki as their next wild pick… and he was tentatively enthusiastic about the idea.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “That’d be cool. Maybe there’s a possibility of another Baki collaboration down the line, but, we’ll see. It’d be cool.”

Street Fighter 6 devs react to Virtua Fighter: Crossroads reveal

We also asked the duo for their thoughts on the upcoming Virtua Fighter: Crossroads, Sega’s latest and most ambitious installment in their 3D fighting game series, which was revealed at Summer Game Fest.

It’s safe to say that the pair is pretty pumped about this game, with Nakayama disclosing that he is a big fan of the franchise.

“When I look at fighting games from other companies — like the recent announcement of a new Virtua Fighter title — I find myself genuinely excited, especially since I used to play the series myself,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing how this new Virtua Fighter turns out. It’s fun to wonder what the gameplay will be like, especially considering the action-oriented elements that were revealed. 

“The announcement of new characters gets me excited, too. As someone who works in game development, it’s great to see various classic titles making a comeback; simply having the chance to play these games again is a real joy. I have high hopes for it. The promotional video looked really cool, too.”

“Seeing new game titles and existing fighting games being updated is really exciting, and it shows that there’s a lot of energy within the fighting game genre,” Matsumoto-san added. “That makes me excited, but it also kind of fires me up, and I want to make sure that the team continues working hard and doing more great stuff with Street Fighter 6.”

Street Fighter 6’s next DLC character, Yasmine, will drop in Summer 2026, ushering in a new age of fresh faces as the game gears up for its first-ever guest character from the Final Fantasy universe.