Tekken boss says iconic ruffian Heihachi has so many "illegitimate children" he has trouble remembering them

Tekken 8 screenshot
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Katsuhiro Harada, Bandai Namco's Tekken director, took to X to inform fans that series villain Heihachi Mishima might be even more wicked than originally thought. In addition to being a profoundly power-hungry maniac, Heihachi is also a terrible father. 

OK, you probably already knew that. In Tekken 1, Heihachi tosses his five-year-old son Kazuya off a cliff, leading the child to make a pact with a demon and get strong. In Tekken 2, Heihachi gets rid of Kazuya again, this time, by dropping him into a volcano. He seems to be unfamiliar with "gentle parenting." 

And he really is a scoundrel. In his X response to fan art of Kazuya's half-sister Reina calling Heihachi "father," Harada reminded fans that "Heihachi has numerous illegitimate children. I doubt if he remembers Reina very accurately." 

It may not be worse than punting your toddler off a precipice, but I think willfully forgetting who your own children are is still pretty lowly behavior. 

In his defense, I guess, Heihachi really does seem to have enough children to fill out an entire branch of government. Harada told Tekken fans in 2011 that Heihachi has "about 18-25 [illegitimate children] (all over the world) or more," though he can only "confirm 9." 

"Imagine a Tekken game where the entire roster is composed of Heihachi sons," reads a popular Reddit comment. Or, now that Heihachi has been added to Tekken 8, maybe a future patch could let him deploy his children like throwing knives. 

Tekken 8 director Harada "didn't mean to lie" when he said awful dad Heihachi Mishima was really, truly dead.

Ashley Bardhan
Contributor

Ashley Bardhan is a critic from New York who covers gaming, culture, and other things people like. She previously wrote Inverse’s award-winning Inverse Daily newsletter. Then, as a Kotaku staff writer and Destructoid columnist, she covered horror and women in video games. Her arts writing has appeared in a myriad of other publications, including Pitchfork, Gawker, and Vulture.