2023 was a hell of a year for fighting games, with Street Fighter 6, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and Mortal Kombat 1 all releasing. Now Tekken 8 is imminent, and that means it’s time for the marketing to ramp up.
New character trailers have been dropping weekly, culminating in the 2023 Tekken World Tour, which saw the opening for the upcoming Bandai Namco fighter released. However, it also announced the first wave of DLC, including a huge surprise character rejoining the ranks.
Eddy Gordo confirmed as Tekken 8’s first DLC character
Announced at the end of the Tekken 8 opening movie, which was released on the Bandai Namco YouTube channel, Tekken 3’s Eddy Gordo will be the first round of Tekken 8 content.
Eddy is slated for a Spring 2024 release. Three other characters are also being teased for Tekken 8 Season 1. The names and specific release dates of those characters have yet to be announced.
Eddy is a fan-favorite who was one of the marquee characters of 1997’s Tekken 3. He’s a capoeira master who was falsely imprisoned for the murder of his father. Eddy breaks out of prison to enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament to convince the Mishima Zaibatsu to help his quest for revenge, but he eventually learns Kazuya Mishima is his father’s killer.
Since Tekken 3, Eddy has appeared in every game, though his appearances in Tekken 4 and 5 were limited to being a hidden character. For those games, Christie Monteiro was the resident capoeira fighter.
Eddy would return as a full-fledged fighter in Tekken 6, working alongside the Tekken Force with Kazuya’s son, Jin Kazama. In Tekken 7, Eddy remains on the hunt for Kazuya, though his story mode sees him contending with Lucky Chloe instead.
For fans, Eddy’s appearance is a welcome inclusion. Many had taken note in the months leading up to release that while Tekken 3 mainstays like Jin, Hwoarang, and Xiaoyu were in the game, Eddy was missing.
Developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, Tekken 8 is set six months after Tekken 7. The game promises to be the conclusion of the ongoing Mishima narrative, as it focuses on a final battle between Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama.
Tekken 8 releases January 26, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
