By Olivia Richman

Copyright escapistmagazine

We almost got a really cool and unique female character in Tekken and now I’m sad. Recently on X, Tekken Project Lead Katsuhior Harada responded to a fighting game fan asking if he ever considered a female drunk fist character for the game. In response, Harada said: “It was on the lists of my ideas.” Ug, bummer. What Is a Drunken Fist Fighter? “Drunken fist” is a term that’s often used to refer to a fighting style that resembles the movements of a drunk person. You can see a lot of martial aritsts utilizing this style in movies, but it’s also in other fighting games: Jamie from Street Fighter 6 and Shun Di from Virtua Fighter 5. Shun Di will even drink mid-combo, adding to the overall humor of the fighting style. As you’ve probably noticed yourself, most drunken fist fighters are men. This is likely because it’s seen as such a comical way to fight and we often associate with men having that kind of attitude in popular media. It would have definitely been fun to see Tekken’s take on a female drunken fist fighter. So what happened? Harada explained: “Given the background at the time, as a game intended for arcades, there was the aspect that alcohol couldn’t really be pushed to the forefront or expressed openly.” https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/1963032800304758823 I agree that alcohol and blatant drunkenness were likely not allowed, but not even just a sloppy, goofy, whimsical fighting style? I find that hard to believe. Either way, couldn’t a female drunken fist character be added now? We got Lei Wulong in Tekken 2 and that was in 1995. Seeing a female character stumbling around yet landing seemingly accidental powerful punches between swigs would be hilarious. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if Tekken would ever take risks with its female characters. At the moment, many of the female fighters look quite similar in terms of facial features, breast size, and body shape, although Harada recently showed us a very helpful and important update on boobs. Would they really let a female character be sorta goofy rather than sexy, mysterious, and cute? Probably not. We’re lucky we even got a female character who drinks coffee. But now that the idea is in my head, I would love to see it happen. C’mon, give us something different!