The Tekken series has been going strong ever since the first game hit the arcades back in 1994. It’s now one of the premier fighting games available on consoles and PC, and a rival to the better-known Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter franchises in the fighting game arena.
But despite Tekken playing second fiddle to the big boys over the years, it’s clear the series has a loyal following, while the games feature a colorful cast of characters to play as like its rivals do.
One of these characters is Nina Williams, who’s featured in the games ever since the first one (and is surely one of the sexiest video game characters to date too).
In the earlier Tekken 7, Nina fought in a wedding dress in lieu of her usual purple outfit, and she will sport a new look in the upcoming Tekken 8 game as seen in the gameplay trailer below.
In the video Nina can be seen beating the living daylights out of Paul Phoenix, another long-running character in the series whose latest incarnation can be seen in this gameplay teaser.
Aside from spouting cool one liners like “isn’t it past your bedtime?”, and showing off her martial arts and shooting skills, Nina also enters “heat mode” during the fight.
Heat mode is one of the new gameplay features which Bandai Namco has added in this new Tekken game. When active, the character appears surrounded by blue flames and can hit harder for a limited period of time, which can be prolonged by executing the right moves.
The game, then, might play just as good as it looks, and there’s no denying that the action on display here is spectacular including the ruined building which serves as a backdrop for the fight. There’s a lot of background detail to savor, although most players are unlikely to notice as they focus on the fight at hand of course…
It will also be interesting to see how Nina Williams’ story continues in Tekken 8, as she had an important role to play in the events of the previous game. Will she be put in cryosleep again, and finally put her long-running rivalry with her sister Anna Williams to rest? This remains to be seen.
Tekken 8 is looking like it could be one of the top games to release in the coming months, even if it might not be hitting shelves in 2023 though. Either way, we’ll be glad to hear more from Bandai Namco in the weeks to come about its latest fighting game, and hopefully have news of a release date sooner rather than later too…