Bandai Namco has not slowed down with its Tekken 8 trailers. The company released a pair of new ones, both of which unveiled a new character. The first confirmed that long-time long-time combatant Asuka Kazama would be making a return, while the second confirmed that Leroy Smith would be making his second playable appearance, too.
Asuka has been in the series since Tekken 5 and is Jin Kazama’s cousin. She seems to have a fair bit of new moves (some of which use Heat), including her pointing taunt that appears to buff some of her attacks. Asuka also has a new costume, but Executive Director Katsuhiro Harada tweeted that she will still have her classic outfit, too.
Leroy is a relative newcomer to the series since he only made his Tekken debut in Tekken 7 and was part of the game’s third season pass (and also was in the Netflix anime after that). The trailer had him using some of his Wing Chun style to lay the smack down, and it even had a cameo of his dog, Sugar. He’s got his own statue in the stage, too, and his name can also be found on some signs. One sign even says “Bob,” which might be hinting at Bob’s imminent return.
Leroy was one of the more controversial parts of Tekken 7‘s DLC since, while players generally loved his visual design, he was notoriously overpowered. As documented by theScore esports, Leroy dominated the scene for some time where a huge percentage of high-level players picked this new challenger. Bandai Namco eventually nerfed him a bit, but he was still the undisputed King of the Iron Fist Tournament in of Tekken 7 during his early days.