Recurring fan favorite character Paul Phoenix has received a brand-new trailer dedicated to him in the lead-up to Tekken 8, with Bandai Namco giving fans two minutes of gameplay footage. While he was initially teased briefly during a trailer at last year’s The Game Awards, this is the first time he’s taken the spotlight in promotion for the game.
What’s most immediately noticeable about this iteration of Paul Phoenix is his new haircut. In Tekken 7, Paul sported a spiked-up haircut that could only be described as being akin to someone styling their quiff to resemble a lamp post, with it shooting up vertically by at least a foot. Paul’s retained his fashion sense of donning a leather jacket, but his haircut now looks closer to a middle-aged man going through a midlife crisis, given his grizzled and aged face.
Granted, finally showing some age and having a larger makeover is understandable given his appearance in every single Tekken game since the first, all the way back in 1994 in the arcades, before coming to PlayStation in 1995. Despite that, he still exudes youthfulness, pulling a wheelie on a motorcycle near the start of the trailer to enter a battle. Following this, he’s seen pulling out various hefty-looking punches and kicks, before leading into some Heat actions and special moves to finish off.
Paul is currently the 11th confirmed character for the roster, with other returning fighter, Nina Williams, being confirmed just prior with a similar style of trailer showcasing some of her moves. Other returning characters so far include the likes of Jin, Kazuya, Jack-8, and King.
Tekken 8 was first formally revealed last September (series producer Katsuhiro Harada teased it shortly before) during a Sony State of Play presentation, with Bandai Namco regularly rolling out information for the title leading up to its release. It’s been quite a long time coming, with Tekken 7 first coming to arcades in 2015, and seeing a console release in 2017.
While there is currently no release date for Tekken 8, it’s been confirmed that it’ll be skipping previous generation consoles, only releasing on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
