Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada has revealed he once tried to get Colonel Sanders as a guest character in Tekken but KFC refused.
In a new interview with The Gamer, the Tekken series director talked about the difficulties of getting IP into the game “A long time ago, I wanted to have Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken fight. So, I asked to use Colonel Sanders and go to the head office in Japan.” However, he said the idea was shot down by KFC who gave him a “bad look”. Harada specifically describes the incident as taking place “a long time ago”.
Game designer Micheal Murray went into further detail saying “[Harada] went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and tried to get Colonel Sanders. […] they weren’t very open to the idea”. “[Colonel Sanders] appeared in games after that. So maybe it was just him fighting against someone [that] was posing a problem for them. But it just goes to show how difficult these types of discussions are.”
In more recent years it appears KFC has become more adventurous in marketing their IP. In 2019 KFC released Colonel Sanders Dating Sim I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator (available to play free on Steam). The KFC Lifetime movie parody A Recipe for Seduction followed this a year later.
Because of this refusal a Waffle House level also looks unlikely. This common fan request arose from various viral videos of fights breaking out at the 24-hour Southern dinner chain in the last few years. Because of this reputation fans felt Waffle House would be a perfect Tekken stage, a request they have made Harada very aware of.
On a Waffle House level, Harada said, “It’s not something that we can accomplish on our own,” reminding fans that they would need the cooperation of the IP holder. Tekken fans can only hope that Waffle House will be more open to collaboration than KFC.
Tekken 8 is now available on PlayStation5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Words by Louise Eve
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