Tekken 8 Season 3: The Resurgence of ‘Kunimitsu’

Kunimitsu, the popular Kunoichi from the Tekken series, has announced her return in Tekken 8.

Having debuted as a late-stage DLC character in Tekken 7, where her performance exceeded expectations and earned her a dedicated fanbase, many users are eager to see how she will perform in Tekken 8. How did the development team aim to integrate Kunimitsu into this new title? We sat down with Producer Michael Murray before her release to find out.

Infiltrating Mishima Polytechnic: Targeting Her Mother’s Nemesis!

As briefly shown in the pre-release trailer, this second-generation Kunimitsu has a backstory involving her infiltration of Mishima Polytechnic as a student.

Producer Murray explained, “You might have noticed in the trailer that Kunimitsu wears a mix of ninja armor and a school uniform; this reflects her concept as a student at Mishima Polytechnic.” He added that among the students, Reina has already caught on to Kunimitsu’s infiltration, and the two perceive each other as useful allies while maintaining a facade of friendship.

This relationship allows Kunimitsu to tip off Reina about G Corp’s invasion plans, while Reina helps Kunimitsu obtain the powerful cursed blade, ‘Kujido.’ With the blade in hand, Kunimitsu enters The King of Iron Fist Tournament, hosted by Kazuya Mishima, to hunt down her mother’s nemesis, Yoshimitsu.

Beyond Reina, Kunimitsu also has special interactions with Raven, who trained under Kunimitsu’s father—a long-time friend of Victor. Murray noted that while there is no separate story expansion this time, players can catch glimpses of Kunimitsu’s backstory through these special interactions.

A Master of Stances and Mind Games: The Importance of Aggressive Play

Murray highlighted Kunimitsu’s strengths as her variety of stances and her ease in initiating mind games. Kunimitsu possesses three distinct stances: ‘Setsunagake’, ‘Back-Turned’, and ‘Katon’.

First, ‘Setsunagake’ allows her to quickly close the distance, leveraging her unique mobility to apply pressure and launch fast-paced offensives. ‘Back-Turned’ makes her unable to guard, but it provides access to fast mid-attacks or deceptive low-attacks, making it easy to disrupt the opponent’s flow and seize the turn. ‘Katon’ is a stance used to toy with opponents, including teleportation attacks, allowing her to maintain an advantage once she wins a mind game.

Murray explained that because Kunimitsu generally has short reach until Heat is activated, it is best to close the distance as much as possible to maintain the offensive. He then introduced her ultimate performance, ‘Flame Dance’. Flame Dance is an attack Kunimitsu can use during Heat, allowing her to engage in long-range combat using two swords. This offsets her short-reach disadvantage and enables even more aggressive play.

Finally, Murray described her Rage Art, which utilizes the cursed blade Kujido, emphasizing it as a move that highlights her unique character traits and serves as her final counterattack. He added that they paid close attention to the visual direction to ensure it captures the essence of a Kunoichi, featuring her using nine cursed blades to slash her enemies.

Seeing is Believing: Kunimitsu’s Features Through Pre-release Play

Thanks to the support of Bandai Namco, we had the opportunity to play Kunimitsu before her official release. After spending several hours with her in practice mode and CPU matches, I felt she is a character specialized for infighting with very distinct strengths and weaknesses.

While the risk lies in her short reach, which forces you to stay glued to your opponent, once you close the gap, you can unleash a relentless, fierce barrage of attacks. It also felt designed to satisfy both those simply interested in her and those looking to make her their main character.

For example, executing ↖+LKRK launches the opponent; following up with a right-hand combo and a Heat Smash can deal over 80 damage without complex commands. Of course, such moves carry significant frame disadvantages and only work at lower ranks, but the design allows even casual fans to easily enjoy the game.

Conversely, those aiming for higher ranks or looking to master Kunimitsu must learn complex Chain Skills utilizing Setsunagake, Back-Turned, and Katon.

Tekken 8 Kunimitsu Launch Q&A with Producer Michael Murray

The setting where Kunimitsu forms an alliance with Reina to uncover the Mishima Zaibatsu’s secrets is impressive. This variable will likely act as a key element in expanding Kunimitsu’s backstory and relationships with other characters in future story developments. It may also indicate a direction where the story will focus on exploring the mysterious powers and history of the cursed blade Kujido, adding depth to Kunimitsu’s character arc.