Tekken 8 Bot Gets to Destroyer Rank Pressing One Button

A fan-made Tekken 8 bot managed to obtain an online rank of Destroyer by pressing a single button. Bandai Namco's 3D fighter franchise has fostered a sizable and dedicated community since its 1994 debut, but that doesn't mean all the members of the Tekken sphere can agree on acceptable playstyles. Many players particularly look down on «spammers,» but as one user's Tekken 8 bot has shown, there might be a reason why mashing the same move over and over again is such a popular strategy.

Spammers are players who mash a single button or repeatedly perform the same move string during a match, typically with very little deviation in their attack patterns. Tekken's Eddy Gordo, who made his debut in Tekken 3, has long been regarded as one of the fighters most prone to attracting spammers, not only for his unorthodox moves but also because his evasive and graceful capoeira style is difficult to predict even for veterans familiar with the Tekken franchise. While there are plenty of longtime fans who can vouch for the character's complexity, Eddy players — especially those in the lower ranks — have garnered an infamous reputation for winning matches by relentlessly spamming, which has since become one of the inside jokes of the community.

One user attempted to verify how a player spamming several of Eddy's powerful combo strings might fair in Tekken 8's online ranked mode. Twitch streamer jimmashima used a bot programmed to press one, and only one, button without regard for spacing, frame data, or character matchup and set it loose on the game's matchmaking system. The bot surprisingly had a decent run, even making its way to the game's orange ranks and peaking at Destroyer — only two steps away from Garyu and Tekken 8's red ranks.

For context, Tekken 8's online matchmaking is divided into color divisions, ranging from brown to gold, with three separate ranks in every division. If a new player attempted to climb the ladder from the very bottom, the orange ranks would be the