Tekken boss says iconic ruffian Heihachi has so many "illegitimate children" he has trouble remembering them

Katsuhiro Harada, Bandai Namco's Tekken director, took to X to inform fans that series villain Heihachi Mishima might be even more wicked than originally thought. In addition to being a profoundly power-hungry maniac, Heihachi is also a terrible father. 

OK, you probably already knew that. In Tekken 1, Heihachi tosses his five-year-old son Kazuya off a cliff, leading the child to make a pact with a demon and get strong. In Tekken 2, Heihachi gets rid of Kazuya again, this time, by dropping him into a volcano. He seems to be unfamiliar with "gentle parenting." 

And he really is a scoundrel. In his X response to fan art of Kazuya's half-sister Reina calling Heihachi "father," Harada reminded fans that "Heihachi has numerous illegitimate children. I doubt if he remembers Reina very accurately." 

It may not be worse than punting your toddler off a precipice, but I think willfully forgetting who your own children are is still pretty lowly behavior. 

In his defense, I guess, Heihachi really does seem to have enough children to fill out an entire branch of government. Harada told Tekken fans in 2011 that Heihachi has "about 18-25 [illegitimate children] (all over the world) or more," though he can only "confirm 9." 

"Imagine a Tekken game where the entire roster is composed of Heihachi sons," reads a popular Reddit comment. Or, now that Heihachi has been added to Tekken 8, maybe a future patch could let him deploy his children like throwing knives. 

Tekken 8 director Harada "didn't mean to lie" when he said awful dad Heihachi Mishima was really, truly dead.

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