{"id":32063,"date":"2024-06-06T18:03:24","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T09:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=32063"},"modified":"2024-06-06T18:42:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T09:42:00","slug":"katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/","title":{"rendered":"Tekken&#8217;s quirky character voice lines were a way to entice console gamers, Harada reveals\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a post by user BuffGigas, the <strong>Tekken<\/strong> 8 character Nina Williams can be seen stomping on newcomer Reina before sarcastically asking \u201cThis hurt?\u201d in English. Reina, being Japanese, responds with what BuffGigas assumes is \u201cIisou\u201d, which roughly translates to \u201cthat\u2019s nice\/good\u201d. This misunderstanding of Tekken 8\u2019s dialogue prompted game director Katsuhiro Harada to take to social media to explain some things about the exchange and how the Tekken roster evolved to include characters with more dialogue and personality.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">I think Reina said &quot;\u3044\u3044\u305d\u3046&quot; (That&#39;s nice) when Nina step on her <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/er4aMG3WOi\">https:\/\/t.co\/er4aMG3WOi<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/59psd4tqzo\">pic.twitter.com\/59psd4tqzo<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Hi! Buff Gigas Please? (@BuffGigas) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuffGigas\/status\/1797938649545556208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding the exchange between Nina and Reina, Harada explains that the latter is exclaiming not \u201cIisou\u201d but rather \u201cIizo\u201d \u2013 a much stronger, provocative word. Reina\u2019s manner of pronouncing \u201cIizo\u201d is akin to saying \u201cGood! Go ahead, I dare you!\u201d rather than commenting on how nice it is to get hit by Nina\u2019s attacks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is not &quot;iisou&quot; but &quot;iizo&quot; (like \u201ciizoou!\u201d a little stronger than &quot;iizo!&quot;). The nuance is NOT JUST &quot;That&#39;s good,&quot; but includes a &quot;Good! Go ahead, I dare you!\u201d.<br><br>Originally, this specification was developed by me during the development of TEKKEN3, when Nina made a specific\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lQqTCbuOfh\">https:\/\/t.co\/lQqTCbuOfh<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Harada_TEKKEN\/status\/1798164766806155521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This prompted Harada to go off on a tangent about how character dialogue and personalities have evolved in the Tekken franchise. While they were working on Tekken 3, game directors Masamichi Abe, Yutaka Kounoe, Katsuhiro Harada, and the rest of the development team noticed the gradual decline of the arcade market and the shift towards home consoles. To entice PlayStation 1 owners to play Tekken 3, they decided that the console version would include more obscure modes like Tekken Force and Tekken Ball \u2013 both of which would return in future games in the series. These modes show Tekken characters in a different light as they partake in activities other than one-on-one brawls.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harada states that whilst the first two games in the series had pre-rendered movies, Tekken 3 is when the team started adding dialogue other than the standard fighting game grunts. The first characters to speak were series mainstay Yoshimitsu and then-newcomer Bryan Fury \u2013 the latter of which seems ironic now since Bryan rarely talks. Since technologies like facial animation and lip-syncing weren\u2019t widely implemented at the time, the development team had to find workarounds. Dialogue was kept to a minimum, with Harada himself providing the English localization of Tekken 3. Certain tricks like hiding the character\u2019s face from view while they speak or make noises were also implemented to increase immersion while reducing development costs. Bryan\u2019s maniacal laughter and screams in Tekken 3 gave him the air of both a sadist and masochist \u2013 which is exactly what Harada wanted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-001.jpg\" alt=\"Tekken 5 Dragunov\" class=\"wp-image-32079\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-001.jpg 900w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-001-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-001-600x337.jpg 600w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Harada and the rest of the development team would take things in a different direction when developing the Russian character Sergei Dragunov for Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. Whereas the game\u2019s then-new French character, Lili Rochefort, is chipper and talkative, Harada wanted Dragunov to be the darker \u201cYin\u201d to Lili\u2019s \u201cYang.\u201d When questioned about Dragunov\u2019s dialogue by a fellow developer, Harada dared the team to make Dragunov mute and as unexpressive as possible. It seems Harada fully expected Dragunov to not be well-received by fans due to his plain and brooding nature.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, that was not the case at all. At a time when characters were becoming more expressive and talkative, Dragunov\u2019s lack of expression and voice lines made him popular with players. They found his quirks \u201cunique;\u201d and to this day the character hasn\u2019t uttered a single word during battle or in any other setting. Harada reflects on how Tekken\u2019s character popularity comes from the weirdest places. He never expected characters like Bryan and Dragunov to be well-received, let alone mainstays in the franchise. Harada\u2019s lengthy post is well worth the read- an unexpectedly insightful reply to a cheeky video about Nina Williams stepping on Reina.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tekken director explains how the fighting game series developed unique characters such as Lili, Dragunov and Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":32078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-32063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tekken&#039;s quirky character voice lines were a way to entice console gamers, Harada reveals\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tekken director explains how the fighting game series developed unique characters such as Lili, Dragunov and Bryan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tekken&#039;s quirky character voice lines were a way to entice console gamers, Harada reveals\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tekken director explains how the fighting game series developed unique characters such as Lili, Dragunov and Bryan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-06T09:03:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-06T09:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"506\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tekken's quirky character voice lines were a way to entice console gamers, Harada reveals\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Tekken director explains how the fighting game series developed unique characters such as Lili, Dragunov and Bryan.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tekken's quirky character voice lines were a way to entice console gamers, Harada reveals\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Tekken director explains how the fighting game series developed unique characters such as Lili, Dragunov and Bryan.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2024-06-06T09:03:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-06T09:42:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":506,"url":"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31"},"headline":"Tekken&#8217;s quirky character voice lines were a way to entice console gamers, Harada reveals\u00a0","datePublished":"2024-06-06T09:03:24+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-06T09:42:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/"},"wordCount":617,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Game Development","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/","name":"Tekken's quirky character voice lines were a way to entice console gamers, Harada reveals\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-header.jpg","datePublished":"2024-06-06T09:03:24+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-06T09:42:00+00:00","description":"Tekken director explains how the fighting game series developed unique characters such as Lili, Dragunov and Bryan.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/20240606-32063-header.jpg","width":900,"height":506,"caption":"Tekken 8 Lili"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-gives-insight-into-tekken-characters-voices-and-personalities\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tekken&#8217;s quirky character voice lines were a way to entice console gamers, Harada reveals\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31","name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","caption":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor"},"description":"Automaton West writer. Zoto has been playing video games for 30+ years now but has only recently come to grips with PC gaming. When he isn't playing video games, he watches romance anime and gets mad when his best girl never wins.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/carlos-zotomayor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32063"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32085,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32063\/revisions\/32085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}