Full Circle – TEKKEN x NIKE

TEKKEN’s Kazuya Mishima was the original video game character sneaker connoisseur. It was referenced as early as 1995 in the official game manual and later re-confirmed by TEKKEN series’ director Harada-san…

“…His number one hobby is collecting sneakers. He is a sneaker head.” – Katsuhiro Harada, TEKKEN Series Director

TEKKEN Project's @Harada_TEKKEN reconfirms that Kazuya is a sneakerhead.

Based on this, Kazuya would have been the very first fictional/video game character sneakerhead (dating back to 1994)?!

Would love to see what is in Kazuya's closet since he has hundreds of pairs! pic.twitter.com/suzzyb0MwW

— Mark Julio 『マークマン』 (@MarkMan23) July 3, 2022

As you can see from the above x/twitter post, Kazuya was the very first fictional/video game character sneakerhead. This dating back to 1994 (when the game was still in development). We even got to see Kazuya’s closest in TEKKEN 8 where he had hundreds of pairs on display!

New TEKKEN 8 trailer reminding everyone that Kazuya Mishima was the original video game sneakerhead!! pic.twitter.com/Eq38CPxjfC

— Mark Julio 『マークマン』 (@MarkMan23) August 22, 2023

How proper is it that at Evo 2024 this year, NIKE and TEKKEN announced a partnership and release of TWO NIKE sneakers (both in-game and as an actual sneaker product).

It was an honor to work with both Bandai Namco Ent. and NIKE on the launch of this project at Evo 2024. Not only that, it was just cool to see this come full circle.

Bonus! I even got to work with NIKE to help create some official NIKE x TEKKEN branded arcade sticks!

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