Tekken director remains intrigued by Waffle House as a fight stage

Bandai Namco’s Katsuhiro Harada is no stranger to zany, ironic humor in an over-the-top fighting game. The director gave us Street Fighter X Tekken and Pokkén Tournament, after all. Yet still he cannot fathom why American fans would want a Waffle House stage in Tekken 8 — but the fact he’s continuing to ask these questions on social media implies he’s at least considering the request.

To recap, earlier this spring Tekken fans swarmed social media to beg Harada and Bandai Namco to introduce a Waffle House stage in the game, which launched Jan. 26 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.

The request references a kind of Internet meme/video whereby some patron — “tired and emotional” as the British say — gets rowdy inside the 24-hour breakfast joint, a staple of U.S. Interstate culture, and they catch the hands from its overworked, pissed-off, underpaid staff. To wit:

I have already received a lot of… no.. tons of information from everyone about this store before, but let me ask one question from a different angle this time.

Why do fights like this between waitstaff and customers happen so often in the restaurant?
I have never seen plates… https://t.co/RLMnYeszqc

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) June 3, 2024

“I need to learn more about American society,.” Harada said. Waffle House was founded in 1955, about 120 years after Alexis de Tocqueville toured and documented the nascent American republic.

hell naw if the waffle house employee Perfect Parries your projectile pack it up lmfao pic.twitter.com/1m7Y30DiJ1

— Kevothy (@KevChelios) December 28, 2022

To answer Harada’s question, I frequently dine at Waffle House and I’ve never seen someone get out of hand and then scattered, smothered, and covered like a side of hashbrowns. These fights are largely one-off phenomena that get repeatedly played on social media and WorldStarHipHop.com. The vast majority of Waffle House patrons are a peaceable, hungry, and sleep-deprived people: truckers, postal service letter carriers, and college students.

Unless they’re on Saturday Night Live:

Why Waffle House is a perfect setting for a fighting game

But if someone decides it’s time to play the Feud, Waffle House employees do not mess around. This is a restaurant that the Federal Emergency Management Agency literally relies on as a marker for how bad a disaster is when a hurricane or other extreme weather event blows through. If the Waffle House ain’t open, son, it is officially BAD. They fight to save their restaurant, in other words.

That’s why Tekken 8 needs to include a Waffle House, or at least something that looks like it, in the game. I get that there would be licensing, lawyers, and a big discussion with the chain’s corporate leadership, brand managers, and PR staff to literally put that restaurant in the game.

But nothing prevents Harada and Bandai Namco from at least setting up a generic-looking diner, with cooks behind the counter rolling up their sleeves and tossing dishes at King, Heihachi, Kazumi et al. Make it happen, Harada!

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