Jack

It’s hard to go back to the first Tekken game because the sequels were so much better. It didn’t help that director Katsuhiro Harada said balance wasn’t a big deal because the 3D fighting game was still new. It was more important to finish it and get it on the PS1.

King can now hit everyone with his elbow. The Mishimas showed the world what they were up to with Wavedash. Big lugs like Jack had to kill them because they were too big and slow to fight back. Even though he had a lot of reach, he was the worst player on the basic squad. Still, he got better as the games went on, though not to the best levels.

Roger & Alex

Some people found it hard to think that Tekken 2 was made with the same game technology as Tekken 1. For now, it’s easier to believe because the game is still stiffer than later ones, and the moon jumps were still painful. That being said, it was full of personalities and secrets.

Players would fight either Roger the kangaroo or Alex the dinosaur if they won the last round of Stage 3 in Arcade Mode with 5% or less health. This is called a “Great” win. They pretty much had the same move list as King, but they didn’t have the multipart throws and their attacks were different enough that they could be hit even if they were stopped. Even though they were just jokes, they would work better in later games if you took them seriously.

Lei Wulong

Lei Wulong, the “super police” of Hong Kong, is faster than Jack and isn’t a joke like Roger and Alex. But since he’s been a regular of the show since T2, his quality has gone up and down like a yo-yo. In Tekken 3, 6, and Tag Tournament 2, he was in the top middle, but in Tekken 7, he was down low.

In Tekken 4, his weaker juggling and lack of strength made it so that his many stances and tricky mix-ups weren’t enough to save him. It took more time for players to make him useful. That being said, Jin and Nina could still shut him down with a lot less work.

Zafina

Zafina was one of the more interesting new characters that came out in Tekken 6. She had a strange way of fighting that got people confused with its changes and mix-ups. She was connected to the story and its main bad guy, Azazel. Some thought she was strong enough to hang from the top tier. But most people think she’s the worst character in the game.

When you play Tekken for fun, the changes between tiers aren’t as important as they are in 2D fights. Master players, on the other hand, knew how to beat Zafina’s tricks. A lot of her moves hit mid or low, which makes her easy to block and parry low. Then, just like Lei, she had to practice a lot to get her routines and juggles to work. It might be worth it to get to know her, but not as much as getting to know Bryan or Lars.

Lars

One of the best figures in T6 was Lars Alexandersson. With his pokes and jabs, he could keep opponents away, and his speed and power let him bring the pain close. It was because he was so strong that some players said he was broken, like the famous T4 Jin and T5 Steve. In T7, he was given too many corrections.

He kept his pokes and was good at striking people who did something wrong. People who tried to do his heavy-duty routines had to take more chances, which made it easier to strike him back. They worked out well if they paid off. People could turn to the right to avoid most of his moves and stop the Swede from moving. We can only hope that he gets better in T8.

Gon

Gon is the first guest character in Tekken, and he was the only one until Akuma, Geese, Negan, and the rest showed up in T7. He comes from Masashi Tanaka’s comic of the same name. You can get this little orange dinosaur by beating him in T3’s Ball Mode, which wasn’t hard. He’s so short that, like Yoda in SoulCalibur 4, he could poke at his opponent’s legs while they’re swinging at nothing above him.

Or he could if he wasn’t so bad at moving. Because his legs were so short, Gon’s strikes had a very short range. It was easy to avoid his charge and fireball attacks, as well as his fart attack. But that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the funniest characters in the show. Harada said that he wouldn’t be coming back, so he’s now only T3.

Dr. Boskonovitch

It’s not just Gon who was a (fake) joke in T3. People who beat the game’s Force Mode three times and then a fourth time could fight Dr. Boskonovitch and get his key. He is the scientist who made the Jack robots, Yoshimitsu’s spinning hand, Alisa, his robot daughter in T6, and other things. He’s an old man who can’t stand up straight in the game.

He was meant to be hard, and you had to press in a lot of different directions just to keep him from falling over all the time. Since most of the time he spent rolling around on the floor, it was clear that he was at the bottom of the pile. Even though he learned new moves in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, he didn’t get much better. At least he learned how to stand up on his own.

Yoshimitsu

Yoshimitsu is like FIFA in Tekken games. Without him, there would be no fun. He is one of the few characters who has been in every game. Some might think that his sword gives him an unfair edge in a fistfight, but his unique way of fighting makes up for it. Fans and opponents alike don’t know what to expect from his kicks, flips, and poses.

He goes down the tier list when his moves are changed, which is a shame.T5 changed most of his moves, which made him less mobile, less able to fight, and less able to track. Then T7 changed his stance so he could use both swords at the same time, but it took away from his strength and ability to poke. That was Yoshimitsu’s T5 set that did better in T6 and Doodle Baseball. His new style might do better in T8.

P.Jack

Jack’s flaws in T1 were also present in Sub-Boss Jack. Aside from the fact that he looked like he was from a dump, there weren’t many major changes between the two. T2 changed that by giving P.Jack a new look that was based on the military and some new moves, such as the Flying Stomp and the Body Smash throw. He was meant to be the version of Jack who has all the power and no heart.

Instead, he’s a worse take in real life. He moved slowly, wasn’t safe, and didn’t have the few mix-ups that the other Jacks did. With his spinning strikes and beating throw, Bandai-Namco used him as a joke character by TTT1. Even so, the fact that he needed a banned adjustable crane move to work in TTT2 didn’t help.

Kuma & Panda

In the end, Kuma and Panda, the bears, would be the Tekken joke characters that were most like Dan Hibiki, Mocap, etc. It’s not always like this, though. Kuma I was like Jack but bigger and slower. They were stronger than P.Jack in the first two Tekken games. Because they squat and have a long reach, T5 even saw his son Kuma II and his crush Panda get to the upper mid-tier level.

But from their first match in T3 to TTT2, it was easy to avoid, block, and strike them because they were moving slowly. Even after getting battle styles that were a bit different in T7. They were still at the bottom of the list, right behind Lars and Yoshimitsu. T8 says Kuma will try to copy more of his old teacher Heihachi’s style. But it’s not clear if that will get him back to upper-mid or move him up.