Yohei Shimbori Now Works on Tekken 8

There was no intention of me writing this as a professional news article because I really am in distinct shock, and I'm sure there will be more articles pertaining to Yohei Shimbori in the near future that will go that route but for now let's just take it in as the holy shit moment that it is.

At first, I will admit that I had to check multiple sources to believe this was real, but Yohei Shimbori is now a Producer/Director Assistant for Tekken 8. Now I think while that it is indeed a surprise; it should not be of a surprise to most of us because of all of the signs Dead or Alive players have seen throughout the development cycle of Tekken 8. This brand jump to say the least has made things interesting as there are going to be a lot of former doubters or even advocates of Shimbori at Koei Tecmo thinking "well maybe it's time we show the world we don't need Shimbori" or "this might be a way to open up business and make some real fucking money."

While I was scrolling through the responses on X I saw a lot of mixed emotions from the Dead or Alive community, but perhaps the smartest response was from FSD Nichol (give this guy a follow) that stated:

The DOA players had it right the whole time. Crazy new environmental interactions, unbreakable throws on counter, stuff we have been trained to deal with for quite some time. Happy to see where Shimbori ended up after that fiasco with KT! Looking forward to Tekken 8.

The genius behind Katsuhiro Harada was to theoretically state that if you don't see the value in Shimbori and if you don't want him; I'll take him. That being said this opens an entirely new level of business if Koei Tecmo and Bandai Namco can come to some terms. It would mean opening the Tekken roster to Dead or Alive characters; and now that they have Shimbori even the most purist of the DOA fandom would jump to the opportunity to play.

Even if Dead or Alive 6 was met with a mixed reaction, it doesn't mean that Yohei Shimbori can't recover his career in a different way and despite my personal feelings (and many others) I hope that he succeeds, and I hope the people upstairs are open to making good business decisions that would satisfy both fanbases.

 

Whoever takes over DOA now is going to have a LOT of shoes to fill for sure!

 

Funny seeing the reactions of people now that the cat is out of the bag. Namco are no angels but I hope they treat him better in the longterm than KT did.

 

Will this mean that future Tekken's will be more like DOA? Tekken 8 will have more DOA-esque environmental interactions. Wishing the best for Shimbori and his career. Really not a fan of KT.

 

Hopefully this means a good life support for Tekken 8, I did kinda notice some DOAish type things like the adjustments to counter throws and how the environmental hazards and presentation seemed to be taking some inspiration from DOA so it's nice that Shimbori is supplying his stuff to Tekken instead.

As long as no other hindrances are repeated from DOA I think it should be a good move for him since Tekken is a higher profile game. If anything I hope more influence can be used to further refine Tekken 8 so that way it's life span is as long or even longer than what Tekken 7 was

 

It's a good thing this was kept under wraps for as long as possible. Not only for Shimbori's sake to protect himself from being harrased by DOA Twitter lunatics, but It could have drawn negative attention towards Tekken 8 because of the stigma that comes with DOA, well DOA6 atleast.

 

It's a good thing this was kept under wraps for as long as possible. Not only for Shimbori's sake to protect himself from being harrased by DOA Twitter lunatics, but It could have drawn negative attention towards Tekken 8 because of the stigma that comes with DOA.

Pretty much this. I'm sure Shimbori wants to get away from any drama related to DOA and his former job as much as possible, so hopefully people treat him with that level of respect going forward. He was given the most rotten hand on his last project and everyone deserves a clean break.

Well, except spiders.

 

You can truly never say never in the FGC.

If you have played Tekken 8 can you attest to any other DOA similarities outside of things more universal such as environment. More individual characteristics? Or how about any of the new characters? Do they appear to be like a DOA character.

Is there indication that a seasoned DOA6 player could jump right in to a Tekken 8 tournament?

 

You can truly never say never in the FGC.

If you have played Tekken 8 can you attest to any other DOA similarities outside of things more universal such as environment. More individual characteristics? Or how about any of the new characters? Do they appear to be like a DOA character.

Is there indication that a seasoned DOA6 player could jump right in to a Tekken 8 tournament?

Someone I know said Tekken 8 is DOA6 but with a ground game. While funny, I think that's an overexaggeration. If anything, I am seeing more of the SC6 influence on the mechanics (like the Heat engage stuff). Azucena could fit into a modern DOA game very welll too.

From the limited time I spent with both the CNT/CBT, the throw system felt more like DOA to me. I was able to connect more throws than I did in previous Tekken but could just be people aren't reacting/frames are different/etc. Throws seemed like they got buffed which I like.

I do think the higher damage you get in a round is similar to how the damage scaled in DOA5. Matches were over a lot faster than they were in Tekken 7. I like this change.

I don't think Tekken 8 is going to scratch that itch for a new DOA game, although it has some of its DNA. I think SC6 is the much larger influencer in how T8 plays IMO.

 

My understanding is that throws are unbreakable on counter now, but breakable otherwise.

... wait, how many years did I ask for that to be in DOA?

Oh, Shimbori. You're my favorite fan.

 

You can truly never say never in the FGC.

If you have played Tekken 8 can you attest to any other DOA similarities outside of things more universal such as environment. More individual characteristics? Or how about any of the new characters? Do they appear to be like a DOA character.

Is there indication that a seasoned DOA6 player could jump right in to a Tekken 8 tournament?

Gameplay wise I think Tekken is similar to DOA6 in a degree since the game is focusing more on pressure and less on juggles. I noticed that overall in Tekken 7 getting a knockdown or getting a snake edge juggle was far easier but in Tekken 8 they seemed to tone that down and change specific things so that way a knock down or a launch is more earned rather than a given, like they want you to really focus more on standing mix ups and making use of chip damage and the wall since more attacks cause that wall stagger. It's like with certain attacks they want you to focus on guarantees and the frame advantage rather than just get knockdown since the wake up kicks don't even knock down anymore. The fact that throws counter power crushes now is definitely a huge DOA inspo I like that they brought over and limiting how effective reversals are now.

The environmental hazards are basically like DOA6(wall explosions mainly) and it seems more dramatic visually since in Tekken 7 and prior games, floor and wall breaks seemed more generic and not as shocking, wherein Tekken 8 you actually have more visual flair to it. It's not as spectacular as DOA's danger zones but it's a good start.

The characters are more expressive definitely as far as personality, which is a major come up since the old grunts and attack sounds of the older characters were jarring compared to the post Tekken 7 characters like Katarina, Claudio, Lucky Chloe, Kunimitsu II, and Negan who were far more talkative and expressive. Now everyone in Tekken 8 actually talk in battle and their dialogue sounds fresh and current, and the battle intros vs specific characters was definitely giving me DOA2-DOA4 vibes with how much like DOA cutscenes they were xD

As for characters, I'd say Azucena is kinda like a DOA character, she kinda reminds me of Mila mixed with Laura from SF5 but just with a corny coffee fixation but idk, I still think besides her clothes, she visually seems basic and lacks expression, but her and Reina definitely give me DOA vibes with how their stances can automatically counter and parry attacks.

And I think as far as a seasoned player, I think they could jump in but maybe if they already had been playing Tekken a while since even for me, DOA and Tekken are still different, especially with the button system. But now I think it'd be easier since DOA and Tekken are at least more now on the same page as far as not being launch city anymore

 

My understanding is that throws are unbreakable on counter now, but breakable otherwise.

... wait, how many years did I ask for that to be in DOA?

Oh, Shimbori. You're my favorite fan.

Now Shimbori finally has the animation budget to do it!

Everything's being built from the ground up, like Harada says (you know if you just ignore the ported T7 costumes with textures intact)

 

Beautiful news to see. Congrats to him and I fully support him on it. It's a good thing if his DOA secrets and experience are being transferred to the Tekken team. On top that Harada recently confirmed guests on his Twitter in the future that isn't base roster.

Overall, I like the idea of Shimbori going to Tekken personally because not only is he in a good spot in terms of FG support, but he can also be the bridge to alleviate the tension of DOA and Tekken to intermingle more for contracts. With Shimbori on board, there is hope of some sort of collaboration in any shape or form. One of the few (or only) guy that can make it work because of his experience with DOA already.

Maybe we can finally turn off that shitty old scripted beef from a dev (Itagaki) that's not even doing FGs anymore and start doing some actual collaborations for once and work together.

 

While im not saying its impossible.... there is some very REAL, non-scripted beef between Shimbori and KT. I don't know if such a thing is even possible or if the bridge was completely burned to the ground when he left, but it wasn't pretty. But yea, in the name of money, I guess anything can happen.

 

While im not saying its impossible.... there is some very REAL, non-scripted beef between Shimbori and KT. I don't know if such a thing is even possible or if the bridge was completely burned to the ground when he left, but it wasn't pretty. But yea, in the name of money, I guess anything can happen.

Oh shit that's right. Curious if there is lingering negative emotions from Shimbori and KT at this moment. Here's hoping it's not too drastically long lasting.

I definitely know KT & Itagaki has some lingering hate for sure heh heh. That man has no interest of coming back (not like he could which is probably for the best).

 

Itagaki was making drunk calls to Tom Lee putting him on blast when Devil's Third was about to launch. And Tom was one of his better friends lol

 

japanese don't simply quit their job, you suppose to work at one company till you die. if you got fired you must really upset the CEO and taking a job in competitor company constitute to treachery and treason

 

Greatest anime betrayals: Yohei Shimbori working on Tekken (which is actually kinda true since both games are very anime)

 

This explains why I thought the Tekken 8 beta was dogshit. The only relevant news to come from this is that DOA might actually have a chance now.

 

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