New fighters Leroy and Zafina coming to Tekken 7

At EVO 2019, Bandai Namco announced that martial artist Zafina and kung fu master Leroy Smith will be coming to Tekken 7 as part of its third Season Pass later this year.

Spiritual warrior Zafina — from Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 — will debut in September. Leroy Smith is a new character to the series; an American martial artist who lost everything to gang warfare when he was young, he’s now back for revenge. Zafina will not feature in the game’s Story Mode, and Leroy will join the roster this winter. The third Season Pass will also update the game with new moves for all characters, a new feature and a new stage. 

However, the internet span into a frenzy when Bandai Namco seemed to tease that Solid Snake from Konami’s Metal Gear series might be an upcoming fighter. In a clip that wasn’t streamed to live audiences and only played exclusively for the attendees, Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada spoke to Solid Snake in a codec conversation (via LightningCam on Twitter). 

Alas, EVO was in fact playing a prank on us all. The clip was in jest, and it turned out that Solid Snake won’t be coming to Tekken 7. The feverish excitement it drummed up has to count for something though. Harada and Snake should keep in contact, maybe as pen pals rather than through codec conversation, in case anyone gets the wrong idea.