Former Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada has revealed his involvement in the creation of the recent teaser trailer for Roger Jr.'s return in Tekken 8. The trailer, which debuted at EVO 2026, directly references a viral video from Australia depicting a man punching an aggressive kangaroo that was holding a dog in a headlock.
Harada explained that he sent a link to the decade-old video to the development team in September of the previous year when the decision was made to bring Roger Jr. back to the franchise. He noted that some of the younger team members were unfamiliar with the clip. "I wasn’t personally involved in editing this video, but I heard yesterday that around springtime the team was actually hesitating over whether to include the recreation because they were running out of time," Harada shared on social media. "Apparently, [Tekken 8 game director Kohei Ikeda’s] final direction was, ‘We absolutely have to do it.’"
Harada admitted he had nearly given up on the idea himself, believing the gag might not be implemented. "I thought, ‘They probably won’t do that gag anymore. They’ve probably forgotten about it,’" he stated. "So when I saw it yesterday, it genuinely made me smile. I thought, ‘Ah, they actually did it!’"
Roger Jr. was a fan favorite in Tekken 6 but was notably absent from Tekken 7. The teaser for the character appears at the conclusion of the Bob gameplay trailer, with a full trailer scheduled to be released at EVO France on October 11, 2026.
Harada departed from Bandai Namco in December 2025 after more than 30 years with the company, where he served as a key figure in the Tekken series. He has since established his own development studio, VS Studio, in partnership with SNK Corporation. It was also recently announced that Kohei Ikeda, who served as game director for Tekken and Tekken 8 and spent 20 years at Bandai Namco, has also left the company.