This weekend the Tekken World Tour held its Grand Finals in Bangkok, Thailand. Before the Top 8 began, Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada came out with his right-hand man and translator Michael Murray to show off one new video to the crowd before the matches began.
In typical Harada fashion, there was actually more than one video to show. The first one was what Tekken fans had been waiting months for since his initial reveal at EVO this year: a full gameplay trailer for Leroy Smith, who managed to look even cooler than he did when T-Pain cosplayed Leroy Smith earlier this year at Dragon Con.
Backed by a hip hop track, Leroy's trailer is more of a music video, showcasing his moves as he travels the world, beating on anyone who stands in his way. This includes everyone from fellow Tekken Eastern Martial Arts experts like Law and Lei Wulong, to Kazuya and Heihachi Mishima.
Leroy's song also sets up the basics of his backstory. Leroy traveled to the East to learn martial arts and after an unknown amount of time came back as a Wing Chun master to get revenge on somebody, presumably the Mishimas, like most of Tekken's roster. Even when Geese Howard was added in Tekken he wanted to take down a Mishima, and he is from a different game.
Some new aspects of Leroy's gameplay were revealed, including his pitbull that can assist him in his attacks, similar to Kazumi's tiger. Leroy can also use his cane to attack his opponents, and can even hit the opponent off the ground. Leroy also appears to have multiple counter moves and even a Street Fighter III: Third Strike type parry. He can be seen countering multiple moves mid, high, and low.
Leroy's Rage Drive is an armored forward punch with huge knockback that can set up some highly damaging combos. Finally, his Rage Art is a flurry of quick blows ended by a Bruce Lee One Inch Punch. Kazumi is already one of the best characters in Tekken 7, so a character with similar abilities plus a plethora of defensive and counter options could end up being very powerful.
After the trailer, it was confirmed by Harada and Murray that Leroy will release alongside a returning character, Ganryu, this Tuesday, December 10th. The new frame data display mode will also release on the 10th alongside both characters. After the Leroy and Ganryu trailer, there was also a surprise third trailer for another new character, the Muay Thai monster Fahkumran. This new character looks like a mix of previous Tekken Muay Thai user Bruce Irvin and Street Fighter's Sagat.
Tekken 7 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Bandai Namco