Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada and Mortal Kombat producer Ed Boon have spoken online about who their favorite characters are in each other's games. Both Mortal Kombat and Tekken rank as some of the most influential series in the fighting game genre.
The Mortal Kombat and Tekken franchises both spawned from fighting arcade games released in the 1990s which eventually came to home consoles. While Tekken was most comparable to other Japanese fighting game series like Street Fighter and Guilty Gear, Mortal Kombat's claim to fame has been its strong penchant for violence and graphic imagery which partly led to the formation of the ESRB. Both series continue strong today: Tekken 8 was announced in 2022, and Mortal Kombat 12 was confirmed to be in development earlier this year.
Katsuhiro Harada and Ed Boon serve as the respective producers of Tekken and Mortal Kombat. Both of them were asked by fans on Twitter who their favorite character was in each other's franchise. Harada stated that his favorite Mortal Kombat character is Raiden who had often served as a principal character in the stories of the Mortal Kombat games and was last seen as Dark Raiden in Mortal Kombat 11. As for Ed Boon, his favorite Tekken character is Hwoarang who first appeared in Tekken 3 and was last seen in Tekken 7.
Fans of both series were supportive of these choices with some saying that it would be interesting to see them crossover into each other's worlds as guest characters. Crossovers are far from uncommon in the fighting game genre. Kazuya from Tekken was added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as DLC, and multiple Mortal Kombat characters such as series icon Scorpion were included as guests in the Injustice series. While a crossover between Tekken and Mortal Kombat may not be completely off the table, the massive stylistic differences between these games make it less likely to happen.
Similar to other long-running video game franchises, both Mortal Kombat and Tekken have been enjoyed by multiple generations of gamers. Those who enjoyed the original Tekken and Mortal Kombat games in the 1990s have been able to see them evolve in the decades since. The fact that those at the helm of these series are in good spirits with each other's work speaks volumes to the reputations of these games and further affirms the comradery present in the fighting game community.
Mortal Kombat 12 and Tekken 8 are both currently in development.
Source: Twitter