Ding, ding, seconds out. When you think of fighting games, it's often the case of Tekken vs. Street Fighter. Plenty of others have stepped into the ring over the years, but for the long-running Tekken series, it's been brawling for the past 20 years...and counting. 

We've met many iconic fighters over the years, with Goliaths like Heihachi Mishima, Jin Kazama, and Yoshimitsu immediately springing to mind. As well as the base roster, we come back for more thanks to its DLC fighters. Tekken has had a few guest characters over the years, but there's one that could've really cooked up a storm. 

Tekken tried to add Colonel Sanders, but KFC said no

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Unlike Mortal Kombat's Kameo fighters throwing everyone from Freddy Krueger to Homelander into the mix, Tekken has only had five guest characters during its run. It sounds like there are plans to take the MK route, and while we loved having The Walking Dead's Negan in Tekken 7, imagine a world where Colonel Sanders was in Tekken.

Speaking to TheGamer, Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada explained the difficulty of getting brands to collab with the fighting title. "A long time ago, I wanted to have Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken fight," said Harada. "So, I asked to use Colonel Sanders and go to the head office in Japan."

Designer Michael Murray added, "[Harada] went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and tried to get Colonel Sanders. [...] they weren't very open to the idea. [Colonel Sanders] appeared in games after that. So maybe it was just him fighting against someone [that] was posing a problem for them."

Harada says he was given a "bad look" and decided not to push the idea any further, while Murray concluded by saying, "It just goes to show how difficult these types of discussions are." This suggests it's a corporate nightmare to negotiate these kinds of deal, but seems frustrating given KFC's usual fun with gaming.

You might remember when the fast food giant claimed it was releasing its own console that could actually cook chicken. KFC also famously mocked the delay of Cyberpunk 2077, collaborated with Diablo 4, put The Colonel in Final Fantasy XVI, released a dating sim where you could romance him, and even let him make his mark on Funko Fusion. 

As for Colonel Sanders ever making it into Tekken, Harada downplayed the idea when he said, "It's not something that we can accomplish on our own." With this in mind, we don't suddenly expect to see Ronald McDonald or Grimace popping up in Tekken 8. Still, as TheGamer notes, that's what modders are for.