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For 30 years, Katsuhiro Harada has been at the helm of the Tekken video game franchise, one of the oldest and most revered fighting video games in the industry.
In recent years, the Japanese video game director has been inundated with requests from Americans to make Waffle House a playable level in a Tekken game. And as a person who has lived, learned, and worked in Japan for their entire career he can’t make heads or tails of why Americans are so hellbent on getting Waffle House into Tekken.
So, Katsuhiro Harada did the only reasonable thing and took to X (formerly Twitter) to ask his American followers to explain why they keep pestering him to put Waffle House in Tekken. He wrote “Ok, I will only ask once about this request. Why do some communities send me requests for “Waffle House”? Please be sure to explain the basis for the request, including the original story, history and background. I look forward to an explanation from someone who knows more.”
That post was in response to this person begging for him to put Waffle House into the 8th iteration of the game that was just released on January 26th:
Mr harada can you please add this stage to Tekken 8 please😫😫😫 pic.twitter.com/wbtU5ClA3j
— Troast (@backendtechdev) March 30, 2024
It doesn’t take a PhD in Sociology to recognize that the replies were going to be off the rails. One person extended an invitation for him to visit and learn firsthand why we Americans are always talking about Waffle House. They wrote “I invite you to come to the US I will personally take you to a Waffle House at 3 am, after that you make your decision.”
Another person used this animated GIF of a Waffle House employee deflecting a chair thrown at them while remaining cool as a cucumber as an example of why Tekken 8 should have a playable version of the restaurant:
Because this is your average Waffle House employee. pic.twitter.com/KT5ZNIyhaM
— Phantom (Kyle Land) (@PhantomSavage) March 30, 2024
Someone else distilled it down pretty succinctly, saying “In the US alot of drunk people go to waffle house after a night of drinking and often get into fights. It’s a great setting for a tekken stage honestly.” This all was before a post about it blew up on Reddit Tuesday morning.
Getting a bit sidetracked, someone felt the need to explain The Waffle House Index to Katsuhiro Harada as a reason that he should feature it in his game:
Harada-San, I see everyone talking about the fights however what they won’t tell you is about the Waffle House emergency protocol. Waffle House is also known for being the only establishment to remain open in emergencies. This guide is known as the Waffle House index. pic.twitter.com/3Vwdrv34xC
— Rolando Jesus Feliciano (@RoloCnG) March 30, 2024
After thousands of replies, Katsuhiro Harada finally responded again and appeared to shut down any chance of Waffle House appearing in Tekken 8. He wrote “Thanks for the explanation guys. And I understand that many people are requesting it. However, I think you are missing one important point. The restaurant has both the trademark and the rights to the restaurant, so if the restaurant chain’s headquarters refuses to accept my proposal, it will not happen.”
I think he’s missing the point here, to be honest. Americans will fight tooth and nail for representation and if that means flooding his mentions from now until the end of time with Waffle House please, so be it.