Arslan Ash
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Esports

Arslan Ash Impresses at EVO Tekken 8 Showcase, Mastering the latest Sequel

At the EVO Tekken 8 Showcase celebrating the legacy of Tekken 7 and giving a glimpse into the latest sequel, Arslan showed off he’s more in-form than ever, regardless of the new mechanics & characters
Written by Red Bull Pakistan
3 min readPublished on
On November 12, EVO hosted the Tekken 8 Showcase, bringing together expert commentators and top-of-the-line gamers to offer a glimpse into Tekken 8. Besides the TEKKEN Talk featuring special guests such as Katsuhiro Harada, Michael Murray, and Kohei “Nakatsu” Ikeda to discuss the game’s characters, features and the updated mechanics, the event featured an arcade-style ladder exhibition.
The showcase brought together previous seven EVO champions in JDCR, Saint, Nobi, LowHigh, Book, Knee and Arslan Ash.
The ladder culminated with Arslan Ash vs Book.
With Arslan Ash choosing to first go with Azucena, he defeated Book’s Claudio, Jun and Jin consecutively. And he seemed to have fun playing with Azucena.
“Azucena is a brand-new character in Tekken 8. Most people didn’t know much about her but I just picked Azucena and was having a lot of fun playing with it in the Showcase,” said Ash. “It was nothing to take seriously. I wasn’t trying to win. I only wanted to have fun and I did.”
Besides Azucena, some other new characters also intrigued Ash and he’s definitely planning on using them down the road once the game releases. “Yeah, I am planning to experiment and play with some new characters. Azucena, Reina and Victor are some of those I’m looking forward to checking out. I don’t just want to keep playing with the old ones but also expand my roster.”
Regarding Tekken 8, Ash enjoyed getting familiar with the game at the exhibition. “It’s too early to say much about it. But so far, it has the best graphics and visual details and excellent character stories. It has the potential to be the best game in the world. The features are also great. When it comes to gameplay, it has some issues but it shouldn’t be a problem since the final game isn’t released yet.”
Between Tekken 7 and 8, Ash enjoys the former due to it offering many features including poking. As far as Tekken 8 is concerned, Ash is mainly cautious of the new mechanics. “I don’t like the new heat system. It’s too early to say that because maybe they’ll change it. I prefer Tekken 7 when it comes to that because you can poke and do a lot of other things there. But at the same time, we’ve been playing Tekken 7 for so long, we are looking forward to something new.”
He added that if it were up to him, he would totally remove the heat system from Tekken 8.
Regardless, Ash enjoyed the EVO Tekken 8 Showcase and is looking forward to the final game. Meanwhile, he is spending all his time and energy on preparing for the upcoming Tekken World Tour (TWT).
“I’ve been working harder than ever,” he said. “I’ve been watching matches and studying the game more and more. So, I’m hoping for the best.”
Recently becoming a father, Ash now juggles his gaming career and his family life. And he’s not complaining. In fact, he sounds more content than ever. “My life has been going very well, thankfully. I always say it’s about choosing the right partner and luckily, I have. So, my wife and my daughter have become my motivation. They understand my work and schedule so I am happy to be juggling my work and family life well.”