Over the weekend, a Twitter user made a simple plea to Katsuhiro Harada, the no-nonsense director best known for his work on the fighting game series Tekken: make Waffle House a Tekken stage. This sparked a tremendous outpouring of support for the idea that saw Harada’s mentions flooded with all sorts of arguments for why the restaurant chain simply must appear in the storied franchise. And y’know, they may have a point.
In life, you will come across many unique locales. You might travel the world and take in some of the most majestic and historic sights known to man, like the Grand Canyon or the hills of the Japanese countryside. Beauty isn’t the only thing that “makes” a place though. Other times, it’s the utility or function of an area that makes it stand out. As someone who grew up in the city, and particularly in very packed school settings, there’s one kind of place I’ve thought about a bit more than others: the perfect spot to punch someone’s goddamn lights out.
Now, I’m not necessarily a fighter myself, but I was never too far away from a fight, so this is a thought experiment that hits close to home. For instance, any place that’s too public, like a lunchroom or a park, feels like a double-edged sword. Sure, handing someone’s ass to them in front of an adoring crowd can make for a movie-esque moment, but getting your ass handed to you in front of a crowd can also be the biggest embarrassment of your life. However, going too far in the other direction and fighting some place that’s otherwise quiet and orderly can result in a bigger mess than anyone intended for. Getting whooped and then having to clean up after yourself has got to be an all-time low.
The ultimate answer to this question as I’ve come to understand over the years, the Platonic ideal of a spot to throw down, is no practical place that I’ve been to. No, it’s Waffle House, a chain of Southern comfort food restaurants that have the most outrageous reputation for the fights that take place there, and the staff who often fight back if they get dragged into it. I swear, the amount of videos I’ve seen of straight-up brawls at Waffle House almost suggests that the locals have set it aside as a predetermined arena. Imagine if your local McDonald’s was also home to your neighborhood’s fight club. The emergence of these videos has turned Waffle House into the butt of a joke, and now the fighting game community would like to see it immortalized, which brings us to the past few days.
Which brings us to the simple request a Twitter user made to Katsuhiro Harada this weekend: let us see Waffle House immortalized as a location in Tekken.
The tweet was accompanied by a mocked-up visual of a Waffle House at night and an assortment of stages under it, as if to suggest how it might look in the Tekken 8 stage selection screen. Harada, who is often inundated with questions about the series online—including but not limited to a recent campaign to get Final Fantasy 7’s Tifa Lockheart into Tekken 8—responded by essentially asking for Waffle House’s lore. Harada, who definitely doesn’t know about the uniquely American meme that is squaring up at a Waffle House, went as far as saying, “Please be sure to explain the basis for the request, including the original story, history and background,” since he’s seemingly been asked about this a number of times. The internet then collectively decided it needed to do everything in its power to make this come true.
Harada’s mentions were awash the whole weekend with explanations, memes, and links to videos of Waffle House fights. Among the best of them were a number of references to a video where a Waffle House customer flings a chair at a clearly exasperated employee who then whips out the coldest one-handed block I’ve ever seen and deflects the projectile. Though I feel for the staff, which doesn’t deserve the abuse often (literally) flung their way, I also can’t deny what a baffling image it is, making Waffle House a perfect setting for a series as outlandish as Tekken.
For what it’s worth, Harada seems to agree. He eventually followed up on his initial tweet and expressed interest in making this happen, but noted that getting the rights to Waffle House might prove to be a pain. Though Waffle House employees can roll with metaphorical and literal punches, something tells me corporate is less likely to be understanding of their brand image being associated with violence. The solution, per some suggestions, could be to just parody Waffle House and make the stage a sort of inside joke to everyone who lobbied for it.
Regardless of how it happens, I now desperately need some kind of Waffle House reference in a fighting game. Whether it’s a stage or some kind of Waffle House employee as an assist move, America’s greatest arena deserves the recognition.