Tekken 8 is (at the time of writing this) about to be out and the majority of the playable cast are returning characters. Among them is one of the most recognizable characters of the franchise, Steve Fox. Despite maybe not being as recognizable of a name as Jin Kazama, Kazuya Mishima, or even Heihachi Mishima, Steve Fox is very well-known among the Tekken fanbase.

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He usually ends up in the upper echelons of the 'ranked' tier lists regardless of what Tekken they're talking about, and he doesn't tend to radically change in his mechanics between games either. Steve Fox is a boxer and a counter-striker in Tekken 8, just like he usually is, simple as that. However, this is Tekken, and a 'simple character' will still have over 150+ different Techniques in their Move List, so let's go a bit more in-depth into Steve Fox and how he works.

Who is Steve Fox?

The Middleweight Boxing Champion From the United Kingdom

First things first, let's go over who exactly Steve Fox is as a person and what his ties to the Tekken storyline are. Well, to put it as simply as possible; Steve Fox is the current middleweight boxing champion in the world of Tekken who was raised in a Mishima Zaibatsu compound/facility as a kid and went searching for his biological parents as soon as he left. After stumbling across Nina Williams, Steve Fox learns that he was actually 'created' using her genetic material (she was actually cryogenically frozen at the time, it's pretty dark) and his entire birth was so that Heihachi could figure out more about the Devil Gene by testing it on people with a stronger innate constitution.

And that's really it for Steve Fox's overarching story, ignoring all the small plotlines he may get involved in from game to game. The only other facts newer players might want to know about Steve is that he desperately wants to connect with his birth parents, he loves boxing, and he's pretty close with other fighters that commonly appear in the King of Iron Fists Tournaments such as Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law.

How The Tekken Community Writes Out Inputs

For Writing Out Directional Inputs, Attacks, & Combo Strings

Before we get too deep in the weeds with how Steve is treated in Tekken 8 (which, spoiler, he's treated very well, as shown above in an example of how in the story mode Steve looks incredibly cool by literally ducking bullets as if they were punches) let's break down how we'll be writing out Steve Fox's inputs.

The Tekken community uses a different style of writing out the commands or inputs for certain actions or combos. This is because the games haven't always used one controller type and it was just something that caught on a long time ago and the community stuck with it. We'll be using this nomenclature a couple of times in our Tekken guides, so as a quick reference:

There are a whole lot more of these abbreviations used in the more complex character guides, but for the content in this guide in particular this is all you will need to know. While it can be a bit odd or confusing to learn these abbreviations at first, once you get the hang of them it makes communicating certain moves to other people very easy and it makes writing out certain combos online even easier.

Steve Fox's 'Archetype'

The Counter-Hitting, Offense Pressure Specialized, Total Stance Master

Now, that's enough about Steve Fox as an actual person, how about who Steve Fox is as a 'fighter'? Well, Steve is actually a bit different from most of the roster, since because he's a boxer Steve really doesn't utilize a lot of kicks (he has like 1 kick total in his entire move list). So, instead of having the bottom two face buttons set to his left and right legs, Steve instead has a left and a right 'ducking' maneuver that helps him duck under attacks, dodge attacks by sidestepping to the left and right of the opponent, and also add a whole bunch of other attack options.

Additionally, Steve Fox also has quite a few 'Stances' players can easily enter with a certain button+direction combination. They've added a new Stance for Steve in Tekken 8 called Lion Heart which you can visually tell with Steve doing a little 'dance' to denote him being in Lion Heart. Alongside Lion Heart there's also Peek-a-boo Stance, Flicker Stance, Quick Spin, and technically Swaying and Ducking are Stances as well.

And for the last big mechanic that separates Steve Fox from a lot of the roster is the fact that he's a counter-striker. What this means is that Steve Fox has a good number of moves (his b1 or Back+Left Punch) that are perfect for throwing out right as the opponent starts their attack to get a counter hit and go in with a full combo from there. While Tekken 8 absolutely has incentivized a more 'aggressive' playstyle as a whole with small changes like making dashing back and forth way easier, Steve doesn't lose his identity as a counter-striker, it's just a bit less pronounced.

To summarize, Steve Fox is almost entirely about his punches, he has a lot of Stances that you'll want to be switching between or using to respond to specific circumstances, and the better you are at counter-hit timing, the more you'll excel with Steve Fox.

Steve Fox's Stances

He's Got More Than Just One or Two

To go a bit more into his Stances, let's break down how exactly to enter each Stance, and what they're primarily used for:

Obviously, these Stances don't each have one 'uniform' place where they're useful and are meant to be used whenever it feels applicable at the user's discretion, but at a fundamental level Peek-a-Boo is a heavier/slower Stance, Flicker is lighter/faster Stance, Lion Heart is almost a 'feint' stance with a light 'look' but very heavy attacks, and the rest are just ways for Steve to get closer while also attacking or keeping the pressure on.

Essentially, if you want to really excel with Steve, you're going to need to learn his Stances, when to use them, and why each one is useful, as trying to play him without them is going to be pretty rough.

Rage Art: Dear Land Of Hope

Just A Brutal Combo of Punches With a Dempsey Roll Finisher

Let's also briefly mention Steve Fox's new Rage Art, called Dear Land of Hope. To input this in-game, first, you'll need to be below 25 percent health and in the 'Rage' state. Visually, this is denoted by your HP bar having this red glow to it. Once you're in this state, you can either press the Rage Art input as seen in the Controller Setup menu or you can also press d/f 1+2 (AKA Down/Forward Left + Right Punch) while in the Rage state.

It has a bit of reach to it, but not a ton, and like everything else in Tekken, it's blockable. So, by far the best time to use it is with a hit confirm and if that's not possible, as a punish right when you see your opponent starting up another attack.

Steve Fox 'Central' Tips & Tricks

Essentially A 'Starter Pack' of Tips for Learning Steve Fox

That's really the 'core' of Steve Fox's identity as a Tekken fighter, at least without getting into the real nitty gritty of hardcore Tekken mechanics. This is just a general character guide, so the plan isn't to go too much into things like which of Steve's moves have plus-frames, his best frame traps, or which counter/crush/ or poking hits to use in each situation. That said, to get you off on the right foot with Steve Fox in Tekken 8, here are some relatively basic concepts and techniques to keep in mind:

The rest is up to the player and how much they connect with Steve as a fighter. Thankfully, Tekken 8 has a lot of amazing ways for players to learn their character such as the Combo Challenges, the interactive videos for each attack in the Move List, the host of options in Practice Mode, and even the more 'Spartan' training methods of trying the character out in Versus, Arcade, or Ranked Mode.

Tekken 8

Franchise

Tekken

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

January 26, 2024

Developer(s)

Bandai Namco Entertainment , Arika

Genre(s)

Fighting