If you’ve mained Christie Monteiro since her iconic debut in Tekken 4, you probably booted up Tekken 8 for the first time and immediately scanned the character select screen for her familiar sun-streaked hair and capoeira stance. It’s a question thousands of long-time franchise fans have been asking since the game first launched, and the answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think. We’re breaking down everything we know about whether Christie Monteiro is in Tekken 8, plus what you can do if you’re desperate to play as the fan-favorite fighter right now.
Is Christie Monteiro in Tekken 8’s Base Roster?
Let’s get the most direct answer out of the way first. As of the latest official Tekken 8 roster updates, Christie Monteiro is not included in the base game or announced post-launch DLC as of now. Bandai Namco revealed the full 32-character base roster three months before the game’s launch, and Christie never appeared on any official promotional material, character trailers, or select screen leaks that turned out to be legitimate.
Plenty of fans got confused in the months leading up to launch, because a handful of unsubstantiated leaks listed Christie as a base character, and popular fan art of her in Tekken 8’s art style circulated widely on social media, with many people mistaking it for official art. A lot of players also assumed she’d be included because she’s been a staple of the franchise for 20 years, appearing in every mainline Tekken game from Tekken 4 through Tekken 7.
Even if you bought the deluxe edition of Tekken 8 that includes the first year of DLC characters, you won’t find Christie in that line-up either. The first wave of announced DLC includes Eddy Gordo, Lidia Sobieska, Armor King, and three more still-unannounced characters, none of which have been confirmed to be Christie.
Why Isn’t Christie Monteiro in Tekken 8 Right Now?
Bandai Namco hasn’t released an official statement explaining why Christie was left off the initial roster, but long-time Tekken fans and industry analysts have narrowed down the most likely reasons based on past franchise patterns.
- Bandai Namco chose to prioritize capoeira representation via Eddy Gordo for early DLC to avoid overlapping fighter archetypes at launch, as the two characters share nearly 70% of their core move sets in past titles
- The current Tekken 8 story arc has no narrative tie-in for Christie, as her primary plot thread tied to Eddy’s quest to cure his grandfather’s illness concluded in the final chapter of Tekken 7’s story mode
- Development resources were allocated to new characters like Reina and Azucena, who fill fresh niches in the roster instead of repeating existing archetypes that long-time players are already familiar with
None of these reasons mean Christie will never come to Tekken 8, of course. Bandai Namco has a history of adding fan-requested legacy characters 6 to 12 months post-launch for past Tekken titles, so there’s still a solid chance she’ll arrive later. For example, Tekken 7 added 12 post-launch characters over its 6-year lifespan, half of which were legacy characters that didn’t make the base roster.
Many fans also point out that Christie has a huge global fanbase, especially in South America and parts of Europe, where she’s consistently one of the top 15 most played characters in competitive Tekken 7 events. Ignoring that level of demand long-term would be a strange call for Bandai Namco, who regularly uses fan polls to decide which characters to add to DLC line-ups.
How to Play as Christie Monteiro in Tekken 8 Right Now
If you don’t want to wait for a potential official release, there is one way to play as Christie in Tekken 8 right now, though it only works for certain players. There are multiple high-quality fan-made mods for the PC version of Tekken 8 that replace existing characters with fully animated Christie Monteiro skins and adjusted move sets.
The best and most popular mods replace Eddy Gordo, since his capoeira move set is almost identical to Christie’s, so the mod feels almost identical to playing her in past official Tekken titles. Many of these mods also include her classic voice lines from Tekken 7, her iconic outfits like her Tekken 4 bikini and Tekken 6 track suit, and even custom entrance animations that match her personality perfectly.
That said, there are some very important limitations to keep in mind if you want to use these mods. First, they only work on the PC version of Tekken 8 purchased through Steam, there are no mod options for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S versions of the game. Second, you can only use these mods in offline game modes like practice, arcade, or local versus play. If you own a console version of Tekken 8, there is no way to access Christie right now outside of waiting for an official DLC announcement.
If you do try mods, don’t enable them when you’re playing online ranked or casual matches, because Bandai Namco’s anti-cheat system will detect modified game files and you could get a permanent ban from all Tekken 8 online services. Most mod creators explicitly warn against using their work online, so stick to offline play if you want to test out Christie early.
What’s the Likelihood Christie Monteiro Joins Tekken 8 as DLC?
If you’re a Christie main who only plays on console, you’ll be happy to hear that the odds of her being added as official DLC are pretty high. For starters, Bandai Namco has already confirmed that they will support Tekken 8 with new content for at least two years post-launch, with multiple character drops planned every year alongside new stages, costumes, and game modes.
Christie also consistently ranks in the top 10 most requested missing characters in both official Bandai Namco polls and fan-run surveys on sites like Reddit and Twitter. In a 2024 poll of over 12,000 Tekken fans, she came in 7th place for most wanted DLC characters, beating out other popular legacy picks like Julia Chang and Lei Wulong.
There are also small teases hidden in the game itself that hint at her possible arrival. When Eddy Gordo was released as DLC in March 2024, players noticed that one of his pre-fight voice lines mentions “my student is waiting for me back home”, which is almost certainly a reference to Christie, who has been his canon protégé since her debut. Many industry insiders who have accurately leaked Tekken 8 DLC characters in the past have listed Christie as a planned addition for the second year of post-launch content.
If she does get an official release, you can expect her to have a slightly adjusted move set that differentiates her from Eddy, new special moves that lean into her background as a competitive dancer, and a small standalone story chapter that picks up where her Tekken 7 arc left off. She’ll also almost certainly get cross-platform support, so you’ll be able to play as her online across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox without any restrictions.
At the end of the day, the answer to if Christie Monteiro is in Tekken 8 right now is no, but that will probably change in the next year or so if fan demand stays high. If you want to speed up the process, you can participate in official Bandai Namco feedback surveys on the Tekken website, or share your support for her addition on social media using the official Tekken 8 hashtags. If you play on PC, you can also try the high-quality fan mods to get your Christie fix in the meantime, just make sure you only use them offline to avoid account bans.