Nintendo had their E3 presentation this week, via Nintendo Direct on Tuesday. As I suspected, they kicked things off with a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character reveal. And since Masahiro Sakurai clearly wrote the script for this reveal, the trailer opened up with the death of a character, in this case, Gannondorf. Yes, the king of evil was chucked into a volcano by none other than Kazuya Mishima from the TEKKEN series.
Looking at the third party reps we've gotten thus far, I didn't think a TEKKEN rep was out of the realm of possibilities. Sakurai did say in the past that he didn't think adding a TEKKEN character would be possible but I didn't hear of this until after Kazuya was revealed. But given the fighters in TEKKEN, if we were to get a rep from this series, my money was on two brawlers, Heihachi or Kazuya. Really, these two were the only logical choices to represent the series in Ultimate.
I'm not a die hard TEKKEN head but even as a casual fan, I do greatly enjoy the series, having played nearly every mainline entry. And Kazuya is a fun character even if you aren't maining him. There's just something about beating on your opponents with the scared Mishima that feels right. If you're worried about projectiles, fret not. Most of the TEKKEN cast are hand to hand fighters. Still, the TEKKEN fighters are some heavy hitters and Kazuya hits like a couple of tanks. That 10 hit combo you saw? That has been a TEKKEN staple since the very first game. It may be pretty complicated to pull off (I could never to the 10 strings) but even his normal moves look nasty.
Kazuya is looking to have an impressive set of tools but his recovery is probably gonna be garbo. The TEKKEN crew aren't the best in the air and since he's from a fighting game, Kazuya will more than likely have the turn around mechanic that Ryu, Ken and Terry have during one-on-one fights, which I'm perfectly fine with. Being the dirty casual that I am, I can't wait to see how Kazuya is in free-for-all matches and with Spirits. 10 hit combo with Spirits? In the word of the late Captain Falcon, YES!
I gotta admit, it did sting to see Captain Falcon get yeeted like that considering how Nintendo has neglected the F-ZERO series for so long.
But you wanna know the best part about Kazuya being added to Ultimate? We get TEKKEN music! Man, I don't think you can even comprehend how much I love the music from the TEKKEN series. From the first game up to the latest installment, TEKKEN beats are fire. Emotionless Passion is sure to be included in Kazyua's stage. We heard the original version as well as a sick arrangement during the reveal trailer. I would love for Bandai Namco to let Sakurai and the gang go wild like SNK did with Terry's music selection. However, if that doesn't happen, I do have some songs I'd love to make it in:
Man of Artificiality, I'm Here Now 7s remix, For Hidden Characters, Moonlight Wilderness, Moonsiders 1st, Eddy, Nina, Aim to Win, Dragon's Nest, Marine Stadium, Chicago, USA, Fiji, The Place, 1997, to name a few.
I'm hoping we get a lot of the PS versions of music from TEKKEN 1-3 songs. Not that the arcade versions are bad, but they really do sound like far less fleshed out tracks compared to the PS versions.
And was anyone really scared for Kirby? Besides sucking, everyone knows the pink puff ball is famous for flying. Still, it was humorous to see Kirby shrug off being tossed into a volcano and just fly out like a G.
Oh and because I feel this post would be incomplete with out it, here's a GIF of Kazuya's (in)famous smile in the first TEKKEN.
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