Kazuya Has Landed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Image via Event Hubs

We saw Masahiro Sakurai demonstrate the intricate workings of Kazuya on Monday and I ain't gonna lie, I'm kinda shook. I'm not saying Kazuya is unstoppable, but the dude has so much good stuff going for him. And now he's available so we've been seeing for ourselves just how good he is.

Kazuya very much feels like a Tekken character. One of the most remarkable things Sakurai and his team have done throughout the Smash games is make characters feel faithful to the games they've come from. Having said that, it feels so weird to play as Kazuya in Ultimate. Like, his moves and the way he feels is freaking amazing but then I pause and think, "Man, is this really real?" I'm overjoyed that our Tekken rep is Kazuya but I guess I'm still reeling over the fact that this actually became a thing.

So many of his moves can kill. Even if you are at 60 or 70%, I would not relax around Kazuya. I'm not sure if I'd call him noob friendly. Despite being a casual fighting game fan, I have been playing the Tekken games since Tekken 2 and while I think some new players will certainly get some wins, he's gonna take some serious skill to use effectively. Forget the day one combos. I wanna see what invested players come up with in a few weeks/months down the line. 

You might wanna be careful shielding around Kazuya. Man has a couple of moves that are straight "Nah, son!" and a few are shield breaks. I already feel for Jiggleypuff mains. Pretty sure Hungrybox died a little when I saw those RIP shield moves.

When I hear some of the tracks being used during the Mr. Sakurai Presents "Kazuya" demo, I was getting excited. I am hype beyond hype that Moonlit Wilderness made it in. That track is a huge fan favorite and deserves all the love it gets. But when I saw that the song total for Kazuya was 39, my jaw dropped. I was expecting maybe 18 to 25 tracks. But 39? That places Kazuya as the second highest with songs from a third party series right behind Terry. 

There are 8 new arrangements and 32 original songs spread across almost the entire Tekken series. Even spin off titles like Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 got song picks. Two tracks I did not expect to see are Opening Movie from Tekken Tag Tournament and Poolside from Tekken 5. Both of those rank pretty high on my list of Tekken jams so I'm stoked that they made it in.

Am I a bit miffed by the song list? Only a little. I would have loved for Eddy Stage and Nina from Tekken Tag Tournament to be among the tracks. Dragon's Nest is another one I wanted. But really, it's hard for me to stay sour. I mean, 39 songs, eight of them arrangements and a killer selection. Even if you aren't excited for Kazuya, you should get him anyway just to add these tracks to the game. And if you've never heard anything of Tekken music outside of what's in Smash, check out Bandai Namco's official Tekken soundtracks on YouTube. They are SO good.

No yeeting a losing opponent into a volcano/off a cliff as one of Kazuya's victory screens along with that smirk? Man, that is one seriously missed opportunity.