Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai has detailed information and the release date of upcoming DLC character Kazuya Mishima.
As previously reported, Kazuya Mishima is the son of Heihachi, who killed his mother. At a mere five years old, his attempt at revenge was doomed to fail, and Heihachi hurled his body off a cliff.
This near-death experience activated the Devil Gene, granting him almost super natural powers. While he would succeed in his revenge, he seized his father’s company and began to use it to take over the world.
As with past videos hosted by Sakurai, the character’s release date and moves were detailed, along with a Mii Fighter costume pack launching alongside the DLC character. In addition, Kazuya follows the suit set by Ryu and Terry Bogard; where in 1 on 1 matches, he will also always face his foe.
Kazuya also has more inputs than other characters to grant him more moves, including diagonal inputs and multiple directional inputs, and inputs akin to those in Tekken. This also includes special crouching dashes, and even a damaging taunt.
Along with many of Kazuya’s moves returning as his various regular attacks, air attacks, and grapples, his Devil Power manifests in some of these moves, special moves, and smash attacks. Devil Blaster is his neutral special, firing a laser across the stage- piercing through multiple opponents. It can also be used in the air, and angled to shoot enemies in the air or who are crouching.
The side special is Devil Fist. While it only does a little damage at the end of its lunging strike, those hit early in the punch will crumple as Kazuya passes through. This can be followed up with combos.
The up special is Devil Wings, launching Kazuya skyward. This can also be angled to the side, and launches foes caught near the launch. Down B is Heaven’s Door, a grapple granting you special armor as you grab throws into a jumping slam into the ground.
Much like Bowser’s special grapple, this can be used as a risky suicide take-down off the stage. How much control you have over where you land depends on your foe’s damage %.
When Kazuya hits 100% damage, he enters rage mode, granting him a bonus to damage (once per stick). This also improves the damage of Heaven’s Door into Rage Drive. This can be executed in this stage with not just down special, but grabs, and the shoryuken input. This also ends the rage state.
Kazuya’s Final Smash is Final Blaster; launching a barrage of Devil Blasters to devastate foes in wide cone. However, if the initial beam fails to connect, nothing happens.
Overall, Kazuya is a high-power, heavy, but slow and low jumping character. Other than his Devil Blaster, he has very little range. However, he also has little hit-stun, and even super-armor in several instances. His wide variety of moves also make it easier to combo enemies, though Kazuya is better in a one-on-one fight.
When he wins, the announcer from Tekken will announce Kazuya’s victory instead. Half of Kazuya’s costumes utilize his suit, and even those who do not have the Heihachi Mii costume will be able to fight against his spirit and others on the
Kazuya’s stage is the Kazuya Dojo. While it starts with walls and a ceiling, powerful attacks and launched goes can destroy them. The camera also tends to stay focused on the stage.
The stage can also repairs itself over time, and Heihachi will react to KOs from the background. As the stage has no platforms, it can be a real test of skill for certain characters. The stage also has a battlefield and omega variant. The stage will feature 39 songs from across the Tekken series, with eight original arrangements.
Sakurai also joked how “a voice from the heavens” told him to add a Tekken character. Bandai Namco Entertainment does have the Japanese character for “heaven” in its name, and are the producers and developers of the Tekken series. Bandai Namco Entertainment also co-developed Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
You can find the Mr. Sakurai Presents Kazuya video below (starting at 29:34).
Kazuya Mishima and Mii Fighter Costumes Round 10 launch June 29th, and will also be part of the Fighters Pass Vol. 2.
Other Fighters Pass Vol. 2 DLC characters have included Min Min from ARMS, Steve from Minecraft, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, and Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. This also marks Kazuya as the 10th Challenger Pack character, and second to last DLC character.
Fighters Pass Vol. 2 is also the last DLC characters to be added for the game. Sakurai also confirmed the final character will be available this year, as he had in an earlier interview.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available on Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our review here (we highly recommend it!)
Image: Twitter
