Super Smash Bros. Ultimatemastermind Masahiro Sakurai just used Nintendo’s E3 time slot to announce thatTekken’s Kazuya Mishima will beUltimate’s next fighter. An intro trailer for Kazuya shows him handlingUltimate’s roster in typicalTekkenfashion, mixing basic attacks with signatures to combo opponents into oblivion. He also, of course, sports his own flair, throwing his defeated adversaries over a cliff into a lake of fire below, a fate Ganondorf, Captain Falcon, and Pit unfortunately suffer.
Following Kazuya’s intro trailer, Sakurai showedSmash Bros.fans the devastating moves the character utilizes in combat. As one can imagine, Kazuya’s abilities come directly from the standard attacks he displays throughout theTekkenseries, and so whenever he battles, it almost looks as thoughSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatebecomes aTekkengame. It’s an effect similar to what characters likeMinecraft’s Steve andStreet Fighter’sRyuproduce whenever they’re on the screen.
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Because Kazuya’s reveal happened duringE3, it shared a time slot with many other Nintendo games that the publisher wanted to promote, so Masahiro Sakurai didn’t have enough time to walk fans through the character’s entire ability list. Even if he did have the time, though, he hasn’t recorded the walkthrough video for the character yet. As a result, Sakurai opted to instead give a quick showcase of every move in Kazuya’s arsenal, saving the breakdown of the character for a later date, that being June 28.
Kazuya’s abilities continue the trend of newSuper Smash Bros. UltimateDLC charactersfully embodying the franchises they come from; Sakurai even jokes about it before putting Kazuya’s moves on display. It almost feels like Nintendo shapedUltimatearound Kazuya inTekkenrather than the other way around. The way he moves and the way his animations play out makes it seem like Nintendo plucked Kazuya straight out ofTekkenand placed him inSmash. It’s very authentic and satisfying, if not a little overbearing.
Hopefully, Kazuya also continues the trend of being a character that fans have fun playing around with. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like anything in his move set heavily hinders players from getting creative with him; he doesn’t seem sluggish or like he lacks in options. Unfortunately,Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Kazuya showcase won’t be happening for another two weeks, but when it does arrive, it should give players a better indication of how the character performs — or wants to perform — in actual combat.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis on Switch.
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