Jacky Bryant

Jacky Bryant
Jacky as he appears in Virtua Fighter 5
Alternate names	Blue Flash
Universe	Virtua Fighter
Debut	Virtua Fighter (1993)
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown (2021)
Appears in
Console of origin	Arcade
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color	Blond
Eye color	Blue
Homeworld	United States

Jacky Bryant (ジャッキー・ブライアント) is one of the protagonists and playable characters of Sega's Virtua Fighter series.

A Mii Fighter Costume modeled after his clothes and hair was made available as DLC for both Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Character Description

Jacky as he appears in Virtua Fighter

Jacky is a brash and confident young man hailing from San Francisco that manages to keep his head cool in any situation he finds himself in. He is an expert martial artist and practices Bruce Lee's famous Jeet Kune Do style; however, this is only a hobby for him, as his true passion is in racing. He works as a successful race car driver that frequents the Indianapolis 500 and is known for revolving his life around speed, considering himself to be "faster than lighting", a motto that earned him the nickname of the Blue Flash. Outside of his career, Jacky is very protective of his younger sister Sarah, with it being his main reason to fight in the series.

Virtua Fighter

During the 1990 Indianapolis 500, Jacky gets severely injured in an accident and spends two years in an intense rehabilitation program. At the same time, Sarah is kidnapped by a mysterious group known as Judgement 6, an organization with a deep hatred for the wealthy Bryant family who she suspects is the instigator of the mysterious circumstances behind his accident, and thus began investigating into their dealings. In pursuit of her kidnappers, Jacky enters the newly formed World Fighting Tournament, which is sponsored by Judgement 6. During the championship, Jacky faces off against his now brainwashed sister, but ultimately loses.

Virtua Fighter 2

Jacky as he appears in Virtua Fighter 2

In between tournaments, Jacky returned home to hone his skills, eventually becoming an instructor in Jeet Kune Do. Meanwhile, Judgement 6 trained Sarah further, turning her into a ruthless killing machine. Both partake in the second World Fighting Tournament with their own goals; Jacky wants a second attempt to save his sister, while Sarah is programmed to kill her brother. In the aftermath, though Jacky forfeits the tournament, he is able to successfully rescue Sarah.

Virtua Fighter 3

Jacky as he appears in Virtua Fighter 3

Though Sarah was rescued, Jacky's efforts to undo her brainwashing result in her total loss of memory. Feeling uncomfortable about staying with someone she didn't know, Sarah moves to her own apartment in New York. Despite being separated, Jacky still kept tabs on her, which leads to him learning of her intentions to join the 3rd World Fighting Tournament in the hopes that she can regain her memories. Ever the protective brother, Jacky also enters to protect her. Though he loses yet again, Jacky has no qualms about being defeated as Sarah was able to regain her memories during the championship.

Virtua Fighter 4

With Sarah having regained her memories, Jacky returned to his racing career full-time, seeing as he no longer had a reason to continue fighting after placing Sarah under the protection of Vanessa Lewis, a member of the Bryant family's special forces. However, Jacky soon discovers that most of his potential sponsors are getting killed by an assassin under orders from Judgement 6. He shortly receives an invitation to the 4th tournament, with a direct threat by the group stating that they will kill more sponsors until none remain if he does not partake in the competition. Furious, Jacky restarts his training once again in order to finally take down Judgement 6 once and for all. However, with Jacky distracted with his training, it left Sarah vulnerable as the organization kidnaps Vanessa. At the tournament, though Jacky was unable to completely destroy Judgement 6, he still manages to rescue Vanessa and defeat the killer, Goh Hinogami.

Virtua Fighter 5

Jacky as he appears in Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown

Jacky's anger towards Judgement 6 had not fully subsided, as Vanessa had now suffered dissociative amnesia as a result of the trauma she received when kidnapped. Combined with their tampering of his racing career, Jacky had enough and was committed to destroying the organization that tried to ruin his life at every turn. At that moment, the invitation for the 5th tournament came, and he joined once again.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

A costume for the Mii Brawler modeled after Jacky Bryant was made available as a part of the Wave 2 batch of DLC costumes. The design is specifically taken from his appearance in Virtua Fighter 5, where he wears a leather jacket

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Mii Brawler costume modeled after Jacky Bryant returns, this time as a part of the Round 4 batch of DLC costumes. It is once again based on his appearance from Virtua Fighter 5.

Trivia

• The costume being modeled after Jacky's design in Virtua Fighter 5, which is currently the most recent entry in the series, is most likely intentionally made to be the direct opposite of the Akira Yuki costume, which is modeled after the original polygonal model from the first game.
• Jacky's appearance in Smash is the second time he, fellow Sega character Sonic, and Banjo & Kazooie have appeared together following Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.
• Jacky's appearances in trailers make references to the Virtua Fighter series:
  • In the "Mii Fighters Suit Up for Wave 2" trailer for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, the Jacky costume can be seen fighting Zero Suit Samus, who is possibly meant to be a stand-in for Sarah Bryant as both look similar.
  • In the "Mii Fighter Costumes - Round 4" trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, both the Jacky and Akira costumes fight a metal Mii Brawler, who is meant to reference Dural, a female cyborg who is the main antagonist of the series.