- For fighter info, see Kazuya (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).
Kazuya Mishima (三島 一八) is one of the main antagonists (former first protagonist) of Bandai Namco's Tekken franchise.
He joined Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the fifth fighter in Fighters Pass Volume 2 and the eleventh downloadable character overall.
Character Description[]
Kazuya Mishima is a middle-aged man who initially presented himself as a hero who defied his criminal father and defeated him in combat. However, his true colors were eventually revealed as a power-hungry, anger-fueled villain hellbent on world domination (though his dark side is largely hinted at in the PlayStation port of the first Tekken). He is the son of Kazumi Hachijō and Heihachi Mishima, husband to Jun Kazama, father to series protagonist Jin Kazama, half-brother to secondary protagonist Lars Alexandersson, adoptive brother to Lee Chaolan, and grandson of Jinpachi Mishima. He primarily fights using the signature Mishima Style Fighting Karate, which was taught to him by Heihachi.
Tekken[]
Kazuya as he appears in the first Tekken
Kazuya is introduced in the first Tekken as an entrant in The 1st King of Iron Fist Tournament, a martial arts competition devised by Heihachi Mishima and sponsored by his financial company, the Mishima Zaibatsu. Kazuya enters the tournament to exact revenge on his father, who had abused him for years and threw him into a volcano years prior as a test of strength. Kazuya faces Heihachi as his final opponent and manages to defeat him, later throwing his unconscious body off of a cliff much like what happened to himself. With his father gone, he assumes control of the Zaibatsu as the ultimate reward for winning.
Tekken 2[]
Kazuya in promotional artwork for Tekken 2, alongside Heihachi
As CEO, Kazuya uses the influence of the Zaibatsu for his own villainous intentions, turning the company into a far more ruthless organization; some of the crimes committed range from creating genetically engineered animal soldiers to seizing the entire island of Hokkaido. Two years after the first Tekken, Kazuya hosts another King of Iron Fist Tournament; Heihachi, having revealed to have survived his fall and hid in the mountains to train, enters the competition in order to take back control of the company. The two eventually have a rematch at the tournament's climax, where Kazuya is beaten by his father; he is later knocked unconscious and thrown into a volcano as it erupts, seemingly killing him. Heihachi regains his leadership role in the Zaibatsu and inexplicably creates world peace.
Kazuya serves as both the sub and final boss of the game. When first battled, he will be wearing his famous purple suit, but upon losing the first match, he will transform into his Devil form.
Tekken 3[]
Kazuya's brief cameo in the arcade opening of Tekken 3, alongside Jun Kazama
Although Kazuya appears in the game in certain cutscenes, he is not a playable character, due to still being presumed dead during the game's events.
Sometime during the 2nd Tournament, Kazuya met a woman named Jun Kazama. The two formed a relationship, with Kazuya later impregnating her with a son. However, around this time, Kazuya begins to have a conflict within himself. Jun and Angel try to help him suppress it, but their efforts ultimately fail with his defeat. Before Jun gives birth to their son, Jin, a shadow what appears to be Kazuya's devil form in his spirit state attempts to absorbs Jin's premature devil power while killing his soul as well, but was warded off by Jun immediately. Fifteen years later, Jun is seemingly killed by a creature known as Ogre. Under the orders of her mother, Jin flees to Heihachi, where he tells his grandfather of the events and asks to be trained in the Mishima Style Fighting Karate to exact his revenge on Ogre. Four years later, Jin enters the 3rd King of Iron Fist Tournament, unknowingly being used as bait by Heihachi to lure the Ogre. At the competition's climax, Jin ultimately defeats the creature, but is gunned down by the Tekken Force under Heihachi's orders. However, Jin is revived by the same dark power his father had within him and transforms into Devil Jin. He attacks his grandfather before flying off into the night, leaving Heihachi stunned.
Tekken 4[]
Kazuya in promotional artwork for Tekken 4, battling the Tekken Force
Two years later, in his search to find Jin, Heihachi uncovers a photograph of a burnt corpse with deformed wing-like limbs protruding from its back. He diverts his attention and begins to search for the body, believing it to be Kazuya. His investigations eventually lead him to the G Corporation, a company specializing in biogenetics; it is then revealed that they found Kazuya's corpse and managed to revive him, where he agreed to use his body as their test subject, and one of his therapist is a former Zaibatsu researcher, Emma Kliesen. With their research, Kazuya learns to control his Devil Gene while plotting his revenge against his father, though this training is slightly hindered after the Tekken Force raids the G Corporation's headquarters to steal their findings. In an effort to lure him out, Heihachi announces a 4th tournament with control of the Zaibatsu as its ultimate prize. Not only does Kazuya enter, knowing full well its a trap, but Jin re-emerges, now holding an intense grudge against his father and grandfather and plans to end the family bloodline. Kazuya meets his son for the first time in the semi-finals, where an intense battle ensues. Their confrontation eventually spills into the final round against Heihachi at Hon-Maru Temple, resulting in a three-way battle with the Mishima men. It ends with Jin incapacitating both Heihachi and Kazuya (now having merged with his devil form); although he nearly kills both, he stops after the guidance of Jun's spirit and then flies off into the night.
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection[]
Kazuya as he appears in Tekken 5
In the aftermath of the tournament, several Jack-4 robots are sent by the G Corporation into the temple. Both Heihachi and Kazuya attack them, but Kazuya quickly betrays his father and escapes, leaving Heihachi to seemingly die when the robots self-destruct. Soon after, a fifth tournament is announced, though its host and benefactor are unknown; Jin joins to figure out why his Devil Gene is starting to go haywire, while Kazuya joins to know who in the G Corporation ordered the Jack-4 attack. Eventually, Jin and Kazuya slowly find out that the host is Heihachi's father Jinpachi, the founder of the Zaibatsu, who formed the new King of Iron Fist Tournament in the hopes that the victor would kill him to prevent a supernatural entity from taking over his body. In the end it is Jin who faces off against Jinpachi, who ultimately defeats his great-grandfather and becomes the new CEO of the Mishima Zaibatsu. In fact, Kazuya retreats from the tournament, in order to focus on the traitors within G Corporation who attempt to betray him, and ultimately reunite with his old ally, Bruce Irvin. During his raid while killing previous superiors in retaliation of his betrayal, Kazuya carelessly killed casualties who never dared to betray Kazuya and got caught up in his rampage, such as Emma. Unbeknownst that Emma, despite not being involved in betraying Kazuya and only got caught up in his rampage, predicted her death, and managed to entrust her family (her husband, Niklas and their child, Leo) to secure her previous research of the Devil Gene, including its weakness.
Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion[]
Kazuya in the intro to Tekken 6
Following the 5th tournament, Jin throws the world into chaos by leading the Zaibatsu into a war against all nations. Kazuya, having usurped control over the G Corporation, places a bounty on his son, having been seen as the only force capable of opposing Jin; in response, Jin announces a 6th tournament in an effort to battle his father and crush the G Corporation. Kazuya sees this as an advantage to pose himself as "hero", while maintaining his true villainous facade. Like Jin, Kazuya also learns the existence of Azazel, the progenitor of the Devil Gene, whose seal at Egypt is now broken. At the same time, a solider in the Tekken Force named Lars Alexandersson has incited a coup d'état within the Zaibatsu by creating the rebel army known as Yggdrasil, alongside an android calling herself Alisa Bosconovitch. After a battle against the Tekken Force, Lars and Alisa escape from their destroyed base and go on a journey to discover their origins.
Their travels eventually lead Lars and Alisa to the G Corporation, where they defeat Tekken Force commander Nina Williams and confront Kazuya, but he easily beats them. Kazuya escapes and, during the madness, Lars' lieutenant Tougou is killed. After he and Alisa confront Jin at the top of Zaibatsu's Central Tower, and Alisa's defeat, Lars and Raven trail Jin into a temple in the middle of the desert. Kazuya is also there, to capture Azazel for himself, until he learns that Lars is his half-brother, having been Heihachi's illegitimate son, to which Kazuya reacts in disgust. Because of this, Kazuya retreat and hold off his mission to capture Azazel for a time being, while also warn his brother about the curse of being Mishimas by blood.
Tekken 7: Fated Retribution[]
Kazuya in Fated Retribution, battling Akuma
After the events of Tekken 6, Jin has disappeared after seemingly defeating the demon Azazel, while the Zaibatsu and the G Corporation are still interlocked in a war. With his grandson gone, Heihachi (who has revealed to have survived and gone into hiding in the last game) regains control of the Zaibatsu. He and Nina Williams then strike a deal with Claudio Serafino, the leader of a secret group of exorcists known as the Archers of Sirius, in the hopes of exposing Kazuya being the devil in order to turn public opinion against the G Corporation. Sometime later, Heihachi is ambushed in his dojo by Akuma from Street Fighter, claiming to have been sent on behalf of Heihachi's late wife Kazumi, who ordered him to kill her husband and son. After briefly teaming up to ward off an invasion of Jack-6 robots, one of which is used by Kazuya to eavesdrop on their conversation, Heihachi is defeated by Akuma, who escapes and uses the opportunity to declare himself dead to the public. Akuma then heads to the G Corporation to kill Kazuya, where he reveals that Kazumi saved his life and owes a debt to her; as the two clash, Heihachi secretly records their battle and Kazuya's transformation into Devil Kazuya. In the heat of the battle, Heihachi orders the Zaibatsu's Orbital Laser Satellite to destroy the G Corporation's building, seemingly killing both Kazuya and Akuma. The footage of Devil Kazuya begins to spread, though it is revealed that he survived the destruction and retaliates by destroying the satellite; this inadvertently sparks rumors of the Zaibatsu losing control of the satellite leading to mass scale devistation and thus having public opinion be against the Zaibatsu yet again.
Young Kazuya during the story mode's flashback sequence
While the game's events unfold, an unnamed journalist has been gathering information on the Mishima family to craft an èxpose, and has been with Lars' team who have since discovered Jin's whereabouts and are trying to chase him down. To the journalist's surprise, Heihachi requests a private interview with him, to which he finally divulges on his full history. Decades prior to the first Tekken, Heihachi met Kazumi in Jinpachi's dojo; though initially rivals at first, they began a romance and Kazumi eventually gave birth to Kazuya. One day, Kazumi fell ill and gradually turned violet, with her symptoms going back and forth from severe to fine. She eventually confronts Heihachi, telling him he will inflict chaos and war upon the world in the future. The two then clash, with Kazumi transforming into Devil Kazumi during the fight; it ends when Heihachi reluctantly kills his wife in self-defense. A 5-year-old Kazuya witnesses the whole ordeal and angrily tries to fight his father. Heihachi unfortunately defeats him and throws him off a cliff, suspecting that he might've also inherited devil powers - if he survived his fall, it would've also meant that the Devil Gene passed on to Kazuya; this action would inadvertently set off the chain of events in the entire Tekken series. Heihachi tells the journalist that all of the destruction his family has caused is his fault and he regrets not killing Kazuya sooner. The Tekken Force then knock out the journalist and have him rescued by Lars hours later, while Heihachi finally confronts his son at a volcano.
Kazuya in the story mode's climax
The two have a long and grueling fight, eventually tiring each other out. As Kazuya is beaten into the ground, he suddenly has a flashback to the fateful day, seeing his mother die and being thrown off the cliff. Kazuya becomes enraged and punches Heihachi with such force that it stops his father's heart, seemingly killing him. Kazuya then throws Heihachi's seemingly lifeless body into the lava while echoing his father's mantra: "A fight is about who is left standing. Nothing else". Akuma, who also survived the G Corporation's destruction, then arrives to ambush Kazuya, leaving the outcome of their fight unknown, though Kazuya survives. Unbeknowst to both Akuma and Kazuya, someone caught Heihachi's corpse before his body hit the lava and left before a fight between Akuma and Kazuya occur. In the aftermath, Jin, Lars, Alisa, and Lee Chaolan lament on the state of the world, with the G Corporation not ending the war despite the Zaibatsu's downfall and Heihachi's presumed death. Lars then tells Jin that he is the only one left that can kill Kazuya and end the war once and for all, to which he agrees.
Tekken 8[]
Kazuya as he appears in Tekken 8
Kazuya returns Tekken 8, which will see him finally confronting Jin in an ultimate showdown as the world continues to descend into destructive chaos. Kazuya's wife, Jun Kazama, will also return - confirming that she fell into coma after warding Ogre off in Tekken 3 - and only wake up at the climax of the story to assist her son in an effort to finally end their war.
Kazuya ultimately confirms the Devil Gene's existence through assuming his Devil form to the world, as the means to reveal G Corporation's true warmongering color. Jin attempt to stop Kazuya from decimated half of life at Manhattan, New York, but somehow become weaker and losing control of his Devil's power, resulting his failure. Around the same day, Kazuya announces the eight King of Iron Fist which will start at the sxith day of next week, with the countries which the fighters represents will be sanctioned, should they lost the match.
Although Jin manage to win the qualification tournament at Japan, despite his current condition. it is revealed that Kazuya also set up the tournament to not only kill Jin, but also to return to capture Azazel, whose soul is now sealed by a fortune teller, Zafina. Kazuya had been using Jin's advantage, because he knew since Tekken 6 that Jin still cannot destroy Azazel's soul, which led to Zafina have no choice to seal the monster inside her left hand and currently under protection of the Sirius organization at Italy, allowing Kazuya's plans goes well, and lastly set up the finals at Rome to lure her in. Furthermore, it is revealed that Azazel's Devil Gene clan and Mishima clan has ill histories against one another, with Kazumi's clan, Hachijo, which Jin and Kazuya descended from is possibly one of descendant clans of Azazel's original servants. It is also revealed which Kazuya previously discovered is that controlling Devil Gene, requires stronger desire. However, as a result Kazuya's growing avarice, it was his malice which caused Azazel grows stronger into having its seal broken since Tekken 6, as Jin does not have such malice desires which Kazuya inherit. Even without using the Devil Gene, Kazuya's descend to villainy is in fact comes from a result of his past abuse by Heihachi. Unbeknownst to even Kazuya himself, a mysterious group known Tekken Monks begin to take out the Zaibatsu remnants and initially suspected to ally themselves with G Corporation.
As Kazuya learned that Yggdrasil and UN, whom Jin allied with attempt to assault the coliseum where the tournament is, which signals Zafina and Claudio's team to raid towards Kazuya separately, Kazuya gathers enough dark mist energy coming out from human malice during the tournament finals, before successfully ambush Zafina during the assault. Kazuya unseals Azazel from Zafina's body, then absorbs it to upgrade his Devil into its true final state. Before Zafina lost consciousness, she advices Jin to retreat to his birthplace, Yakushima, where he regain his lost power. With expanded help from the Sirius and many other fighters who also wants help to opposing Kazuya, Jin retreats to Yakushima safely, at cost of sacrificing himself to weaken True Devil Kazuya for time being. Unbeknownst to everyone, a mysterious tournament fighter whom Jin met, Reina had been secretly uses both sides through joining Jin's side, in order to get near Kazuya for her own goal. Kazuya also hired one of the few tournament fighters under his parole, with few of them being deceived by him. As Kazuya arrive at Yakushima to kill Jin, Reina's real plan is to get herself killed by him, Make matter's worst, Reina is not only secretly Heihachi's illegitimate children like Lars, but is also a Devil Gene carrier like Jin and Kazuya.
As Lars and Xiaoyu are trying to defend an unconscious Jin, who is currently facing his inner demon, Kazuya becomes annoyed of Lars, when he somehow begin to hallucinating of seeing Heihachi in his little brother. Ultimately, after Jin purifies his Devil Gene, and transforms into a silver warrior of hope known as Angel Jin, thanks to his mother, Jun, Kazuya's anger starts to get ahead of him. Although both Angel Jin and True Devil Kazuya are evenly matched, their fist clash with full power results them to have their supernatural genes burnout and eradicating Azazel's along with them, with both Jin and Kazuya settle their final fight as simply humans. As Jin remembers that he has friends, allies and rivals who cares for him and help him find a true meaning of life, Jin defeated Kazuya using two styles of Karate (original and Mishima styles) and his mother's Kazama Style's Jiu Jitsu.
As Jin spares Kazuya and return to his friends for celebration of the world's freedom from Kazuya's tyranny, rather than repeating a same mistake of what his father and grandfather did to each other, a recently woke up Jun finds an unconscious Kazuya, and take his body somewhere. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to everyone, Reina assumes her newly awaken devil form to enact her plan to avenge Heihachi. Make matter's worst, unbeknownst to even Kazuya, Heihachi, who was rescued by a member of Tekken Monks has resurrected and being put into amnesiac state to conceal his evil soul during his rehabilitation, but fail during Kazuya and Jin's battle in space, as Heihachi's evil starting to return to him once again.
Following Heihachi's return and Reina's revelation as a devil, it is also revealed since Kazumi incident, an incident where Kazuya's devil awakened when he was five years old, took place after Heihachi's revenge on the Hachijo clan, where he spared a baby as the last survivor.
Tekken Tag Tournament series[]
Kazuya as he appears in Tag Tournament 2, against Jin
The first Tag Tournament game, while non-canon, marked Kazuya's return to the playable roster after an absence from Tekken 3, as the game featured the return of everyone from the first three games up to that point. Additionally, his Devil form is treated as a separate character; when paired, Kazuya will instead transform in and out of his Devil form when tagging out instead of running offscreen to allow his partner to run in. His ending in the first game shows him having defeated Jin. About to leave, Kazuya is stunned to see Jin transform into his own Devil form and prepares for another fight.
The infamous Mishima family feud is parodied in Lars' Tag Tournament 2 ending, which sees almost the entire Mishima-Kazama family having a seemingly friendly dinner, although its so hectic that Lars doesn't have the chance to eat anything. In Kazuya's own ending, he defeats Unknown (a demonic, transformed Jun Kazama) and absorbs her power, attaining a new level of power as a result.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
Fighter[]
Kazuya was announced to be joining Ultimate at the E3 2021 Nintendo Direct on June 16th, confirming him to be the fifth fighter in Fighters Pass Volume 2.
Kazuya can perform his moveset from the Tekken series, which have been converted to fit with the 2.5D fighting style of Smash and utilizes all 8 directions of the control stick. Certain moves, like his Specials and Smash Attacks, allow him to transform in Devil Kazuya. He can also enter Rage, which gives him access to a powerful move called a Rage Drive.
He was released on June 29th, alongside the stage Mishima Dojo, 39 music tracks, and a Tekken-themed Spirit Board as a part of Challenger Pack 10.
Spirits[]
A Fighter Spirit of Kazuya can be obtained after beating his Classic Mode route. An alternate Spirit of Kazuya in his business suit can be purchased from the Shop for 300G after downloading Challenger Pack 10. As they are Fighter Spirits, they do not have their own Spirit Battles and cannot be used.
| No. | Spirit | Name | Artwork Origin | Type | Rating | Effect | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1474 |
|
Kazuya Mishima | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | Fighter | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1475 | 
|
Kazuya Mishima (Coat) | Tekken 7 | Fighter | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Trivia[]
- Kazuya is the second third-party antagonist to join Smash, following Sephiroth.
- He is also the fourth enemy to be DLC, following Piranha Plant, Zombie & Enderman, and Sephiroth.
- He is also the first antagonist to be the sole representative of a universe.
- He is also the fourth enemy to be DLC, following Piranha Plant, Zombie & Enderman, and Sephiroth.
- Kazuya is the second fighter to represent a game where he isn't the mascot nor the default character, following Min Min.
- Kazuya is the fifth fighter to originate from a fighting game, following Ryu, Ken, Terry, and Min Min.
- Of the five:
- Kazuya is the first villain (though albeit a former protagonist)
- Kazuya is the second to come from a 3D fighting game, following Min Min
- Of the five:
- Kazuya's inclusion in Smash marks the second time he is playable in a 2D fighting game, following Street Fighter X Tekken.
- It would also be the second time he has encountered Mega Man and Pac-Man, as both were guest characters in that game.
- Smash also marks the third time Kazuya has met Ryu and Ken, following Namco x Capcom and Street Fighter X Tekken.
- It is also the second time he has met Terry, following The King of Fighters: All Star.
- Kazuya is the fifth fighter to speak Japanese in all regions, following Marth (pre-Ultimate), Roy (pre-Ultimate), Cloud, and Sephiroth. Similarly to Min Min, this is consistent with Tekken, as all international characters in the game speak their native tongue across all regional versions.
- Kazuya is one of ten fighters to come from a real-world location (Japan); the other nine being Snake (United States), Sonic (Christmas Island), Little Mac (New York, USA), Ryu (Japan), Simon and Richter (Transylvania, now modern-day Romania), Ken (California, USA), Joker (Tokyo, Japan), and Terry (United States).
[]
 Tekken universe
| |
|---|---|
| Character | Kazuya Mishima (Ultimate) |
| Side Character | Heihachi Mishima |
| Stage | Mishima Dojo |
| Music | List of Music (Tekken series) |
| Spirits | List of spirits (Tekken series) |