Kazuya Mishima

For fighter info, see Kazuya (SSBU).

Kazuya
Official artwork of Kazuya from Tekken 6 and Tekken 7.
Universe	Tekken
Debut	Tekken (1994)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Arcade Archives 2: Tekken (2026)
Console/platform of origin	Arcade
Species	Human (augmented via the Devil Gene)
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Japan
Created by	Seiichi Ishii
Voice actor	Masanori Shinohara
Article on Wikipedia	Kazuya Mishima

Kazuya Mishima (三島 一八, Mishima Kazuya) is one of the central characters from the Tekken series of fighting games. The main protagonist of the original game, he becomes one of the series' main antagonists in Tekken 2.

Origin

Official artwork of Devil Kazuya from Tekken Pachislot 2nd.

Kazuya first appeared in the original Tekken for arcades. There, he served as the main protagonist, seeking to get revenge on his father Heihachi, and stop his plans of conquering the world. Later games, however, would reveal his motives to have been purely selfish, in the name of achieving his own ambitions. Beginning in Tekken 2, he became one of the series's main antagonists, taking over his father's evil organization and plans for world domination. The Mishimas' bitter feud propels much of the series's conflicts, driven partially by Kazuya's deep hatred for Heihachi, and his antagonistic relationship with his own son Jin Kazama. He appears in every game of the series except for Tekken 3, where his absence and succession by Jin casts a long shadow.

Kazuya was trained in martial arts at a very young age under the guidance of both Heihachi and his grandfather, Jinpachi Mishima. He inherited the Devil Gene from his mother Kazumi Mishima, offering him the possibility of transforming into a demon. At the age of five, Kazumi would die, and Kazuya would soon find out that Heihachi was responsible. Kazuya confronted his father, but he was easily defeated and thrown off a cliff as punishment for his weakness. Heihachi used the punishment to test if Kazuya truly had the Devil Gene, as that would be the only way he could survive, and if so, be strong enough to succeed Heihachi and inherit the Mishima Zaibatsu. Kazuya nearly dies from the fall, but the incident causes his Devil Gene to activate and his demonic powers to awaken, allowing him to climb back out of the ravine.

Following this incident, Kazuya continued training in order to usurp his father. The first Tekken game depicts him at the age of 26, participating in the first King of Iron Fist Tournament that Heihachi organized; joining in hopes of revenge against him, and of taking the family business for himself. In the final fight of the tournament, Kazuya defeats Heihachi with his Devil Kazuya form, and achieves his revenge by throwing his body off the same cliff from which Heihachi dropped him as a child.

After Heihachi's apparent death, Kazuya inherits his corporate empire. This sudden influx of wealth and power renders Kazuya obsessed with surpassing his father in every way. Under his control, the Mishima Zaibatsu becomes an even more ruthless and oppressive military force, seizing Hokkaido to create an independent nation, illegally experimenting on endangered animal species, as well as kidnapping, subjugating, and even killing potential threats to his leadership. Two years after the end of the first tournament, Kazuya announces the second King of Iron Fist Tournament to prove his dominance.

Kazuya is the final boss of Tekken 2, transforming into Devil for the fight's final phase. During the events of the game, he meets a woman named Jun Kazama, who attempts to stop the Zaibatsu's illegal animal trading. Kazuya became attracted by her strange presence and unknowingly impregnated her, later resulting in the birth of Jin Kazama. Jun's presence also caused Kazuya to question his corrupted lifestyle, but he proceeds with the tournament regardless. Canonically, Kazuya's final opponent is Heihachi, who had survived his fall and came out of hiding to take revenge on his son. Though Kazuya transforms into Devil, he realizes too late that half of his Devil's power imprinted to the unborn Jin, and Heihachi reigns victorious. He throws Kazuya into an active volcano from a helicopter, whereupon he is presumed dead.

As a result of his presumed death, Kazuya is completely absent from Tekken 3, taking place 20 years later. Tekken 4 reveals him to have been revived by the biotech firm G Corporation. Kazuya now seeks not only continued vengeance against Heihachi, but to reclaim Jin's half of the Devil powers for himself. Throughout the rest of the series, Kazuya rises to the top of G Corporation, leading it in war against the Mishima Zaibatsu, and continues his crusades against Heihachi and Jin.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Prior to his formal debut as a DLC character (see below), Kazuya is referenced in the reveal trailer for the Heihachi Mii Brawler costume, where Heihachi's throwing of Kazuya into a volcano is referenced with Wolf being used as a stand-in for Kazuya.

As a playable character

Kazuya as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Kazuya appears as a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with his inclusion being announced at E3 2021. He is the fifth DLC character in Fighters Pass Vol. 2, and was released on June 29th, 2021. Kazuya's default appearance is based on his standard design as of Tekken 5. His alternate costume depicts him in his suit worn for his default appearance in Tekken 7, and the opening cinematic of Tekken Tag Tournament.

Masahiro Sakurai chose Kazuya to represent Tekken, as his at-will use of the Devil Gene granted him wider moveset applicability and recovery options than any other character in the series, particularly Heihachi. Due to hailing from a traditional fighting game series like Ryu, Ken and Terry, Kazuya also features command-input moves and will always face his opponent when there is one remaining (teammates included if Team Attack is on).

Spirits

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  1,474. Kazuya Mishima
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  1,475. Kazuya Mishima (Coat)

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	カズヤ, Kazuya
English	Kazuya
French	Kazuya
German	Kazuya
Spanish	Kazuya
Italian	Kazuya
Chinese	一八, Kazuya
Korean	Kazuya
Dutch	Kazuya
Russian	Кадзуя

Trivia

• Among the fighters that have the 1-on-1 facing fighter ability, Kazuya is unique in that he does not have stance mirroring. This is a reference to him being an orthodox fighter in Tekken no matter what side of the stage he is on. The same also applies to the Akira Yuki Assist Trophy, due to both Tekken and Virtua Fighter being 3D fighting game franchises.
• Kazuya is the only fighter to lack a victory theme. Instead, the announcer from Tekken 7 simply says "Kazuya Mishima wins" as a callback to the Tekken series lacking victory themes during a character's win screen.
• Kazuya is one of the four characters who possess a taunt that can deal damage. The others are Luigi, Solid Snake, and Greninja.
• Kazuya has made no appearance on the Nintendo Switch outside of Ultimate.
• Kazuya and fellow Bandai Namco representative Pac-Man are the only characters to have a taunt with an official name, with Kazuya's being Demon's Wrath.
• Kazuya's name is written in kanji for the Tekken series, but in the Japanese version of Ultimate, it is written in katakana on the character selection screen—for both of his fighter spirits, however, the kanji is properly used for his full name.
• Kazuya possesses the most moves out of any fighter in the Super Smash Bros. series, with a total of 35 moves that can be used via special inputs.

External links

• Article on the Tekken Wiki