Kazuya Mishima

Kazuya Mishima (, Mishima Kazuya) is a major character from the series of fighting games. He is the main protagonist of the first Tekken game, but becomes one of the main antagonists of the series after the second installment.

Origin
Born from the union between Kazumi and Heihachi Mishima, Kazuya began his life with happiness. Heihachi would later say that he and Kazumi were "overjoyed" to have a son, and they treated him with the utmost care. Kazuya began martial arts training at a very young age, under the guidance of his father and his grandfather, Jinpachi.

Heihachi, at age 31, overthrows Jinpachi and takes over his family business, renaming it from Tekken Zaibatsu to Mishima Zaibatsu. Under his control, it becomes a corporation bent on warfare, fueling Heihachi's desire to conquer the world. This change startles Kazumi, who realizes that Heihachi is becoming a threat to the world, and conspires to kill him before he can cause any further damage. Meanwhile, Heihachi thwarts his father's coup attempt by restraining him in a prison built on the Mishima estate called Hon-Maru, where he eventually dies of starvation.

When he was five, Kazumi discovered that Kazuya had inherited her Devil Gene, offering him the possibility of transforming into a demon. Knowing that her husband could discover the truth at any moment, and still seeing him as a threat to humanity, Kazumi makes a pact with the demon Akuma (from ); having saved his life in the past, Akuma is indebted to her. Kazumi asks Akuma to kill Heihachi should she fail to do so herself, and to kill Kazuya should he follow the same path as his father. Heihachi soon discovers the truth about his wife and kills her soon thereafter, leaving him alone with Kazuya.

The 5-year-old Kazuya, aware that Heihachi was responsible for his mother's death, directly confronts his father, but he is easily defeated. As punishment for his weakness, Heihachi throws Kazuya off the top of a cliff, to confirm that he had inherited the Devil Gene and to test that he could succeed him as the heir of 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 to train to prepare his revenge against his father. During one of these trips, he fought Paul Phoenix; the match ended in a draw. Since then, Paul has seen Kazuya as his rival, and he continually attempts to rematch him, albeit with no success.

In Tekken, a 26-year-old Kazuya participates in the first King of Iron Fist Tournament that Heihachi organizes. The winner of this tournament would be rewarded with a large sum of money. Kazuya participates in hopes of revenge and of taking the family business for himself. Making it to the final fight against his father, Kazuya defeats Heihachi with his Devil Kazuya form, and throws his body off the same cliff from which Heihachi threw him more than two decades prior.

After the end of this tournament and the apparent death of Heihachi, Kazuya inherits his father's 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 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.

During the events of Tekken 2, Kazuya 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 into bearing a son, Jin Kazama, named after Kazuya's late grandfather, Jinpachi, when Kazuya explains to her about a happy childhood life he had once prior to his fifth birthday. Jun's presence also caused Kazuya to question his corrupted lifestyle, but he proceeds with the tournament regardless. The final opponent is Heihachi, who had survived his fall and came out of hiding to take revenge on his son. Despite Kazuya unlocking his Devil form as a last resort, Heihachi reigns victorious. He throws Kazuya into an active volcano from a helicopter, whereupon he is presumed dead.

While Kazuya does not physically appear in Tekken 3, he makes a cameo in the opening movie next to Jun Kazama. Pictures of him are also seen in Eddy Gordo's arcade ending, revealing that he murdered the formerly rich capoeira fighter's parents and framed him between Tekken and Tekken 2.

Soon after his presumed death, Kazuya was recovered by a mysterious biotech firm known as G Corporation, albeit in a weakened state. With their aid, Kazuya’s presence had been covered while he took an absence from the Tekken 3 tournament, allowing him to study his Devil gene at the corporation’s Nebraska branch in an attempt to understand and control its true potential, then take back the Mishima Zaibatsu from Heihachi afterwards. It is likely that Kazuya became aware of Jin's presence off-screen during his time hiding at G Corporation when the third tournament occurred, presumably when Jin's Devil was awakened at the end of the tournament, due to his son inheriting the half of Devil he had lost at the end of Tekken 2. This period lasted for twenty years, until the Tekken Forces raided G Corporation and stole the research data, under orders from Heihachi. Kazuya was furious and became even more determined to exact his revenge. A fourth King of Iron Fist tournament was suddenly announced soon after. Kazuya knew full well that this was a trap to lure him out of hiding, but he entered anyway for the chance to defeat Heihachi and confront Jin in person.

During the events of Tekken 4, he was scheduled to fight his son Jin in the semi-finals, but Jin did not show and seemingly disappeared. The Tekken Forces had captured him at Heihachi's command. Kazuya was declared winner by default and advanced to the final round. Personally disrespected and worried for his son, he met Heihachi as his final opponent to get some answers. After losing to his father once more, Heihachi took him to the Hon-Maru temple, where Jin was being held. While finally seeing his son's face in person, Kazuya was presumably overpowered by his alternate Devil personality, who took control of his body. Kazuya's Devil half explained how he lost half of his power, which resides inside Jin, referring to his last encounter with Jun before Heihachi defeated Kazuya and thrown him into the volcano back in Tekken 2. Devil Kazuya then knocked Heihachi out and attempted to assimilate Jin's Devil into him, but was unsuccessful. He speculated that the Kazama blood within him was preventing the merger. As it turns out, Kazuya’s human half had been letting his Devil-half took over his body, and used a momentary distraction to regain control of his body, consequently gaining permanent command over his other half, and merging into a unified being. He urged Jin to re-awaken his own Devil Gene and defeat him. Jin awoke and progressively turned into Devil Jin, who knocked first Kazuya, then Heihachi unconscious. When Jin's transformation into Devil Jin was 80% complete (which is barring his third eye and facial mark), and as a result of intending to kill both Heihachi and Kazuya in blind rage, an illusion of Jun suddenly came out of nowhere in front of Jin, causing him to spare both of his grandfather and father, then fly to an unknown point somewhere in Japan, telling them to thank her for sparing their lives.

Once Kazuya and Heihachi regained consciousness after Jin had fled, they were ambushed by a Jack-4 squad, which G Corporation had sent to kill them. The two fought side by side for a while, but Kazuya quickly assumed his Devil form and flew away, leaving Heihachi to die. The Jack-4 squad eventually restrained Heihachi and self-destructed, blowing up the entire temple. Heihachi was pronounced dead, but an unknown figure assumed the Mishima Zaibatsu soon after, and announced a fifth King of Iron Fist tournament. Suspecting the Jack-4 squad of being deployed from Nebraska, the same branch of the corporation that helped Kazuya on his Devil Gene research data, he entered the tournament to find out the identity of this person and exact revenge on those that betrayed him, both because of being a potential threat, and also having stolen his research for themselves. During the events of Tekken 5, Kazuya meets a man named Raven, who both recognize each other from the Hon-Maru incident. Kazuya interrogated Raven and learned that something was awoken underneath Hon-Maru. Kazuya realizes that his grandfather, Jinpachi Mishima, was sealed under Hon-Maru and was likely the sponsor behind the tournament. It is unclear how far Kazuya got in the tournament, though he did not win. However, he reunited with his old subordinate and acquaintance from Tekken 2, Bruce Irvin, who helped him find and dispose of the traitors at G Corporation's Nebraska branch.

After killing the corporation’s traitorous Nebraska officials, Kazuya managed to take control of G Corporation behind the scenes. Since Jin managed to defeat Jinpachi, he took control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, and the world was thrown into chaos by his actions. Kazuya used the might of G Corporation to suppress the Zaibatsu, and was heralded as a hero for saving the world. However, Kazuya only did this because he could not accept a world run by anyone other than him, and him alone. Kazuya uses his newfound political sway to place a bounty on Jin's head, dead or alive. During the events of Tekken 6, Kazuya learns about Azazel, the supposed source of the Devil Gene. He eventually locates Azazel in a temple in the desert and goes to obtain its power. However, he and several G Corporation soldiers are ambushed at the temple by Lars Alexandersson, a rogue Tekken Force soldier and Kazuya's half-brother. After fighting for a while, Kazuya simply walks away, only warning Lars that the life of a Mishima is not a life worth living.

Later, Kazuya learns that Heihachi is still alive, has once again taken control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, and has announced a seventh King of Iron Fist tournament. Not surprised by any of this, Kazuya sends his minions to thwart whatever plan Heihachi has before he finds and captures a recently disappeared Jin. During the events of Tekken 7, Kazuya sends a Jack-6 army to kill Heihachi, who was battling Akuma at the Mishima Dojo. Heihachi and Akuma fight off the army and successfully destroy all of them. Kazuya then learns that Akuma was sent by his late mother to kill both Heihachi and himself. He disregards this revelation and laughs it off, believing it to be absurd. Akuma seemingly kills Heihachi, though Kazuya believes his death was faked. Akuma then tracks down Kazuya and confronts him on the top of the G Corporation building. Kazuya agrees to have a 1-on-1 fight. Initially overwhelmed by Akuma, Kazuya resorts to his devil form, not knowing that the fight was being recorded via space satellite and the world now knew he was a demon. Heihachi then blasts both Kazuya and Akuma with a laser cannon from a satellite in space, which happened to be created by the late Doctor Abel. This destroys the building and shifts the public's opinion to Heihachi's side. However, Kazuya survived the laser attack and uses his own Devil Blaster laser to destroy the satellite, which falls to Earth and destroys a whole city. With the world believing Heihachi destroyed Abel's satellite laser cannon, public opinion is once again on Kazuya's side. Several hours later, Kazuya and Heihachi (who did in fact survive his encounter with Akuma) confront each other inside a volcano. Both manage to severely injure the other, but Kazuya eventually manages to defeat Heihachi and throw his seemingly lifeless body into a river of lava. Kazuya is then confronted by Akuma, who also survived the laser attack and still had his mission to attend to. The outcome of this battle is currently unknown. However, when G Corporation is confirmed to not have ended the world war after Heihachi's death, and after Jin fully recovers from his coma thanks to Lars and Lee, his Devil flows in him, indicating Kazuya has survived his battle against Akuma.

This statement is ultimately confirmed for the next numbered title, Tekken 8. Six months after Kazuya fought Heihachi and Akuma, he is seen causing chaos around. With Heihachi out of his way, Kazuya has stepped up his plans of world domination, organizing the Eighth King of Iron Fist Tournament to gather only those strong enough to join him in his new order. Meanwhile, his son and his former lover, returning not only as a major character but also after being of absent for many years in the franchise, attempt to stop him. While Jun still believes Kazuya can be saved and pleads for Jin to do so using the power he inherited from her, Jin is intent on taking things to a bitter end, even at the cost of his own life.

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 costume, where Heihachi's throwing of Kazuya into a volcano is referenced with  being used as a stand-in for Kazuya.

As a playable character
Kazuya appears as a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with his inclusion being announced during on June 15, 2021. He is the fifth DLC character of, and was released on June 29th, 2021. Kazuya's design is based on his default appearance as of Tekken 5, although he also features an alternate costume based on his default appearance in Tekken 7 and the opening cinematic of Tekken Tag Tournament.

According to  series creator and director Masahiro Sakurai, Kazuya was chosen over his father, Heihachi Mishima, due to his Devil Gene and its applicability to his moveset. Due to hailing from a traditional fighting game series like, and , Kazuya also features command-input moves and will always face an opponent in 1-on-1 battles.

Trivia

 * Kazuya's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate marks the second time he is playable in a 2.5D fighting game, with the first being Street Fighter X Tekken.
 * 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 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 is currently the only fighter in the entire series whose game of origin is not playable on a Nintendo console.
 * Kazuya is the only DLC fighter to not make any appearance on the Nintendo Switch outside of Ultimate.
 * Kazuya and Pac-Man are the only characters to have a taunt with an official name, with Kazuya's being Demon's Wrath. Incidentally, they are both owned by Bandai Namco.
 * 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.