Nintendo shocked the world at E3 by unveiling Tekken’s Kazuya Mishima as Smash Ultimate’s penultimate DLC fighter – but fans aren’t exactly thrilled with the announcement.
After months of speculation and buildup leading to E3 – including what were thought to be teases from Crash Bandicoot devs and Microsoft themselves – fans prepared for a Western rep that would blow them away.
Instead, Nintendo opened their E3 Direct by showcasing Kazuya Mishima and announcing a Sakurai Presents for June 28.
With rumors of a double reveal and a Western representative still fresh in Smash fans’ minds, Kazuya’s announcement isn’t exactly going over well.
https://twitter.com/_Jackimo_/status/1404833550332051467
“What ever happened to having gaming icons?” one of the most liked comments on the reveal tweet said. “Who the hell is this?”
“One of the lamest picks,” another user wrote. “We have Ryu, Ken, and Terry. Reimu, Doomguy, Master Chief, or Phoenix Wright would all be from genres not already in and be infinitely more interesting.”
The user does make an interesting point that Smash does feature loads of fighting game characters as-is. Street Fighter and Fatal Fury had both been represented, and even Tekken had a Heihachi Mii outfit prior to Kazuya’s reveal.
https://twitter.com/Jadienautic/status/1404834911283040261
Users on the popular forum SmashBoards were also stunned by the reveal. Amusingly, there was a thread in a section suggesting Kazuya as a DLC fighter from back in 2019 that only generated five comments prior to his announcement.
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“Literally the 4 people asking for Kazuya, lmao,” a player jokingly remarked, showcasing how out of left field the reveal was.
However, many fighting game fans are pleasantly surprised by the choice, and chalk up criticism to Smash players not being familiar with other titles in the fighting game genre.
Everyone who is mad hasn’t played a real fighting game
— TriZard @ Jail for liking Xenoblade (@TriforceZard) June 15, 2021
“The people who don’t like this character don’t play fighting games,” a popular comment on the reveal states.
Even the official Tekken account got in on the fun, celebrating Kazuya’s addition with some artwork.
“It seems Kazuya is looking for someone stronger than himself and has already gone to greet the competition,” they wrote, and posted a photo of Kazuya holding a defeated Ryu over a cliff.
Kazuya is joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!
Mr. Sakurai will showcase Kazuya in a video presentation on June 28th 4pm CEST / 7am PDT!
It seems Kazuya is looking for someone stronger than himself and has already gone to greet the competition… pic.twitter.com/Tx6ilCS5ok
— TEKKEN (@TEKKEN) June 15, 2021
It will be interesting to see if the upcoming Sakurai Presents video can sway the minds of folks who weren’t pleased with the fighter reveal and can get on board with his addition.
There is still one more DLC fighter to come in Fighters Pass Volume 2 and their identity remains a mystery. All we know is that they will be announced prior to the DLC, which is set to conclude by December, 2021.
