The reveal that Tekken’s Kazuya Mishima would be coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ended up being quite the surprise for fans. At the time, there were many reasons to believe that a rep from the Tekken series was already disconfirmed as a possibility.
Heihachi seemed like the most likely character to put into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate if someone from Tekken were to be selected. During the “Mr. Sakurai Presents Kazuya” video, Masahiro Sakurai revealed the main reason why Kazuya was ultimately chosen over Heihachi.
“We could just put a Tekken fighter into this game, but they’d look complete only from the outside,” stated Sakurai after explaining some key differences regarding the gameplay of Tekken and Super Smash Bros. “That wouldn’t capture the true essence of Tekken.”
In the video explanation, Sakurai demonstrated how attacks in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate are performed faster than those in Tekken 7. It’s no exaggeration to say that Mario in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is able to attack in a fifth of the time as Kazuya from Tekken 7.
Mario’s jab in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate starts up in just a mere 2 frames. Meanwhile, Kazuya’s jab in Tekken 7 has a 10 frame start up.
Although it was clear that Kazuya’s attacks would have to be sped up somewhat to compete against the rest of the cast, Sakurai was adamant about maintaining the feeling of Tekken with Kazuya. The Tekken rep would need a little something extra since his attacks would still have to be on the slow side.
“If we went through the normal process, the result just wouldn’t seem right,” continued Sakurai. “However, making the impossible happen with some clever ideas is how Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was designed. After extensive research, I had an idea. “
“In Tekken, there’s this thing called the Devil Gene,” explained Sakurai. “It’s something Kazuya’s mother, Kazumi, carried. As the name implies, it allows one to draw out the power of the devil. Kazuya inherited the Devil Gene.”
During gameplay for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Kazuya can be seen transforming into his Devil Form while performing smash attacks, specials, double jumps, the Rage Drive and one of his taunts.
“Kazuya’s son, Jin Kazama, carries the gene as well,” stated Sakurai. “Heihachi does not have it. This is the main reason why we didn’t go with Heihachi as a fighter.”
“I thought Kazuya would work well in this game if we made his normal attacks as similar as possible to those in Tekken, while using the Devil’s Power for his midair jumps, smash attacks and special moves.”
Thanks to Source Gaming’s translation of an interview with Masahiro Sakurai, we know that Kazuya Mishima wasn’t the first attempt to get a Tekken character into the roster of a Super Smash Bros. title. Heihachi was briefly considered, but the idea was abandoned due to perceived difficulties that would likely come up.
“However, implementing Heihachi’s movement in Smash would be difficult.” – Masahiro Sakurai
“We basically thought of all the characters at the start of development [for Super Smash Bros. 4]. We decided on characters we knew we could make,” said Sakurai back then. “There were a few in consideration, such as Heihachi from ‘Tekken.’ However, implementing Heihachi’s movement in Smash would be difficult.”
Tekken tends to be a fighting game where jumping isn’t very prominent. It has its uses as hopping attacks can often be used to beat low hitting moves, but jumping isn’t typically used in the same fashion like it is in a series like Street Fighter or Super Smash Bros.
It seems that Masahiro Sakurai and the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate development team really wanted to emphasize the low jumps from the Tekken series. Notably, Kazuya is the only character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with a 7 frame jump whereas everyone else has 3 frame jump squats. Additionally, Kazuya has an extremely low jump in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
To make up for the low jump, Kazuya has a double jump and up special that ascends quite high vertically. To perform these actions, Kazuya makes use of his Devil Form. This is not something that Heihachi is able to do due to the aforementioned canonical reasons.
At the time, Ryu also wasn’t playable in the Super Smash Bros. series. The Dragon Punch motion (“623”) wasn’t something present in the game, and this would be needed to perform Heihachi or Kazuya’s Crouch Dash (also known as the Mist Step).
Though Heihachi is able to perform the Crouch Dash and double jump actions in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (basically Sony’s version of Super Smash Bros.), it seems that these solutions wouldn’t be satisfactory to Sakurai’s vision of a Tekken rep in Super Smash Bros.
As such, we now have Kazuya Mishima in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate instead of Heihachi. It works just as well since Kazuya is just as iconic as Heihachi.