Super Smash Bros. Ultimate already has a crazy lineup of fighters from across all kinds of games and all types of properties. Today during the Nintendo Direct, Kazuya Mishima of Tekken fame was announced as the next DLC fighter. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has now brought together representatives from three of the biggest names in fighting games alongside the other notable characters. Crossover games are nothing new, but Smash Bros. Ultimate has brought together a list of what's truly fighting game royalty.
Now that Kazuya is coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he will be joining Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter alongside Terry Bogard from King of Fighters. This is an insane achievement for fighting game fans. In previous games, fans have seen Ryu and Kazuya face off, and Kazuya has already battled with Geese Howard from King of Fighters. Smash Ultimate will be the first time all three of these franchises will face off in such an ambitious crossover.
Kazuya Coming to Smash Ultimate Crowns the Game as the Biggest Fighting Crossover
It's worth mentioning that members of Street Fighter, King of Fighters, and Tekken have already faced off in Tekken 7. Akuma is one of the story mode's main antagonists and Geese Howard from KoF was also included as a DLC fighter. It's also interesting that Tekken 7 includes representation from Final Fantasy, which was something surprising about Cloud's initial reveal in Smash. While that is definitely an achievement, now that Kazuya is confirmed for Smash Ultimate however, Smash Ultimate has established its claim to being the crowning crossover jewel. While the notable absences are any fighters from Mortal Kombat or Arc System Works titles like Guilty Gear, Smash Bros. history has shown that neither is impossible.
Adapting a plethora of different characters into Smash has become one of its strongest elements since the arrival of Sonic and Solid Snake in Brawl. That has only expanded since with the surprise of Cloud and Bayonetta making their way into Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS. Ultimate has taken that philosophy to the extreme now by featuring characters from an enormous swath of franchises. Super Smash Bros. is largely considered one of the best fighting franchises in its own right, so featuring some of fighting game history's best characters in Smash Ultimate almost feels par for the course at this point.
Kazuya joining Ryu and Terry means completing a trifecta of three of fighting games biggest franchises. While popularity for some of the game's have comparatively waned, this is largely due to the larger selection of quality fighters available now. Street Fighter, Tekken, and King of Fighters are still lauded for their place in fighting game history. Each series is still going strong and some of their biggest characters coming to Smash has been overall well-received. Fighters like Street Fighter include some of the strongest characters, so seeing them face off in the Smash Bros. format is exciting. Kazuya is joining an already star-studded cast, and his addition goes a long way to bringing true fighting game royalty together in one game in a way that's nearly incomparable.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is adding Kazuya Mishima on June 28th.