Super Smash Bros. Ultimatealready has a crazy lineup of fighters from across all kinds of games and all types of properties. Today during the Nintendo Direct, Kazuya Mishima ofTekkenfame was announced as the next DLC fighter.Super Smash Bros. Ultimatehas now brought together representatives from three of the biggest names in fighting games alongside the other notable characters. Crossover games are nothing new, butSmash Bros. Ultimatehas brought together a list of what’s truly fighting game royalty.
Now thatKazuya is coming toSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, he will be joining Ryu and Ken fromStreet Fighteralongside Terry Bogard fromKing 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 fromKing of Fighters.Smash Ultimatewill be the first time all three of these franchises will face off in such an ambitious crossover.
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Kazuya Coming to Smash Ultimate Crowns the Game as the Biggest Fighting Crossover
It’s worth mentioning that members ofStreet Fighter, King of Fighters,andTekkenhave already faced off inTekken 7. Akuma is one of the story mode’s main antagonists and Geese Howard fromKoFwas also included as a DLC fighter. It’s also interesting thatTekken 7includes representation fromFinal Fantasy, which was something surprising about Cloud’s initial reveal inSmash.While that is definitely an achievement, now thatKazuya is confirmed forSmash Ultimatehowever,Smash Ultimatehas established its claim to being the crowning crossover jewel. While the notable absences are any fighters fromMortal Kombator Arc System Works titles likeGuilty Gear,Smash Bros.history has shown that neither is impossible.
Adapting a plethora of different characters intoSmashhas become one of its strongest elements since the arrival of Sonic and Solid Snake inBrawl. That has only expanded since with the surprise of Cloud and Bayonetta making their way intoSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS.Ultimatehas taken that philosophy to theextreme 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’sbest characters inSmash Ultimatealmost 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,andKing of Fightersare still lauded for their place in fighting game history. Each series is still going strong and some of their biggest characters coming toSmashhas been overall well-received. Fighters likeStreet Fighterinclude some of the strongest characters, so seeing them face off in theSmash 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. Ultimateis adding Kazuya Mishima on June 28th.
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