Reading about the events of the Mishima family will make your look like saints
All you have to do is watch either version of the latest Tekken 7 trailers to know that Tekken 7 will be the game that will finally end the Mishima saga and what a saga it’s been. We’ve had world wars, attempts at murder, devils and insane ending cut-scenes but we have to end somewhere.
While this has all been fun to watch (in a cheesy B movie sort of way) it also makes for a confusing story if you’ve missed anything, here’s your round-up of the events of the Mishima family in Tekken.
Before I start though I want to point out that I’m not going to bring up the Tag Tournament games or the Devil Within story from Tekken 5 since there not cannon. Also since this is based on the Mishima family Lee won’t get much mention since he doesn’t do much and also some of this information came from the Tekken wiki because a lot of it isn’t explained in the games very well or at all in some cases. With that finish though let’s get started.
The rise of the Mishima Zaibatsu
The Mishima family can be dated back to the Sengoku Period in Japan however for this history lesson we need to go to the beginning of the Mishima Zaibatsu which was started by Jinpachi Mishima, father to Heihachi Mishima. Jinpachi was an honourable man who was unique for a Mishima and loved his grandson and was good friends with Wang Jinrei.
It was during Jinpachi reign that Heihachi married Kazumi and accidentally brought the devil gene into the family. Together they had a son who they named Kazuya and sometime during his childhood, Kazumi died. We don’t know how but Kazuya blames Heihachi for her death. Around this time Heihachi lead a coup de ta and took control of the Mishima Zaibatsu from Jinpachi before locking him up under the Honmaru (it was the final stage in Tekken 4).
After this Heihachi made the Mishima Zaibatsu into the financial and military power it became in the series to the point where it rivalled the G Corporation. Heihachi became obsessed with training Kazuya to the point where he adopted a child called Lee Chaolan so he could be Kazuya rival and even threw him off a cliff at the age of five claiming that only his successor could survival and climb back up.
The First King of Iron Fist Tournament
Kazuya only survived the fall after making a deal with the devil so he could get revenge on Heihachi. Kazuya became obsessed with revenge to the point where he spent every moment of his life training and entered every tournament he could find. Many years later Heihachi started the first King of Iron Fist Tournament to draw many of the worlds greatest fighters as well as Kazuya.
Kazuya defeats both Lee Chaolan and Heihachi before tossing him off the same cliff Heihachi threw him off all those years ago.
Kazuya takes control of the Mishima Zaibatsu
After tossing Heihachi off the cliff and reasonably thinking he killed him, Kazuya took control over the Mishima Zaibatsu and managed to somehow run the company even more corruptly than Heihachi did. Kazuya starts assassinating people for fun including the mentor of fan favourite character Eddy Gordo and even started experimenting on animals like Alex and Rex. The reason for this is because he sold his soul to the devil all those years ago and now has taken full control.
Somehow Heihachi survived the fall and heads straight to the Mishima Zaibatsu to take his company back. Kazuya learns about this and starts the next King of Iron Fist tournament to lure Heihachi into a trap.
The second King of Iron Fist Tournament
Along with drawing Heihachi the tournament also draws Jun Kazama who meets Kazuya and somehow ends up having his child. This event causes the appearance of Angel, who represents the good in Kazuya heart.
This causes conflict within Kazuya and Heihachi takes full advantage of this to defeat both Kazuya and Devil. Heihachi presumably having enough of Kazuya and the Devil tosses him into a volcano. He also kicks Lee out of the family for betraying him and Lee heads off to his home in the Barbados.
Heihachi’s obsession
With Kazuya disposed of and Lee busy sunbathing in Barbados Heihachi easily took control of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Following on from what Kayuza started Heihachi created his own personal army, dubbed the Tekken Force and set them to work rebuilding the Mishima Zaibatsu reputation. They worked on settling disputes and cultivating areas suitable for crop growing.
However while on the outside they made it look like the Mishima Zaibatsu were reformed, in reality Heihachi was just doing it to get the trust of the world leaders so they could cover up illegal acts. One such act involved excavating old rules in Central America where the Tekken Force sent there were destroyed by the awakened Ogre. Heihachi realising what had awoken set forth to capture Ogre so he could create the ultimate life form and take over the world as you do.
After Ogre awaken it began to travel the world and killing martial artists for their power. Eventually he made his way to Yakushima where it attacked Jun who at the time was living with her 15-year-old son Jin. While we don’t know exactly what happened we do know that Jin was knocked out during the fight and after waking up assumed Jun was killed and declared that he would get revenge on Ogre.
The Devils rebirth and the Third King of Iron Fist Tournament
With Jun presumed dead Jin headed to Heihachi after Jun had told him to find him if anything had happened to her. Heihachi took Jin in and tought him the Mishima Style Fighting Karate though it should be noted that he only did this to lure Ogre into finding Jin and had no interest in the kid himself, though Jin ended up loving the old man for saving him.
On Jin’s 19th birthday Heihachi announced the Third King of Iron Fist Tournament and around this time grew more interested in Jin after he noticed that Jin was starting to develop powers similar to Kazuya and now was branded by the Devil. Yeah that’s not a tattoo on his arm.
The third tournament is unique because technically Paul won the tournament since he beat the first form of Ogre. However thinking he won Paul left before Jin showed up and beat his grandfather Heihachi. Ogre after taking a beating from Paul absorbed Heihachi power and became the True Ogre, a monstrous hunched over dragon, chimera thing but fuelled by revenge Jin killed it. Heihachi angry at his failed plan had the Tekken Force gun Jin down much to Jins surprise and even went over to Jin and personally shot him in the head.
Lately for Heihachi and the world as a whole this act of betrayal awakens the Devil inside Jin who after killing some of the Tekken Force uses its wings to flee. With the victory of the tournament technically a devil and since Paul left early Heihachi declared himself the winner.
The return of Kazuya Mishima
As it turns out being thrown in a volcano isn’t enough to kill Kazuya though his survival can be thanked in part to the G Corporation. The G Corporation regenerated his body, somehow and both sides struck a deal. In exchange for letting them experiment on his cells so they could create human/demon cross-breeds the G Corporation would keep Kazuya hidden in their labs. Kazuya planned to use this time to take control of the Devil and spent 20 years doing so.
This planned failed however since 20 years later Heihachi discovering that the G Corporation had Kazuya body attacked the place both through hacking and eventually by sending in the Tekken Force. Kazuya took advantage of this and broke out of the labs killing everyone who stood in his way. Heihachi wanted to find Kazuya so he could use his devil genes as the series started calling them so he could combine them with those of Ogre’s and artificially give himself a form of the devil gene.
He chose to go after Kazuya because he couldn’t locate Jin who had become very distant and hated everything about himself and his families cursed bloodline. His hatred for the Mishima family was so strong he actually retrained himself in traditional Karate while hiding out in Australia. It was due to all this that Jin made a promise to himself that continues even moving into Tekken 7, a promise to destroy the Mishima family and end the cursed bloodline with himself.
In an attempt to draw Kazuya and Jin out of hiding Heihachi announced the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 and made the Mishima Zaibatsu the price.
A Family Reunion at the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4
Out of all the Tournaments held by the Mishima Zaibatsu the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 was the worst handled and I don’t just mean that because it’s the worst Tekken game either.
In the middle of the tournament Jin gets ambushed by the Tekken Force on his way to fighting his father. Somehow losing the fight Heihachi had Jin chained up in the Hanmaro (where he had way before the first game) his own father chained under and left to starve to death. It should also be noted that according to Heihachi ending the chains can suppress the devil gene somehow.
Later in the tournament Kazuya is led by Heihachi to the Hanmaro after winning a fight against Jin by default. Once there he finds Jin and Devil regains control over him and attempts to steal the devil gene from Jin which in Kazuya ending is revealed to actually be half of Kazuya devil that escaped after he was thrown into a volcano. Kazuya knocks Heihachi out with a psychic attack and fails to steal back the genes.
Kazuya regains control and he and Jin fight though Jin wins. Heihachi awakens and fights Jin and loses to him. Before Jin can kill them both however Jun appears to him and tells him not to. Jin thanks her and flies off so technically Heihachi won the fourth tournament as well.
The resurrection of Jinpachi Mishima
Shortly after Jin left Honmaru Kazuya and Heihachi get attacked by an army of Jacks sent after them both by the G Corporation (As it turns out they didn’t like Heihachi sending in the Tekken Force and destroying all their research). For a short while it looks like Kazuya and Heihachi are on the same page as they work together to fight off the Jacks.
This is short-lived however as Kazuya taking advantage of the distraction tosses Heihachi into them and escapes. Heihachi however is blown up and is presumed dead by the ninja Raven who was watching the whole fight. As all this is happening though Jinpachi’s body gets possessed by a vengeful spirit which along with granting him life as provides him with the power to break free.
Doing so unleashes a lot of evil energy which knocks out Jin who at the time was still flying away. Jin wakes up hours later in a forest that is completely destroyed and realises that instead of knocking him out, the evil energy instead turned him into Devil Jin. After seeing the damaged caused by Devil Jin, he realises that the time before Devil Jin takes full control over him is running out and Jin resolves to once again find a cure.
Shortly after escaping Jinpachi learns that Heihachi has apparently died and takes control over the Mishima Zaibatsu from behind the scenes and then sets out to start another King of Iron Fist tournament. Unlike Heihachi and Kayuza who used these tournaments as a means to take over the world, Jinpachi is different because all he wanted from the fifth tournament is for someone to kill him before the spirit grows too powerful for him to control. Jinpachi is so desperate to do this he even writes a letter to his friend Wang asking him to not only end his life but that of the Mishima family.
The Fifth King of Iron Fist Tournament and Jin’s rise to power
Out of all the King of Iron Fist Tournaments, this is the one where Kazuya does the least. During the tournament Kazuya runs into Raven who after seeing everything that happened at Horamoru calls Kazuya out as a coward and then proceeds to get his teeth kicked in. Kazuya then tortures him and learns that Jinpachi is in charge of the tournament. After that we don’t know what he did or who he lost too.
Moving over to Jin whose out to once again end the Mishima bloodline once and for all, this tournament actually has his first lost in the series, this time to Hwoarang his rival since Tekken 3. The reason Jin lost to Hwoarang is because during the fight Jin was having an inner conflict with Devil Jin who was trying to get out and Hwoarang took full advantage of this.
Unfortunately for Hwoarang this pissed off Devil Jin who managed to briefly overpower Jin’s mind and take down Hwoarang on a motorway. While he didn’t kill Hwoarang he did hospitalise him till the next tournament so Jin went on to defeat Jinpachi. Doing so he granted the old man his wish and became the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu.
Jin declares world war
Once Jin took control of the Mishima Zaibatsu from his great-grandfather, Jin proceeded to use the Tekken force to use stealth attacks to weaken the worlds armies while Jin used the Zaibatsu influence to take control of the worlds resources and space stations. Once the worlds military was weaken enough Jin declared the Mishima Zaibatsu an independent state and declared world war.
While Jin was getting ready to declare war, Kazuya tracked down the people at G Corporation who sent the Jacks after him and Heihachi and killed them. After doing so Kazuya took full control over the G Corporation. Back at Hanmaro Heihachi proved that sometimes its good to be your games producers favourite character as it turns out he survived the explosion and makes his way to the Mishima Zaibatsu to take the company back from Jin.
Back to Jin’s war his army starts attacking the world undiscriminating and even blows up a church where the series newcomer Miguel Caballero Rojo’s sister was getting married. Due to actions like this a section of his army rebels and wages a guerilla war against him. This group is led by Lars Alexandersson who Jin doesn’t realise is in fact his half uncle after Heihachi had an affair with a Swedish women.
As Jin’s war rages across the world the only group who can stand up to him is the G Corporation. Kazuya takes advantage of his position as the people’s only hope to place a bounty on Jin’s head, dead or alive in an attempt to defeat Jin so he could rule the world with an iron fist. Jin expecting this to happen starts the Sixth King of Iron Fist tournament.
The sixth King of Iron Fist Tournament and the reason Jin started the war
When Jin started the King of Iron Fist tournament, Lars entered the tournament to stop Jin and end the war. During the tournament Lars with the help of Alice defeated his half father Heihachi and revealed to him who he was.
Meanwhile Kazuya and his G Corporation headed into the desert were Kazuya felt the overwhelming presence of the monster Azazel. Before Kazuya could kill the monster who at the time was believed to be the source for the devil gene, Jin arrives after feeling the same presence. Jin is about to attack Kazuya and Azazel to destroy his family bloodline when Lars appears and fights Kazuya.
They fight for a bit but for some reason best known to himself, leaves before they finish so Lars instead fights and beats Jin properly this time so Jin has no excuse. Jin then reveals to Lars that the real reason he caused all the chaos was so he could fill the world with enough negative energy to summon Azazel so he could cure himself and his bloodline.
Lars then tells Jin that he already defeated Azazel but Jin reveals that Azazel can only be truly defeated by someone with the devil gene and then proceeds to abuse said gene to destroy Azazel once and for all.
The plot then ends with Lars and Alice escaping the collapsing tomb without Jin who is later discovered half buried in the sand with the devil tattoo on his arm revealing that Jin’s insane plan had failed.
So that’s your round-up of the events of the Mishima family in the Tekken canon and god is that family messed up. Anyway to end this feature off here’s the trailer to Tekken 7 which is due to be released May 2015. Also here’s a question for you, what’s your favourite ending in the Tekken series.
