Jinpachi Mishima

Jinpachi Mishima (三島 仁八, Mishima Jinpachi) is a fictional character in Namco Bandai's Tekken series. He was introduced in Tekken 5 as the main antagonist and unplayable final boss. While he is first made playable in the PlayStation 3 version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection (albeit as a bonus character), his full playable appearance is in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. A legendary martial artist, Jinpachi founded the mega corporation Mishima Zaibatsu decades before the start of the series. He lost control over his company to his son, Heihachi, approximately twenty seven years before the series started and died several years afterward, but was resurrected by an evil spirit to briefly retake Mishima Zaibatsu during Heihachi's absence in Tekken 5.

Appearances

In video games

Jinpachi Mishima was the original founder of the Mishima Zaibatsu and the father of Heihachi, father-in-law of Kazumi, grandfather of Kazuya and Lars Alexandersson, and great grandfather of Jin Kazama. Unlike most Mishima (who were ruthless and power hungry), Jinpachi was a man of honor and wisdom as he showed compassion to his grandson Kazuya when the latter was a child (this is possibly another reason Heihachi resented Jinpachi so much) and was friends with Wang Jinrei. However, Jinpachi's life took a turn for the worse when the greedy Heihachi staged a coup d'état and stole the company from him. Jinpachi attempted to retake the company when Heihachi entered the military industry, but failed and was imprisoned underneath a Mishima compound, Hon-Maru. He died due to starvation sometime before the events of the first Tekken. Before his debut, Jinpachi never makes an appearance, although his existence is hinted multiple times, as his friend, Wang's participation in the second tournament is motivated by Jinpachi's wish, and his gravestone is also shown in Wang's ending in Tekken 2. In Tekken 5, having been resurrected and taken over by a vengeful spirit as well as granted incredible supernatural powers, Jinpachi breaks out of Honmaru when the compound is destroyed during a battle between Heihachi, Kazuya and an army of Jack-4s sent to kill Heihachi. With the news of Heihachi's apparent demise, Jinpachi takes over the company from behind the scenes and organizes the fifth King of Iron Fist Tournament in the hopes that someone will free him before the spirit takes him over completely (to the point that he writes to Wang, asking him to compete and put an end to the Mishima bloodline which has been cursed by Heihachi's greedy ambitions). In the tournament finals, Jinpachi is confronted by his great-grandson, Jin Kazama, who defeats him and puts him to rest at last. Though not playable, Jinpachi briefly appears in the Scenario Campaign prologue of Tekken 6, which retells the events from previous games in a comic book-style format, and he is also mentioned in the prologues and epilogues of several characters, such as Jin and Wang.

He returns in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as a playable character and as one of the Stage 7 sub-bosses, alongside Heihachi. He reprises his role as one of the unplayable Stage 7 sub-bosses in Tekken Revolution. In Street Fighter X Tekken, Dhalsim's Swap Costume is based on Jinpachi's appearance.

Character design

Jinpachi is as a tall, muscular old man with a long beard and hair similar to his son, Heihachi, albeit much longer. He is one of the oldest human characters in the Tekken series, being around the same age as his friend, Wang Jinrei, who is about 102 years old in Tekken 5, the game Jinpachi debuted in. He wears a large golden necklace, a pair of golden bracelets on his arms and legs and a cloak pants. In his devil form in Tekken 5, Jinpachi has a purple aura around him, his height slightly increases, his skin becomes dark purple, his eyes glow yellow, and his necklace and bracelets disappear. He also gains spikes on his elbows, two spiked humps on his back and a large mouth on his stomach, from which he shoot fireballs. In his alternate devil form in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, instead of purple aura and skin, Jinpachi has a flaming aura, his skin is dark brown and yellow, and lava-like substance sprouts from all over his body. Although he still has the spikes and mouth from his original devil form, his face is now almost unrecognizable, he loses his beard and hair in exchange for a flaming spike, and his eyes are fiery white with no pupils instead of merely glowing yellow.

Gameplay

Jinpachi's gameplay is similar to the other Mishima characters, which involves many fast attacks and juggles. He shares many moves with Heihachi and Kazuya, including the iconic Electric Wind God Fist move; however, his executions of several moves range from having little to vast differences than both of them. In his unplayable Tekken 5 appearance, Jinpachi has an array of unblockable moves, one of which is a fireball attack that Jinpachi fires from the mouth of his abdomen. The fireball has a very long range and can deplete more than half of the player's health; the best way to avoid the fireballs is through sidestepping, although it can be avoided by other means depending on the character, such as by using Xiaoyu's somersault move or Steve's dodges and sways. Another of his unblockable move is an ability to disrupt an opponent by stunning their motion, which hits the opponent at every range regardless of them being on the ground or airborne. This move leaves the opponent open to any attack Jinpachi decides to throw at them. Jinpachi also has a move in which he absorbs a small part of his opponent's health, as well as a teleporting move that temporarily makes him unable to be hit while doing so. While his boss appearance in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection is mostly the same as Tekken 5, his playable appearance in the PS3 version tones him down considerably as he is slower, weaker, and has a minuscule movelist compared to other characters.

In Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Jinpachi's moveset is drastically altered to balance him as a playable character. He loses many of his unblockable moves like the stun attack and health absorption, and his fireballs do a lot less damage than it did before; in return, he gains a variety of new moves, including properly using his teleportation move as a stance than can be chained to other attacks. He also has new stances, such as the ability to fly.

In other media

Though Jinpachi does not appear in the 2010 film, he is mentioned (though not by name) as having been imprisoned and murdered by Heihachi (who had a similar personality in this film) many years prior to the film's events.

Reception

Nintendo Power listed Jinpachi Mishima as having one of the best mustaches in video games.^[1] In 2010, Complex ranked Jinpachi as the "37th lamest video game boss, commenting "His attacks did huge damage, and his moves were faster than most jabs—because we were unable to unlock him as a playable character without cheating."^[2] In 2012, Complex alternatively ranked Jinpachi from Tekken 5 as the "13th coolest boss battle", commenting "Wait until his freaking stomach turns into a mouth. It turns the battle from bleh to epic in about 3.5 seconds."^[3] That same year, Complex placed Jinpachi's stomach-mouth 6th in their list of the craziest moments in the Tekken series.^[4] In 2013, WhatCulture ranked Jinpachi as "2nd Stressful Gaming Moment That Made Us All Lose Our Cool", commenting "Jinpachi remained one of those elements in-game that just makes you question the entire medium."^[5] WhatCulture named a fight with Jinpachi as the "2nd most frustrating video game boss battle you forgot you hated", adding "He really is one fantastic example of a cheap last boss, but one that provides a great challenge if you’re up for seeing just how far you can push your sanity on the higher difficulties."^[6] WhatCulture also ranked Jinpachi as the "2nd most infuriating video game boss battle of the 2000s", adding "Throw in some invincibility frames that meant he’d go ahead with his attacks regardless of anything, and you had a boss that essentially turned this into ‘Side-Stepping: The Video Game’."^[7] WhatCulture named Jinpachi as one of the "10 major characters that may not be returning to Tekken 7", adding "with Tekken 7 centring on the Mishima family, you would think that his inclusion would be a given. The issue, however, is that he’s sort of dead."^[8] GamesRadar listed a matchup between Jinpachi and Gouken as one of their "12 matchups we want to see in Street Fighter X Tekken", claiming "Roided out Rumble in the retirement home!".^[9] VentureBeat placed Jinpachi at 2nd place in their list "5 Fighting-Game Bosses Cheaper Than SF4′s Seth", commenting "He possesses an unblockable fireball that takes out half your lifebar, along with teleports, stun thrusts, and a bear hug that gives him many ways to punish button-mashing."^[10]

References