Devil Gene

Introduction

The Devil Gene (デビルの血 Debiru no Chi, lit. Devil's Blood, "Devil Cell", Devil Factor or Devil's Consanguinity) - although referred to as the Devil's Power (デビルの力 Debiru no Chikara) in the Tekken 6 Scenario Campaign - Was first introduced in Tekken 4

The Devil Gene's exact meaning and specifications was not fully explain in Tekken 4, 5 and 6. According to the CGI movie Tekken: Blood Vengeance it is explained that the devil gene is a catalysmic gene that strengthens its cellular compounds to a unlimited times that of a normal human. Within kazuya and jin, it increases their physical strength. According to Tekken Tag Tournament 2 the Devil gene is a hybrid gene that instantaneously activates the body's own cells, granting the subject an immeasurable boost in power, super human strength.

The people that currently possess the Devil Gene are, in the order in which it was "revealed", Kazuya Mishima, Jin Kazama, and Azazel. Heihachi Mishima doesn't seem to possess the Devil Gene like the other members of his family. It was previously believed for a long time that Jinpachi Mishima also possessed the Devil Gene due to his appearance, dialogues and his ending in Tekken 5, but it was revealed by Tekken director, Katsuhiro Harada, twitter page that the tekken project team dared to mislead fans. He also said that tekken story in progresses in parallel, and that tekken only have one canon (story setting) and if tekken only have one canon story there, it will be boring. This means that at some point the tekken team project working in the development of jinpachi's Tekken 5 story could have meant for him to have the devil gene but his story was later changed in a parallel continuity. After pointing out that jinpachi, heihachi and lars did not possess the devil gene, fans also asked Harada (via twitter) about the origins of the devil gene, he stated that kazuya was not the first mishima to have the devil gene and that kazuya and jin thought it started with jinpachi. He points out that only heihachi knows the truth, only heihachi knows who the first person is in the mishima family to make contact with the devil. This lead many fans to theorize that it started with Kazumi Mishima, the wife of heihachi and the mother of kazuya. Theoretically if so, this would explain why kazuya and jin only possess this strange malignant gene in the mishima family. In Tekken: Blood Vegeance it is stated that the mishima zaibatsu experimented on Shin Kamiya using Kazuya's blood for unknown reason, though it is possible they could have wanted to intergrate the Devil gene with M-Cell. In Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Leo Kliesen's ending it is reveal that Steve Fox dubbed NT01 was created by the Mishima Zaibatsu for the sole purpose of the Devil Gene Research project. Steve Fox who was in the care of Emma Kliesen was said to have died at the age of 6 during experiments. However Steve is well and alive, Emma Kliesen could have misleaded the Mishima Zaibatsu concerning Steve's whereabouts. It is unclear if this is canon to current Tekken story because Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is non canon. However in Tekken 5 it was reveal that Steve was an actual creation by the Mishima Zaibatsu, the purpose behind steve being created has yet to be reveal in the canon story.

The Devil "Possession" Timeline

Kazuya was the first mishima shown to possess this malignant power in the series. But Katsuhiro Harada stated that Kazuya was not the first mishima to possess this power or make contact with devil. He goes on to say that there was another person within the mishima family to possess the devil gene before kazuya and heihachi is the only "one" who knows this secret and truth. In Tekken 1 it is believe that at the age of 5 Kazuya sold his soul to the devil when Heihachi threw him down a cliff. However according to Kazuya's prologue in the Tekken 1 manual booklet it never stated nor mention Devil. But in the non canon Tekken: The Motion Picture at the age of 12 Kazuya was thrown down a mountain and was approached by Devil and was offer strength for the cost of his soul to exact his revenge against his father . Many fans adapted the "tekken motion picture" concept of kazuya selling his soul to the devil in the games series explaination to Kazuya link with having the devil gene, however Tekken The Motion picture is non canon to the game series and the origin behind kazuya possessing the devil gene remains to be explained in the game series.

After the events of Tekken 2 Kazuya was defeated by Heihachi and thrown into a mouth of a valcano. Sometime later Jun Kazama found herself pregnant with Kazuya's son, Jin and Devil appears before Jun threatening to possess the soul of her unborn child, however Jun defeated Devil and devil fails to possess jin. A cut scene in the opening of Tekken 3 shows a ghostly figure that appears to look similar to Kazuya's Devil form is shown branding a strange tattoo on Jin's arm, many fans believe that Devil possess jin in that scene. In Tekken 6 within the scenario mode if you play as Kazuya, Jin, and Devil Jin on Azazel stage, Azazel states that he birth Kazuya and Jin into the world to awaken him and bring the world to an end. Also on the stage of Azazel while playing with Devil Jin he states that his power and Azazel's power comes from the same source and that he is no longer Azazel puppet. This could mean that Azazel maybe responsible for origin of the devil gene in the mishima family. Katsuhiro Harada stated on his twitter page that Azazel is one of the roots of devil and the important thing to keep in mind is who was the first mishima to contact devil. It is unclear to what Harada meant by saying this.

The Common Denominator

Interestingly enough, while Heihachi does not seem to possess the Devil Gene, he has been the catalyst whose actions have resulted in the devil within other Mishimas.

Heihachi staged a coup d'etat against Jinpachi, and locked him away under Hon-Maru, which resulted in Jinpachi being possessed by the "monster" (though this possession is unrelated to the Devil Gene). It was also he, who threw Kazuya over the cliff when Kazuya was a child, almost killing him, causing the Devil gene to surface within kazuya. Several years later, after the events of the second tournament, Heihachi threw Kazuya into a volcano, thus releasing part of Devil, which then searched for and try to manage to possess Jin Kazama, though initially unsuccessful. Heihachi and his Tekken Force soldiers fatally shot Jin Kazama near his death after the conclusion of Tekken 3, causing the Devil gene to awaken within him and partially transform Jin into his Devil self.

Activation of the Devil Gene

It is not explained how the Devil Gene is activated, but evidence within the games seem to suggest that it can be activated consciously, subconsciously, or based on external stimuli. Regardless of which, the effects seem rather clear; the devil side of the person becomes more dominant, to the point of changing the physical appearence of their host, who in turn become more powerful.

• Conscious activation: Kazuya performs a conscious activation of his Devil Gene between the events of Tekken 4 and Tekken 5, during the attack of Hon-Maru by the Jack robots. Jin Kazama seems to have become able to activate his Devil Gene consciously by the time of the events in Tekken 6.

• Subconscious activation: Jin's first transformation into Devil Jin at the end of the events of the third tournament was arguably a subconscious activation of his Devil Gene, likely in part of the anger he felt for Heihachi's betrayal and the fear of death. Jin also transformed again in Tekken 5 likely because of anger over the loss to Hwoarang When Kazuya was thrown down the mountain by Heihachi, he was in a near death exprience, anger by his father's betrayal the devil gene begin to activate within kazuya thus gaining ultimate power to exact vengeance.

• Activation by external stimuli: Jin partially transforms at the end of the events of the fourth tournament due to Devil trying to force him to transform, as seen in Jin's Tekken 4 ending. Perhaps no more than half an hour later, when Jinpachi is freed from under the Hon-Maru does Jin completely transform because of his reaction to Jinpachi's devil.

Suppression of the Devil Gene

Aside from the suppression of the Devil Gene through sheer force of will, as is implied by the method of conscious, and to some extent subconscious, activation, there are also several external factors that can suppress the Devil Gene as well. The 'exact' nature of these things are however not well explain, often not at all, so it is unknown exactly -how- they supress the Devil Gene, it is only known that they -are- able to do so.

Kazama Bloodline

In the Tekken series the kazamas has been shown to supress the devil gene. This phenomena is first shown with Jun Kazama, she seemed to be able to suppress the Devil inside Kazuya. It was explained as having been because of Jun's serene and pure being. Later in the series the explanation of this phenomena seem to be a genetically trait in the Kazama bloodline, rather than Jun specifically having been a special case.

At the conclusion of Tekken 4 the effect of the bloodline is shown as Devil tries to transform jin into his devil form by using his anger he has for his mishima family, but fails and theorizes that it is due to the Kazama blood running in Jin's veins.

Asuka Kazama, in her Tekken 5 ending, was also able to suppress the Devil Gene of Jin, however, the ending was non-canon and Asuka never encounter Jin. It is unknown how strong an effect she has on the Devil Gene.

Materials

While it isn't known how, the Mishima Zaibatsu were successfully able to create chains of an unknown material that was able to specifically suppress the Devil Gene.

Angel

Angel, was able to suppress the devil side of Kazuya. However since the debut of Tekken 4 Angel has all but vanished from the Tekken storyline and it is unknown whether or not she is still able to do suppress Devil or if she even still exists.

GENOCELL

In Tekken 4 When G corporation discovered Kazuya's body, they discorvered strange malignant cells within Kazuya's body that they refer to as the devil cells. With this knowledge they use kazuya to further they research and creating a project known as the (Devil-Human) Intergration Program. Using Kazuya's DNA of the devil cells they attempt to combine the devil and human, creating a half human half devil organism using human test subjects. but when trying to combine the two, the devil cells destroy the human cells, making it impossible to create a "devil human", a viable life form similiar to kazuya's genectical make up. G coporation used Julia Chang's GENOCELL Program and discovered that the GENOCELL can suppress the devil cell allowing the human cells to combine with the devil cells. In other media such as the Online Tekken Comic the GENOCELL is also smiliar or can be refered to as G Coporation's 'Anti Devil Factor' it is also reveal in the comic that Kazuya and Jin use the 'Anti Devil Factor' to supress the influence of the 'Devil', in Kazuya's case it allows him to also control the power of the 'Devil'/Gene without the conscious influence of it consuming his mind.

Powers / Abilities

While the powers of each of the "Devils" are different, the "Devils" all fight using a form of Mishima Style Fighting Karate except Azazel. This can however simply be attributed to the fact that they use the martial art known by the possessed person.

Devil

Devil's fighting style was initially the exact same as Kazuya Mishima's fighting style, since Devil was merely a pallette swap for Kazuya. In Tekken 2, Devil gained wings and with them, the power of flight (though this is sparringly used in his moveset). In the same game, Devil also gained a third eye on his forehead, from which he could fire a laser beam. These moves were the first to seperate Devil and Kazuya in terms of gameplay, along with the back throw Atomic Drop. In Tekken Tag Tournament, Devil had several moves that that Kazuya did not have (such as "Devil Fist" (f,F+2), a move where Devil punches his opponent and goes right through them so that he is behind his opponent), and even the moves they did share would sometimes have different properties or ranges, still, the majority of Devil's moves are shared with Kazuya, and he has a very limited moveset, with less than 30 moves in Tekken Tag Tournament, making him the most basic character in the series. Devil can also use telekinesis (this is not one of his moves, and it was only seen in Kazuya's Tekken 4 epilogue).

Devil Jin

Devil Jin, like Devil, can also fly and fire lasers from the third eye on his forehead, however, their fighting style are rather different. Devil Jin's fighting style is the mixture of Mishima Fighting Style Karate and Kazama Style Self Defense that Jin used in Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament. Devil Jin also uses some of the unique moves used by Devil and Angel (such as "Heaven's Door" (f,N,d,d/f+1,u/f), a move that involves performing a strong uppercut, followed by flying high into the air with the opponent, and finally, slamming the opponent's body into the ground). Devil Jin can also use telekinesis, which was first demonstrated in Hwoarang's Tekken 5 epilogue, where Devil Jin uses telekinesis to make Hwoarang's motorcycle explode. This ability is also seen in one of Devil Jin's Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion win animations, where Devil Jin holds the opponent up in the air

Azazel

Azazel appears to have the abilities to summon boulders from the ground to attack the opponent, as well as to keep them away from it, and summoning numerous scarabs made of ice to attack the opponent. Azazel also has some moves that are similar to other bosses in the Tekken series, such as a stun (similar to Jinpachi Mishima's stun attack) and the ability to fire lasers (similar to Devil, Angel, and Devil Jin's laser attacks). Azazel also has the ability to curl up into a ball and roll towards the opponent to attack (like Roger Jr.). He also possess a tail sweep attack resembling True Ogre's, however, he whips it twice in a row.