Devil Gene

From Tekkenpedia English

The Devil Gene (デビルの血 Debiru no Chi, lit. Devil's Blood, "Devil Cell" or Devil's Consanguinity) - although referred to as the Devil's Power (デビルの力 Debiru no Chikara) in Tekken 6 Scenario Campaign - is a genetical abnormality isolated in the people of the Mishima bloodline. While the exact specifications of this gene are never truly explained, it is generally assumed that the gene allows for a person to have a symbiosis or a parasite/host type relationship with a malignant spirit refered to as a "devil" as well as having it (the gene) control the transformations of one to the other. The exact requirements for these transformations are never fully revealed. The spirits can possess the person at any given time during the persons lifespan, even while still in their mother's womb or (apparently) just after death.

The people that currently possess the Devil Gene are, in the order in which it was "revealed", Kazuya Mishima, Jin Kazama, Jinpachi Mishima and Azazel. Heihachi Mishima doesn't seem to possess the Devil Gene, or at least has not shown it to the same degree as the other members of his family.

It is however important to understand that the concept of the Devil Gene was not thought of until Tekken 4, which then somewhat retconned the previous three canonical games. Prior to this, the concepts of Devil was entirely spiritual. The original concept, before the coming of a "Devil Gene", was not entirely scrapped though, and has in some cases been incorperated into the new continuity.

[edit] The Devil "Possession" Timeline

While it was long presumed that Kazuya was the first Mishima to possess the Devil Gene, due to Heihachi's apparent lack of it, this all changed with the introduction of Heihachi's father, Jinpachi Mishima. Due to the presense of the Devil Gene in Jinpachi, it has been left ambiguous how far back the Devil Gene truly spans, and why it is seemingly not actively present in Heihachi. In Tekken 6 it is reveal that Azazel started the Devil Gene.

According to Jinpachi himself, as heard in Lei Wulong's interlude with him, Jinpachi was held captive under Hon-Maru 40 years prior to the events of Tekken 5. He had amazingly survived several years before finally dying, but was soon after revived by a malignant spirit he simply refers to as "monster" ("thing" in the NA version). Whether the being had already possessed him prior to death or immediatly after is not known, all Jinpachi reveals about it is that it has immense control over him, and commands him to destroy the world so that it may reap the souls of the world's population.

Kazuya had his encounter with the devil later to be known as Devil by name when he was about 5 years old, making it roughly the same time as Jinpachi came in contact with the devil that possessed him, or just a few years earlier. Heihachi, sickened by his weak and emotionally soft son, threw him over a cliff so that he could climb back up. However, the injuries nearly killed Kazuya, and while he was lying near-death, he was approached by Devil, promising him the strength to overthrow his father and get revenge in exchange for Kazuya's soul to which Kazuya agreed.

After the events of Tekken 2, Heihachi throws Kazuya's body into a volcano. This inadvertantly caused Devil's soul to be split into two parts, one that stayed with Kazuya and another that went in search of Kazuya's yet unborn son, Jin Kazama. When it finally found the unborn Jin, it was warded off by Jun and was unsuccesfull in possessing Jin. However, 15 years later, it returned, branded Jin's left arm with a mark and (possibly) possessing him (as seen in the Tekken 3 opening).

[edit] 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 possession of the 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". Heihachi threw Kazuya over the cliff when Kazuya was a child, almost killing him. This resulted in the deal Kazuya struck with Devil. 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 after the conclusion of Tekken 3, causing the Devil in his system to awaken and partially transform Jin into a Devil himself.

[edit] 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: The only real conscious activation of the Devil Gene is seen when Jinpachi transforms into his devil self in the many interludes in Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. One can argue that prior to Tekken 3, Kazuya was able to transform into Devil and back at will, but since this was before the concept of the actual Devil Gene, it might not apply, since he seemingly lost this ability with his return in Tekken 4. According to the storyline, gains/re-gains this ability between the events of Tekken 4 and Tekken 5, as seen when he escapes Hon-Maru. 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. 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 giving Devil access to Kazuya's subconscious mind and thus packing the deal with it over the price of his soul to gain ultimate power and vegance.

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Kazama Bloodline

Before the concept of a Devil Gene was created, and the concept was instead strictly spiritual, Jun Kazama seemed able to suppress the Devil inside Kazuya. It was explained as having been because of Jun's serene and pure being. However, when the Devil history was retconned and the Devil Gene concept created, the influence of the Kazamas became genetic as well; their 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 it is thus unknown how strong an effect she has on the Devil Gene.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Angel

Before the concept of the Devil Gene, Angel, as part of Kazuya, was able to suppress the devil side of him. However, since the creation of the Devil Gene concept, 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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. 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. Devil can also use telekinesis (this is not one of his moves, and it was only seen in Kazuya's Tekken 4 epilogue).

[edit] 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 win animations, where Devil Jin holds the opponent up in the air while using a force choke similiar to Star Wars characters Anakin Skywalker (since became Darth Vader) and Galen Marek.

[edit] Jinpachi Mishima

Jinpachi Mishima in his devil form is quite different from Devil and Devil Jin. Jinpachi has a mouth instead of a belly, spikes protunding from his back and forearms, a purple aura (or fire and a horn in the head in Dark Resurection), has the ability to slide backwards and forwards while being intangible, and the ability to fire fireballs from the mouth in his abdomen. The fireballs are unblockable, and they can't be avoided by regular jumping or ducking. They can only be avoided by sidestepping them, jumping over them with a move that has great jumping height, e.g. Xiaoyu's f,f+3+4, being "grounded", or even parrying. Furthermore, Jinpachi has a move that can stun his opponent (even when they are in the air), a move that "leeches" the health of an opponent and transfers it to him (a grab), as well as other moves from the Mishima Style Fighting Karate art of fighting, such as "Dragon Uppercut".

[edit] 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. He also possess a tail sweep attack resembling Roger Jr.'s, however, he whips it twice in a row.

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