Tekken's Techniques in Smash, and how different they could be from the source material.

[GolisoPower]

So when Terry was being showcased by Masahiro Sakurai, we found that Terry was the first-ever character in Smash Bros to have a Charge input with Rising Tackle, in which you hold the joystick for a certain amount of time before flicking it in the opposite direction and using the attack. What does this have to do with Kazuya, you might ask? Well, here's some things I know about Tekken from some limited times I've played it:

1. The Star: In Tekken, there are specific strings where there's a star inside it. This is what's called a "Neutral" input, in which you don't do anything for a while before you use your next input action. This input is seen in Kazuya's Electric Wind God Fist, which we'll refer to as the EWGF, where the input is Forward + + Down + Down-Forward-2 in Tekken. Speaking of that Down-Forward...
2. Diagonal Tilts: Kazuya might very well be the first-ever character to have Diagonal tilt attacks if the above input is anything to go by. We don't know if that'll be the case here, but this is a detail to keep in mind.
3. White Arrows and Black Arrows: In Tekken, there are two different kinds of joystick inputs: White Arrows, which are used like you're using an F-tilt or U-air in Smash, and Black Arrows, which are like the Charge Inputs mentioned earlier. The latter of which leads me to my next point...
4. Smash vs FGC: Terry's Rising Tackle input requires roughly half a second to use as opposed to other fighting games where they require roughly a full second. This brings up the possibility that the Neutral input and the Black Arrows might take fewer frames for Smash to register as opposed to Tekken. As to what extent for the sake of balance is still rather unclear, but it's honestly very likely to be the case.

Just so we're clear, I have limited knowledge of Tekken by myself. So if there are others that know more about Tekken than I do, please, discuss with me these points or explain what else Kazuya's inclusion might add to Smash.

 

[Nap1400]

Let me repost the list of move inputs that I made in the social thread. I wasn't a Kazuya main in Tekken but I have played a ton Tekken before (I main Asuka) so I can vouch for how most characters play.

Spoiler

KEY:
f/F = forward
d/D = down
u/U = up
b/B = back
cd = crouch dash
wr = while rising
fc = full crouch
1 = left punch
2 = right punch
3 = left kick
4 = right kick
[ ] = slide input (one input right after the other, basically)

tsunami kick - df 4,4; wr 4,4
searing edge - uf 3
flash punch combo - 1,1,2
steel pedal drop - left side throw
flash tornado - b 4
nejiri uraken - d 1+2
crouch spin kick - d 3
twin pistons - wr 1, 2
sternum smash - no input, just a move added as a grab pummel
jumping sobat - no direct reference, it might be a reference to every character's uf * 3 but i dunno
spinning demon to left hook - cd 3,1
dragon uppercut - cd 1
tombstone crusher - fc df 3+4
gates of hell - fc df,d,df 1+2
wind god fist - cd 2
crouch jab - d 1
roundhouse to triple spin kicks - uf 4 4 4 4
rising toe kick - uf * 4
stature smash - db 4
crouch dash (cd) - f * d,df
left splits kick - f,F 4
stonehead - f,F 1+2
demon god fist - wr 2
oni front kick - f 3
double face kick - 1+3
demon scissors - [4 3]
jump side kick - uf * 3
demon's wrath - b 3,1,4,1
leaping side kick - f,f,f 3
jumping knuckle - uf 1
air inferno - uf 1+2 in devil transformation
10 hit combo - smash is referencing ten hit combo 1 which is f,f * 2,1,2,2,3,4,4,3,2,1

Now time for a big ol' wall of text, starting with OP's points: For the held directions (in notation that's written as f for tap and F for held), there is only one move in Kazuya's smash moveset that uses it, and that's Stonehead, which is a grab. Typically the held button options overlap with double tap direction buttons, which in practice usually means the character is dashing when using it. In other words, either Kazuya has a special grab attack (potenially off of crouch dash, which I will get to), or Stonehead is just one of his regular throws and it's a moot point.

Now the neutral input note is kinda minor except for one particular instance: Kazuya's crouch dash. Crouch dashing is an option certain characters in Tekken can do using that Forward * Down Down-Forward command, and they can do it repeatedly to perform Tekken's own version of wavedashing. Pressing a button during a crouch dash gives you certain moves that the OP was alluding to with EWGF, but the EWGF in particular has a wrench thrown in there. See, the move is normally called the Wind God Fist, or WGF. Getting an ELECTRIC Wind God Fist involves pressing the attack button within a tight timing window of the Down-Forward input at the end, typically on the exact same frame. Kazuya and the general Mishima playstyle have a reputation of being high execution characters because of this, because the getting EWGFs consistently is vital to their gameplan, being a fast, safe launching move that can lead to nasty combos when done repeatedly. Whether this particular aspect of the WGF is translated into Smash has yet to be seen, but I'm fairly certain the act of crouch dashing will be its own special move that, like Ryu, can be performed by doing the input as it was done in Tekken, though I can't imagine it will be as strict considering how lenient the buffer is for Ryu/Ken/Terry. Judging by the movelist, Kazuya in Smash has three moves that are typically tied to his crouch dash: Dragon Uppercut (cd 1), Wind God Fist (cd 2), and Spinning Demon to Left Hook (cd 3,1), commonly referred to by Tekken veterans as a Hellsweep. My personal guess is that two of these moves are mapped to doing Crouch Dash and A, one with a tap input and one with a held input, with one left over to perform with Crouch Dash and B. If I had to make an exact guess, I imagine cd tap A is Wind God Fist, cd hold A is Dragon Uppercut, and cd B is Hellsweep. It wasn't shown off in the demonstration, but Hellsweep typically has two followups, a punch or a kick, so my guess is that he has both followups as cd B,A and cd B,B respectively. All this kind of leads to my third point.

Judging by how extensive this movelist is, there are two possibilities for how the Smash team is incorporating Kazuya's movelist. One is, like Ryu, he has normals that are based on whether the button was held or whether it was tapped. For instance, the Crouch Jab (which Tekken players affectionately call the **** Jab) and Crouch Spin Kick pretty neatly fit into the mold of the former using Down Tilt tap A and Down Tilt hold A respectively. But they also fit nicely into the other option I was referring to: instead of having basic special moves, the team mapped Kazuya's grounded normals to both A and B, with A being his punch buttons and B being his kick buttons. I've seen this speculated a few times on various twitter posts and message boards. I personally think the former is the more likely prospect, because if we assume that plus the OP's assumption that Kazuya has diagonal tilts, we can put the puzzle together regarding how the moves are mapped.

Spoiler: My personal move mapping speculation

Jab: Flash Punch Combo
Side Tilt Tap: Left Splits Kick
Side Tilt Hold: Oni Front Kick
Up Tilt Tap: Searing Edge
Up Tilt Hold: Roundhouse into Triple Spin Kicks
(This would line up with Tekken's tendency to map up directional attacks with hopping moves, usually used to beat low attacks)
Down Tilt Tap: Crouch Jab
Down Tilt Hold: Crouch Spin Kick
Down-Forward: Tsunami Kick
Down-Back: Stature Smash
Back Tilt Tap: Demon's Wrath
Back Tilt Hold: Flash Tornado
Dash: Leaping Side Kick

Aerials:
Neutral: Jumping Knuckle
Forward: Jumping Side Kick
Backward: Jumping Sobat
Up: Rising Toe Kick
Down: Demon Scissors

Throws:
Pummel: Sternum Smash
Forward: Double Face Kick
Back: Steel Pedal Drop
Up: Air Inferno
Down: Stonehead

Crouch Dash Moves (potentially a special move, either Neutral B, Side B, or Down B)
Crouch Dash Tap A: Wind God Fist
Crouch Dash Hold A: Dragon Uppercut
Crouch Dash B-A: Spinning Demon to Left Hook
Crouch Dash B-B: Spinning Demon

(These could also work out to be Crouch Dash Up, Side, and Down now that I think about it, a la Dancing Blade)

Now that leaves 4 moves unmapped: 10-Hit Combo, Tombstone Crusher, Gates of Hell, and Demon God Fist. I left those out purposely because they represent aspects of Tekken that are outside the scope of basic moves. 10-Hits are a unique string of moves that every character has, which is usually a memorization sequence of which buttons to press; I imagine Kazuya has a similar sequence of button presses and directions you need to press to successfully pull it off here. What it actually is I'll just leave to Sakurai's demonstration in two weeks. The other moves are tied to a unique aspect of Tekken: you're limited in the amount of moves you can perform when you're crouching. You can either do "Full Crouch" moves, which in Kazuya's case here are Crouching Jab, Crouch Spin Kick, Tombstone Crusher and Gates of Hell, you can do Jumping moves which here are Kazuya's up tilt and actual jump, or you can do "While Rising" moves, which for Kazuya here are Twin Pistons and Demon God Fist. My personal guess is that the former four are tied to Tap A, Hold A, B, and Throw respectively, while for While Rising moves Kazuya will do Twin Pistons for Tap A and Demon God Fist for Hold A when leaving the crouch state. This could likely add to a layer of Kazuya's punishment game, which is kinda what his whole thing is in Tekken proper as is. It could also mean more applications for Crouch Dash, since as the name implies, Crouch Dash leaves you in crouch; you could use crouch dash to get in against an opponent who whiffed a big move and use Demon God Fist to get a huge punish on them for instance.

Now that leaves his special moves and smashes, and while that wasn't shown in the movelist demonstration, I think I can make a pretty good guess from the trailer before. Conveniently, we can see all three Smash attacks in the bit after Kazuya throws everyone off the cliff and goes Devil on everyone. He first does his down smash, which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be his db 2, Lion Slayer. He then does his Side Smash, which is probably supposed to be his f 1+2, Glorious Demon God Fist. And finally we see his Up Smash get whiff punished by DK, I'm not entirely certain but I think it's supposed to be Kazuya's b 2+3, Lightning Uppercut. And from there, we can figure out his specials. Assuming one of his specials is a not-inputted Crouch Dash, he has an unnamed recovery special using his Demon form's flight capability; Inferno, his laser in Demon form; and finally Devil Fist, his lunging punch in Demon form that causes a crumple. If I were to guess, Inferno is Neutral B, Devil Fist is Side B, Crouch Dash is Down B, and recovery is obviously Up B.

Last but certainly not least, there's one more aspect to Kazuya that gets shown off in the trailer: Rage. Rage in Tekken is where Smash got the concept and name from, I'm fairly certain, and it fulfills a similar purpose: after a certain damage threshold, your character glows red and has a flat damage boost applied to all their attacks. What makes Kazuya's rage interesting is that he has one extra option that the other characters in Smash don't have that Tekken characters do: he can expend his rage to perform an ultra powerful attack called a Rage Drive, which we see him performing in the Smash trailer after taunting Heihachi (Tekken characters can also do Rage Arts this way but Kazuya uses his as a FS so that's a moot point). In T7, his Rage Drive is performed by doing Crouch Dash, then 1+4, so I think either the Rage Drive replaces one of his special moves FS style when he's in rage, or he can do it by inputting Crouch Dash B and my analysis for crouch dash followups is wrong and instead done with A and a direction while Crouch Dash B is reserved for Rage Drive.

So I think that covers his entire movelist! I hope my rambling makes sense in terms of translating Tekken ideas to Smash ideas, I'm admittedly more of a traditional FG player than a Smash player.

 

[Flik]

I think 10 hit combo will be f f A A A A B B B B A A.

 

[Sucumbio]

High mid and low is important too so I'm wondering if shield tilting will play a role in guarding against his attacks though that may be more complicated than the development team wants. But imagine having to block tilting up then down to avoid his roundhouse to hell sweeps or if he'll have access to throw in a single hell sweep (great combo starter and mix-up). Hell sweep to wind god fist for example.

 

[kirbsmash]

he has an unnamed recovery special using his Demon form's flight capability;

Nice work! But I think that it was just him jumping like with pit and Seph, if you asks me.

 

[Jassassino]

Interested to see how they'll implement Rage art/Rage drive.

At the end, we saw Kazuya glow red and give off an aura like how they do in Tekken 7 with rage. Assuming this means he'll get his Devil transformation versions of his Smash attacks here because, in T7, once you have rage you can input U,F 1+2 to become Devil.