Nina Williams (Japanese: ニーナ・ウィリアムズ, Hepburn: Nīna Wiriamuzu) is a fictional character from Namco's Tekken fighting game series. A cold-blooded professional assassin from Ireland, Nina made her first appearance in the original 1994 installment. She is the only female playable character to appear in all main games of the Tekken series. She has also starred in her own spin-off game, Death by Degrees.
She has an alternative version known as Summer Nina (Japanese: サマーニーナ, Hepburn: Samānīna), who first appeared in Tekken Mobile. Nina has an unstable and often violent relationship with her younger sister, Anna Williams, who is typically her arch-rival throughout the installments. She is known for her fast and lethal fighting style, based loosely on fighting arts such as Koppo and Hapkido.[3] As per a large amount of critics' judgement, she has been considered one of the sexiest characters in the video gaming industry.
Design and gameplay
Nina has a blonde ponytail, blue eyes, and a slim hourglass figure, yet a powerful build. Her look contrasts that of her younger sister, Anna, who is a brunette. She dresses primarily in purple fitted costumes and is commonly seen wearing a military-style outfit (to suit her occupation),[2] sometimes also in costumes made of materials resembling spandex, PVC and leather; she was barefoot in the first game but most often, she wears stiletto heels (a nod to her assassin motif). In Tekken 6, one of Nina's extra outfits is one of her Death by Degrees costumes. Her default costume in Tekken 7 is Anna's stolen wedding gown: off-white, burned and tattered, long strapless wedding gown and veil, white gloves and stockings, and white stilettos.
According to Namco's Tekken original design team, "It was Nina or Kazuya who was the soul, the cool part, of the [first] game."[4] Producer Yozo Sakagami said about their choice of Roberto Ferrari as her character designer, "Nina is a white character, and as you can see with games like Final Fantasy, when Japanese artists try to design white women or whatever, [the characters] kind of turn Japanese in their facial features and just the way they look, generally. And we didn't want that with Nina."[5]
Nina is known for her lethal grappling techniques and counterattacks.[6] She also has a versatile repertoire of striking attacks with all limbs; Anna shares some moves with her. Nina was also among the first characters to utilize chain throws, having them since Tekken 2 where she was recommended for aggressive players.[7]In Tekken Tag Tournament, she was noted as "feared by many players" due to her many combos that are difficult to counter, but her command list has a high execution barrier; she is a challenge, requiring a lot of practice to master.[8] In Tekken 6, she has strong jabbing abilities, is agile and has above average strength.[9] In Tekken 7, her Rage Art shows how agile she is. In Rage Art, she climbs on the opponent's shoulder, uses her thighs to grab the opponent's neck, and continuously spins to dodge the opponent's feedback. Then she grabs the opponent's neck again by her thighs and slams it down to the ground, using her thigh muscles to break the opponent's neck. She is considered to be a character with an extremely high skill ceiling needing high execution to be successful.
Appearances
In video games
Nina Williams is the first-born daughter of Richard Williams, an Irish former assassin, and Heather Williams, a British Aikido champion, also from Ireland. She has a younger sister, Anna.[2][10] From a young age, Nina and Anna were taught various forms of martial arts, including assassination arts, such as Koppo(Koppoh) and Aikido. Both sisters admired their father, spawning a sibling rivalry between them as they competed for his attention.
Nina's training in assassination martial arts helped her to quickly become an assassin-for-hire. When she was 20, Nina was hired to assassinate Heihachi Mishima, the head of Mishima Zaibatsu, during The King of Iron Fist Tournament, but failed.
Two years later, Nina was contracted to assassinate the current head of Mishima Zaibatsu, Kazuya Mishima. Entering The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, Nina is distracted by a fight with Anna, causing both to be captured by Kazuya after failing to assassinate him. They were used as test subjects in the "cold sleep" project by Dr. Bosconovitch, a cryogenic experiment. The experiment went on for 15 years.[2]
When Nina woke up from the cryosleep, she suffered heavy amnesia, a fate from which her sister Anna was spared. Controlled by the recently awakened Ogre, the God of Fighting, she was sent to participate in The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 by assassinating Jin Kazama,[2][11]Heihachi Mishima's grandson. Near the end of the tournament, Jin managed to bring Nina back to her senses, allowing her to break free from Ogre's control. Wanting her sister to end her assassin career while continuing their rivalry, Anna worked with Dr. Bosconovitch to bring her sister's memories back. Upon Nina recovering her memories of tensions with her sister, however, Nina cut contact with Anna.
Having only recalled her role as an assassin, Nina soon continued as an assassin-for-hire. Two years later, she was contracted by a Mafia syndicate to kill a famous British boxer, Steve Fox, who she discovered was her biological son, born through in vitro fertilisation during her years in cryosleep. She learned that Heihachi had conducted a Hybrid Gene experiment, and using her genes, created several children. The experiment was canceled after most of the children, excluding Steve, had died. Nina abandoned her assassination attempt after detective Lei Wulong brought down the syndicate who hired her, citing a lack of a viable reason to pursue her target.
Wanting to recover her remaining memories, Nina decided to reconvene with her sister Anna, the only person who could help her. Upon regaining all of her memories, Nina's hatred for her sister instinctively returned, and the two abruptly engaged in a brawling duel.[12] The duel lasted for days in a stalemate and the two later agreed to meet at The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 to finish their battle. The two promised that only one would walk away from the coming battle. However, after Nina's victory, she refused to take Anna's life, feeling that their fight was unsatisfactory.
Later, Nina was approached by Mishima Zaibatsu's new CEO, Jin Kazama, who had already launched war around the world, to be his bodyguard. Nina accepted and entered The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 to intercept any possible threats. Meanwhile, Anna, who had vowed to take revenge on Nina, became Kazuya Mishima's bodyguard, with the belief that she would inevitably come face-to-face with Nina.
In the Scenario Campaign mode of the console version of Tekken 6, Nina served as one of the antagonists, assisting Jin with his scheme. After Jin sacrificed himself to kill Azazel at the end, Nina told Lars that she already knew of Jin's plans for the world war since the beginning, to awaken Azazel's physical body, but she was unsure of whether Jin's actions were right or wrong. Nina then left with a Mishima Zaibatsu helicopter, suggesting that she may have become Mishima Zaibatsu's temporary new CEO during Jin's disappearance.
Nina did not appear in Tekken 7's original arcade release, but returned in its updated title, Tekken 7: Fated Retribution. In the story mode, she was forced to work for the returning Heihachi in the first half, until she began to have concerns about Lars' good reason to keep Jin safe with him, and deemed it very interesting to watch. She resigned from the Zaibatsu, faked her death, and then set her private assassination job for hire. She was later tasked with infiltrating a mafia wedding which happened to be held by G Corporation, and posed as the bride, while the real bride of the mafia happened to be her sister Anna, whom Nina stole the wedding dress from. Although she succeeded in murdering Anna's groom, Nina was somehow pursued by her son Steve, and the Tekken Force as well as Anna and the fellow G Corporation mafia themselves. However, encountering Steve will give her the best opportunity to escape. Eventually, Steve's ending, continuing from his Tag 2 ending finally revealed that when she was put to cryosleep between Tekken2 and 3, Mishima Zaibatsu, while under Heihachi's leadership attempted to use her genes to create child super soldiers that could fit the Devil Gene project for the organization army. Steve is one of the survivors thanks to the cover by the now-late Doctor Emma Kliesen.
Nina returned in Tekken 8, serving as Kazuya’s bodyguard in G Corporation. She informed Kazuya that the woman he was looking for, Zafina, is located with the Sirius Marksman, Claudio Serafino. Nina later appeared to inform him that all troops were dispatched and moved to Yakushima where Jin is located there, including some of the fighters she recruited. During the war on Yakushima, Nina was confronted by Reina, and when she found out about Reina being the illegitimate daughter of the late Heihachi, Nina immediately resigned from G Corporation after the latest installment of the Jack series, Jack-8, was deployed to battle. Before she left, Nina responded to Reina’s proposal to work for her and that she was willing to negotiate if it was after her vacation.
Nina stars in her own action game, Death by Degrees, released in 2005.[2] The game provides an alternate backstory for Nina and Anna; the plot concentrates more on their father and how he died when they were children. In this game, it is revealed that Richard Williams had struggled with a few guardsmen, and shouted for Nina to grab a gun which one of the guardsmen had dropped. However, her hesitation and fear caused the guards to get the upper hand and shoot Richard Williams, killing him. Anna is shown comforting her sister moments after, while the older Nina looks over the scene. The rivalry that stemmed from the incident crossed over to the real-time events of the Tekken series.
Nina also appears in the 2012 crossover fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken with her official tag partner, Kazuya.
Other appearances
Nina also appears in the OVA Tekken: The Motion Picture as one of the main villains. She is seduced by Lee Chaolan and he hires her to kill Kazuya Mishima so that he will inherit the Mishima Zaibatsu from Heihachi. Nina attempts many times to assassinate Kazuya, but he keeps foiling her with his superior skills. Her rivalry with Anna is also present, although it differs from the games in the sense that Nina was favored by their father, who Anna killed out of resentment. Eventually, Nina fights Anna somewhere on the island where the tournament is being held. As Anna is ambushed and devoured by a biologically enhanced dinosaur-like being (similar in appearance to Alex), Nina flees. She is last seen among the other fighters who made it off the island before it explodes, but with Lee's death and Heihachi fleeing, she abandons her contract against Kazuya.
Nina Williams was portrayed by South African model and singer Candîce Hillebrand in the 2009 film adaptation, Tekken. In the film, she is a participant in the Iron Fist tournament, yet serves as an assassin under Kazuya along with Anna. Both of them are also Kazuya's lovers. Kazuya sends Nina and Anna to assassinate Jin Kazama, but the ensuing fight attracts Christie Monteiro's attention and Nina and Anna flee. In the next round, Jin recognizes Nina as one of the assassins, and Christie takes her revenge on Nina by beating her soundly in the ring. She returns when Kazuya orders his soldiers to arrest the fighters. Nina is seen in one of the cells with Anna and Dragunov. Unlike the games, she and Anna are on good terms and have no relation to Steve Fox.
Nina also appears in the animated film Tekken: Blood Vengeance. In the beginning, she rides a motorcycle while fighting Anna. Despite being cornered, she still manages to escape and is sent to Russia by Jin to find Alisa Bosconovitch. She once again appears after Xiaoyu and Alisa escapes from Anna. Anna attempts to capture Nina, amusing Lee.
Summer Daniels portrayed Nina in the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 live-action trailer "Girl Power" in 2012.[13] In 1998, Epoch Co. released a 1/10 scale Nina action figure based on her appearance in Tekken 3, including two plastic swords and one plastic gun.[14] An action figure based on her appearance from Tekken 5 was released in 2006;[15] two figures based on her appearance in Death by Degrees were also released that same year.[16][17] Kotabukiya released a bishōjo figure of Nina from Tag Tournament 2 designed by Shunya Yamashita for the 20th anniversary of Tekken in 2014.[18] Nina appears as a Spirit in the Nintendo crossover video game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[19]
Reception
The character was received mostly very positively. Gaming Target listed the "world's sexiest assassin" Nina Williams as the fifth best Tekken character in 2006.[20]Complex ranked this "ultimate ice queen" as the second best Tekken character in 2013 for her "huge arsenal of pokes at her disposal, not to mention chain throws and combo launchers."[21] In an official poll by Namco, Nina ranked as the 14th most requested Tekken character to be playable in Tekken X Street Fighter, receiving 9.08% of the votes.[22]
Nina Williams was chosen as one of the 20 "muses" of video games by Brazilian magazine SuperGamePower in 2001[23] and as the number one Namco muse by Dicas & Truques para PlayStation in 2004.[24] In 2007, Tom's Games listed Nina among the 50 greatest female characters in video game history, commenting that "she has without a doubt one of the best bodies in the business".[25] In QMI Agency's 2012 poll "ultimate fighting champion", Nina beat Dead or Alive's Kasumi and Virtua Fighter's Pai Chan, before losing to Mortal Kombat's Liu Kang.[26]
Nina was often noted for sex appeal. Readers of the German magazine Mega Fun and the Polish edition of GameStar had her voted third place for the "Video Game Babe of 1998" award and fifth in the 2006 poll for the title of "Miss of the Video Game World", respectively.[27][28] She was voted the "Hottest Female Fighting Character" in a 2008 poll by Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition,[6] also previously being voted number one in the "Hot" category by readers of French magazine Consoles + in 2004.[29]
She has been placed on many lists of most attractive female game characters, including being placed sixth by GameTrailers in 2007,[30] 30th by GameDaily in 2008,[31] 17th by UGO in 2011,[32] 20th by Gadget Review in 2012,[33] and 15th by GameHall's Portal PlayGame in 2014.[34]Maxim listed Nina among the top nine "video game vixens" in 2009, complimenting her costumes and her running around with a katana with very high heels in Death by Degrees as "frightening and erotic at the same time,"[35] and she was also showcased on a similar list by Polish magazine Fakt in 2013.[36]MSN included her among the 20 "hottest women in video game history" in 2012, adding that "she became hotter and hotter as graphics technology improved,"[37] while Interia.pl included Nina among the "sexiest game female characters" of that year.[38]
PLAY ranked her as second top "hottest" blonde in games in 2010, adding that she "was sexy even back when her hair was made out of about eight polygons,"[39] while Gadżetomania.pl ranked her as number one top "sexiest and fierce" blonde in games.[40] In addition, she was included in GameDaily's top list of hottest blondes in video games, for having both "a killer body" and a killer instinct.[41]Lisa Foiles of The Escapist put her among the top five "hottest blonde chicks" in 2011, stating her preference of Nina over many other fighting game blondes (such as Cammy, Jill Valentine, Sarah Bryant, Sophitia and Tina Armstrong), as well as her sister Anna, and noting Nina's resemblance to Capcom's Jill Valentine in Resident Evil 5.[42]
G4 included Nina among her the best assassins in all video games in 2004.[43] In 2011, Joystick Division listed Nina as a "badass" Irish video game character[44] and PlayStation Official Magazine listed her among "PlayStation’s meanest mothers".[45]FHM listed a fight between Nina and Poison as one of the ten "awesome fantasy fights" in Street Fighter X Tekken, as "hot girls fighting is always a spectacle to see, and these two represent the sauciest for both franchises."[46] Caroline O'Donoghue from The Guardian considers Nina their favorite Tekken character, and deems her to be "overlooked" when it comes to "classic female video games characters." O'Donoghue went on to state "It wasn't just that she was Irish – although I remember gasping the moment I read that in the Tekken 2 booklet, it being the first time I had anything in common with a woman from a video game – it was that I felt as if I knew things about her."[47]
However, the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine called the Death by Degrees Nina as an "overrated" spin-off character in comparison to Whiplash protagonist Spanx.[48] GameDaily listed Nina's appearance in Death by Degrees as one of her worst moments, citing the game's poor gameplay and below-average graphics.[49]
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