Jin Sakai

Side Special - Samurai Armor
 Up Special - Samurai Armor
 Down Special - Samurai Armor
 Standard Special - Ghost Armor
 Side Special - Ghost Armor
 Up Special - Ghost Armor
 Down Special - Ghost Armor
 Final Smash
 Extra Skill
 Franchise
 Game of Origin
 Release Date of Origin
 Other Appearances
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## **Character Info**

Jin Sakai is the protagonist of the PS4 hit, *Ghost of Tsushima.* He barely survives the Battle of Komoda Beach, wherein Khotun Khan's forces wiped out most of Tsushima Island's samurai. Herein, he becomes the Ghost, a defender and eventual folk legend of Tsushima, who commonly betrays samurai code in order to defeat the invading Mongols. It's in doing so that he comes at odds with his uncle, Lord Shimura, who staunchly follows tradition.

## **General Information**

### **Entrance**

Jin will come riding in upon his trusty steed, leaping from off of the horse as he draws his blade. The horse's color and armor set will change depending upon the battle and can alternate between black, brown, and white and red, blue, yellow, and turquoise respectively.

### **Kirby Hat**

Kirby will don Jin's Samurai Clan helmet.

### **Taunts**

**Up Taunt:** With a chirp, a golden bird suddenly flies in and perches itself on Jin's shoulder. He takes a subtle glance at it before it flies off.

**Down Taunt:** A caged cricket appears before Jin's feet, chirping as he lifts it up to eye level. He opens the hatch, letting the cricket fly away.

**Side Taunt:** A caged cricket appears before Jin's feet, chirping as he lifts it up to eye level. He opens the hatch, letting the cricket fly away.

### **Victory Poses**

1. Jin dismounts his horse, patting it on its side as he says, "The battle is won, my friend."
2. Jin retrieves his flute, playing one of multiple jingles on it. The songs that he is able to play are the same set that he is able to in *Ghost of Tsushima*: "The Sun's Warm Embrace", "Lament of the Storm", "Shadows in the Fog", and "A Chorus of Raindrops". Characters belonging to certain series may trigger a special jingle, such as snippets of the theme songs to *Super Mario Bros.*, *The Legend of Zelda*, or *Fire Emblem*.
3. Jin kneels down onto a tatami mat, candle glowing on one side as he sets his katana to his other. Pulling out a scroll, he solmenly composes a haiku detailing his opponents' defeat. Jin has a unique haiku set for every character on Smashtopia.

## **Moveset - Samurai Armor**

### **Standard Special**

**Dance of Wrath:** Jin takes a meditative breath, then unleashing a swift slash of his katana at an upwards diagonal. It's a hefty swing, despite its quickness and relatively startup time. It can knock opponents back with ease, with a strong "cut" effect to boot. As ever impressive as this one slash is, it's called the "Dance" of Wrath for a reason! In *Ghost of Tsushima*, the legendary move is followed up with two other fast-moving, momentum-shifting; once more at a downwards diagonal, and then a straight slash across the torso. Jin follows in suit for this moveset; with a quick tap of the special attack button, upwards of two times, Jin will perform these attacks just as he does in his source title. The final swipe of his blade dishes out the most potential knockback, with each slash slightly more powerful than the last.

### **Side Special**

**Heavenly Strike:** Jin holds onto the hilt of his katana, engaging in a forward-looking stance as he stares towards the earth. A moment later, he will dash several feet forward, unleashing his blade with one quick, impactful movement. A gust of wind carries with the movement, blowing in the direction that Jin has moved with his Heavenly Strike. The move is similar to Ike's Quick Draw. However, unlike it, Heavenly Strike is unable to be charged. Instead, the light buildup at the move's start offers plenty of focus for Jin to propel himself forward nearly twice as far as an uncharged Quick Draw would. Furthermore, Jin can cancel out of the move and chain it into another Heavenly Strike, carrying him further and only slightly lesser than with his initial charge. The downside here is that there is no super armor to speak of.

### **Up Special**

**Rising Swallow:** Raising his katana into the Water Stance, Jin grips it with both hands as he propels himself upward, blade stretched outwards in a curved, vertical arc. Unlike Marth's Dolphin Slash, Rising Swallow carries more weight to its movement, seeing Jin dish out firmer knockback towards opponents. Pressing the up special inputs again, at any point during the move, will have Jin swap into his Moon Stance and wildly spin in midair, making for a fine surprise or spacing move against opponents and some projectiles.

### **Down Special**

**Way of the Flame:** Jin will unsheathe his katana and swirl it in a quick circular motion, lighting it aflame. This greatly increases damage dealt by the katana for a prolonged period of time, upwards of 18 seconds. It can be used once per stock. It is also able to be put out by water or wind-based attacks.

### **Final Smash**

**Ghost of Tsushima:** Jin enters the Stone Stance and focuses a singular, straightforward lunge ahead with his katana. Anyone struck by the katana will be dealt decent damage as most assets become black-and-white, with lights and particles glowing red. This is a reference, in part, to the Kurosawa films that *Ghost of Tsushima* was greatly influenced by, let alone the Ghost Stance's aesthetic in-game. A wild flute rings out, and Jin suddenly dishes out three succinct, brutal, but clean swipes of his blade in upwards diagonal, downwards diagonal, and straight-ahead fashion. Depending on which slash he ends with, opponents will either fall straight to the ground (such as with Ryu's Focus Attack), or be sent flying. Opponents who've garnered more than 100% damage will be auto-KO'd by the move's finishing blow. Once the final blow is dealt, Jin will clean his katana against his wrist before returning to the fight.

### **Extra Skills**

**Ghost:** Pressing the right trigger and special button at once will see Jin swap into his Ghost form. Like Pyra & Mythra, the change is nearly instantaneous, a puff of smoke quickly engulfing Jin as he swaps outfits and skillsets and disappearing as swiftly as it had come.

**Stance Change:** Meanwhile, holding the left trigger and special button at the same time will have Jin swap stances, instead. There are four separate sword stances with which Jin primarily fights with, being: Stone, Water, Wind, and Moon. In *Ghost of Tsushima*, the Stone Stance is most effective against swordsmen, the Water Stance against defensive shieldmen, the Wind Stance against spearmen, and the Moon Stance against big brutes. In Smash, it's much the same, with certain standard moves proving effective in subverting moves from characters belonging to similar archetypes as Jin gains priority over them. The Water Stance, for instance, is occasionally able to pierce through super armor, while the Moon Stance extends Jin's reach despite its wanton nature. The Stone Stance is Jin's most well-balanced form, while the Wind Stance sees him a little lighter on his feet. Luckily for Jonno, he doesn't need to do much more elaborating on this system, since Smashtopia doesn't cover standard moves at length.

## **Moveset - Ghost Armor**

### **Standard Special**

**Assassinate:** Jin reaches out. If an opponent is close enough to him, he'll hold onto their shoulder with one hand, quickly unsheathing his knife and jabbing it in towards their necks with the other. It's a simple but effective motion that will have them falling towards the ground in shock, making what happens next even more integral for Jin to be able to chain into a combo. Or, if multiple opponents happen to be directly in his vicinity, the player will instead have the option of pressing the special attack button multiple times over as he deftly maneuvers between his foes, shanking each of them in similar fashion. With each resounding blow of his knife, he will dish out a little more damage to his next enemy than the last in a chain assassination. Like Shulk's Backslash, this attack is deemed more effective from behind - and sneakier. With its starting animation being a grab, Jin can bypass shields with ease.

### **Side Special**

**Kunai:** Jin reaches into his pouch and throws out multiple kunai at once. The closer an opponent is, the easier it will be for the kunai to hone in towards them. If there are multiple opponents in a vicinity at once, each kunai will track out a different opponent. Upwards of four kunai can be thrown at a time come first throw. If there are less than four opponents on-screen, the majority of the kunai will be thrown towards the opponent closest to Jin, doubling or even tripling up on damage. So, the kunai are thrown all at once and are automatically attracted to varying targets. If Jin uses this move immediately after he already had, he will throw one less kunai, and then another, and then another, until he is all left out for several seconds until it replenishes.

### **Up Special**

**Smoke Bomb:** Jin ignites a smoke bomb, potentially disorienting opponents immediately in his vicinity whilst causing minor damage. While consumed in this cloud of Smoke, he'll leap upwards, suddenly appearing on the other end of it about two Ganondorfs higher than his starting location. Pressing the special attack button immediately out of this attack will see Jin unleash a quick downwards-arcing blow with his katana, dishing up swift damage to his opponents with potential for a meteor effect. The blow can also deflect some projectiles, such as Jin's own Kunai, or Sheik's Needles. The move may also be tilted in any direction in any upwards arc, so there's ample room for players to decide where Jin will reappear.

### **Down Special**

**Dart Gun:** Jin retrieves his dart gun, blowing into it and shooting a dart towards opponents. There are two types of darts: Poison Darts and Hallucination Darts. If an opponent is struck with a Poison Dart, it's Smash business-as-usual with a poison effect that lingers for a set amount of time that slightly increases depending on the opponent's damage percentage. Eventually, it does subside. If an opponent is struck with a Hallucination Dart, their controls will be scrambled for a handful of seconds, and they may even slip! It takes around 10 seconds for Jin to recharge his dart gun before using it again, so he can't go willy-nilly with the status effect changes. That said, a well-timed use of the right dart might make all of the difference in the final moments of an intense battle. Poison Darts appear roughly 60% of the time to Hallucination Darts' 40%.

### **Final Smash**

**Ghost of Tsushima:** Jin enters the Stone Stance and focuses a singular, straightforward lunge ahead with his katana. Anyone struck by the katana will be dealt decent damage as most assets become black-and-white, with lights and particles glowing red. This is a reference, in part, to the Kurosawa films that *Ghost of Tsushima* was greatly influenced by, let alone the Ghost Stance's aesthetic in-game. A wild flute rings out, and Jin suddenly dishes out three succinct, brutal, but clean swipes of his blade in upwards diagonal, downwards diagonal, and straight-ahead fashion. Depending on which slash he ends with, opponents will either fall straight to the ground (such as with Ryu's Focus Attack), or be sent flying. Opponents who've garnered more than 100% damage will be auto-KO'd by the move's finishing blow. Once the final blow is dealt, Jin will clean his katana against his wrist before returning to the fight.

### **Extra Skills**

**Samurai:** Pressing the right trigger and special button at once will see Jin swap into his Samurai form. Like Pyra & Mythra, the change is nearly instantaneous, a puff of smoke quickly engulfing Jin as he swaps outfits and skillsets and disappearing as swiftly as it had come.

**Stance Change:** Meanwhile, holding the left trigger and special button at the same time will have Jin swap stances, instead. There are four separate sword stances with which Jin primarily fights with, being: Stone, Water, Wind, and Moon. In *Ghost of Tsushima*, the Stone Stance is most effective against swordsmen, the Water Stance against defensive shieldmen, the Wind Stance against spearmen, and the Moon Stance against big brutes. In Smash, it's much the same, with certain standard moves proving effective in subverting moves from characters belonging to similar archetypes as Jin gains priority over them. The Water Stance, for instance, is occasionally able to pierce through super armor, while the Moon Stance extends Jin's reach despite its wanton nature. The Stone Stance is Jin's most well-balanced form, while the Wind Stance sees him a little lighter on his feet. Luckily for Jonno, he doesn't need to do much more elaborating on this system, since Smashtopia doesn't cover standard moves at length.

## **Unique Traits**

As Jin crouches, he is able to crawl, just as he does in *Ghost of Tsushima*. In his Ghost form, Jin is also able to wall jump. In his Samurai form, some of his attacks (such as Smashes and Specials) obtain frames of super armor. Like Marth, the top edge of Jin's blade is a tipper. Additionally, Jin uses his Grappling Hook when one presses the grab button while in mid-air, allowing him to tether as an effective recovery.

## **Alternate Costumes - Samurai Armor**

1. **Rank III Sakai Clan Armor** - Kazumasa's Darkness (Default)
2. **Rank III Sakai Clan Armor** - Blood of the Clan
3. **Rank III Sakai Clan Armor** - Ancestral Force
4. **Rank III Sakai Clan Armor** - Oceanic Valor
5. **Rank III Sakai Clan Armor** - Light of Victory
6. **Rank III Samurai Clan Armor** - Spring Lion
7. **Rank III Samurai Clan Armor** - Warrior's Bounty
8. **Rank III Samurai Clan Armor** - Seasons of War
9. **Rank III Samurai Clan Armor** - Immaculate Warrior
10. **Rank III Samurai Clan Armor** - Warrior's Darkness

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## **Alternate Costumes - Ghost Armor**

1. **Rank III Ghost Armor** - Executioner's Penance (Default)
2. **Rank III Ghost Armor** - Vow of Vengeance
3. **Rank III Ghost Armor** - Righteous Punishment
4. **Rank III Ghost Armor** - Ghost Transcendent
5. **Rank III Ghost Armor** - Golden Retribution
6. **Rank III Traveler's Attire** - Indigo Explorer
7. **Rank III Traveler's Attire** - Fiery Searcher
8. **Rank III Traveler's Attire** - Adventurer's Fortune
9. **Rank III Traveler's Attire** - Graceful Pathfinder
10. **Rank III Traveler's Attire** - Journey Into the Night

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