Nina Williams

Nina Williams (ニーナ・ウィリアムズ) is a fictional character from Namco's Tekken fighting game series. She is known to be a cold-blooded assassin who had made her very first appearance in the original Tekken game and since has appeared in every Tekken game released as one of only four Tekken characters to appear in each game along with Yoshimitsu, Paul Phoenix and Heihachi Mishima and the only female character to have appeared in every installment. She also starred in her own spin-off game, Death by Degrees.

Nina has an unstable relationship with her younger sister, Anna Williams. She is known for her lethal fighting styles, consisting of many martial arts and fighting skills.

In video games
Nina Williams was born and raised in Ireland, as was her sister, Anna Williams. From a young age, both were taught various forms of martial arts and other forms of fighting, and a sibling rivalry broiled between the two. Both sisters admired their father Richard Williams, and they often craved for his attention. Nina was trained in assassination martial arts and borrows concepts from Aikido and bone martial arts, making it ideal for her future job as an assassin. As she quickly became an assassin, the 20-year-old Nina had later been hired during the King of Iron Fist Tournament to assassinate Heihachi Mishima.

Their strong rivalry was the part of force that drove them to fight each other later at the time. The other, in Tekken 2, Nina (now 22) was contracted to kill Kazuya Mishima, but Anna intervened and a conflict prevented her from fulfilling the assignment. She was captured by Mishima after failing to assassinate him and was used as a test subject in the "cold sleep" project by Dr. Boskonovich - a cryogenic experiment. Anna Williams volunteered to be put in cryogenic sleep, but demanded to be awoken at the same time as Nina. Fans speculate about the reason for this. Some believe that Anna couldn't bear life without Nina's presence, some suggest she was envious that Nina would remain youthful and stay 22-years-old in the cryosleep and some think she did it so that she could stay unharmed and ready to fight Nina once she was awakened. The experiments went on for 19 years.

Nina had suffered amnesia induced by her years in cryogenic sleep, a fate from which her sister Anna was spared. During Tekken 3, she was controlled by the God of Fighting's spell and while possessed concentrated on killing Jin Kazama - Heihachi Mishima's grandson. Anna worked intensively with Boskonovich to bring her sister's memories back, however, the project was unsuccessful and after a receiving a memory from Tekken 2, Nina realized that she and her sister did not get along. After this, Nina left and does not contact Anna again for some time.

In Tekken 4, Nina's experiments had been finished for 2 years and (now 24) she soon revived her role as an assassin, as it was the only thing that she recalled from her previous life. Her next contract was from the Mafia Syndicate demanding her to kill a British boxer, Steve Fox. As the tournament progressed, she had gained knowledge that she was in fact Steve's mother, who was born through In vitro fertilisation during her years in cryosleep. At the last moment, she abandoned her assassination attempt after detective Lei Wulong brought down the syndicate. After the collapse of her employers, Nina no longer required a viable reason to pursue her target. It was also revealed that she remained emotionally impassive about the discovery of her biological son, but the fact that she did not kill him when the chance presented itself shows otherwise for some.

Nina decided that it was time she re-discovered her lost memories and came to the conclusion that the only person who could help her was her sister, Anna Williams. Anna meets with Nina soon after. However, Nina's memories and hatred instinctively returned, and they rapidly engaged in a gun battle. The duel lasted for days and the two later agreed to meet at the next tournament and finish their battle. The two promised that only one would walk away from the coming battle, however, Nina refused to take Anna's life as their fight wasn't satisfactory.

In Tekken 6, Nina was approached by Jin Kazama to be his personal bodyguard and enters the tournament to intercept any possible threat to him. Anna, during the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5, vows to take revenge and becomes Kazuya Mishima's personal bodyguard, knowing she is bound to come face to face with Nina along the way. Nina Williams also stars in her own action game, Death by Degrees (2005). The game provides an alternate backstory for Nina and Anna; the plot concentrating 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 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 which stemmed from the incident crossed over to the real-time events of the Tekken series.

She is set to appear in the upcoming crossover fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken. In the game's gameplay teaser, she is tagged with Kazuya, who summons her to do one of her signature special moves on Ryu, and in the cinematic trailer teasing the game's story, she is seen battling Ken inside a condemned building, stopping him from reaching Kazuya, who has captured Ryu as bait to lure Jin out.

Character design
Nina Williams is most notable for her blonde ponytail and blue eyes, and her voluptuous yet powerful build. Her look contrasts that of her sister, Anna, who is a brunette. Nina dresses primarily in purple fitted costumes and is commonly seen wearing a military style outfit (to suit her occupation), differing in designs throughout such games as Tekken and Death by Degrees, in which her costume is made of materials resembling spandex, PVC and leather. Most of her shoes also consist of heels. In the original Tekken, her age was initially stated as 20 years old, in Tekken 2 she was 22 and in Tekken 6, her age would chronologically be 44. However, in the 19 year gap that takes place between Tekken 2 and 3 both Nina and her sister Anna were cryogenically frozen slowing down the effects of aging. Thus, according to the storyline of the games, Nina remains in her early-mid 20s. In Tekken 6, one of Nina's extra outfits is her Death by Degrees costume.

Gameplay
Nina Williams is known for her lethal fighting styles, consisting of many martial arts and fighting skills.

In other media
Nina Williams was portrayed by South African model and singer Candîce Hillebrand in the 2010 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. 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 order the jackhammers to arrest the fighters. Nina is seen in one of the cells with Anna and Dragunov. Unlike the games, she and Anna are in good terms and has no relation to Steve Fox.

Nina also appears in the OVA Tekken: The Motion Picture as one of the main antagonists. 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. Eventually, Nina fights Anna somewhere on the island where the tournament is being held. As Anna is ambushed and eaten alive by a biologically enhanced dinosaur-like being, Nina flees. She is last seen among the other fighters who made it off the island before it explodes.

Nina is also featured in the animated film Tekken: Blood Vengeance. She first appears in the beginning riding a motorcycle and fighting Anna. Despite being cornered, she still manages to escape and is sent to Russia by Jin to find Alisa. She once again appears after Xiaoyu and Alisa escape from Anna, It is later on revealed what had happened. Anna attempts to capture her, amusing Lee. This attempt leads to an unknown outcome.

In promotion and merchandise
In 1998, Epoch Co. released a 1/10 scale Nina action figure based on her appearance in Tekken 3. The action figure comes with two plastic swords and one plastic gun.

Reception
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008 announced Nina Williams was voted the "Hottest Female Fighting Character" in an Internet poll. UGO.com ranked her number 17th on the list of top "videogame hotties". She was listed on GameDaily's top list of hottest blondes in video games, for having both "a killer body" and a killer instinct. She was also included in another GameDaily list covering the top 50 hottest video game women. GameDaily listed her appearance in Death by Degrees as one of her worst moments, citing its unlikable gameplay and below-average graphics. Gaming Target listed Nina as the fifth best Tekken character, noting that she's the "world's sexiest assassin". Tom's Games lists Nina among the 50 greatest female characters in video game history, commenting that she proves that you can be hot and cold at the same time and "she has without a doubt one of the best bodies in the business, and she doesn't take crap from anyone". Maxim listed Nina among the top nine "video game vixens", complimenting her costumes and her running around with a katana with very high heels in Death by Degrees, and stating "it's frightening and erotic at the same time—sort of like what we imagine having sex with Amy Winehouse might be like." On the G4 website, Nina was named as one of the best assassins in video games.

On the other hand, the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine cited the Death by Degrees Nina as an "overrated" spin-off character in comparison to Whiplash protagonist Spanx.