Jacky Bryant

Jacky Bryant (Katakana: ジャッキー・ブライアント, Rōmaji: Jakkī Buraianto) is a character from Sega's Virtua Fighter series who makes a guest appearance in Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate.

He is the fourth Virtua Fighter character to join the cast, after Akira Yuki, Sarah Bryant, and Pai Chan. He is Sarah's older brother.

Appearance

 * See also: Jacky's Costumes

Jacky is a tall, athletic young man, and the two signatures of his appearance are his spiky blonde hair and his red clothing. His hair has changed somewhat since the first Virtua Fighter, going from a wild anime/manga look in earlier games to something more realistic. He doesn't wear as much red as he used to, but it's still there on the jacket of his racing outfit.

Personality
Jacky's enthusiasm for speed extends to everything in his life, from his fighting style to his professional racing career. He has little patience for anything or anyone he perceives as too slow. He is extremely confident in his abilities almost to the point of being cocky. Jacky also values his racing career and would do anything to protect it such as swearing to put an end to J6 for killing off his racing sponsors.

Etymology
"Jacky" is a unisex name, usually a diminutive form of the Middle English "Jack" or "John". The surname Bryant is of Old Breton-Irish origin, and derives from the Celtic personal name "Brian," believed to contain the element "bre," meaning hill or "brigh," strong.

Gameplay
Jacky's style similar to his fellow Jeet Kune Do practitioner Jann Lee, with many similar attacks and stances focused on fast strikes and high pressure offense. However, Jacky is bit more technical, possessing more mix-ups, mobility, and defensive options. He has an auto parry from neutral stance that stops all high punches, and his Slide Shuffle move can to used to gain space as well as give him more options to follow up some attacks, and it will even parry high punches if timed right. Jacky's jabs and mid-strikes come out very quick, and he can wear down his opponent.

The Flash Sword Kick is somewhat difficult to master, but it can become a great asset for the players who can use it. The move can create frame traps, and is essential in many of Jacky's most damaging combos. If the enemy is good at countering and reading mix-ups, Jacky also has some good spacing and whiff punishers for defense. On top of great strikes and mix-up options, Jacky also has great throws with above average damage, including a throw which can cause a wall bounce and lead into a high damage juggle combo.

He does have some weaknesses though; Jacky is very no-frills, and does not any real gimmick, meaning that players must have good knowledge of the character and the game mechanics to use him well. His neutral parry also comes with a price, as it means any throw done to him from neutral stance does Hi-Counter damage. This makes grapplers like Tina especially dangerous for him.

Dead or Alive Series

 * Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (2013)

Virtua Fighter
Jacky first appeared in the 1993 arcade title Virtua Fighter and was part of the series' original fighter line-up, which at the time only included eight characters. Since then, Jacky has appeared in every installment of Virtua Fighter.

Jacky also appeared in the Virtua Fighter anime as one of the four main characters alongside Pai, Akira and Sarah. Like in the games, he still makes his living as a professional racer. Although Jacky is brash and confident much like his game counterpart, he is also very grumpy and intolerant, often being annoyed at Akira's goofy antics. Jacky is also quite protective of Sarah due to his role as a big brother. It is revealed that both Jacky and Sarah belong to an upper class family.

Fighters Megamix
Jacky appears with the entire Virtua Fighter 2 cast in the Sega Saturn game, Fighters Megamix.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
Along with fellow Virtua Fighter combatant Akira, Jacky appeared as an unlockable character in the 2010 racing game, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. Jacky and Akira race together as a team the OutRun-inspired "Red Lightning", representing the Virtua Fighter series. Jacky handles the driving, while Akira sits quietly in the passenger seat until he is needed.

Trivia

 * Unlike most Jeet Kune Do practitioners in fighting games, Jacky's appearance and backstory is not based on Bruce Lee's.
 * Ironically, Jacky is the only Virtua Fighter character that has Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown's High Ground Bound on his B+H+K.