Jacket (Hotline Miami)

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Articles About Jacket
Hotline Miami	Jacket
Crossovers	PAYDAY2 - Travis Strikes Again

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	“	Do you like hurting other people?	„
		~ Richard to Jacket

Background

Jacket is the main protagonist and player character of Hotline Miami, and a side character in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Over the course of the first game, he dons various animal masks and performs a number of brutal assassinations in response to cryptic messages left on his answering machine. The second game explores the causes and consequences of his massacres two years after the first game's events, with Jacket himself making brief appearances in several cutscenes.

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Jacket’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number 1985 During 1985, America and the USRR went to war due to unknown reasons. Jacket was in the US Special Forces, part of an elite squad consisting of him, Beard (the leader of the unit), Barnes, and Daniels, directed by an unnamed US Army Colonel/General in Hawaii, America. Their unit, also known as the Ghost Wolves, were sent in for missions that no other units could pull off. March 17th, 1985 Before their mission, Beard and Jacket take a Polaroid for Evan, which Beard holds onto for the next few months. Beard's Unit attacks several Soviet Military outposts later that night within the jungle and Capture several Soviet soldiers and a Soviet intel officer, who is killed at some point with a shot to the head. The unit acquired information for their forces to progress. October 25th, 1985 The Colonel is promoted to General and says to the Ghost Wolves that America can't possibly win the war. Beard's Unit is assigned a supposed 'Final Mission', which is to capture a resort being used by the Russians as a base that local troops were unable to successfully take over in a previous siege. After Beard's Unit takes over the resort, D Company Commander congratulates and praises them for managing to take over the resort that his men couldn't. October 30th, 1985 Beard's Unit receives another 'Final Mission' where they are tasked to take over a Power Plant by themselves whilst the local forces actively hold back, which they deem as an impossible mission. The General responds to this by killing a panther, skinning it and wearing its face as a mask as mockery of the foolish plan. On the next morning, Beard's Unit assault the Soviet controlled Power Plant and eventually reach the Soviet General, who shoots all the engineers in the room with his pistol, sends the Power Plant into meltdown and then shoots himself. Beard's Unit tries to escape the exploding Power Plant but Barnes is killed by an explosion, which also incapacitates Jacket, Daniels is left behind as Beard escapes the Power Plant carrying Jacket out with him. Beard calls for reinforcements, ultimately saving Jacket's life. Beard gives Jacket the picture that Evan took for them as a reminder of his deed, telling Jacket "No need to thank me, kid, it's on the house. You'd do the same for me, right?". The two ultimately are discharged and retired from the military. 1986 April 3th, 1986 A few months later after returning to civilization, Jacket and Beard are talking on the phone, where Beard asks Jacket when he plans to send a copy of the Polaroid they took together. Moments later, a nuclear bomb drops on San Francisco, that ultimately kills Beard. Hotline Miami April 1989 April 3th, 1989 Jacket wakes up on April 3rd in his dirty and notably two-bed apartment. He receives a call from "Tim's Bakery" telling him a package of ingredients has been sent to him. The package contains the Richard rooster mask and instructions to pick up a package at a metro and deliver it to a dumpster at "point F-32." Jacket dons the mask and does so, killing several Russian mafia enforcers on the scene, but at F-32 he is confronted by the tutorial bum, who attacks him for interfering with the dumpster and is promptly killed. This provokes Jacket to vomit at the scene. Jacket drives to a local convenience store where Beard is the cashier. Beard greets him and says he hasn't seen him in a long time and was worried about him. He comments that the last time they talked Jacket told him about his girlfriend dumping him. He quickly switches the topic and gives Jacket a midnight snack "on the house".

General Information

Name: Unknown, referred to as Jacket, potentially Richard (The masks gifted to 50 Blessings Hitmen are usually named after them directly)

Origin: Hotline Miami

First Appearance: Hotline Miami

Latest Appearance: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (Canonical latest appearance), No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again (Non-canonical; appears as a minor character in No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again)

Company: Dennaton Games

Sex: Male

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Pronouns: He/Him

Story Role: Hero/Main Protagonist (Hotline Miami), Tertiary Character (Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number)

Age: Unknown, at least mid-twenties (Given Jacket was enlisted into the military sometime before 1985, and the events of the first game takes place in 1989, this would indicate that he is at least 22-years-old in Hotline Miami, with two additional years passing by the time Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number begins)

Residence: Miami, Florida (Currently), Hawaii (Formally during the war)

Classification: Jacket, The Miami Maniac

Species: Human

State of Being: Regular

Physiology: Humanoid Physiology

Occupation: US Special Forces Operative (formally), 50 Blessings Hitman (formally, unwilling), Prisoner (currently)

Affiliations: Beard (Jacket's Comrade/Close Friend), Barnes (Jacket's Comrade), Daniels (Jacket's Comrade), Colonel (Jacket's Colonel)

Enemies: The Father (Leader of the Russian Mafia in Miami), The Biker (Fellow 50 Blessings Hitman, opposing assassin), Richter (Fellow 50 Blessings Hitman, opposing assassin)

Status: Both Alive and Deceased (After the events of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, nuclear war breaks out across all of America and kills off the entire cast, including Jacket. Although upon replaying the game, a sequence will began where Richard acknowledges the cast returning to relive their ultimately futile fates which strongly suggests that the events will persist so long as the characters continue their doomed paths)

Alignment: Neutral Good initially (Jacket enlisted into the military and was apart of an elite four-man special forces that fought in Hawaii against Soviet Troops. Although his initial intentions are left ambiguous, he followed orders from his colonel with good intentions), Chaotic Neutral after the death of Beard (After Beard's untimely death in Los Angeles due to the nuclear bombing in 1986, Jacket spiraled into a crazed hatred towards Russia and joined an organization called "50 Blessings" that forced him into the role of a hitman against the Russian mafia. Although he takes pleasure in killing these individuals due to justifying his actions as a conquest for revenge, he is sickened by the idea and actions of directly killing innocent lives. Went out of his way to save an innocent woman who was kidnapped by a film director within the mafia), Chaotic Evil after his surgery (Jacket went on a killing spree against dozens of police officers to get information on the mafia)

Threat Level: Metropolitan Threat (Jacket singlehandedly became a threat to the entire Russian Mafia, allowing for rival mafias to take over territory previously claimed across Miami, Florida. He was also able to take out an entire major police station in a few minutes)

Codex Statistics

Tier: At least 9-C physically, Higher with certain masks, 9-B to 9-A with weapons

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: At least Superhuman level physically (Jacket has the raw power to split open a man's skull with a mere head bash, and crush said skulls with a single stomp. Jacket can swing open doors with enough power to knock grown adults several feet and unconscious. He is able to tear people's jaw off with ease, and snap a man's necks without little to no difficulty), Higher with certain masks (The Tony Mask allows him to physically kill opponents with a single punch, and the Don Juan mask grants Jacket the power to kill people by simply swinging a door open), Wall level (Jacket can utilize simple objects like bricks with such efficiency that he can shatter the skulls of over three adult men all at once. Jacket has experience with and indirect/direct access to various firearms and close-range weapons) to Room level with weapons (The 50 Blessings Organization can supply deadly explosive weapons such as rocket launchers to their hitmen which have an explosive yield of a tenth of a ton of TNT)

Durability: At least Superhuman level (Jacket is shown to be able to handle the recoil of his own brutal attacks without any strain on his body whatsoever), Higher with Sheer Will (Jacket has endured major injuries through sheer grit and determination like being blasted by an elevator explosion, or shot through the skull)

Striking Strength: At least Superhuman Class physically (Jacket can very easily bash the skull in of foes), Higher with the Tony Mask (The Tony Mask empowers Jacket with greater physical strength), Wall level to Room level with weapons

Lifting Strength: At least Superhuman (Jacket can tear the jaw off of his opponents with relative ease. He can also throw large sledgehammers tens of meters with ease and can throw small objects like knives through massive multi-layered windows), Higher with the Jake Mask (The Jake Mask allows Jacket to throw any kind of object with lethal power)

Travel Speed: At least Athletic Human (Jacket is an incredibly agile individual capable of rampaging and slaughtering through a multi-story building in mere minutes), Superhuman with Graham and Brandon Masks (The Graham Mask increases Jacket's speed by twenty-five percent, whereas the Brandon Mask further increases it by fifty percent)

Combat Speed: Supersonic (Can kill several trained men in a matter of seconds and before they can even react. Can kill Dodger enemies who are specifically trained to avoid projectiles such as gunfire and get in close quarters), Higher with Tony Mask (The Tony Mask increases Jacket's execution speed greatly)

Reaction Speed: Supersonic (Jacket can maneuver around gunfire and avoid it with enough precision. Former soldier Corey is agile enough to roll out of gunfire and completely avoid it)

Stamina: At least Peak Human (Even after being shot in the head and undergoing life-saving surgery, Jacket was able to awake from his medically-induced coma while drugged and began his revenge by first going to the police station and raiding it for information, then following up by attacking the Father's club and getting information on his whereabouts before finally ending his revenge by killing the leader of the Russian Mafia)

Range: Standard Melee physically, Extended Melee with melee weapons, Tens of Meters when throwing any object, Hundreds of Meters with firearms

Intelligence:

Gifted (Jacket was in the military well before 1985 and was under a special class squad that could perform the work that an entire fleet of men could not. Even after retiring once the war ended, Jacket returned to a life of killing four years later and slaughtered the entire Russian Mafia in Miami)

Genius (Jacket is an extremely sharp individual who can quickly pick up on his surroundings and deduce if there are any traps nearby and how to avoid them or use them to his advantage. He and his comrades were able to strategically infiltrate and flush out an entire chemical plant in mere minutes. Jacket and his squad are so skilled and proficient that they could infiltrate and take over a maximum security fort with little difficulty, and they took over two bases in just ten days whilst under constant attack from air strikes)

Genius (Jacket was a former special ops who could rat out and take over entire camps of enemy soldiers with little backup and was so skilled that dozens of other men would not compare to them whatsoever. Even after retiring, Jacket retains his skill and is shown as someone vastly superior to other trained individuals in every way. He bested The Biker who is shown to be incredibly skilled in combat, and was regarded as such a threat by 50 Blessings that he needed to be killed for his unstoppable rampage by other members. Jacket was trained with many firearms in the military for missions and can use many simple items with great efficiency. Jacket went through an entire police station, while recovering from surgery, and slaughtered everyone to kill Richter and get information on where the Father was residing)

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Powers and Techniques

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Genius Intelligence, Human Achievements (Is a former special ops in the military during the war between America and Russia), Martial Arts (Jacket is highly proficient in close quarters combat and can easily overwhelm and kill several opponents at once and is vastly more skilled than trained soldiers and officers), Weapon Mastery (Jacket was trained with various firearms in the military and is highly skilled with anything he can pick up off the ground), Superhuman Precision (Jacket can lodge just about anything with deadly precision several meters and can even hit targets behind multi-layered glass panels), Acrobatics (Jacket is highly agile and flexible in combat and is comparable to lesser soldiers who can dodge-evade dozens of bullets through rolling), Stealth Proficiency (Jacket can infiltrate and assassinate dozens of men before even being detected by the opponents, and managed to take over two military camps in the span of ten days whilst evading air strikes and choppers), Sheer Will (Even after being shot in the head and undergoing life-saving surgery, Jacket was able to awake from his medically-induced coma while drugged and began his revenge and previously survived being blasted by an elevator explosion), Intimidation (Jacket was able to scare a major figure in the Russian mafia into giving him information without saying a word), Immortality & Time Travel (Reliance; Richard acknowledges the repetition of the events that occurred in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, and questions why everyone would return to relive the events of the game), minor Precognition & Dream Manipulation (Destiny Perception; Richard can directly speak to the protagonists of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number and inform them of their fates right before their deaths. Jacket's case is more unique in that Richard directly speaks to him in his head and can inform him of information he is not directly aware of in Hotline Miami).

Enhanced Senses (The Rasmus Mask allows Jacket to spot certain thing that would normally be harder to perceive. The George Mask allows Jacket to perceive things from further away more easily), Statistics Amplification (The Tony Mask increases Jacket's physical strength and speed in combat. The Don Juan Mask boosts Jacket's strength enough to lethally slam foes through doors. The Graham Mask increases Jacket's speed by twenty-five percent, whereas the Brandon Mask further increases it by fifty percent. The Jake Mask increases Jacket's strength enough to lethally throw any weapon at foes), minor Probability Manipulation (The Aubrey Mask increases the probability of firearms being present in the immediate area, whereas the Charlie Mask increases the probability of more melee weapons), Penetration Damage (Physical Penetration; The Dennis Mask grants Jacket a knife at the start of his mission, the Carl Mask grants Jacket a drill at the start of a mission, and the Richter Mask grants Jacket a silenced Uzi at the start of his mission), minor Animal Taming (The Teo Mask allows Jacket to pacify all aggressive dogs in the area), limited Pierce Resistance (The Rufus Mask allows Jacket to survive one bullet shot. The Earl Mask allows Jacket to survive two stray bullets), Weapon Modification (The Peter Mask allows Jacket to modify any firearm with a suppressor to avoid drawing attention), Enhanced Superhuman Precision (The Rick Mask increases Jacket's accuracy with all weapons), Enhanced Stealth (The Louie Mask makes it harder to spot Jacket), minor Multilingualism (The Phil Mask can poorly translate people's English into French).

Penetration Damage (Physical Penetration; All firearms innately are designed with the purpose of piercing through targets, alongside weapons such as the knife, katana, and dart), minor Water Manipulation & Heat Manipulation (Can use boiling water to scald and kill his opponents), Fire Manipulation (Has access to a military-grade Flamethrower in the military. Jacket can use his lighter to ignite gasoline-soaked individuals), Explosion Manipulation (50 Blessings Can provide their hitmen with rocket-propelled grenade launchers for certain jobs).

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Equipment

• Richard Mask: The Richard Mask is the first mask granted to Jacket on April 3rd, 1989 by the 50 Blessings Organization. The mask grants Jacket little to no direct benefits in combat other than hiding his identity when in missions, but is his most iconic mask by far.

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Other

Standard Tactics: Jacket is highly aggressive and often will brutally kill his foes with his hands. If this is not possible, he will simply utilize his surroundings, such as practical objects or nearby weapons, to kill his foe as quickly as possible.

Weaknesses: Jacket is an unstable individual who often fights without thinking of the immediate consequences that follow.

Trivia

• It is possible that Jacket's real first name is "Richard", since it is the name of the first mask received in the game (mailed to him personally by 50 Blessings), and it grants no special abilities. It is worth noting that most masks, such as Jake and Richter, are shown to be named after their original owners.
• Jacket's family and his relationship with them is completely unknown. His parents are never mentioned or alluded to, we don't know if he was an only child or not, and he doesn't have any visible photos of them in his apartment. Given the lack of family photos in his home, it is possible Jacket is either estranged from his family, or moved away and isn't in regular contact with them. It is also possible, however, that the presence of flowers by his hospital bed in “Trauma” indicates that he does have someone out there that cares about his well-being.
• On the Dennaton Games website, there is a picture of Jacket with the name "Fritz" embroidered onto his jacket. If not his surname, it could be the name on the jacket or a clothing brand, as there is no indication at all that the jacket originally belonged to him, nor do we know if he bought it new or not.
• Jacket is the only playable character who doesn't have a single line of official dialogue in the games. He does talk over the phone to Beard in the outro to Casualties, but the game only expresses this by Beard regularly pausing and responding to whatever Jacket said.
  • Ironically, he is one of the only character who makes any vocal noise, he does it when vomiting.
• Consequently, Jacket is also the only playable character without an unmasked dialogue sprite.
• Canonically (e.g. in-game, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, official artwork) Jacket owns the Tony Mask, the Richard Mask, and the Aubrey Mask, and has used the Fireaxe, Baseball Bat, Pistol, Throwing Knives, Shotgun and/or Machine Gun, Double Barrel and Trophy.
• Like Biker, Jacket is easily interpretable as a meta self insert of the player: taking the game's events fairly passively and silently going through the motions, putting much more effort into exploring a variety of violence implementation and mission completion rather than exploring the reasons behind what he's doing. Jacket is a gamer himself and regularly escapes into recreational activities to wind down from what he's just done, and these are associated with the player's high score screen.
• Jacket has either two or three ex-girlfriends. He's being consoled on a break up by Beard in 1986, he has a stripped twin sized bed in his apartment in early 1989, and his relationship with his girlfriend is explicitly followed. The pairing of him next to Rachael Ward in Apocalypse and her role in Midnight Animal as his 1989 girlfriend could place Ward as his early 1989 ex. The Ambush intro in 1985 seems to imply a sibling bond between Jacket and Alex, both being the only ones standing away from the bar smoking and ready to leave, This is the only time Alex is shown smoking a cigarette, an animation otherwise restricted to Jacket.
• Jacket is referenced several times in the heist game Payday 2. He is shown at the end of the Hotline Miami DLC trailer, beating an unnamed Russian mobster to death with a baseball bat after rampaging through the building, several animal masks can be purchased for the Payday 2 heisters, and a DMC DeLorean is the getaway vehicle in the Hotline Miami heist on day 1. As of the Hotline Miami 2 Update, Jacket is now a playable character and is unlocked by purchasing the Digital Special Edition of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. He never directly speaks, instead playing pre-recorded messages from a tape player to communicate with teammates, though he can be heard panting heavily if he sprints for too long. Jacket comes equipped with a customized Cobray M-11/9 machine pistol named "Jacket's Piece" and a claw hammer named "Carpenter's Delight". His associated Perk Deck is called "The Sociopath", for obvious reasons; the perks "No Talk", "Tension", "Clean Hit", "Overdose", and "Showdown" in his deck are all named after Hotline Miami levels. Because the Payday and Hotline Miami universes seem to be mutually incompatible, Jacket's appearance is most likely non-canon to the Hotline Miami universe.
  • There has been some debate on if the Jacket seen in Payday 2 is an impostor, due to not only the conflicting canon, but also some pieces of evidence pointing towards the character being aware he is not really Jacket, but these are often brushed off as Jacket simply dissociating.
• Jacket's signature varsity jacket is based on the outfit of Axel Foley, the protagonist of the Beverly Hills Cop films.
• Jacket resembles Jasper Byrne, one of the music artists for the game.
  • In Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, his suit sprite reuses Jasper's sprite from the first game.
• While in the game Jacket collects several masks, only Richard, Tony, and Aubrey are shown as evidence in his trial in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. However, this could be because these were the only three of his masks which were actually found by the police.
  • It is presumed that he canonically owns the Don Juan and Rasmus masks, as they are both seen in his dream, leaving no other conclusion as to how they are present in his mind.
• Jacket easily has the highest body count out of any playable character in the series, in front of The Son and Richter.
• Jacket's standing execution, where he rips out the throat of an enemy might be a reference to a scene from the movie Road House, where the protagonist, Dalton, kills one of the antagonists, Jimmy, by ripping out his trachea with his hand.
• Jacket is the very last character shown to die in the entire series, being killed by a nuclear blast in his prison cell during the credits of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.
• There are several similarities between Corey and Jacket, most notably both being messy, being very quiet, and wearing a signature varsity jacket of a distinct style, she was also referred to as the "female version of Jacket" in the Artbook.

Battle Records

7-0-0-2

• The Producer - Fight
  • Conditions: Jacket was limited to shotguns exclusively in the building.
  • Location: Southwest 53rd Rd Place.

• Unknown Mafia Member - Fight
  • Conditions: Jacket was limited to firearms and melee weapons exclusively in the building.
  • Location: Downtown Relaxation.
  • Note: Jacket had to fight and kill several armed guards with bulletproof vests before getting to the teal-haired individual throwing the Molotov cocktails.

• Police Chief - Fight
  • Conditions: Jacket was limited to weaponry found exclusively in the police station.
  • Location: Miami Police Station.
  • Note: Jacket was heavily drugged and recovering from surgery whilst raiding the police station, suggesting he would've had a significantly more easy time going through the station.

• The Father - Fight
  • Conditions: Jacket was limited to a select few items in the the room.
  • Location: Ne 114th Place.
  • Note: Jacket likely would have won significantly more quickly if he fought the Father one-on-one, but he ultimately killed his bodyguards as well.

Soviet Camp - Fight

• Conditions: Jacket had his unit to help infiltrate the camp.
• Location: Hawaii, America
• Note: Jacket and his squad had weaponry and supplies from the US Military to aid them in their mission.

• Soviet resort Base - Fight
  • Conditions: Jacket had his unit to help infiltrate the base.
  • Location: Hawaii, America
  • Note: Jacket and his squad had weaponry and supplies from the US Military to aid them in their mission.

• Soviet Power Plant - Fight
  • Conditions: Jacket had his unit to help infiltrate the power plant.
  • Location: Hawaii, America
  • Note: Jacket and his squad had weaponry and supplies from the US Military to aid them in their mission.

None.

None.

None.

None.

Soviet Paradise Resort Base - Fight

• Conditions: Jacket had his unit to help infiltrate the base.
• Location: Paradise Resort.
• Note: The conditions of this particular event are left ambiguous due to the date listed being incorrect, with no word being given on whether the comic is canon with incorrect dates, or entirely wrong.

• The Biker - Fight
  • Conditions: Jacket was only equipped with a golf club, whereas The Biker had his knives.
  • Location: Phone Hom
  • Note: The actual results of the fight are left ambiguous, with the only information being given was that both individuals ultimately survived, though it's strongly implied that Jacket was ultimately superior due to having no notable physical damage, unlike the Biker.