Simple yet powerful, it’s a badge of mastery for Tekken players the world over.
In Tekken’s history, the Electric Wind God Fist (shortened to EWGF) holds a special place in every player’s heart. While it may just look like a simple uppercut, it’s a move that has its own story. Add to the fact that it requires surgical precision to execute and we have a move recognized by all fighting game fans.
Before the move got its mouthful of a name it was simply known as Rising Uppercut in the first Tekken. It was part of protagonist Kazuya Mishima’s move list and it did basically what you’d expect from the name. In Tekken 2, a similar move was given to other members of the cast but it was only Kazuya who got a secret version of the uppercut that could be done slightly faster than everyone else’s.
It was only in Tekken 3 where the move as we know it was first introduced. Kazuya’s Rising Uppercut move was renamed to Wind God Fist and was given to his son, Jin Kazama. Where does the Electric part come in? Well just like before, Jin had a secret version where, if he did the input correctly, his uppercut would have an electrical effect to it and be noticeably more powerful.
This move was not listed in any official guides or move lists and became a bit like an urban legend. By Tekken 4, all characters who practiced Mishima Style Karate had access to the EWGF. And so the legendary move has been standard to them ever since.
Frame-perfect execution
Aside from being the signature move of the Mishima fighting style, it has another aspect that makes it beloved. Simply put, getting the move to come out is very, very hard and it starts with the inputs.
Doing a regular Wind God Fist can be tricky by itself but to get an EWGF you need to do something called a Just Frame. Without getting too technical, a Just Frame is when you perform an input at a specific frame of animation. So to get an EWGF you have to execute one input within 1/60th of a second to succeed.
While the timing can be learned with enough practice the real challenge is when you’re facing other players. Trying to get the precise timing of an EWGF in the heat of a match is difficult but incredibly rewarding. That’s why there are so many Tekken guides in places like YouTube about how to consistently do EWGFs.
For some, being able to do an EWGF is a point of pride while for others it might be something necessary in order to reach that next level of skill. Regardless, the story and technical mastery of the EWGF make it the iconic symbol of the Tekken series.
Banner image taken from Tekken 7 (in game).
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