| Eddy Gordo | |
|---|---|
Eddy in Tekken 5 |
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| Series | Tekken |
| First game | Tekken 3 (1997) |
| Voiced by | Roger Craig Smith (Tekken 6)[1] |
| Motion capture | Marcelo "Caverinha" Pereira[2][3] |
| Portrayed by | Lateef Crowder[4] |
| Fictional profile | |
| Birthplace | Brazil[5] |
| Fighting style | Capoeira[5] |
Eddy Gordo (エディ・ゴルド Edi Gorudo) is an Afro-Brazilian video game character from the Tekken series by Namco Bandai. He made his debut in the arcade version of Tekken 3 in 1997 and his first console appearance was in the 1998 PlayStation port of the title. Eddy has since appeared in every game thereafter (albeit he is not a participant in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 story-wise), although he shares the same character slot as Christie Monteiro in Tekken 4 and Tekken 5, but regained his own slot in subsequent games beginning with Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection.
Eddy's storyline from his debut through Tekken 5 revolved around his quest for revenge for the murder of his parents, culminating in the defeat of Kazuya Mishima during the events of Tekken 5. From Tekken 5 onward, Eddy's plot focused on his and Christie Monteiro's search for a cure to an unknown illness that Christie's grandfather, Eddy's Capoeira master, was suffering from. Eddy was the first Capoeira practitioner to appear in the Tekken franchise, followed by Tiger Jackson, an alternate costume for Eddy in Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament, and Christie Monteiro, Eddy's replacement in Tekken 4. Eddy has received heavy criticism in the fighting video game community for the simplicity associated with Eddy's play style and has been considered a skill-less character.
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The Tekken 3 development team wanted to include a Capoeira practitioner for Tekken 3 and turned to the development artists to create the character. It was desired by Masahiro Kimoto, one of the game designers of Tekken 3, that the Capoeira character be female but the artist that was tasked with the character's design deemed the female character too difficult to create and instead created Eddy. Kimoto later stated that his favorite character from Tekken 3 was Eddy, because of the challenges in his development.[6]
Marcelo Pereira, a Capoeira master from the United States, was the motion capture artist for Eddy Gordo in Tekken 3.[6] Pereira stated that Namco had heard of him as a result of his 1995 International Capoeira Seminar held in San Francisco, and that he felt honored in being chosen by Namco to represent Capoeira in Tekken 3. Marcelo Pereira reported that during the development of Tekken 3 he had been injured, as a result the acrobatic movements he performed were restricted. He also claimed that he performed "about 20%" of what he was capable of performing because it was necessary to have "another skillful capoeirista" to perform some movements in Capoeira. Additionally, Pereira criticized Namco's naming choices for Eddy Gordo and his moves, noting that Eddy is not a Brazilian name and that "Gordo" in Portuguese meant "fat" and the movements' names were not "traditional" like the names he had called them during development.[2]
Eddy Gordo first appeared in Tekken 3 and appeared in the following title, Tekken Tag Tournament. In Tekken 4, Eddy Gordo was omitted from the roster and was replaced with Christie Monteiro, another Capoeira practitioner, but appeared as an alternate costume for Christie and without serving any purpose in the storyline.[7] Masahiro Kimoto stated that Eddy was replaced because initially they had intended to create a female Capoeira character in Tekken 3 but instead changed to a male character due to artistic limitations. In Tekken 4, the team was able to successfully create "an attractive female character" who practiced Capoeira, so they chose to replace Eddy with her.[8] Eddy Gordo later served as a character costume swap for Christie in Tekken 5,[9] and became a separate character once again in the Tekken 5 update, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection; however, while he did have his own character customizations, his moveset remained identical to Christie's.[10][11] Eddy Gordo appeared again in Tekken 6, and its update, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, but his moveset has remained similar to Christie's, only differing in move properties such as speed and distance.[12] Additionally, in Bloodline Rebellion, Eddy serves as the boss for the 28th level of the Scenario Campaign Mode, the "Tekken Force 4th Special Forces Operational Group Compound".[13]
Eddy was born into one of the richest families in Brazil. When Eddy was 19 years old, his father was killed while trying to destroy a Brazilian drug cartel known as the "Organization". In his last breaths, Eddy's father asked Eddy to take responsibility for his death. Eddy went along with his father's last wish and served eight years in prison, during which he met an old man who taught him Capoeira. For his eight years of prison, Eddy practiced until he became a master. Upon his release, Eddy heard about the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 and the Mishima Financial Empire (MFE), the sponsor of the tournament and a conglomerate compared to a "large slice of the world" which is owned by Heihachi Mishima.[14] He decided to enter the tournament, believing he could either convince the MFE or take control of it and force it to help him get revenge on his father's killers.[15][16][17][18][19]
In Tekken 4, it is learned that while Eddy was in prison he learned of his master's granddaughter, Christie Monteiro, and made a promise to his master to teach her Capoeira when Eddy got out of prison. After the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Eddy found and taught Christie Capoeira, who became impressive at the martial art after two years of training. Soon after Christie's training, Eddy left, saying, "Those responsible for my father's death will pay."[20] Christie Monteiro entered The King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 to find Eddy, as this was the only clue that could lead her to him.[21]
Prior to Tekken 5, Eddy learns that the master who taught him Capoeira in prison is about to be freed. Eddy goes to his release but discovers that his master has become a weak and frail old man, not the great Capoeira master he had studied under. After he takes his master to a hospital, Eddy learns that he is dying from an incurable disease that will give him less than six months to live. There is hope, however, if the Mishima Zaibatsu's technology and resources could be put to use. Knowing this and hearing the announcement of the fifth King of Iron Fist tournament, Eddy and Christie enter with the hopes of saving Christie's grandfather.[22] During the tournament, Eddy encounters Kazuya Mishima and defeats him in battle, avenging Eddy's father's death.[23]
At the conclusion of The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5, Eddy spoke alone with Jin Kazama. Jin offered to lend him his money and resources to save his master's life in exchange for his allegiance with the Mishima Zaibatsu. Knowing that this could be the opportunity he had been looking for to save his master's life, Eddy complies. As the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 approaches, Eddy himself has become involved in a number of criminal activities in the name of the Mishima Zaibatsu.[24]
Tiger Jackson is a palette swap character of Eddy Gordo, unlockable in Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament. Tiger Jackson was initially one of the unused names and concepts of Eddy Gordo from during the development of Tekken 3.[25] He also appears in the background of the Pool Party stage of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection.[26]
Tiger is also a character in the game Pac-Man Fever.
In the 2010 live-action film Tekken, Eddy is portrayed by Brazilian capoeira fighter Lateef Crowder. He participates in the Iron Fist tournament and is pitted against Raven and is defeated by Raven. Critics praised the accurate portrayal of Eddy toward the games,[27][28] but criticized the brevity of Eddy's role in the film.[29] Unlike the games, he has no relation to Christie Monteiro.[30]
In 2003, Epoch Co. released an Eddy Gordo action figure as part of their Tekken Tag Tournament toyline; the toy featured interchangeable hands and a display stand.[31]
Professional wrestler Kofi Kingston stated, "...guys like Eddy Gordo are very unique characters. When he was introduced into the Tekken series he was the guy everybody was talking about. People knew about Capoeira but they didn't really know what it was all about as far as moves and stuff."[32] He also stated, "I watch a character like Eddy Gordo in 'Tekken' and his capoeira style, and it's characters like that that I like to take from because of how they stand out."[33] Professional wrestler MVP attributed one of his moves called "Malicious Intent" to Eddy Gordo, calling it "a variation of one of [Eddy's] spinning kicks." MVP also considers Eddy Gordo as one of his favorite video game characters.[34] Dane Cook referred to Eddy Gordo in his album Retaliation, joking that when someone gets struck by a car it "sends you flipping through the air like Eddy Gordo from Tekken when someone doesn't know how to do combos and they're just hitting the buttons randomly."[35]
Eddy has been often criticized for his too easy playability. In one article from MTV.com, they nicknamed him "Eddy 'Button-Masher's Savior' Gordo."[36] BradyGames attributes his "masher" stigma to the character's "constantly shifting stances and unpredictable nature", but says that it only applies to casual play. It continues to say that at competitive levels, the random actions of button mashing" lead to heavy punishment more often than not."[12] GameSpy included him as one of "The World's Worst Warriors", calling him such things as being a "cheating scumbag" and stating that "Eddy Gordo is the worst thing to happen to fighting gamers since repetitive strain injury."[37] Eddy was listed by Now Gamer among the top 10 "most hated gamer characters ever", which called him and Ken "overly-powered and cheap", citing that for Eddy's command list it should only contain "pictures of both kick buttons" because mashing the kick buttons could give automatic wins to the player, and ended by calling Eddy, "a skilless-husk of a character."[38]
In contrast, WeDoTech.net ranked him the second best fighting video game character of all time, stating that he was the best character in Tekken 3 and noting his break-dance styled moves as one of his best aspects.[39] Gaming Target rated Eddy second on the list of top 11 Tekken fighters, citing his moveset as one of his best aspects, as "his moves are more alluring to watch than anyone in Tekken"[40] and calling him the most stunning character in Tekken 3 for his "break-dancing-like attacks."[41] GamesRadar listed a match-up between Eddy and Dee Jay among the 12 match-ups they would like want to see in Street Fighter X Tekken.[42]
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