is a fictional character from the Tekken series created by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The character is a Brazilian capoeira fighter. Introduced in Tekken 3 in 1997, 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, a palette swap of 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 low skill floor associated with Eddy's play style; however, the character, along with Christie, has been credited with popularizing the art of capoeira to a new audience within the larger gaming and martial arts community, and has influenced popular culture.
Character development
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.
Mestre Marcelo Pereira, a Brazilian capoeira master, was the motion capture artist for Eddy Gordo in Tekken 3. 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 spar with" 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.
In video games
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. 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 named Christie" who practiced Capoeira, so they chose to replace Eddy with her. Eddy Gordo later served as a character costume swap for Christie in Tekken 5, 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. 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. 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".