For the move of the same name used by Marshall Law and his son Forest, see here.
Dragon Uppercut, (雷神拳 Raijinken lit. "Thunder God Fist"), now known as Thunder God Fist in-line with the Japanese name starting in Tekken 8, is a move introduced in the original Tekken game and can be performed by every practitioner of Mishima Style Fighting Karate.
Description[]
The attack sees the user enter a deep crouch then execute a jumping left-handed uppercut that will often throw the opponent a good distance away.
The command input is f,N,d,D/F+1 for Heihachi, Kazuya/Devil Kazuya, Jin/Devil Jin, and Angel. Reina can perform the attack by simply by pressing d/f+3 then 1 but the full motion is also possible and allows her to use a more potent version of the attack.
Another input is for Jinpachi in Tekken 5, which is WS 1+2 for the regular version and 1+2+3+4~1 for an enhanced version. while in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, it is buffed into 3+4~1. The follow-up attacks are however character specific (see respective articles for details). Heihachi also has an electrified version and a delayed version of the Dragon Uppercut, which in some games took the regular Dragon Uppercut's place.
In the original Tekken and Tekken 2, Armor King also has this move. Roger/Alex and Roger Jr. have a very similar move called the Animal Uppercut. In Tekken 3, Doctor Bosconovitch also has a variation of the Dragon Uppercut called the Senior Fist.
This move was demonstrated in Kazuya's non-canon Tekken 2 ending where he uses the Dragon Uppercut against Devil after using Heihachi as a human shield against Devil's Inferno. This also happens from his in-game appearance when he utilizes one of his 10-hit Combos.
Heihachi also has his own variation known as the Omen Thunder God Fist, which is a faster and more powerful version of the attack. Exclusively in Tekken 4, Heihachi can also delay his Dragon Uppercut. This not only makes the move safe on block, but also turns the move into a natural launcher.
In Tekken 8, this attack will trigger a Tornado for Kazuya and Jin. However, Devil Jin's version remains the same from Tekken 7: Fated Retribution, but it gains the Heaven's Door extension. Likewise, Reina's variant lacks the Tornado properties but gains 2 kick follow-ups: Lightning Splits Kick and Lightning Wheel. When Kazuya is in Heat (and thus transformed into Devil) this attack is replaced by Damnation, although it is still possible to perform the basic Thunder God Fist by holding b when the move connects. Heihachi's variation also lack's the Tornado property, however Heihachi has an enhanced version known as the Electric Thunder God Fist.
Usage[]
The Dragon Uppercut is relatively slow, and the long crouch animation after the step-in is a sure-tell of what's to come, meaning that a standing opponent has plenty of time to see and block/evade it.
The step-in crouch is not without its advantages though. It is able to duck under all high attacks, and right before the punch itself, most mid attacks as well. This makes it a relatively good counter-attack when one anticipates the opponent to dish out a high-mid string, however, because of the often better alternatives which can also lead to juggles, the stand-alone Dragon Uppercut is rarely, if ever, used in high-level play.
Unique properties[]
In the cases of Heihachi, Armor King, Devil/Angel (except TK2), Devil Jin and Jinpachi, Dragon Uppercut will always knock the opponent off their feet, however, in the cases of Jin (pre-TK4) and Kazuya (except TK), this isn't so. In their cases, only clean hits will result in the opponent being knocked off their feet; regular hits, or even counter hits, do not, which is likely why they became able to perform follow-up kicks. However, not getting in a clean hit with Dragon Uppercut is surprisingly difficult. In Tekken Tag Tournament, Devil's Dragon Uppercut can be followed up with Heaven's Door by holding u/f when the uppercut hits. In Tekken 5, Kazuya's and Devil Jin's Dragon Uppercuts deal the same damage, however Devil Jin's uppercut will always cause knockdown, similar to Heihachi.
Heihachi gained the ability to use the Dragon Uppercut as one of his Spinning Demon extensions in Tekken 3. It is also the last hit of the Demon Massacre.
Kazuya's Rage Drive in Tekken 7 is a variation on the Dragon Uppercut that comes out substantially faster than the regular version and has significantly more forward range as well. Connecting with the move also allows Kazuya to immediately transform into Devil and perform the Heaven's Door extension in the same fashion as doing the standard move when transformed into Devil. Once in Devil form, the Spinning Demon to Left Hook is also able to add a Dragon Uppercut into Heaven's Door by performing the move during the the hook animation, adding up to two more hits to the attack. This would be named Abyss Damnation starting with Tekken 8, while also gaining a new animation (rather than performing Heaven's Door, Kazuya will fly up with his opponent then throw them to the ground before coming down with a Devil-infused smash).
Devil Jin's new attack in Season 3 of Tekken 7, Rakshasa's Rampage (b+2,1), incorporates the Dragon Uppercut which also gains a Heaven's Door extension as his normal variant does. The extension was removed in Tekken 8. Season 2 of Tekken 8 would introduce Cursed Starstorm, which has a Thunder God Fist as the third hit (with the transition to Heaven's Door also possible).
Tekken 2 Twin Pistons follow-up and Devil bug[]
In the original arcade version of Tekken 2, Kazuya could cancel a Dragon Uppercut into a while-standing Twin Pistons by inputting 2 during the move. A unique animation existed solely for the transition between the Dragon Uppercut and Twin Pistons uppercuts.
Devil's moveset had a bug due to sharing the same Dragon Uppercut with Kazuya, where inputting 2, 3 or 4 would cause Devil to instantly revert to his stance as he did not have WS Twin Pistons or the mid kick or Spinning Demon follow-ups in Tekken 2. The Dragon Uppercut performed by Heihachi and Armor King was an alternate version of the move and did not have the bug.
The Twin Pistons follow-up was removed in the Ver.B edition which was released the following month, along with Devil's moveset bug being fixed. The transition animation still exists in Ver.B but is unused, and was removed as of the PlayStation home version.
Trivia[]
- The Dragon Uppercut is very similar to the move Shoryuken (昇龍拳 Shōryūken, lit. "Rising Dragon Fist") from the Street Fighter series. Due to fact, the command input itself a Dragon Punch (DP) motion, except unlike in Street Fighter, Tekken's DP motion has a just frame set up between forward and down input on top of being a varied universal movement input.
- Jinpachi Mishima presents a different case when executing this move, as he needs to enter a stance before doing the uppercut. This is logical, however, granted that he cannot perform a crouch-dash movement.
- Despite having "forgotten" the move, Jin will still use the Dragon Uppercut/Thunder God Fist during Devil Within.
- In Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon, this technique can be used via the Thunder Fighter costume, or the Heihachi costume.
- Additionally, in the original Tales of Destiny, the dummied character Lilith Aileron uses the Special Skill Thunder Punch as a reference to the Mishima Dragon Uppercut in Tekken. She would later use the same move in Tales of the Rays.