Kneel Kick (ニールキック "Niiru Kikku"?) is an attack used by Nina and Anna Williams from the first game and onwards. In the Western versions of Tekken and Tekken 2, it was originally called Forward Flip Kick but changed to its Japanese name in Tekken 3. Anna's version of the move is called Falling Heel. This move can hit downed opponents.
In Tekken 2, the damage was reduced significantly but it would gain a clean hit property, with a clean hit bringing up the damage to roughly the same as that of the first game. Block stun was also reduced significantly, and only occurs up close where the move would have been a clean hit.
From Tekken 3 onwards, Nina would take 5 damage if the move whiffed. Additionally, Nina can tech roll her own move to prevent taking damage, however if the timing is wrong Nina will take damage even if the move connects. Anna had this variation (including the whiff damage) in the arcade version of Tekken 3 due to being a palette swap of Nina in that game, but when she reappeared on the PlayStation version with her own unique moveset, she reverted back to the Tekken and Tekken 2 animation and move name. Anna received a new animation in Tekken 5 and now stands up after performing the flip, unlike Nina.
Trivia
- This move had a guard break property in the original Tekken, where if the move was blocked, the opponent could be attacked immediately with a rising kick without being able to block the second kick.