History Main / ExtremityExtremist

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Hitmonlee. It even stole Blaziken's signature move in DP. Though to be fair, you can teach him moves that don't involve kicking; but the anime was all about the kicking game in the two times he was shown. Its counterpart Hitmonchan is a boxer who specializes in punching attacks. Hitmontop's moves mostly involve spinning, but since its legs are the only things that'll be hitting you...
** Hitmonchan can sometimes have the ability Iron Fist, which boosts the attack power of all "Punch" attacks; most Pokemon with Iron Fist will be built by their trainer to have punches dominate their movelist.

** While [[VideoGame/StarFox Fox McCloud]] can throw a punch, almost all of his attacks when fighting up-close are kick-based.

* In the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, Knuckles only ever uses punching attacks, and Rouge uses only kicks. Tails just tail-whips and Sonic relies solely on {{Rolling Attack}}s. While Sonic's dark counterpart, Shadow, can do the same rolling attacks that Sonic can, he also tends to use kicking attacks when engaged in hand to hand combat.

** Juri from ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Super Street Fighter IV]]'' plays this similar to ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters''[='s=] Kim in that while she does have punches, her moves are primarily kick based - yes, even her projectiles and her throws. Like Kim and [[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Hwoarang]], she is a South Korean Tae Kwon Do practicioner.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}''
** Steve Fox is strictly punches, being a middleweight boxing champ. When you press the kick buttons, he'll do some kind of dodge which can actually leave you open if you're not expecting it, so he takes some getting used to. He has one rather weak kick, which is really more of a stomp, and another jump kick was introduced in Tekken 5. He can head-butt with the best of them too, though, and isn't afraid of using his elbows.

* ''VideoGame/UrbanReign'', being a sister game to ''Tekken'' (made by the same developer) has many characters who share moves with Tekken characters, like Park, a Tae Kwon Do ace with no punch moves, and Grimm, a boxer that only sports 2 very basic low kicks.

** A story arc in ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' involved the brother of the Armless Master: The Legless Master.
* ComicBook/{{Bullseye|MarvelComics}} is the ultimate ImprobableWeaponUser, but he usually uses his legs to fight when he doesn't have something in hand. Presumably he prefers this style because it keeps his hands free to potentially grab something to use as a weapon.
* When was the last time you saw Franchise/{{Superman}} kick? Justified in that the Trope Title BoxingLessonsForSuperman is quite literal; most stories about Superman learning to physically fight involve him learning boxing or arm-based grappling. Kicks just don't seem to be something he's interested in.
* Captain America foe Batroc the Leaper trains exclusively in savate, making his kicks extra powerful and allowing him to leap extraordinary distances.
* The version of Hermes in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2011'' attacks exclusivly with his taloned feet.

** Shun Akiyama fights primarily through kicks, only using his arms in either counter-attacks or grapples. Kiryu somewhat prioritizes punches over kicks in his Rush style, and almost entirely uses open handed swipes in Beast when he isn't grappling or swinging a weapon. Majima's Breaker style attacks with his legs, using his hands for balance, and his Mqd Dog style has similar kicks when he isn't slicing with his tanto.

* ''Series/{{Barry}} features Ronny in the episode Ronny/Lily, a Taekwondo master who almost exclusively uses kicks. They are powerful enough to kill outright with a single kick to the head, so this isn't surprising.

* Touma Kamijou in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', due to its nature as an AntiMagic weapon, tends to fight primarily using his right hand. So much so that an enemy is legitimately surprised when Touma shifts to his ''left'' for a punch.

* Bete is one of the rare adventurers in ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' to fall into this trope; he fights mainly with his legs.

* In ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'', practitioners of the Leisure Kicks school of fighting see using their arms for anything else than a finishing blow as shameful sloppiness. Their founder [[NunTooHoly Kin Kiran]] outright declared that no martial artist would be worthy of her fists.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', despite Magus' insistence on ''upper'' body strength being important for a combat mage, he used kicks almost exclusively during his first fight after getting his body back.

* Steve Fox from the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series is strictly punches, being a middleweight boxing champ. When you press the kick buttons, he'll do some kind of dodge which can actually leave you open if you're not expecting it, so he takes some getting used to. He has one rather weak kick, which is really more of a stomp, and another jump kick was introduced in Tekken 5. He can head-butt with the best of them too, though, and isn't afraid of using his elbows.
** ''Tekken'' does also feature Tae Kwon Do practicioners like Hwoarang, who only has about 1% of punch moves, and the rest is kicks. This is untrue in the case of Baek, who uses a more traditional style of TKD that employs close-handed strikes and has just as many punching attacks as any other fighter.
** If not for two poking moves common to all of the fighters—namely the crouching punch and the supine kick—Steve and Hwoarang would be purists. The Capoeiristas still have rollout hand strikes.

* Featuring the wide array of martial arts it does, it should come as no surprise that ''[[Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi]]'' has at least three [[ExtremityExtremist Extremity Extremists]] Ikki Takeda, known as "Takeda the Puncher", is a boxer. There's also "Koga the Kicker", named for much the same reason. Finally there is Kisara Nanjo, who uses Tae Kwon Do.

* Maki the ''Manga/AirMaster'' is perhaps only borderline. She's not afraid of using her fists, or -- more frequently -- her elbows, but her strongest and most frequently used weapon is indubitably her [[ShesGotLegs unbelievably-long legs]]. As a trained gymnast, she understandably uses her arms mostly for balance.

* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4''. While Peter is not above throwing punches, the majority of his attacks are kick-based. [[spoiler:This stops during the final phase with Dr. Octopus' boss fight where the webhead simply decides to deliver No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on him without his usual Capoeira inspired fighting style.]]

* Mickey Rogers from the ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' series only uses punches, Sinclair from ''AOF3'' only uses sword attacks and cannot kick.

* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4''. While Peter is not above throwing punches, the majority of his attacks are kick-based. [[spoiler:This stops during the final phase with Dr. Octopus' boss fight where the webhead simply decides to deliver No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on him without his usual Capoeira inspired fighting style.]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''
** While [[VideoGame/StarFox Fox McCloud]] can throw a punch, almost all of his attacks when fighting up-close are kick-based.
** Being a boxer, [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] only ever uses his fists to attack, being the only fighter with that level of specialization.

* Jack Garrison from the arcade fighting game ''Holosseum'' is a self-taught martial artist who fights only by kicking.

* Yumizuka Satsuki in ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood'' is no boxer or anything like that, but for some reason none of her attacks are kicks (other than using her knees as a jab for one of her her style).

* A sort of car-applied example happens in ''VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage'', where the Mazda RX-7 is meant for uphill races and the Toyota Sprinter [=AE86=] is for downhill races.
* Earthgain and Vyrose from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars64.'' Earthgain specializes in punches while Vyrose specializes in kicks.
* Almost all of Zan's attacks rely on kicks in ''VideoGame/UndercoverCops''.

* In ''VideoGame/LunarDragonSong'', protagonist Jian Campbell fights with his feet and all of his weapons are things like sandals and sneakers (although his character design has him wearing boots). His few magic spells are performed by spinning on his head.
* From ''VideoGame/AnarchyReigns'' we got Durga, whose moveset consists of kicking and [[LegCannon shooting with his mechanical leg]]. The only times where he actually uses his fists is when he need to reload his leg or when he grapples a downed opponent.
* In ''Videogame/SengokuBasara'', Tokugawa Ieyasu (from the third game onwards) fights primarily with his fists with a style that's a mix between boxing and brawling. At most, he uses an elbow drop for his ground pound attack and a really powerful [[UseYourHead headbutt]] as one of his Special Arts.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** In ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 4]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 6]]'', most of Leon's melee attacks consist of various kinds of kicks. For the most part, he only uses his arms for throws and {{Suplex Finisher}}s.
** By contrast, in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 5]]'' and ''6'', Chris's melee attacks revolve around punches and throws.

* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4''. While Peter is not above throwing punches, the majority of his attacks are kick-based. [[spoiler:This stops during the final phase with Dr. Octopus' boss fight where the webhead simply decides to deliver NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on him without his usual Capoeira inspired fighting style.]]
* The Grieve Edge discipline from ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur III]]'' uses kicks enhanced by sharpened metal footwear. They block with their bare hands though.

* The little-known Taito-published ''VideoGame/KickMaster'' features Thonolan, a titular Kick Master whose physical attacks consist of, you know, various kicks.

* The Grieve Edge discipline from ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur III]]'' uses kicks enhanced by sharpened metal footwear. They block with their bare hands though.
* The vast majority of Lee Rekka's moves in ''VideoGame/TheLastBlade'' series are kicks.
* Ghost Kick and Scorpion from the fighting game ''VideoGame/MartialMasters'' both favor kicks overwhelmingly to punches; Ghost Kick, particularly, doesn't have any punches at all. This proves to be a somewhat one-sided source of conflict between them, as Scorpion wants to prove his is the ultimate kicking style.

* Being a boxer, [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] only ever uses his fists to attack even in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', being the only fighter with that level of specialization.

* Liu Yungmie from ''[[VideoGame/FightersHistory Fighter's History Dynamite]]'' is another Taekwondo fighter who uses nothing but kicks in combat. She kicks with punch buttons, throws opponents with her legs, blocks enemy attacks with her knee, and even sends out sonic booms from her feet.
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** Akihiko Sanada from ''VideoGame/Persona3'' is the captain of his school's boxing team; therefore, when fighting Shadows, he relies exclusively on his fists. This is in contrast to the Main Character, who can also equip gloves (Akihiko's "weapon" of choice) but can kick as well as punch.
** Chie Satonaka from ''VideoGame/Persona4'' fights using kicks, and blocks with her knees when she's on the defensive. She even summons her Persona with a roundhouse kick. Her weapon is boots, obviously.

* In ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game'', your man Aldo uses his fists almost exclusively and only breaks out his legs for a "power attack" knee to the face against a kneeling target or some [[FinishingMove Execution Styles]].
* Kyle in ''VideoGame/ViolentStorm'' only attacks with kicks.

* In ''VideoGame/LittleFighter2'', Dennis uses only kicks and Davis uses only punches.

** Later we get [[DistaffCounterpart Linkle]], whose fighting style when using the Pegasus Boots consists entirely of kicks.
* Regal Bryant from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' vowed never to use his hands to hurt anyone ever again after [[spoiler:[[MercyKill killing his lover]]]], and spends most of the game wearing shackles to enforce this... But his legs were a different story. He will, however, use his arms for things besides fighting, like [[ChefOfIron cooking]] or destroying prison cell walls.

** ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' has Fi whose attacks consist largely of [[DanceBattler ballet-style]] kicks. Justified, since she's an ArmlessBiped.

* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'':
** Balrog from the series uses this, since he's a boxer and everything. Of course, he also [[CombatPragmatist headbutts]], but still. Lampshaded by ''WebVideo/StreetFighterTheLaterYears'' with the quote at the top of the page.
** Similar to Balrog, British boxer Dudley only ever punches (no headbutts, but uses elbows in air), even if a kick button is pressed.
** Elena, a capoerista from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', only uses kicks, even if you press a punch button.
** Juri from ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Super Street Fighter IV]]'' plays this similar to ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters''[='s=] Kim in that while she does have punches, her moves are primarily kick based - yes, even her projectiles and her throws. Like Kim and [[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Hwoarang]], she is a South Korean Tae Kwon Do practicioner.
* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4''. While Peter is not above throwing punches, the majority of his attacks are kick-based. [[spoiler:This stops during the final phase with Dr. Octopus' boss fight where the webhead simply decides to deliver NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on him without his usual Capoeira inspired fighting style.]]
* Steve Fox from the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series is strictly punches, being a middleweight boxing champ. When you press the kick buttons, he'll do some kind of dodge which can actually leave you open if you're not expecting it, so he takes some getting used to. He has one rather weak kick, which is really more of a stomp, and another jump kick was introduced in Tekken 5. He can head-butt with the best of them too, though, and isn't afraid of using his elbows.
** ''Tekken'' does also feature Tae Kwon Do practicioners like Hwoarang, who only has about 1% of punch moves, and the rest is kicks. This is untrue in the case of Baek, who uses a more traditional style of TKD that employs close-handed strikes and has just as many punching attacks as any other fighter.
** If not for two poking moves common to all of the fighters—namely the crouching punch and the supine kick—Steve and Hwoarang would be purists. The Capoeiristas still have rollout hand strikes.
** Sumo wrestler Ganryu kicks when you press the kick buttons, but his moveset is focused mainly on open-handed striking.
* Something of a sister-game to Tekken, Namco's BeatEmUp ''VideoGame/UrbanReign'' has many characters who share moves with Tekken characters, like Park, a Tae Kwon Do ace with no punch moves, and Grimm, a boxer that only sports 2 very basic low kicks.

* Ghost Kick and Scorpion from the fighting game ''VideoGame/MartialMasters'' both favor kicks overwhelmingly to punches; Ghost Kick, particularly, doesn't have any punches at all. This proves to be a somewhat one-sided source of conflict between them, as Scorpion wants to prove his is the ultimate kicking style.
* Nayuki Minase and Kaori Misaka in ''VideoGame/EternalFighterZero'' are the kicking and punching versions, respectively. Kaori, in particular, seems to be based partially on both the above mentioned Dudley and Vanessa, moves-wise.

* Jack Garrison from the arcade fighting game ''Holosseum'' is a self-taught martial artist who fights only by kicking.

* In another sort of example, in the fanmade ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}} Muscle Fight'', Mixer Taitei specializes in knocking opponents down and using moves from the mount position. Additionally, Terryman's style is clearly boxing inspired and most of his special moves and strong attacks are punches (even though one of his signature attacks is the Texas Condor Kick, but even that's actually done with the ''knees'' rather than the feet).

* The player can do this in ''VideoGame/GodHand'', customizing Gene's moveset to have exclusively leg or arm moves.
** One may be an extremist even among extremities--it is possible to create a chain of moves solely consisting of, say, right-handed punches.

* ''Videogame/DungeonsOfDredmor'': Each and every unarmed attack is described as a kick of some sort, and the hero himself will punt everything, be it a door, chest or a monster, but will never use their hands for something other than magic, shields or weaponry. This being ''Dungeons of Dredmor'', it's lampshaded constantly, with mentions of enchanting your boot to deal extra damage common among skill descriptions.

* ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'':
** Fi's attacks consist largely of [[DanceBattler ballet-style]] kicks. Justified, since she's an ArmlessBiped.

* ''VideoGame/BattleCircuit'': Pink Ostrich, a bird and all, uses mostly her legs and beak. She mainly uses her wing for flying, and the only time P. Ostrich uses them for attacking are her uppercut and desperation attack.

* Being a boxer, [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] only ever uses his fists to attack even in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', being the only fighter with that level of specialization.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Hitmonlee. It even stole Blaziken's signature move in DP. Though to be fair, you can teach him moves that don't involve kicking; but the anime was all about the kicking game in the two times he was shown. Its counterpart Hitmonchan is a boxer who specializes in punching attacks. Hitmontop's moves mostly involve spinning, but since its legs are the only things that'll be hitting you...
** Hitmonchan can sometimes have the ability Iron Fist, which boosts the attack power of all "Punch" attacks; most Pokemon with Iron Fist will be built by their trainer to have punches dominate their movelist.
** Stonjourner is another kicking specialist, though for wholly different reasons: it's a sentient dolmen. Not only are its arms fairly short for its size, it doesn't even have enough ''joints'' in its body to properly throw a punch. On the other hand, with its legs being two giant slabs of rock weighing nearly half a ton, it doesn't really need anything else to wreck things.

* Mickey Rogers from the ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' series only uses punches, Sinclair from ''AOF3'' only uses sword attacks and cannot kick.
* Regal Bryant from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' vowed never to use his hands to hurt anyone ever again after [[spoiler:[[MercyKill killing his lover]]]], and spends most of the game wearing shackles to enforce this... But his legs were a different story. He will, however, use his arms for things besides fighting, like [[ChefOfIron cooking]] or destroying prison cell walls.

* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4''. While Peter is not above throwing punches, the majority of his attacks are kick-based. [[spoiler:This stops during the fight phase with Dr. Octopus' boss fight where the webhead simply decides to deliver NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on him without his usual Capoeira inspired fighting style.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/BigBangBeat Big Bang Beat: 1st Impression]]'':
** MightyGlacier Sanzou Kongoumaru only has punches, unless you count shaking the ground by stomping on it or falling feet-first onto an opponent after jumping. He's so large, attempting an actual kick would probably just make him fall down.
** Boxer Burai Yamato only has punching moves, for a completely different reason. Half of his attack buttons are used for dashing because of this.
* Sai from the fighting game ''[[VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf Akatsuki BK]]'' has one or two punching moves, but overwhelmingly uses kicks [[WithMyHandsTied while his hands are in his pockets]]. He's supposed to be a suave businessman, but he comes off as a total nut.

* Joe Fendi, the boxer in ''VideoGame/FightingLayer'', doesn't even have Kick buttons; pressing them instead performs an evasion technique.
* ''VideoGame/DeathVegas'':
** This is the situation with champion boxer Helmut. In his case, however, he's so top heavy that he's probably genuinely incapable of kicking without completely throwing off his balance. And, like Balrog, he may simply be too ''stupid'' to reach out of his style's traditional roots even in unsanctioned fights, being a serious piece of DumbMuscle with a mind clouded by years of severe steroid abuse.
** Joshua and Winstone both have this to lesser degrees; Joshua has only one punch in his repetoire, while all of Winstone's normal attacks are punches and all his special attacks are kicks.

* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' is full of this.
** In ''Carbon'', muscle cars (e.g. Dodge Charger 1970 and the Ford Mustang GT) are strictly for straight-line acceleration, exotics (e.g. Lamborghini Murciélago and Porsche Carrera GT) is for speeding, and tuners (e.g. Toyota Sprinter [=AE86=] and Volkswagen Golf [=R32=]) is for cornering.
** ''[=ProStreet=]'' has each Street King assigned to specific race types: Ray Kreiger for Grip, Nate Denver for Speed, Karol Monroe for Drag and Aki Kimura for Drift.
** ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedPayback Payback]]'' has each crew member who have different specialties. Tyler specializes in Race and Drag events, Mac specializes in Drift, Offroad and Speedcross events and Jess specializes in doing Runner operations.

* In the ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriorsGundam'' series, the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Epyon]] can only use Melee attacks. When you press the charge button (which would normally unleash a shot attack), the Epyon just twirls its heat rod above its head as an attack.
* The main ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' series finally indulges in this too in ''8''. One of the DownloadableContent weapons, the Sabatons, is a pair of armored boots, and its moveset consists entirely of kicks.

* Shun Akiyama of ''Videogame/{{Yakuza}}'' fights primarily through kicks, only using his arms in either counter-attacks or grapples. Kiryu somewhat prioritizes punches over kicks in his Rush style, and almost entirely uses open handed swipes in Beast when he isn't grappling or swinging a weapon. Majima's Breaker style attacks with his legs, using his hands for balance, and his Mqd Dog style has similar kicks when he isn't slicing with his tanto.

* ''VideoGame/TheMessenger2018'' has the cyclops brothers, Colos and Suses. Colos has a very muscular upper body and scrawny legs, and only attacks with his arms. Suses has a flabby gut and very muscular legs, and only attacks with his legs (not just to kick -- he also picks things up with his feet).

* ''VideoGame/FightOfAnimals'':
** Power Hook Dog attacks exclusively with punches.
** [[BadassArmfold Mighty Fox's arms are always crossed]], so it only attacks with kicks.
* ''VideoGame/KickMan'': A non fighting game example; you can kick (and ONLY kick) in this game to get balloons back into the air to stop from losing a life.

* Maki the ''Manga/AirMaster'' is perhaps only borderline... she's not afraid of using her fists, or - more frequently - her elbows. But her strongest, and most frequently-used weapon is indubitably her [[ShesGotLegs unbelievably-long legs]]. As a trained gymnast, she understandably uses her arms mostly for balance.

* Invoked in ''Film/IpMan2'': The British, trying to stack the deck further in favour of the Twister after he takes a few good hits, tell Ip that kicking is now against the rules. Shortly after, when Ip reflexively lashes out with a kick, the ref is quick to remind him that another one will disqualify him. Frank in ''Film/IpMan3'' subverts this, however: he is a boxer like Twister, but he's much better at dealing with Ip Man's kicks and leg attacks than Twister, and when Ip tried to exploit this trope, Frank showed that he is no stranger to using kicks as well.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

** Kiriya Kujo[=/=]Kamen Rider Lazer from ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' is a lesser case: He tends to attack with kicks and defend using his arms, but this only really holds up when he doesn't have a weapon like Girigiri Chanbara's [[BifurcatedWeapon Gashacon]] [[SinisterScythe Spa]][[ArcherArchetype rrow]].

[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

** ''[[{{VideoGame/NeedForSpeedPayback}} Payback]]'' has each crew member who have different specialties. Tyler specializes in Race and Drag events, Mac specializes in Drift, Offroad and Speedcross events and Jess specializes in doing Runner operations.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* In Roleplay/DarwinsSoldiers, Dr. Kerzach prefers to use a weapon in combat but when he fights unarmed, he will almost always use his feet. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because as a [[FunnyAnimal Cassowary]], he has sharp talons and ''very'' powerful leg muscles that can easily cause serious injuries.

* Syaoran Li does this in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' because he cannot perceive depth very well, [[IncrediblyLamePun seeing (sorry)]] as he only has one eye.

** Another example is Izuku Midoriya. He inherited the One For All quirk from All Might, and tries to imitate his predecessor who relied mostly on GoodOldFisticuffs. However, One For All takes a huge toll on the body, and Izuku breaks his arms to the point where he's at risk of crippling them permanently. Realizing his legs are stronger than his arms, he switches to channeling One For All with kicks instead.
** [[TheCape All Might]], Izuku's mentor and the one whom he inherited One For All fron, is a firm believer of GoodOldFisticuffs, channeling One For All into a variety of punches, knife-edged chops, grappling, and throws. The closest he gets to a non-arm based technique he shows is turning his back to the opponent and punching, generating enough force doing so to launch himself backwards at incredible speeds.