Bah gawd, that’s Leon Kennedy’s entrance music
The suplex is a family tradition in Resident Evil 4. Its existence in the game is almost symbolic of the campy action tilt that the title took on the series. Despite this, actually pulling one off within Resident Evil 4 isn’t completely intuitive. Just wrap your arms around my chest, and I’ll show you how it’s done.
Step one
You need to stagger your target in a very specific way. To do this, shoot them in their leg to make them kneel. Depending on the power of your gun, this may take two or three shots. It doesn’t matter where on their leg you hit them, but note that if they’re wearing a dress or cloak, you’re going to need to take a guess on where in that mess of fabric they’re keeping their flesh. A few shots to the leg-bender and they’ll drop to about crotch height.
Step two
You need to get behind them. The cultists sometimes make this easy for you by pivoting around when you stagger them, giving you a quick path to their back. For the villagers, you’ll need to hustle, as they don’t stay kneeling for long. You’re looking for the “melee” prompt to show up when you’re behind them. If you hit the button prompt in front of them, Leon “SideSalad” Kennedy will simply roundhouse kick them. Still effective, but not as cool.
Step three
Once you’re behind your target and hit the action button, all that’s left to do is watch Leon “Starman” Kennedy follow through.
There’s some confusion around who you can suplex. Essentially, it’s the grunts. The villagers, the cultists, or the combatants. Not all of them will spin around when you stagger them, which makes the cultists the easiest to toss over your shoulder. However, right from the start of the game, you can force the Ganados to take a knee while you put your arms around them.
You also can’t suplex them when their neck is broken, or their worms are showing. They need an intact head to smash into the ground. Also, note that this is not an assured kill; it’s just really cool looking.
