Post by buhwhyen on Nov 17, 2013 2:46:17 GMT -5
Shoryuken.com's Beginner Friendly FAQ
shoryuken.com/2013/07/23/so-you-want-to-learn-to-play-a-fighting-game/
Buttons, stick, and general notation/nomenclature (2D)
Street fighter generally uses the following abbreviations for buttons (looking at the standard 6 button layout).
lp mp hp
lk mk hk
*** Button abbreviations
lp = light punch/jab
mp = medium punch/strong
hp/fp = hard punch/fierce punch
lk= light kick/short
mk = medium kick/forward
hk/rh = heavy kick/roundhouse
k = any kick button
kk = any 2 kick buttons
kkk = all 3 kick buttons
p = any punch button
pp = any 2 punch buttons
ppp = all 3 punch buttons
***State descriptions
st = standing
cr = crouching
j = jumping
cl = close (not too commonly used because most moves don't have close and far versions)
f = far (also not too commonly used)
*** Stick movements
qcf = quarter circle forward motion starting from down, ending in forward (down, down forward, forward)
qcb = quarter circle back (down, down back, back)
dp or srk = dragon punch or shoryuken (forward, down, down forward)
hcf = half circle motion (back, down back, down, down forward, forward)
hcb = half circle motion (forward, down forward, down, down back, back)
rdp = reverse dragon punch (back, down, down back)
pretzel = literal pretzel shape (down back, hcb, down forward)
*** Abbreviations put between moves to describe how you transition between them
+ = two buttons are pressed at the same time
x or xx = cancel (do the second move during the active frames of the first move)
, = linking two moves (doing the second move after the first move finishes/completes)
~ = chain combo/target combo, also used for plinking on occasion.
-> or > = in situations where its not really a link or a cancel (target combo or pre-set chains, mostly seen in marvel notation). However, it is also very vaguely used. It may also just be used to separate moves in a combo without indicating how to progress between moves.
A combination of this notation is used to describe moves. For example, standing fierce punch, would be written as:
st.hp
Standing fierce canceled into a fierce punch hadouken (Ryu fireball) would be:
st.hp x qcf hp
A throw in Street Fighter 4, or Street Fighter x Tekken is done with light punch and light kick pressed at the same time. This would read as:
lp + lk
A linked set of moves, say crouching medium punch, into crouching medium kick would read as:
cr.mp, cr.mk
You may also see people use move names instead of the inputs required to do the move itself. An example would be Ryu's fireball is always qcf + any punch. So reading “fireball” or “hadouken” in a combo is the same as qcf + punch. It is also very often more convenient to refer to multi button moves by their move names so the text is more easily readable (EX and ultra moves in Street Fighter 4 for example use 2 and 3 of the same button to activate their moves). For example instead of qcf + any 2 punches would give you an EX fireball, but its much easier to read and recognize EX fireball than what qcf + any 2 punches does.
However, for other games (anime fighters – Guilty Gear, Persona Arena, Blazblue) you may run into a different set of notation, usually referred to as the numpad notation. Basically for the numpad notation, look at any computer keyboard 10-key pad (on the right side of the keyboard). Each number will correspond to a direction of the joystick, and also assuming you start from the first player side (first player is on the left facing right, the second player is on the right facing left).
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
5 would refer to neutral, not moving the stick at all
2 would refer to down
8 would refer to up
4 back
6 foward
So instead of saying qcf, numpad notation would use 236 or down, down forward, forward.
Buttons are also potentially called something different depending on the game, Street fighter games have punches and kicks, Guilty Gear has punch, kick, slash, heavy slash, dust. Marvel has A, B, C, S, A1, A2 or sometime referred to as L, M, H, S, A1, A2.
There is also a mix of notation used to describe far standing normals in Numpad notation. This would read as 5f.s, meaning neutral/standing far slash.
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Terminology
Definitions and examples. Another post will contain explanations on how to do relevant techniques defined here.
Footsies
The old school term describing the grounded mid-screen game. This generally refers to the "neutral" game where no player has an advantage over the other at some point in time. And both players are trying to take control of the flow of a match by getting your opponent to commit errors that you can take advantage of.
Examples of this would be something like:
Guile throws a sonic boom mid screen. Most of these are aimed at trying to make you jump at Guile (jumping at Guile is a mistake in this case) so he can anti air you. You have to judge your own jump arc, and see where you will potentially land and if Guile (or any other character) has a decent anti air attack at that angle (Guile usually does, though much less so in SF4 and SFxT).
Alternatively, a player can walk in and out of the space where they know their opponent's longest reaching poke can hit him. The idea being, you can tempt the other player to try to hit him by walking into his attack range. However, by the time the attack actually comes out, you have already walked out of range of the attack and are able to punish it instead.
Maj (old street fighter player) has written up a footsies handbook in the past which is very good and still is applicable today. I would suggest reading this at his site:
sonichurricane.com/?page_id=1702
Frames are used as a unit of measurement in fighting games. They are literally still shots of the game. So for example, most 2d fighting games run at 60 frames per second, or 60 still shots are cycled through on the screen very second which gives the appearance of motion. Unless otherwise specified, when the term frames is used it refers to 1/60th of a second.
Hitbox(es)
Refers to literal boxes which you cannot see that represent which part of your character can hit the opponent during a given move's active frames. Each move will have a different hitbox, which usually coincides with where you limbs are, however, this is not always true in more recent Street Fighter and other fighting games.
Hurtboxes
Almost the same thing as hitboxes, but refers to the part of your character that can be hit during a given move or neutral state.
Auto-Guard
A feature that automatically blocks for you after you successfully block a single attack. This will only work if you do not return to the neutral state before the next attack hits. Note: this feature is limited only to same side or side swapping attacks. This means that you still need to correctly respond to high or low attacks, but not to attacks hitting from the front or back side. Exceptions to this are game specific and will be noted under specific game posts.
This feature will sometimes (game dependent) continue to block for you even if you let go of the stick and/or try to perform other moves while in block stun. However, note that there are also games that do not have this "improved" auto-guard. In the case there is no improved auto-guard, attempting to do something other than block during block stun will cause your character to stop blocking, and you can be hit. Typically any game before Street Fighter 4 will not have the improved auto-guard system, while Street Fighter 4 and later games will have the improved auto-guard.
Neutral State
The normal standing state of your character when no inputs or commands are given. Also refers to the state your character returns to at the end of moves and other states. You are free to do whatever in this state.
Blocking/Guarding State
You have been attacked, and successfully block. You are unable to move/attack for a given amount of time determined by the attack )hit/block stun). Depending on the game, you will still need to block high and/or low attacks while in this state. Auto-guard will not block high or low for you.
Hit State
When you get hit you enter the the hit state, you cannot block/change to crouch/standing or perform actions, and the length of time before you return to neutral is determined by the hit stun of the move used.
Hit/Block Stun
The number of frames your opponent is put in the Blocking/Guarding state or the hit state. If you want to know the exact number of hit/block stun frames, you can calculate it via:
<hit/block frame advantage of move> + <# recovery frames of move> = hit stun (in frames)
See phases of an attack section for an example of Ryu's cr.lp
Phases of an attack
Every attack in Street Fighter, and all other fighting games for that matter (even 3d) have distinct phases or stages that they go through. Frame data is used to describe important points of these phases associated with every attack a character has.
The phases are:
-startup
-active
-recovery
Startup is simply the number of frames before the attack/move can actually hit anything. Getting hit during this phase will put you into the Counter Hit state.
Active (frames) refers to the frames of the move which you have a hitbox that can hit the opponent. These are the only frames of a move where you can hit the opponent.
Recovery refers to the amount of time (in frames) that it takes for your character's attack to end, and return to the neutral state.
Frame data is used to describe the 3 phases of an attack in terms of frames. For example lets take a look at Ryu's cr.lp (Crouching light punch) in Street Fighter 4. It has:
-3 frames of start up.
-2 frames of active (active frames)
-7 frames of recovery (recovery frames)
-if the move is blocked, it leaves you at +2 (frames). Hit stun is: 2 + 7 = 9 frames
-if you hit with the move, it leaves you at +5 (frames). Hit stun is: 5 + 7 = 12 frames
www.eventhubs.com/guides/2008/nov/13/ryu-frame-data-street-fighter-4/
Reading frame data
Frame data is available at Eventhubs.com, Dustloop.com, and occasionally Shoryuken.com or the shoryuken wiki (wiki.shoryuken.com/<game_name>). Alternatively you can google <game> <character> frame data. EDIT: Ultra Street Fighter 4 frame data is available on the shoryuken wiki, wiki.shoryuken.com/Ultra_Street_Fighter_IV
-move = name of attack
-block = guard required to block the attack successfully. H = high, L = low. H = must block this move high, L = must block this move low, HL = can block this move either way.
-damage = how much damage the attack does on hit
-stun = how much the move increases the stun meter on hit
-meter gain = how much meter you gain on hit (sometimes the same on hit/block, game specific)
-cancel ability = what can be canceled from this move. C = chain attacks (usually itself), sp = special moves, su = super moves.
-startup = see above
-active = see above
-recovery = see above
-frame advantage (adv) block = you recover this many frames sooner or later than your opponent (plus = sooner, negative = later).
-frame advantage (adv) hit = same as on block, but generally more positive/less negative than on block.
-notes = special things of note about the move. Examples include but are not limited to: invincibility, forces standing on hit, special counter hit properties, puts opponent into juggle state, knockdown, etc.
-total = sometimes the total length of the move will be included. Measure of how long the entire move takes from starting in a neutral state to ending in a neutral state.
Counter Hit
A state entered when you are hit during the start up of a move (usually, some games also have counter hit during recovery). The effect varies with the game, but you are always put at some sort of disadvantage for getting counter hit. Possible effects include, but are not limited to:
-increased damage taken for the combo
-reset damage scaling to 0
-additional frames of recovery
-forced into ground bounce state/launched into the air/other game specific mechanics
Combo
Multiple hits landed on an opponent before they can return to the neutral state and are able to block. Each successive usually deals reduced damage (damage scaling)
Damage Scaling
How damage is calculated/reduced in a combo. Generally each hit will reduce the damage of hit that follows by a percentage (some Street fighter games scale each hit by ~10% in a combo – first hit does 100%, second 90%, third 80%, etc). Each game has their own damage scaling, but a general rule of thumb is hits at the beginning of a combo do more than hits at the end of a combo. Terms you will hear along with this include:
-minimum scaling = the least amount of damage a move will do. Usually a number in percentage form, ie minimum scaling of 20 means that at worst, each hit will do 20% of the damage it normally would.
-hit stun deterioration = the number of attacks in a combo will also reduce the amount of hit stun the move does (to prevent infinites and abusive combos)
-prorate/proration = another term used to describe how much an attack scales down the damage. Primarily used for Guilty Gear where certain attacks will automatically scale down the damage of successive hits in a combo by a percentage.
Linking
A term used to describe connecting 2 moves together to combo an opponent. Attacks can leave you at a high enough frame advantage that you are able to connect 2 moves. This is done by executing a move just as the first move ends (your character returns to neutral state). The difficulty of the link is generally given in terms of frames. A “2 frame link” is a link where you have 2 frames to input the second move after the first move finishes and you return to the neutral state. As a general rule of thumb, 2 frame links are easy to get down consistently, 1 frame links are quite difficult to do on a consistent basis (for the majority of players).
*Learning to link section to follow in another post*
Plinking/P-Linking (priority linking)
A result of the new relaxed inputs of Capcom games (and is technically an option select). The basic idea is that if you hit 2 buttons near simultaneously the game will actually register 3 button inputs instead of 2. This is a better version of the old “double tapping” where you hit a specific button twice as fast as you could to try to get the input more consistently. So if you were to hit st.lp and st.mp nearly simultaneously, the game should register this as:
st.lp
st.mp
or as
st.mp
st.lp
depending on which button you hit first, the input that is repeated changes. The input you hit first will be repeated.
However, in Street Fighter 4 (and later Capcom releases) this is registered as:
st.lp
st.lp + st.mp
or
st.mp
st.lp + st.mp
So why does this matter/Why do I care?
This means that you can throw 2 of the same button inputs at the game instead of just 1 when trying to get a specific move to come out. Specifically if you refer back to the linking section where I said that 1 frame links are difficult to hit consistently. Plinking allows you to hit the link more consistently because you are able to hit the buttons 1 frame early and still have the game correctly register your input. If you think about this in more physical terms, its similar to hitting a ball with a baseball bat (single input) and a cricket bat (plinked input). It's much obviously easier to hit with a cricket bat because its much larger compared to a baseball bat.
Some people incorrectly say plinking makes the link 2 frames, which is incorrect, and a bad way to think of this. In the previous example, this would be like saying you're hitting a baseball with a baseball bat, and a bowling ball (size not weight) with the same baseball bat. You are technically adding another input which the game can register as the correct input at the correct moment you need to input at. However, this does not double the input length (or in any way alter the length) of the link. Nobody knows how quickly you need to hit the buttons for the game to register 3 commands instead of 2, nor how far apart the inputs really are (is it really 1/60th of a second apart). If you plink and get 2 inputs that are 2/60ths of a second apart, then its really not making the link 2 frames instead of 1 because you have a gap in your inputs. Or similarly, if you plink the two inputs faster than 1/60th of a second, you're just hoping the game will register the inputs at successive frames and not as a single command.
This can only be true if you know your inputs are always 1/60th of a second apart (2 inputs on 2 successive frames), which there is no way to know. You are not changing the length of the link input window. You are just throwing more inputs at the game so you can hit that window more consistently.
Cancel
A cancel refers to doing a second attack before the first has completed. It is an apt name because you are stopping (canceling) the first attack to start doing a second attack (special or super) where you normally would not be able to. More specifically you execute a second move during the first move's active frames (sometimes recovery frames) which allows you to bypass the recovery portion of a move.
Kara Cancels
Japanese term literally meaning empty cancels. Refers to canceling a move during it's start up. Usually this is used to gain extra range on the moves that are canceled into. The most common use is for kara throws. These throws have extended range because they utilize another move that moves your character forward. In Street Fighter 4, Ken has one of the easiest kara throws to perform, he uses f+mk. The inputs are:
f+mk ~ st.lp+ st.lk
As the notation implies, the inputs are very fast, more or less the same speed as plinking because you have to cancel the first move during it's startup. If you do it correctly, even a whiffed throw will move Ken forward noticeably. You can practice this by going full screen apart from the training dummy, and holding forward and hitting mk ~ lp + lk. You can do this repeatedly to move across the screen without using the walking animation.
More famous uses for kara canceling is CVS2's roll canceling where you could transfer the invincibility of a roll to your special moves.
Chain
Refers to a move that may be done repeatedly before the move completes. Crouching light attacks are the normal chain moves seen in Street Fighter games. These moves you can hit the cr.lp button, for example, in rapid succession and get cr.lp to “rapid fire” or come out quickly. However, not all crouching light attacks are this way. Sagat in Street Fighter 4 does not have chainable crouching light attacks. When reading frame data, these moves usually have a C for chainable under cancel ability.
Infinites
Combos that do not ever have to end. Generally due to lack of hit stun deterioration, you are able to repeat a sequence of moves until the character dies, regardless of how little damage each individual hit does.
Option Selects
Is a specific set of inputs which when entered gives you a different move based on what your opponent did or did not do. There are many option selects, and correctly understanding what they are and how they work is important to dealing with them in game. One of the most common option selects is the “crouch tech” option select from Street Fighter 4. In most Street Fighter games, you can only tech while standing, however, in Street Fighter 4, you can tech throws while crouching. This allows the defensive player to hit cr.lp + cr.lk while holding the down or down back direction and tech throws. However, if the opponent does not throw and instead walks up and blocks, the defensive player will not need to tech a throw and the game will instead do a cr.lk instead of tech a throw without the defensive player needing to identify this him/herself.
I chose this specific option select because it is an important option select to understand, and also that it can be further built upon to create better option selects. You can further customize this option select by adding a third button to the inputs.
Taking a simple Street Fighter 4 example. You are playing Ryu against Rufus. If Rufus knocks you down, Rufus will threaten with throw, cr.lk, and divekick on wakeup. So using the previous example lets walk through each scenario:
-Rufus throws. You tech the throw.
-Rufus hits cr.lk. You trade if he hits it at the same time you do, you get counter hit if he hits it at least 1 frame earlier than you and still has active frames when you get up, you hit him with cr.lk if hits his cr.lk 1 frame or more after you get up and hit your cr.lk.
-Rufus dive kicks. You crouch teched with cr.lp + cr.lk, so you will get cr.lk, which loses to dive kick and Rufus gets a free combo.
You only beat 1 out of the 3 options unless the Rufus player messes up his cr.lk timing (don't count on it). If you think about the odds here, there's no point in doing this option select over randomly guessing what he will do (of these 3 options). The odds are the same either way (both 1 out of 3). So can we do better than beating 1 out of 3 options with an option select? Yes we can. Instead of:
cr.lp + cr.lk
input the following:
cr.lp + cr.lk + cr.mp
This will:
-tech throws (same as the first option select)
-lose to cr.lk (same as the first)
-but it will throw out a cr.mp instead of the cr.lk of the previous option select. Cr.mp will beat out dive kick.
So in this example, you beat 2 out of 3 options without the need to think about what your opponent is doing. So this would technically be better than randomly guessing what your opponent is doing. You should know that some option selects are better than others. Some option select increase the odds you get a favorable result, some aren't worth using because you might as well just guess, and there are a few where there are no downsides to them (should always use them).
Another simple example (that has no downside and should always be used) would be command normals and throws. In Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Vergil has an air command normal, helm breaker. This is done with down + H in the air, though the game does not distinguish between down, down back, and down forward. So you can hit down back or down forward + H to helm breaker. This has the added benefit of option selecting air throw if your opponent gets too close or tries to air throw you because the air throw command is forward or back + H and similarly does not distinguish between back, down back, forward, and down forward. So if you are ever trying to air throw or perform a helm breaker with Vergil, use down forward or down back + H. There isn't a downside to using this option select over doing either move normally.
Knockdowns (hard vs soft)
Knockdown is a state you enter when you get hit by certain moves (most character's cr.hk or sweep) or get hit during an air exchange. There are two types of knockdowns, hard and soft knockdowns.
Hard knockdowns refers to being knocked down and being unable to perform any optional moves (usually quick get up and/or delayed get up - game/character dependent). Another way of thinking about hard knockdowns would be guaranteed, full duration, knockdowns. You have no choices about how/when you get up, and are at a complete disadvantage when hit into a hard knockdown state.
Soft knockdowns refer to being knocked down into a downed state where you have at least one potential option designed to help you get out of the okizeme game. You might want to think about these knockdowns as lesser or limited knockdowns. The advantage gained from soft knockdowns is usually considerably less than from hard knockdowns because the person on their back usually has option(s) to help them avoid whatever the person on their feet would want to do in the okizeme game.
Okizeme/Oki/Wake up game
Japanese term used for the situation following a knockdown. For reference, this from the point of view of the person who is still standing, while the opponent is on the ground getting up. Usually the person still on their feet has an absolute advantage. However, in recent games, this advantage has been reduced pretty significantly and the defender (person on their back) has a reasonable number of options on their wakeup.
Negative Edge
A special case for button inputs referring to using the release of a button to activate a move. Some games use this mechanic as a basis for some moves (Eddie in Guilty Gear), however, for the most part it's not a mechanic that needs to be used.
In most fighting games, both a button press, and button release can activate special moves (hadouken, shoryukens, etc), but not normal moves - st.lp st.mp, cr.hk, etc. That means every time you push a button, you technically are throwing 2 distinct inputs at the game (for special moves), however if you are trying to do a normal move, it only counts as 1 input.
This is a major reason why you can get random special moves when you do not intend them to come out, especially in more recent games where the input windows are much more lenient.
Ways to avoid random input errors include:
-Holding down the button a little longer. If your character (say Paul in SFxT) has 2 special moves with the same motion (say qcf) and are activated, one with punches (Phoenix smasher) and one with kicks (raze). You might do something like: cr.mk x qcf hp.
But what comes out is: cr.mk x qcf mk
What happens is the release of the mk button will be recognized before the hp input and you get the wrong move. You can either release the mk button sooner (ideal, but sometimes not easy to do), or you can hold down the mk button till you press the hp button, and then release the mk button.
-Get used to tapping buttons instead of pressing them. This is probably more or less the same thing to the majority of people. What you want to ideally do is hit the button and remove your finger as fast as you can, so your inputs remain "clean" (pushing and releasing of a button is done before the next button is pushed down). Though this is not always possible (due to the speed of inputs and or being flustered), it is what you want to try to aim for if possible.
If you pay attention to the way some people have their right hands over the buttons (particularly their fingers)...
A lot of newer players tend to rest their fingers on buttons and or have their fingers close to the buttons more often than not. This would almost always lead to button pressing. The general result of this is that you have a more difficult time clearly distinguishing when the button is pressed and released (especially on Japanese, Sanwa, buttons - Japanese parts are more sensitive than American parts. This means it's a lot easier to activate the button's switch by just brushing the button, rather than blatantly pushing it down). A more clear thing to notice is the sound each button press will make. A button press will not make any noticeable/distinguishable sounds.
For older players, you can generally look at their hands and notice a decent size gap between the fingers and the buttons (the size of the gap isn't really important, its more the fact that their fingers do not rest on the buttons). This generally leads to button tapping, which will make a familiar (if you have played games with us already) clicking/clacking sound.
You can generally distinguish whether or not you held the button too long depending on how muted the button taps sounds (holding buttons longer generally leads to random negative edge inputs). Though as I write this, you do really have to focus on the sounds to notice, usually. This is much more an intuitive thing people get used to, rather than something that they consciously thing about.
Japanese vs American Parts
Japanese parts are the current fighting game standard (in America), however, it was not always that way. Happ is the brand of American parts that was used in old arcade cabinets.
Buttons - Happ buttons use cherry switches which have a clear clicking sound every time you activate and release the switch (loudness is similar to blue cherry switches in mechanical keyboards). These buttons are much more durable, but have a distinct drawback in responsiveness (have to fully depress the button for the switch to activate). In all honesty, the responsiveness isn't detrimental to game play, but the feel of the buttons is very different than Japanese parts.
Sanwa is the more popular Japanese part manufacturer. All Madcatz and most Hori sticks use all Sanwa parts. The buttons use micro switches which activate if you barely brush the button. The minimal force needed to activate the switch does make it difficult to get used to not have accidental inputs.
Seimitsu is the other Japanese part manufacturer. The buttons are more of a middle ground between the Happ and Sanwa parts. They still use a micro switch, but the force needed to activate the switch is noticeably higher than Sanwa buttons.
Joysticks - Happ parts use bat top sticks. These are much longer and have a more tapered look to them. They also have a much heavier spring, which leads to more resistance when you want to move the joystick. You may hear references to getting a work out at an arcade due to how strong the springs were on the joysticks. Happ sticks also use circular restrictor gates (full 360 motion and no "bumps").
Sanwa and Seimitsu joysticks use ball top joysticks and are overall much smaller in size. The springs are usually very light and offer little resistance. Seimitsu springs are again, the middle ground between Sanwa and Happ, in terms of tension. However, they are much closer to Sanwa than Happ. I personally prefer Seimitsu over Sanwa for joysticks, but they have drawbacks (need to alter, weld, most joystick mounts in order to put one in your stick). All Japanese sticks utilize square restrictor gates, unless specifically noted.
Octagon gates are occasionally used as well. Generally speaking, the 3D fighting game community were the only ones that actually liked/used these. They're an odd middle ground between circular and square restrictor gates. You have the ability to know which direction you are inputting at all times, however, the motion is much more awkward because you are always hitting edges/corners. It's a trade off between smoothness of motion and being able to know what direction is being input.
Square vs circular restrictor gates. Generally it won't matter as long as you don't have to switch between them. Once you're comfortable with one or the other, I would suggest not switching (the transition is rage inducing). Square gates are much easier to do various motions on because you are able to know you hit the corners (down forward, down back, etc). Especially for charge characters, this made charge partitioning much easier to do.
Charge partitioning
A technique for charge characters to maintain one directional charge while using another. Using Street Fighter's Guile as an example.. Guile has sonic boom and flash kick as special moves. The inputs of these are:
-sonic boom hold back (~22 frames), forward + punch
-flash kick hold down (~22 frames), up + kick
As mentioned during the option select section. the game engine generally will not distinguish between forward, up forward, and down forward. So what this means is you are able to charge up for both sonic boom and flash kick at the same time by using down back instead of just down, or just back. Similarly, you can execute flash kick by hitting up back, up, or up forward + kick. However, if you use up back + kick for flash kick, you are able to maintain your back charge and subsequently sonic boom immediately upon landing. Similarly, you are able to use down forward to throw out sonic booms while maintaining your down charge so that you can flash kick immediately upon recovering from the sonic boom animation (they removed this particular example in SF4 and SFxT).
Theory Fighter
Theory Fighter is a specific version of Theory Crafting that usually refers to dissecting or analyzing part(s) of a fighting game and creating a theory or idea about how/what/why things work or won't work. Generally speaking Theory Fighter is hugely different than how fighting games actually play out for a variety of reasons. Situations are easy to theory craft about, but things aren't so simple that an entire match up (or otherwise) can be figured out.
Usual examples of Theory Fighter usually include unreasonable notions, such as you can't ever jump in on a character with an invincible shoryuken type move (it should be easy to see that this is not even a remotely accurate statement). Because on paper, any jump in attack (bar safe jumps) can be beaten with an invincible shoryuken. However, Theory Fighter doesn't usually take into account human reactions, execution errors, etc. The players have to recognize and respond accordingly, even the best players will not always be able to react in time and will be instead forced to block.
Other examples include:
-You should never use X move against Y character because they have Z move which counters X. Again, in a perfect world where you could always react in time to X being thrown out, this would probably be true. However, a mix of reaction time, having resources required (meter, charge, etc), and or spacing (most counter examples usually don't include angles/distances where Z will not counter X) is not always true.
A more specific example is grappler characters such as Zangief in Street Fighter 4. Some people used to say you should never try to throw Zangief because he could spd (spinning pile driver, his command grab) you before you could throw him. Command grabs are usually quite fast (1-2 frames start up), while normal throws usually have slightly longer start up (2 -3 frames is the normal range, SFxT is 5 frames v2013). So in theory, Zangief spd start up is 1 frame, regular throw is 2 frames -> you can never throw Zangief. Which begs the question: how many people can really 360 in the same amount of time it takes to hit forward + heavy attack, or lp + lk? I'd argue that number is very close to, if not zero, for all intensive purposes. Doing the 360 motion is not something that you can easily react with, which was the original intent of making the motion that awkward and difficult (similar to shoryuken, tiger knee, and pretzel motions).
Meaty attacks
An old term that referred to a specific part of the okizemi game where the standing player throws out a move as their opponent is getting up. The the standing player's attack is timed such that the active frames start/overlap with the first few frames the opponent stands up. The result is that the opponent has to block as they get up because there is an active hit box. The only options were to block, or do a move with enough invincibility to last through the active frames of the attack.
Tiger Knee('d) <attack>
The old (Street Fighter 2 series) motion for Sagat's Tiger Knee was:
forward, down, down forward, forward, up forward. Also abbreviated as TK or TK'd. This has carried over as a term to describe motions that you end at up back or up forward. It is usually used to describe air moves that are done as close to the ground as possible. To do this, you add an up, up back, or up forward command to the end of the usual motion. So a qcf could turn into: down, down forward, forward, up forward. Or in numpad notation: 236 -> 2369
Safe Jump
A precisely timed jumping attack (Player A) done as your opponent (Player B) is getting up. This is a special case of a meaty attack timing where the opponent has to block as they get up because your jumping attack's active frames are during the first few frames following their get up. It's precisely timed because Player A lands 1-3 frames after Player B gets up. So if you consider the possible scenarios, Player B wakes up and:
-blocks. Player A's attack is blocked and nothing unusual happens.
-performs a shoryuken (or some other invincible attack). Player A's attack will miss, but Player A will also land and be able to block before Player B's invincible attack can hit Player A.
-performs a non-invincible attack. Player B gets hit by the jumping attack.
So no matter what Player B decides to do, Player A's jumping attack is completely "safe," therefore it is a safe jump.
Free
So easy, it's free. You are so easy to beat, you are free, cost = 0, no effort required. Also commonly said is "stay free."
Salty
A unique combination of anger, frustration, and defeat a player experiences (usually) after a loss.
Technology
Used to describe new (usually) situation specific tricks or discoveries that allow combo opportunities, better damaging combos, etc. Option selects and character specific set ups are common examples of this.
Runback
A rematch. Also sometimes inferred as a salty runback. Where one player (the loser) demands a rematch due to his or her excessive sodium levels following a frustrating loss.
Old Man <character name>
Usually reserved for projectile characters. It refers to a specific play style that is very safe and is not focused on big damage combos, or okizeme mix ups. The usual style associated with this can be described as a fireball (hadouken), dragon punch (shoryuken) zoning game, though it is more often used by Guile players who almost entirely safely throw sonic booms and react to what you do.
Scrub
A player that often makes poor decisions and/or has poor execution. Not necessarily a new player.
Chicken Block
Refers to jumping in the air to block just before the attack hits you (assumes the game system has air blocking). By blocking at the beginning of your jump's airborne frames, the momentum from the jump itself is killed, and your character falls directly back to the ground after blocking the attack. The reason you do this is to recover faster than you would if you had blocked the attack normally (on the ground). This works because your are put into the blocking state in the air, but once you touch the ground, you are no longer in block stun (block stun is reset when you change state - air blocking -> touch ground).
The end result is that you can recover faster. Sometimes fast enough to be able to punish the attack you just chicken blocked, where as if you had blocked it normally, you would not be able to punish it. Even if you are unable to punish the attack, this either leaves you at a less disadvantage position (frame wise), or possibly at frame advantage.
Frame Advantage
Amount of time (measured in frames) that you are at an advantage over your opponent (or your opponent has over you - frame disadvantage). Amount of advantage/disadvantage is determined only by the last move you used or were hit by/blocked. Simply, if you are at frame advantage, you return to neutral state earlier than your opponent, so you have time where you can move and/or put out attacks first. Conversely, at frame disadvantage you have to wait longer to return to neutral state than your opponent.
Frame Trap
A common exploit of frame advantage. If you are at frame advantage, you can time an attack to hit (usually) 1-3 frames after your opponent returns to neutral state. The general idea being if your opponent pushes a button, his attack has no chance of coming out because your attack will (if done correctly) hit during the startup frames of your opponent's attack (granting counter hit bonuses as well). This punishes people for "pushing buttons" where they should not be (while at frame disadvantage).
Fuzzy Guard (Fuzzies)
Originally a 3D fighting game reference that was incorrectly translated to 2D fighters. The original 3D usage was used to describe the ability to option select your guard to block high and low (everything).
In the 2D use of this term, it's used to describe a very specific circumstance where the defensive player will block an attack while standing, then subsequently, while still in block stun, change their block to low. What results is that the defensive player is able to then block low attacks even though their character sprite still visually looks like it's standing. This also means that you are able (as the offensive player) to hit certain moves (almost? always jumping attacks) where they would otherwise miss (on crouching opponents) because the game registers the defensive player as blocking low, but their character sprite is still standing (and has the same hurt box as a standing character).
Changing block from high to low, or low to high during block stun will result in a different block height, but will not change the size of the hurtbox until the next attack is successfully blocked/you return to neutral state (hit stun wears off).
Simple example:
Assume that instant (done as early after jumping as possible) j.hk will hit on standing characters, but whiff on crouching characters.
J.hk (blocked), land, now one of these happens next
A) cr.hk
B) j.hk (done as early as possible)
If you try to block A (change block from high to low), but your opponent does B, you will get hit because instant j.hk will hit because of the standing hurtbox with a low block state.
Reversals
A special, super, or throw performed <x> frames after being in a non-neutral state (block stun, hit stun, wake up, dizzy). Where <x> depends on the game. For the Street Fighter 4 series, reversal timing is 5 frames, Super Turbo is 1 frame. The Shoryuken wiki defines Reversals as:
any time you go from a non-neutral state directly into a move (special, super, or throw), without ever going to neutral state. A non-neutral state is any state that your opponent inflicts on you: block stun, hit stun, getting up after being knocked down, dizzy, or being knocked out of the air. Only throws, special moves and super moves work as reversals.
shoryuken.com/2013/07/23/so-you-want-to-learn-to-play-a-fighting-game/
Buttons, stick, and general notation/nomenclature (2D)
Street fighter generally uses the following abbreviations for buttons (looking at the standard 6 button layout).
lp mp hp
lk mk hk
*** Button abbreviations
lp = light punch/jab
mp = medium punch/strong
hp/fp = hard punch/fierce punch
lk= light kick/short
mk = medium kick/forward
hk/rh = heavy kick/roundhouse
k = any kick button
kk = any 2 kick buttons
kkk = all 3 kick buttons
p = any punch button
pp = any 2 punch buttons
ppp = all 3 punch buttons
***State descriptions
st = standing
cr = crouching
j = jumping
cl = close (not too commonly used because most moves don't have close and far versions)
f = far (also not too commonly used)
*** Stick movements
qcf = quarter circle forward motion starting from down, ending in forward (down, down forward, forward)
qcb = quarter circle back (down, down back, back)
dp or srk = dragon punch or shoryuken (forward, down, down forward)
hcf = half circle motion (back, down back, down, down forward, forward)
hcb = half circle motion (forward, down forward, down, down back, back)
rdp = reverse dragon punch (back, down, down back)
pretzel = literal pretzel shape (down back, hcb, down forward)
*** Abbreviations put between moves to describe how you transition between them
+ = two buttons are pressed at the same time
x or xx = cancel (do the second move during the active frames of the first move)
, = linking two moves (doing the second move after the first move finishes/completes)
~ = chain combo/target combo, also used for plinking on occasion.
-> or > = in situations where its not really a link or a cancel (target combo or pre-set chains, mostly seen in marvel notation). However, it is also very vaguely used. It may also just be used to separate moves in a combo without indicating how to progress between moves.
A combination of this notation is used to describe moves. For example, standing fierce punch, would be written as:
st.hp
Standing fierce canceled into a fierce punch hadouken (Ryu fireball) would be:
st.hp x qcf hp
A throw in Street Fighter 4, or Street Fighter x Tekken is done with light punch and light kick pressed at the same time. This would read as:
lp + lk
A linked set of moves, say crouching medium punch, into crouching medium kick would read as:
cr.mp, cr.mk
You may also see people use move names instead of the inputs required to do the move itself. An example would be Ryu's fireball is always qcf + any punch. So reading “fireball” or “hadouken” in a combo is the same as qcf + punch. It is also very often more convenient to refer to multi button moves by their move names so the text is more easily readable (EX and ultra moves in Street Fighter 4 for example use 2 and 3 of the same button to activate their moves). For example instead of qcf + any 2 punches would give you an EX fireball, but its much easier to read and recognize EX fireball than what qcf + any 2 punches does.
However, for other games (anime fighters – Guilty Gear, Persona Arena, Blazblue) you may run into a different set of notation, usually referred to as the numpad notation. Basically for the numpad notation, look at any computer keyboard 10-key pad (on the right side of the keyboard). Each number will correspond to a direction of the joystick, and also assuming you start from the first player side (first player is on the left facing right, the second player is on the right facing left).
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
5 would refer to neutral, not moving the stick at all
2 would refer to down
8 would refer to up
4 back
6 foward
So instead of saying qcf, numpad notation would use 236 or down, down forward, forward.
Buttons are also potentially called something different depending on the game, Street fighter games have punches and kicks, Guilty Gear has punch, kick, slash, heavy slash, dust. Marvel has A, B, C, S, A1, A2 or sometime referred to as L, M, H, S, A1, A2.
There is also a mix of notation used to describe far standing normals in Numpad notation. This would read as 5f.s, meaning neutral/standing far slash.
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Terminology
Definitions and examples. Another post will contain explanations on how to do relevant techniques defined here.
Footsies
The old school term describing the grounded mid-screen game. This generally refers to the "neutral" game where no player has an advantage over the other at some point in time. And both players are trying to take control of the flow of a match by getting your opponent to commit errors that you can take advantage of.
Examples of this would be something like:
Guile throws a sonic boom mid screen. Most of these are aimed at trying to make you jump at Guile (jumping at Guile is a mistake in this case) so he can anti air you. You have to judge your own jump arc, and see where you will potentially land and if Guile (or any other character) has a decent anti air attack at that angle (Guile usually does, though much less so in SF4 and SFxT).
Alternatively, a player can walk in and out of the space where they know their opponent's longest reaching poke can hit him. The idea being, you can tempt the other player to try to hit him by walking into his attack range. However, by the time the attack actually comes out, you have already walked out of range of the attack and are able to punish it instead.
Maj (old street fighter player) has written up a footsies handbook in the past which is very good and still is applicable today. I would suggest reading this at his site:
sonichurricane.com/?page_id=1702
Frames are used as a unit of measurement in fighting games. They are literally still shots of the game. So for example, most 2d fighting games run at 60 frames per second, or 60 still shots are cycled through on the screen very second which gives the appearance of motion. Unless otherwise specified, when the term frames is used it refers to 1/60th of a second.
Hitbox(es)
Refers to literal boxes which you cannot see that represent which part of your character can hit the opponent during a given move's active frames. Each move will have a different hitbox, which usually coincides with where you limbs are, however, this is not always true in more recent Street Fighter and other fighting games.
Hurtboxes
Almost the same thing as hitboxes, but refers to the part of your character that can be hit during a given move or neutral state.
Auto-Guard
A feature that automatically blocks for you after you successfully block a single attack. This will only work if you do not return to the neutral state before the next attack hits. Note: this feature is limited only to same side or side swapping attacks. This means that you still need to correctly respond to high or low attacks, but not to attacks hitting from the front or back side. Exceptions to this are game specific and will be noted under specific game posts.
This feature will sometimes (game dependent) continue to block for you even if you let go of the stick and/or try to perform other moves while in block stun. However, note that there are also games that do not have this "improved" auto-guard. In the case there is no improved auto-guard, attempting to do something other than block during block stun will cause your character to stop blocking, and you can be hit. Typically any game before Street Fighter 4 will not have the improved auto-guard system, while Street Fighter 4 and later games will have the improved auto-guard.
Neutral State
The normal standing state of your character when no inputs or commands are given. Also refers to the state your character returns to at the end of moves and other states. You are free to do whatever in this state.
Blocking/Guarding State
You have been attacked, and successfully block. You are unable to move/attack for a given amount of time determined by the attack )hit/block stun). Depending on the game, you will still need to block high and/or low attacks while in this state. Auto-guard will not block high or low for you.
Hit State
When you get hit you enter the the hit state, you cannot block/change to crouch/standing or perform actions, and the length of time before you return to neutral is determined by the hit stun of the move used.
Hit/Block Stun
The number of frames your opponent is put in the Blocking/Guarding state or the hit state. If you want to know the exact number of hit/block stun frames, you can calculate it via:
<hit/block frame advantage of move> + <# recovery frames of move> = hit stun (in frames)
See phases of an attack section for an example of Ryu's cr.lp
Phases of an attack
Every attack in Street Fighter, and all other fighting games for that matter (even 3d) have distinct phases or stages that they go through. Frame data is used to describe important points of these phases associated with every attack a character has.
The phases are:
-startup
-active
-recovery
Startup is simply the number of frames before the attack/move can actually hit anything. Getting hit during this phase will put you into the Counter Hit state.
Active (frames) refers to the frames of the move which you have a hitbox that can hit the opponent. These are the only frames of a move where you can hit the opponent.
Recovery refers to the amount of time (in frames) that it takes for your character's attack to end, and return to the neutral state.
Frame data is used to describe the 3 phases of an attack in terms of frames. For example lets take a look at Ryu's cr.lp (Crouching light punch) in Street Fighter 4. It has:
-3 frames of start up.
-2 frames of active (active frames)
-7 frames of recovery (recovery frames)
-if the move is blocked, it leaves you at +2 (frames). Hit stun is: 2 + 7 = 9 frames
-if you hit with the move, it leaves you at +5 (frames). Hit stun is: 5 + 7 = 12 frames
www.eventhubs.com/guides/2008/nov/13/ryu-frame-data-street-fighter-4/
Reading frame data
Frame data is available at Eventhubs.com, Dustloop.com, and occasionally Shoryuken.com or the shoryuken wiki (wiki.shoryuken.com/<game_name>). Alternatively you can google <game> <character> frame data. EDIT: Ultra Street Fighter 4 frame data is available on the shoryuken wiki, wiki.shoryuken.com/Ultra_Street_Fighter_IV
-move = name of attack
-block = guard required to block the attack successfully. H = high, L = low. H = must block this move high, L = must block this move low, HL = can block this move either way.
-damage = how much damage the attack does on hit
-stun = how much the move increases the stun meter on hit
-meter gain = how much meter you gain on hit (sometimes the same on hit/block, game specific)
-cancel ability = what can be canceled from this move. C = chain attacks (usually itself), sp = special moves, su = super moves.
-startup = see above
-active = see above
-recovery = see above
-frame advantage (adv) block = you recover this many frames sooner or later than your opponent (plus = sooner, negative = later).
-frame advantage (adv) hit = same as on block, but generally more positive/less negative than on block.
-notes = special things of note about the move. Examples include but are not limited to: invincibility, forces standing on hit, special counter hit properties, puts opponent into juggle state, knockdown, etc.
-total = sometimes the total length of the move will be included. Measure of how long the entire move takes from starting in a neutral state to ending in a neutral state.
Counter Hit
A state entered when you are hit during the start up of a move (usually, some games also have counter hit during recovery). The effect varies with the game, but you are always put at some sort of disadvantage for getting counter hit. Possible effects include, but are not limited to:
-increased damage taken for the combo
-reset damage scaling to 0
-additional frames of recovery
-forced into ground bounce state/launched into the air/other game specific mechanics
Combo
Multiple hits landed on an opponent before they can return to the neutral state and are able to block. Each successive usually deals reduced damage (damage scaling)
Damage Scaling
How damage is calculated/reduced in a combo. Generally each hit will reduce the damage of hit that follows by a percentage (some Street fighter games scale each hit by ~10% in a combo – first hit does 100%, second 90%, third 80%, etc). Each game has their own damage scaling, but a general rule of thumb is hits at the beginning of a combo do more than hits at the end of a combo. Terms you will hear along with this include:
-minimum scaling = the least amount of damage a move will do. Usually a number in percentage form, ie minimum scaling of 20 means that at worst, each hit will do 20% of the damage it normally would.
-hit stun deterioration = the number of attacks in a combo will also reduce the amount of hit stun the move does (to prevent infinites and abusive combos)
-prorate/proration = another term used to describe how much an attack scales down the damage. Primarily used for Guilty Gear where certain attacks will automatically scale down the damage of successive hits in a combo by a percentage.
Linking
A term used to describe connecting 2 moves together to combo an opponent. Attacks can leave you at a high enough frame advantage that you are able to connect 2 moves. This is done by executing a move just as the first move ends (your character returns to neutral state). The difficulty of the link is generally given in terms of frames. A “2 frame link” is a link where you have 2 frames to input the second move after the first move finishes and you return to the neutral state. As a general rule of thumb, 2 frame links are easy to get down consistently, 1 frame links are quite difficult to do on a consistent basis (for the majority of players).
*Learning to link section to follow in another post*
Plinking/P-Linking (priority linking)
A result of the new relaxed inputs of Capcom games (and is technically an option select). The basic idea is that if you hit 2 buttons near simultaneously the game will actually register 3 button inputs instead of 2. This is a better version of the old “double tapping” where you hit a specific button twice as fast as you could to try to get the input more consistently. So if you were to hit st.lp and st.mp nearly simultaneously, the game should register this as:
st.lp
st.mp
or as
st.mp
st.lp
depending on which button you hit first, the input that is repeated changes. The input you hit first will be repeated.
However, in Street Fighter 4 (and later Capcom releases) this is registered as:
st.lp
st.lp + st.mp
or
st.mp
st.lp + st.mp
So why does this matter/Why do I care?
This means that you can throw 2 of the same button inputs at the game instead of just 1 when trying to get a specific move to come out. Specifically if you refer back to the linking section where I said that 1 frame links are difficult to hit consistently. Plinking allows you to hit the link more consistently because you are able to hit the buttons 1 frame early and still have the game correctly register your input. If you think about this in more physical terms, its similar to hitting a ball with a baseball bat (single input) and a cricket bat (plinked input). It's much obviously easier to hit with a cricket bat because its much larger compared to a baseball bat.
Some people incorrectly say plinking makes the link 2 frames, which is incorrect, and a bad way to think of this. In the previous example, this would be like saying you're hitting a baseball with a baseball bat, and a bowling ball (size not weight) with the same baseball bat. You are technically adding another input which the game can register as the correct input at the correct moment you need to input at. However, this does not double the input length (or in any way alter the length) of the link. Nobody knows how quickly you need to hit the buttons for the game to register 3 commands instead of 2, nor how far apart the inputs really are (is it really 1/60th of a second apart). If you plink and get 2 inputs that are 2/60ths of a second apart, then its really not making the link 2 frames instead of 1 because you have a gap in your inputs. Or similarly, if you plink the two inputs faster than 1/60th of a second, you're just hoping the game will register the inputs at successive frames and not as a single command.
This can only be true if you know your inputs are always 1/60th of a second apart (2 inputs on 2 successive frames), which there is no way to know. You are not changing the length of the link input window. You are just throwing more inputs at the game so you can hit that window more consistently.
Cancel
A cancel refers to doing a second attack before the first has completed. It is an apt name because you are stopping (canceling) the first attack to start doing a second attack (special or super) where you normally would not be able to. More specifically you execute a second move during the first move's active frames (sometimes recovery frames) which allows you to bypass the recovery portion of a move.
Kara Cancels
Japanese term literally meaning empty cancels. Refers to canceling a move during it's start up. Usually this is used to gain extra range on the moves that are canceled into. The most common use is for kara throws. These throws have extended range because they utilize another move that moves your character forward. In Street Fighter 4, Ken has one of the easiest kara throws to perform, he uses f+mk. The inputs are:
f+mk ~ st.lp+ st.lk
As the notation implies, the inputs are very fast, more or less the same speed as plinking because you have to cancel the first move during it's startup. If you do it correctly, even a whiffed throw will move Ken forward noticeably. You can practice this by going full screen apart from the training dummy, and holding forward and hitting mk ~ lp + lk. You can do this repeatedly to move across the screen without using the walking animation.
More famous uses for kara canceling is CVS2's roll canceling where you could transfer the invincibility of a roll to your special moves.
Chain
Refers to a move that may be done repeatedly before the move completes. Crouching light attacks are the normal chain moves seen in Street Fighter games. These moves you can hit the cr.lp button, for example, in rapid succession and get cr.lp to “rapid fire” or come out quickly. However, not all crouching light attacks are this way. Sagat in Street Fighter 4 does not have chainable crouching light attacks. When reading frame data, these moves usually have a C for chainable under cancel ability.
Infinites
Combos that do not ever have to end. Generally due to lack of hit stun deterioration, you are able to repeat a sequence of moves until the character dies, regardless of how little damage each individual hit does.
Option Selects
Is a specific set of inputs which when entered gives you a different move based on what your opponent did or did not do. There are many option selects, and correctly understanding what they are and how they work is important to dealing with them in game. One of the most common option selects is the “crouch tech” option select from Street Fighter 4. In most Street Fighter games, you can only tech while standing, however, in Street Fighter 4, you can tech throws while crouching. This allows the defensive player to hit cr.lp + cr.lk while holding the down or down back direction and tech throws. However, if the opponent does not throw and instead walks up and blocks, the defensive player will not need to tech a throw and the game will instead do a cr.lk instead of tech a throw without the defensive player needing to identify this him/herself.
I chose this specific option select because it is an important option select to understand, and also that it can be further built upon to create better option selects. You can further customize this option select by adding a third button to the inputs.
Taking a simple Street Fighter 4 example. You are playing Ryu against Rufus. If Rufus knocks you down, Rufus will threaten with throw, cr.lk, and divekick on wakeup. So using the previous example lets walk through each scenario:
-Rufus throws. You tech the throw.
-Rufus hits cr.lk. You trade if he hits it at the same time you do, you get counter hit if he hits it at least 1 frame earlier than you and still has active frames when you get up, you hit him with cr.lk if hits his cr.lk 1 frame or more after you get up and hit your cr.lk.
-Rufus dive kicks. You crouch teched with cr.lp + cr.lk, so you will get cr.lk, which loses to dive kick and Rufus gets a free combo.
You only beat 1 out of the 3 options unless the Rufus player messes up his cr.lk timing (don't count on it). If you think about the odds here, there's no point in doing this option select over randomly guessing what he will do (of these 3 options). The odds are the same either way (both 1 out of 3). So can we do better than beating 1 out of 3 options with an option select? Yes we can. Instead of:
cr.lp + cr.lk
input the following:
cr.lp + cr.lk + cr.mp
This will:
-tech throws (same as the first option select)
-lose to cr.lk (same as the first)
-but it will throw out a cr.mp instead of the cr.lk of the previous option select. Cr.mp will beat out dive kick.
So in this example, you beat 2 out of 3 options without the need to think about what your opponent is doing. So this would technically be better than randomly guessing what your opponent is doing. You should know that some option selects are better than others. Some option select increase the odds you get a favorable result, some aren't worth using because you might as well just guess, and there are a few where there are no downsides to them (should always use them).
Another simple example (that has no downside and should always be used) would be command normals and throws. In Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Vergil has an air command normal, helm breaker. This is done with down + H in the air, though the game does not distinguish between down, down back, and down forward. So you can hit down back or down forward + H to helm breaker. This has the added benefit of option selecting air throw if your opponent gets too close or tries to air throw you because the air throw command is forward or back + H and similarly does not distinguish between back, down back, forward, and down forward. So if you are ever trying to air throw or perform a helm breaker with Vergil, use down forward or down back + H. There isn't a downside to using this option select over doing either move normally.
Knockdowns (hard vs soft)
Knockdown is a state you enter when you get hit by certain moves (most character's cr.hk or sweep) or get hit during an air exchange. There are two types of knockdowns, hard and soft knockdowns.
Hard knockdowns refers to being knocked down and being unable to perform any optional moves (usually quick get up and/or delayed get up - game/character dependent). Another way of thinking about hard knockdowns would be guaranteed, full duration, knockdowns. You have no choices about how/when you get up, and are at a complete disadvantage when hit into a hard knockdown state.
Soft knockdowns refer to being knocked down into a downed state where you have at least one potential option designed to help you get out of the okizeme game. You might want to think about these knockdowns as lesser or limited knockdowns. The advantage gained from soft knockdowns is usually considerably less than from hard knockdowns because the person on their back usually has option(s) to help them avoid whatever the person on their feet would want to do in the okizeme game.
Okizeme/Oki/Wake up game
Japanese term used for the situation following a knockdown. For reference, this from the point of view of the person who is still standing, while the opponent is on the ground getting up. Usually the person still on their feet has an absolute advantage. However, in recent games, this advantage has been reduced pretty significantly and the defender (person on their back) has a reasonable number of options on their wakeup.
Negative Edge
A special case for button inputs referring to using the release of a button to activate a move. Some games use this mechanic as a basis for some moves (Eddie in Guilty Gear), however, for the most part it's not a mechanic that needs to be used.
In most fighting games, both a button press, and button release can activate special moves (hadouken, shoryukens, etc), but not normal moves - st.lp st.mp, cr.hk, etc. That means every time you push a button, you technically are throwing 2 distinct inputs at the game (for special moves), however if you are trying to do a normal move, it only counts as 1 input.
This is a major reason why you can get random special moves when you do not intend them to come out, especially in more recent games where the input windows are much more lenient.
Ways to avoid random input errors include:
-Holding down the button a little longer. If your character (say Paul in SFxT) has 2 special moves with the same motion (say qcf) and are activated, one with punches (Phoenix smasher) and one with kicks (raze). You might do something like: cr.mk x qcf hp.
But what comes out is: cr.mk x qcf mk
What happens is the release of the mk button will be recognized before the hp input and you get the wrong move. You can either release the mk button sooner (ideal, but sometimes not easy to do), or you can hold down the mk button till you press the hp button, and then release the mk button.
-Get used to tapping buttons instead of pressing them. This is probably more or less the same thing to the majority of people. What you want to ideally do is hit the button and remove your finger as fast as you can, so your inputs remain "clean" (pushing and releasing of a button is done before the next button is pushed down). Though this is not always possible (due to the speed of inputs and or being flustered), it is what you want to try to aim for if possible.
If you pay attention to the way some people have their right hands over the buttons (particularly their fingers)...
A lot of newer players tend to rest their fingers on buttons and or have their fingers close to the buttons more often than not. This would almost always lead to button pressing. The general result of this is that you have a more difficult time clearly distinguishing when the button is pressed and released (especially on Japanese, Sanwa, buttons - Japanese parts are more sensitive than American parts. This means it's a lot easier to activate the button's switch by just brushing the button, rather than blatantly pushing it down). A more clear thing to notice is the sound each button press will make. A button press will not make any noticeable/distinguishable sounds.
For older players, you can generally look at their hands and notice a decent size gap between the fingers and the buttons (the size of the gap isn't really important, its more the fact that their fingers do not rest on the buttons). This generally leads to button tapping, which will make a familiar (if you have played games with us already) clicking/clacking sound.
You can generally distinguish whether or not you held the button too long depending on how muted the button taps sounds (holding buttons longer generally leads to random negative edge inputs). Though as I write this, you do really have to focus on the sounds to notice, usually. This is much more an intuitive thing people get used to, rather than something that they consciously thing about.
Japanese vs American Parts
Japanese parts are the current fighting game standard (in America), however, it was not always that way. Happ is the brand of American parts that was used in old arcade cabinets.
Buttons - Happ buttons use cherry switches which have a clear clicking sound every time you activate and release the switch (loudness is similar to blue cherry switches in mechanical keyboards). These buttons are much more durable, but have a distinct drawback in responsiveness (have to fully depress the button for the switch to activate). In all honesty, the responsiveness isn't detrimental to game play, but the feel of the buttons is very different than Japanese parts.
Sanwa is the more popular Japanese part manufacturer. All Madcatz and most Hori sticks use all Sanwa parts. The buttons use micro switches which activate if you barely brush the button. The minimal force needed to activate the switch does make it difficult to get used to not have accidental inputs.
Seimitsu is the other Japanese part manufacturer. The buttons are more of a middle ground between the Happ and Sanwa parts. They still use a micro switch, but the force needed to activate the switch is noticeably higher than Sanwa buttons.
Joysticks - Happ parts use bat top sticks. These are much longer and have a more tapered look to them. They also have a much heavier spring, which leads to more resistance when you want to move the joystick. You may hear references to getting a work out at an arcade due to how strong the springs were on the joysticks. Happ sticks also use circular restrictor gates (full 360 motion and no "bumps").
Sanwa and Seimitsu joysticks use ball top joysticks and are overall much smaller in size. The springs are usually very light and offer little resistance. Seimitsu springs are again, the middle ground between Sanwa and Happ, in terms of tension. However, they are much closer to Sanwa than Happ. I personally prefer Seimitsu over Sanwa for joysticks, but they have drawbacks (need to alter, weld, most joystick mounts in order to put one in your stick). All Japanese sticks utilize square restrictor gates, unless specifically noted.
Octagon gates are occasionally used as well. Generally speaking, the 3D fighting game community were the only ones that actually liked/used these. They're an odd middle ground between circular and square restrictor gates. You have the ability to know which direction you are inputting at all times, however, the motion is much more awkward because you are always hitting edges/corners. It's a trade off between smoothness of motion and being able to know what direction is being input.
Square vs circular restrictor gates. Generally it won't matter as long as you don't have to switch between them. Once you're comfortable with one or the other, I would suggest not switching (the transition is rage inducing). Square gates are much easier to do various motions on because you are able to know you hit the corners (down forward, down back, etc). Especially for charge characters, this made charge partitioning much easier to do.
Charge partitioning
A technique for charge characters to maintain one directional charge while using another. Using Street Fighter's Guile as an example.. Guile has sonic boom and flash kick as special moves. The inputs of these are:
-sonic boom hold back (~22 frames), forward + punch
-flash kick hold down (~22 frames), up + kick
As mentioned during the option select section. the game engine generally will not distinguish between forward, up forward, and down forward. So what this means is you are able to charge up for both sonic boom and flash kick at the same time by using down back instead of just down, or just back. Similarly, you can execute flash kick by hitting up back, up, or up forward + kick. However, if you use up back + kick for flash kick, you are able to maintain your back charge and subsequently sonic boom immediately upon landing. Similarly, you are able to use down forward to throw out sonic booms while maintaining your down charge so that you can flash kick immediately upon recovering from the sonic boom animation (they removed this particular example in SF4 and SFxT).
Theory Fighter
Theory Fighter is a specific version of Theory Crafting that usually refers to dissecting or analyzing part(s) of a fighting game and creating a theory or idea about how/what/why things work or won't work. Generally speaking Theory Fighter is hugely different than how fighting games actually play out for a variety of reasons. Situations are easy to theory craft about, but things aren't so simple that an entire match up (or otherwise) can be figured out.
Usual examples of Theory Fighter usually include unreasonable notions, such as you can't ever jump in on a character with an invincible shoryuken type move (it should be easy to see that this is not even a remotely accurate statement). Because on paper, any jump in attack (bar safe jumps) can be beaten with an invincible shoryuken. However, Theory Fighter doesn't usually take into account human reactions, execution errors, etc. The players have to recognize and respond accordingly, even the best players will not always be able to react in time and will be instead forced to block.
Other examples include:
-You should never use X move against Y character because they have Z move which counters X. Again, in a perfect world where you could always react in time to X being thrown out, this would probably be true. However, a mix of reaction time, having resources required (meter, charge, etc), and or spacing (most counter examples usually don't include angles/distances where Z will not counter X) is not always true.
A more specific example is grappler characters such as Zangief in Street Fighter 4. Some people used to say you should never try to throw Zangief because he could spd (spinning pile driver, his command grab) you before you could throw him. Command grabs are usually quite fast (1-2 frames start up), while normal throws usually have slightly longer start up (2 -3 frames is the normal range, SFxT is 5 frames v2013). So in theory, Zangief spd start up is 1 frame, regular throw is 2 frames -> you can never throw Zangief. Which begs the question: how many people can really 360 in the same amount of time it takes to hit forward + heavy attack, or lp + lk? I'd argue that number is very close to, if not zero, for all intensive purposes. Doing the 360 motion is not something that you can easily react with, which was the original intent of making the motion that awkward and difficult (similar to shoryuken, tiger knee, and pretzel motions).
Meaty attacks
An old term that referred to a specific part of the okizemi game where the standing player throws out a move as their opponent is getting up. The the standing player's attack is timed such that the active frames start/overlap with the first few frames the opponent stands up. The result is that the opponent has to block as they get up because there is an active hit box. The only options were to block, or do a move with enough invincibility to last through the active frames of the attack.
Tiger Knee('d) <attack>
The old (Street Fighter 2 series) motion for Sagat's Tiger Knee was:
forward, down, down forward, forward, up forward. Also abbreviated as TK or TK'd. This has carried over as a term to describe motions that you end at up back or up forward. It is usually used to describe air moves that are done as close to the ground as possible. To do this, you add an up, up back, or up forward command to the end of the usual motion. So a qcf could turn into: down, down forward, forward, up forward. Or in numpad notation: 236 -> 2369
Safe Jump
A precisely timed jumping attack (Player A) done as your opponent (Player B) is getting up. This is a special case of a meaty attack timing where the opponent has to block as they get up because your jumping attack's active frames are during the first few frames following their get up. It's precisely timed because Player A lands 1-3 frames after Player B gets up. So if you consider the possible scenarios, Player B wakes up and:
-blocks. Player A's attack is blocked and nothing unusual happens.
-performs a shoryuken (or some other invincible attack). Player A's attack will miss, but Player A will also land and be able to block before Player B's invincible attack can hit Player A.
-performs a non-invincible attack. Player B gets hit by the jumping attack.
So no matter what Player B decides to do, Player A's jumping attack is completely "safe," therefore it is a safe jump.
Free
So easy, it's free. You are so easy to beat, you are free, cost = 0, no effort required. Also commonly said is "stay free."
Salty
A unique combination of anger, frustration, and defeat a player experiences (usually) after a loss.
Technology
Used to describe new (usually) situation specific tricks or discoveries that allow combo opportunities, better damaging combos, etc. Option selects and character specific set ups are common examples of this.
Runback
A rematch. Also sometimes inferred as a salty runback. Where one player (the loser) demands a rematch due to his or her excessive sodium levels following a frustrating loss.
Old Man <character name>
Usually reserved for projectile characters. It refers to a specific play style that is very safe and is not focused on big damage combos, or okizeme mix ups. The usual style associated with this can be described as a fireball (hadouken), dragon punch (shoryuken) zoning game, though it is more often used by Guile players who almost entirely safely throw sonic booms and react to what you do.
Scrub
A player that often makes poor decisions and/or has poor execution. Not necessarily a new player.
Chicken Block
Refers to jumping in the air to block just before the attack hits you (assumes the game system has air blocking). By blocking at the beginning of your jump's airborne frames, the momentum from the jump itself is killed, and your character falls directly back to the ground after blocking the attack. The reason you do this is to recover faster than you would if you had blocked the attack normally (on the ground). This works because your are put into the blocking state in the air, but once you touch the ground, you are no longer in block stun (block stun is reset when you change state - air blocking -> touch ground).
The end result is that you can recover faster. Sometimes fast enough to be able to punish the attack you just chicken blocked, where as if you had blocked it normally, you would not be able to punish it. Even if you are unable to punish the attack, this either leaves you at a less disadvantage position (frame wise), or possibly at frame advantage.
Frame Advantage
Amount of time (measured in frames) that you are at an advantage over your opponent (or your opponent has over you - frame disadvantage). Amount of advantage/disadvantage is determined only by the last move you used or were hit by/blocked. Simply, if you are at frame advantage, you return to neutral state earlier than your opponent, so you have time where you can move and/or put out attacks first. Conversely, at frame disadvantage you have to wait longer to return to neutral state than your opponent.
Frame Trap
A common exploit of frame advantage. If you are at frame advantage, you can time an attack to hit (usually) 1-3 frames after your opponent returns to neutral state. The general idea being if your opponent pushes a button, his attack has no chance of coming out because your attack will (if done correctly) hit during the startup frames of your opponent's attack (granting counter hit bonuses as well). This punishes people for "pushing buttons" where they should not be (while at frame disadvantage).
Fuzzy Guard (Fuzzies)
Originally a 3D fighting game reference that was incorrectly translated to 2D fighters. The original 3D usage was used to describe the ability to option select your guard to block high and low (everything).
In the 2D use of this term, it's used to describe a very specific circumstance where the defensive player will block an attack while standing, then subsequently, while still in block stun, change their block to low. What results is that the defensive player is able to then block low attacks even though their character sprite still visually looks like it's standing. This also means that you are able (as the offensive player) to hit certain moves (almost? always jumping attacks) where they would otherwise miss (on crouching opponents) because the game registers the defensive player as blocking low, but their character sprite is still standing (and has the same hurt box as a standing character).
Changing block from high to low, or low to high during block stun will result in a different block height, but will not change the size of the hurtbox until the next attack is successfully blocked/you return to neutral state (hit stun wears off).
Simple example:
Assume that instant (done as early after jumping as possible) j.hk will hit on standing characters, but whiff on crouching characters.
J.hk (blocked), land, now one of these happens next
A) cr.hk
B) j.hk (done as early as possible)
If you try to block A (change block from high to low), but your opponent does B, you will get hit because instant j.hk will hit because of the standing hurtbox with a low block state.
Reversals
A special, super, or throw performed <x> frames after being in a non-neutral state (block stun, hit stun, wake up, dizzy). Where <x> depends on the game. For the Street Fighter 4 series, reversal timing is 5 frames, Super Turbo is 1 frame. The Shoryuken wiki defines Reversals as:
any time you go from a non-neutral state directly into a move (special, super, or throw), without ever going to neutral state. A non-neutral state is any state that your opponent inflicts on you: block stun, hit stun, getting up after being knocked down, dizzy, or being knocked out of the air. Only throws, special moves and super moves work as reversals.