Gameplay Glossary

[Takumaji]

(Critical) Wire Attacks, Counter Wires

Special Attacks in KoF2k1, the counter version is also in KoF2k2. In these games, a number of characters have one special or command move that is a Critical Wire Attack. When landed, it smashes the opponent against the wall behind him where he bounces back and is open for a juggle. Examples: Robert's close Sen'en Renbu Kyaku (hcf+K), Vanessa's Puncher Straight (f+C follow-up after her Puncher Vision (qcb/qcf+K).

A Counter Wire only works while countering an opponent's move, otherwise it comes out the same way. Examples: Ramon's Rolling Sobat (dp+B, does not work on D), Kula's One Inch (f+A).

The term "Wire Attack" describes the effects of these attacks that let the opponent fly around like a yoyo on a wire.

Classic, Mazi, Saikyo

Play modes in Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha 3. In the arcade version, the modes are accessible via codes, the DC version has them per default, they can be selected before starting a match. Setting the game to one of these modes has more or less drastic effects on basic gameplay features like damage, recovery times, dizzy system, combo system, etc.

Classic refers to a back-to-the-roots fighting style a la SF2/SSF2T without air blocks, less juggling, safe falls and other more technical engine features.

Mazi ("serious") increases the damage level of attacks but also doubles the opponent's attack power, and you only have to lose one round to lose the match while you have to win two to proceed.

Saikyo ("strongest") has a shorter Guard Power Gauge so that it's easier to get dizzied (or to dizzy your opponent), you can not combo normal moves into specials and attacks do less damage. Some special moves/Super Combos of certain characters also do less damage in this mode.

 

[COMEDISDEGNO]

Whiff

A technique that involves making a move or some of its hits miss the opponent in order to allow other moves to connect later, like a followup, or a special that wouldn't combo otherwise (due to excessive distance, or bad timing, or not enough space to juggle, or bugs of any sort).




Task Over

In Kof (and Kof only, as far as i know), an error due to a complex combo that exceeds the CPU ability and causes the game to freeze, making a black screen with 'Task over' as text appear.



Cancel by counter

(Name invented by me...don't know if an official one exists)

A technique that allows to cancel a move by letting your character get hit by an enemy's attack.
Usually hard to perform, such a tech is often the only way to combo moves with long recovery time.
Generally used with non-physical attacks (or moves independent from the character's body once triggered), that can be interrupted without the risk of stopping the move.

(No need to say, but the whole thing has a sense only if the stun recovery time is shorter than the move recovery time...).



No examples at hand...any contribute?
BTW, sorry for the trash english...i'm realizing how hard is to give a good definition with my limited vocabulary and my lacking grammar.
I hope it's understandable anyway

 

[SPINMASTER X]

Neutral Guard

Exactly what the name says. When you aren't moving the joystick/D-pad your character will automatically block when attacked.

 

[Takumaji]

Credits

For your reference, here is a list of FAQs that helped me to find proper definitions for the glossary entries I posted in this thread.

All these docs are highly recommended reading if you want to go in-depth about fighting game techniques and strategies... ...Know Your Enemy!

Most of them can be found on Gamefaqs.


==> Chris McDonald, a.k.a. Kao Megura

- The King of Fighters '98 FAQ v0.6

- The King of Fighters 2000 MINI-FAQ v0.4

- The King of Fighters 2002 "Challenge to Ultimate Battle" FAQ v0.5

- Street Fighter Alpha 3 FAQ v2.2

- Street Fighter III: Third Strike FAQ v0.9

- Super Street Figher II X for Matching Service FAQ v0.1


==> James Kuroki

- Garou - Mark of the Wolves FAQ v5.0


==> Deuce

- Gekka no Kenshi: "The Last Blade" FAQ version 3.01

- Bakumatsu Rouman Dai Ni Maku Gekka no Kenshi Tsuki ni Saku Hana, Chiri Yuku Hana: "The Last Blade 2" FAQ version 2.0

- Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge TAPFAQ


==> Shawn Holmes

- Samurai Shodown II TAPFAQ version 8.1

- Samurai Shodown III TAPFAQ version v5.0


==> Galen Komatsu

- Fatal Fury Special FAQ

- Fighter's History Dynamite FAQ

- Art of Fighting FAQ

- Art of Fighting 2 FAQ


==> Gunsmith

- The King of Fighters 99 FAQ v5.01 REACTIVE FINAL


==> BARBERMAN

- Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer FAQ v2.0


==> Moriya

- The King of Fighters 2002 FAQ/Movelist v1.21


==> Marc O'Neill:

- Real Bout Fatal Fury FAQ v3.2 rel.6

- Double Dragon FAQ v2.1


==> Henry A. Moriarty:

- Real Bout Fatal Fury Special FAQ v1.0


==> Joe Palanca

- The King of Fighters '95 FAQ v5.5

- The King of Fighters '96 FAQ v7.3

- Far East of Eden - Kabuki Klash FAQ v1.5


==> Andres Araujo a.k.a. Shin Pikachu

- Capcom Vs SNK 2 FAQ


==> Wally Domey

- Rage of the Dragons Faq, Version 1.4


==> Toxic

- Art of Fighting 3 Path of the Warrior Perfect Guide, Ver. 4.4

 

[BlackReppuKen]

Boy!

Yall puttin it down!

Does yall fingazs hurt

typing this stuff?

 

[CBVicious]

Man, that's some good info. Thanks.

 

[galvatron]

NOW, lets get into opinion

Broken (when used as an adjective)
A game or tactic that is regarded as unbalanced is said to be broken

Balance
Balance is the perception that a variety of strategies/techniques--mainly choice of character, but also other factors such as style of play (aggressive, defensive)-- are capable of being applied in an attempt to win the match. This implies that no one technique/strategy is optimal or incapable of being consistently countered.

An example of a game many people feel is well balanced would be Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, because it is believed that every character is capable of beating any other character at the highest levels of player skill.

An unbalanced game would allow for degenerate strategies to beat more complex strategies. A game could also be considered unbalanced because a select few characters are much easier to win with than some others. For example, it is widely accepted that Sagat or Blanka are key components of a winning Capcom vs SNK 2 team. This might belief might lead one to call the game unbalanced.

Degenerate Strategy
A simple strategy that is more efficient than a more skillful/complex strategy (especially one that seems unforeseen by the game's designers).

For instance, Geese's infinite in SvC:Chaos might be considered a degenerate strategy. While he has many other moves an easy-to-execute infinite is obviously superior to any other combo available to him in the situtation where the infinite is applicable. Another example of a degenerate strategy is staying still during the opening barrage from the robot skiing boss in Cannon Spike. While dodging the pattern obviously takes more skill, staying still while the bullets miss you is simpler and more likely to succeed (100% effective vs however likely you are to dodge the pattern by reacting to it).

The use of the word degenerate in this term does not apply to the person employing the strategy, but to the strategy itself. The degeneration here is not moral, but pertains to fact that the simpler strategy makes a more complex/skillful/desireable (from a game design standpoint) technique obsolete/ less effective.

 

[galvatron]

just remembered

pretzel motion
down-back, HCB, down-forward + punch. This is most famous for being the motion for Geese's Raging Storm super. When drawn as with on continuos curve, the shape somewhat resembles that of a pretzel, hence this nickname.

 

[Adam Gallant]

In Asia, the number system is very common, but I'm not used to it so it's hard for me to figure it out. I even wrote a sed script once that translated all the 236's and 63214's into qcf's and hcb's...

Oh, and thank you!

Damn, sed scripting? someone has better linux skills than I

-AG

 

[Atro]

I'll let a english-native members explain the meaning of "Double-Whammy".

 

[COMEDISDEGNO]

For Capcom terms, VS games acronyms and some alternative definitions check Majestros' encylopedia:

http://www.sonichurricane.com/articles/sfterms.html

 

[Takumaji]

Okay, now that the fighting games have gotten good coverage, let's continue with terms and definitions of Shooters.

Of course, if you think there are fighting game definitions missing, feel free to add them.

I'll start with a few -

Vertical

Screen alignment where the player moves from left to right. Same as in standard home TVs.

Horizontal

Screen alignment where the player moves from bottom to top. Requires 90 degrees flipped TV or monitor. Popular arcade shooter format.

Smart Bomb

Special weapon, usually limited to only a few per round/game, that clears the visible level area from all enemy ships and installations with a huge explosion or other effect that helps to overcome tight situations.

Patterns/Bullet Patterns

Many shooters have enemy ships that shot the same patterns of bullets everytime you play the game, they never change one bit. Learning patterns and finding dead spots where no bullets go to or easy ways to dodge them is the bread and butter of this type of shooting games. Examples: Strikers series, Mars Matrix.

One Credit/One Life Finish

Going through a game in one go from start to end on one credit/token/coin (One Credit) while using up all the available lifes, or on one life of the available lifes of one credit (One Life). Requires good reflexes, a lot of training and profound knowledge of all the ins and outs of the game.

Early shooters such as Space Invaders, Defender or Galaxian weren't really meant to be finished at all. Either they'd go on and on ad infinitum and eventually stop or simply restart after the score had been maxed out to something like 999,999. Today, all shooting games have ends (and endings), and most of them reward exceptional achievements (like One-Crediting the game) with unlocked hidden stuff, gallery pictures, extra features, etc.

Shmup

Short for shoot-'em-up. The term shmup had been coined by the review team of the now defunct game magazin Zapp!64, it has been used first in review of a C=64 shooter and used as another word for shooting games ever since.

Charge Shot/Super Shot

Very strong weapon that has to be charged briefly before being fired. Example: R-Type's Charge Shot, hold the fire button and charge for a few seconds, then release the button for a powerful energy blast. Later games also have multi-level Charge Shots, like R-Type Delta.

Armors

Term used in ASO II (Alpha Mission 2) on the Neo, refers to the special weapon system where three pieces of powerups that can be found all over the levels add one Armor to the stock that, once activated, enhances your ship's attack or defense power.

Shield

Power-up in some shooters. Gives the player ship temporary invincibility against bullets and explosions, but usually not against getting crushed or falling down into nothing.

 

[roninbuddha]

I'd like to make a correction/addition:

Parrying is also called Blocking in Japan (and Guard is ur block block, holding back), i usd to play with this guy when i was in japan. and we always get confused cuz when i say blocking, i meant guarding (holding back), and he says that KOF doesnt have Blocking... and it fact, it kinda makes sense cuz it only "BLOCKS" the attack while by holding back, you "GUARD" the attack

 

[Takumaji]

I'd like to make a correction/addition:

Parrying is also called Blocking in Japan (and Guard is ur block block, holding back), i usd to play with this guy when i was in japan. and we always get confused cuz when i say blocking, i meant guarding (holding back), and he says that KOF doesnt have Blocking... and it fact, it kinda makes sense cuz it only "BLOCKS" the attack while by holding back, you "GUARD" the attack

I'm a little confused now.

Parrying is also called Blocking in Japan, but your friend says there's no Blocking in KoF, only Guarding?

Okay, let's sort this one out. The Parrying mentioned in this thread is a gameplay feature of Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (tap forward or down-forward when you're attacked). Of course there's no Parrying in KoF.

The difference between Blocking and Guarding is minimal IMO. Basically, Blocking refers to protecting your chara of exactly one hit while Guarding makes your chara block multiple moves of the same height (high-mid-low) if you keep holding the stick back or down-back, at least AFAIK.

Perhaps one of our Asian members could clue us in about the common use of fighting game terms in Japanese arcades.

 

[COMEDISDEGNO]

I think he refers to something else.

Guarding - the stance a character assumes when A) a button is pressed (Virtua Fighter style) or B) an attack has been thrown anywhere on the screen and you press back (without the need the attack 'touches' your char's sprite)

Blocking - a much more vague term, dealing with your char physically blocking (er... a tautologie, i know) an attack when in guarding stance

To make an example, in Matrimelee (first game coming to mind) you guard anytime the opponent executes a move, as long as you press back in that instant.
If you press back and the enemy punches (and whiffs) on the other side of screen you enter the guard stance.

If the opponent attack collides with you, the action you perform should be called 'blocking'.

In Kof you 'guard' only when you 'block', thus the two terms may be considered as synonyms; guarding as an indipendent action may be even seen as not existent, if you go anal with it.

Just my two cents. It makes sense, tough.

 

[SonGohan]

I agree with the comment about guarding only when you block. Hence the guard-crush.

 

[Takumaji]

Ah, ok, took me a while but now I see what you guys mean. Blocking = Guarding a real attack, Guarding alone = taking your chara to Guard stance without the need to be directly attacked, e.g. while the opp. is standing far and only does whiffed moves.

Okay, that indeed makes sense, thanks for the suggestion/correction, I will re-read the thread and modify some entries if necessary.

 

[helfuri]

Yeah I believe parrying isn't so much "guarding" against an attack, but blocking and possibly countering your opponents attack, like portrayed in Street Fighter III, and KOF '95 to present.

 

[void216]

the 12346789 scheme refers to directions found on the keypad ie 7,8,9 refer to uf, u ub, 46 refer to b,f 1,2,3 refers to df, d, db just look at the number pad and there it is
5 usually means center

 

[galvatron]

there's a great glossary in the brady games Street Fighter Anniversary Edition Guide. Any feelings on quoting them here?

 

[Takumaji]

Has the guide been released already? German Amazon and libri.de changed the release date to September and I didn't check back since then.

Anyway, sure, if it has some good stuff, let's add it to this thread.

 

[SonGohan]

Isn't it written by some folks at SRK? I'm going to pick it up Thursday. I've heard nothing but spectacular things about that guide. It's supposed to be the first guide in English to contain frame data from the ps2 and arcade version. Quality shit.

 

[Takumaji]

Sounds great. I'm a big fan of mooks/guides and stuff like that but no monies + no credit card = no mooks for Tak. There's a comic book store here which has some original guides every once in a while, but most of them are bloody RPG walkthroughs.

Ironically, I have a friend who collects mangas and mooks, he has tons of that stuff but does not let me copy parts of them or even view them since most of them are sealed in ziploc bags. Collectors...!

Well, I'll keep my preorder then, and as always I'll be late to the party because if libri.de says September, they won't have it until Oktober or November... sigh...

Tu felix America!

 

[SonGohan]

Jesus, I just got the guide today... Wow, this is just fucking awesome. I was so into it that I had my friend drive my car home on the way back so I'd be able to read it. I've never seen a fighting guide as good as this in America. Just... wow.

Too bad the soundtrack sounds like an old record. I can look past that, though.

 

[void216]

can someone explain the grooves in cvs 2 i really want to know what the differences are like what each groove does and possibly the game series they are from