Combo Breakdown

A Smash Bros.-specific term for a !<'touch of death'> combo. Since Smash health bars are measured in percent starting at 0%, this just describes the same phenomenon of your health bar getting nuked in a slightly different way. Smash usually has stuff like !<'directional influence'> to let you escape combos, but 0 to death sequences will sometimes include when the offensive player correctly !<'read','reads'> the DI escape attempt and keeps the combo up (and in some cases, a "true" 0 to death won't have any DI escape possible).

Someone who started playing fighting games in 2009 with the release of Street Fighter IV, pronounced "oh-niner". It's supposed to be a bit of an insult, since 09ers were the new kids on the block who didn't know how fighting games worked. But many years later, all those players are veterans now, so the term is just generally used to joke about when someone started playing. You can take the joke further by changing the year as needed, so a 16er would be someone whose first game is Street Fighter V.

A !<'link'> that only has a 1-!<'frame'> window to succeed, the smallest possible time interval in a fighting game. You'll know you have a 1-frame link on your hands if the !<'on hit'> advantage number for your first move matches the !<'startup'> number for the second move (for example, a +5 on hit attack linking into a move that hits on the 5th frame).<br><br>In some games, it's as tight as it sounds; you'll just have to hit the link perfectly with a !<'just frame'> input with no tricks to save you. But in most games, you'll get a bit of help to make the link easier. For example, there are input tricks like !<'plink','plinking'> and !<'piano','pianoing'> that will give you multiple shots to hit the window. And the game itself might have an !<'buffer','input buffer'> which will save and apply your input on the correct frame if you hit it a little early. So despite how hard it may sound, hitting the exact 1-frame window isn't always necessary.

A Tekken !<'string'> that almost always hits 10 times. Every character has at least one 10-string, although the inputs will be different between characters. They're kind of seen as a !<'gimmick'>, since once the string begins, the sequence is the same each time. Some of the hits will be !<'low'> and some might be !<'high attack','high'> or !<'mid attack','mid'>, and it's up to the defender to just remember the sequence and switch their !<'block','blocking'> direction as needed, like a game of Simon Says played from memory. If you forget the sequence, or are new to Tekken, odds are you're just going to get tagged instead.

Old-school slang for canceling a !<'normal'> into a !<'special move'>. The name comes from the fact that you turned 1 hit into 2 hits. I think it's more common to just use the term "cancel" or "special cancel" these days, but you'll come across this term often when reading discussion on older games.

Any fighting game where your movement is locked to a 2D plane — that is to say, you can only move left, right, up, or down. Note that it doesn't matter if the game's art style is pixel-based, or rendered with 3D models; all that matters is how the characters are allowed to move. Although, some people will call a 2D game that uses 3D models a "2.5D game".<br><br>Most fighting games are 2D, including popular franchises like Street Fighter, Smash Bros., King of Fighters, and Marvel vs. Capcom. They differ from !<'3D game','3D games'> in that they often have considerably more aspects of !<'space'> control, like !<'zoning'> and !<'fireball','fireballs'>, and !<'jump','jumping'> is usually a way more prominent fixture.

A format used for !<'pool','pools'> in !<'double elimination'> tournaments that sees one player on the !<'winners bracket','winners side'> and two players (rather than just one) on the !<'Losers bracket','losers side'> qualify to the next set of pools. In essence, instead of the two players on the losers side playing to try and get out of the pool, they will both qualify to opposite ends of the next bracket, so they won't have to face each other. This lets you avoid a bunch of annoying !<'double jeopardy'> situations where it's quite likely someone will lose twice to the same player. Many big tournaments now use this method.

A joystick motion used to execute some !<'special move','special moves'>, almost always a !<'command throw'> like a !<'Spinning Piledriver'>. On paper, it requires a full 360-degree rotation of your joystick, starting at any one direction and ending at the same place. In practice, most games have a !<'shortcut'> for this input; usually a 270-degree input will do. So, for example, you could do a !<'half circle'> forward, and then keep going and end at the up direction, and that will probably work just fine. You might think it's hard to do this motion and not get an accidental jump, but if you do it fast enough, you'll be fine.

Any fighting game where you can move anywhere in 3D space — that is to say, you can move left, right, up, or down, as well as "in" and "out" of the camera. All 3D fighting games need to use 3D models, but some !<'2D game','2D games'> will use 3D models as well, so check the game's movement options to make the proper classification.<br><br>The most popular 3D fighting game franchises are Tekken, Soulcalibur, Virtua Fighter, and Dead or Alive. Some prominent 2D franchises have tried 3D games as experiments, like King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, but their modern entries have gone back to 2D movement. Most 3D games tend to focus more on up-close brawling, where learning how to !<'sidestep'> around moves instead of blocking them is a big part of the strategy.

A fighting game that uses only 4 primary attack buttons. This will commonly be 2 punch buttons and 2 kick buttons, as you'll see in King of Fighters and Tekken, but you may also see some other creative layouts; Blazblue and Under Night In-Birth use three attacks (light, medium, heavy) and a special "!<'Drive'>" button that controls various system mechanics. Despite having fewer buttons than their !<'6-button fighter','6-button counterparts'>, 4-button fighters are still plenty deep, complex, and engaging.