A game system that decreases the damage of each hit as a combo goes on.
Exclusive to the game Vampire Saviors, a special state that the character activates by spending a resource bar, and allows him to use a different fighting style. This fighting style depends on the character.
Quickstep, sudden acceleration by pressing twice rapidly in the same direction. Some moves do this automatically.
A super attack in which the player must press buttons (usually eight and a quarter circle) after the attack is executed to complete the attack. The name is inspired by Geese Howard's Deadly Rave technique from the Fatal Fury series, which was the first to use this mechanic.
A portion of the field/arena that can be used to send an opponent out of the starting combat area. This can result in a win like in Soul Calibur with ring outs and Mortal Kombat: Deception, or just some extra damage and a change of area like in Tekken 7.
A big attack, usually aerial, allowing the attacker's sprite to overlap the defender's. These attacks are appreciated because the players are very close, and it is easy to link a deep hit with a combo.
Voluntary slowing down during an attack. The change of pace serves to destabilise the opponent.
Originally used to refer to techniques that can only be used when the character's life is low or very low, this term has since come to encompass all Super techniques. Often abbreviated to DM, this mechanic is specific to SNK games and particularly to the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series, where it was known that a fighter could use all his techniques by freeing himself from their cost when his life dropped below a certain point, and his bar turned red. There is an even more powerful version of this, both in terms of damage and visual effects in the game, called the Super Desperation Move (SDM), which can cost up to two bars and can be chained after a cancel. You may need to reach a certain life level to activate it, depending on the game. In the King of Fighters 96, 97, 98, 99, 2001 and 2002 games, there were both types of SDM. The first could be activated if you had your gauge filled (or MAX mode in KoF 2002), although some characters still had the old red bar system (described above), and at least one energy bar. The second type of MDS added low life to the above conditions. With The King of Fighters 2003, SNK added a new type of attack: the Leader Desperation Move, which was pretty much identical to the SDM except that only one character on your team (the Leader) could use it. The Battle Arena Toshiden series uses a similar system, and when a player's energy bar turns red, they can use a DM which will result in a critical hit. Tekken also added a similar mechanic during its evolution with the Rage Art. The use of this mechanic often makes the difference between winning and losing at the professional level.
Aerial attack making the character descend diagonally, foot down.
Manage the horizontal and vertical placement of your avatar to make the right move at the right time.
Double jump is accomplished by pressing the jump button a second time.
The two characters knock each other out at the same time, usually in an exchange when both are very low on life. Depending on the game, this tie counts as either a win for each player or a loss. In King of Fighters, if two characters are knocked out at the same time, the next ones arrive and continue the fight. If these two players were the last of their teams, a final round is played with a 60 second timer and 25% of the energy bar of the last two fighters. If a double knockout happens again, the game ends for both players. In the old Mortal Kombat, this was a known trick to play extra rounds. The mechanics are different for the Guilty Gear series, because while the double knockout win would allow one player to win the match, only the player with the fewest wins would receive one. If the two players are still tied, a final round is played, and if they are still tied then the final result is a draw. In a double knockout in a Soul Calibur decisive round, the players face each other in a sudden death match, with the arena getting smaller. In Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, if a double knockout occurred in the deciding round, judges would decide who won based on various criteria (hits given/received, combos, parrying, etc.). In Marvel vs. Capcom 2's single player mode, if a double knockout occurred, the player lost the game, even if the game declared it a tie. In Tekken 3, it was the first player to win.
Posture, the opponent is lying down, feet towards your character. Necessary for some ground holds.
Downloading an opponent means having analysed his way of playing, his style of play, his favourite sequences, etc., in order to take advantage of them by countering each of his actions. It is not uncommon for professional players to agree to lose a round just to get information about their opponent.
This term can describe several things. The first is an action used in many 2D games, requiring the combination of forward, down, down-front. This command first appeared in the first Street Fighter, before becoming the signature of Ryu and especially Ken, giving the famous Shoryuken in Japanese and Rising Dragon Fist in English. To launch this attack, you just have to enter the commands given just before, adding a punch (small/medium/big) at the end of the sequence. In the other games, it is used to describe an attack that is done with the down key, invincible at the start, serving as an anti-air and/or reversal.
A type of match where two teams of characters fight each other, but all characters fight at the same time. These battles first appeared in the Fatal Fury series, and then in Street Fighter Alpha, where two characters would team up to fight another, usually more powerful character.
Cancel an opponent's attempt to chop.