Darkstalkers 3/Glossary

Acronyms

Prefixes in this guide are notated as follows:

• s. = standing ____
• j. = jumping ____
• c. = crouching ____
• d. = dashing ____
• f. = flying ____
• sh. = shorthop ____

• GC - Guard Cancel
• KD - Knock Down
• TK - Tiger Knee Motion
• UBK - Unblockable
• RTSD - Rush(ing) That Shit Down
• BC - Beast Cannon [See Gallon(Talbain)]

Common Terms

Air Blocking

- n. - The ability for characters to block while in the air. Some games do not have Air Blocking at all, others only allow you to Air Block certain moves, and some games let you Air Block everything.

Air Combo

- n. - Used to describe the classification of Combos that are performed when both characters (The attacker and the victim) are in the air. In Japan, this is referred to as an "Aerial Rave."

- v. - To perform an Air Combo on your opponent.

Air Dash

- n. - A Dash performed in the Air. In most games, Air Dashes cause you to move straight and forward in the air quickly.

- v. - To perform an Air Dash.

Air Reel

- n. - When struck in the air, this is the period of time your character is stuck in Animation Frames of getting hit. In most games, Air Reels end the instant the character goes from being struck into starting to Flip to land on their feet. In games without free-form Juggling Systems, the character usually becomes invincible at this point.

Air Throw

- n. - A Throw performed in the Air. See "Throw."

Animation Frame

- n. - All of a characters actions are portrayed through Animation Frames, regardless of whether the game is 2-D or 3-D. For example, a Crouching Short Kick from Ryu in Super Street Fighter II Turbo is composed of three Animation Frames: one where Ryu is starting to kick, one where Ryu has his leg extended, kicking at the enemy, and the last one with Ryu retracting his leg.

Anti-Air

- adj. - Describes any attack that is designed or used for attacking enemies who are airborne. When a move is described as being Anti-Air, it also implies effectiveness at doing its job. Dan's KouRyuKen, for example, looks like a Shoto ShouRyuKen, but has no invincibility. Thus, it is not really considered an Anti-Air move.

Back

- n. - Describes the position of the joystick that is opposite the direction your fighter is currently facing.

Block

- v. - To defend against an opponent's attack. Usually, doing so puts you into Block Stun.

Block String

- n. - Term used to describe a series of attacks that are good for pressuring the opponent and keeping them in a defensive position. Block Strings usually contain many holes that the opponent can escape from, making Block String patterns not particularly effective. The most effective Block Strings are ones constantly improvised while gauging your opponent for when they will try to react.

Block Stun

- n. - After blocking an attack, characters go into what is known as "Block Stun." During Block Stun, they are stuck in blocking animation and cannot do anything except block again. The length of Block Stun depends on the attack that was blocked. In almost all games, once you start blocking, you will continue to block all further attacks, even if you let go of the joystick. You still have to block high or low correctly, though. Also, in some games, players can "escape" Block Stun with moves such as Alpha Counters or Red Parrying or Burst.

Buffer

- v. - 1. In 2-D games, Buffering is the name given to a character's ability to cancel certain Normal Moves' animations into a Special Move or a Super. In some games, you can only Buffer moves in certain, specific Animation Frames. Also, in most games, you can only Buffer moves if they connect against the enemy, whether blocked or not. But in some games, you can Buffer moves in any frame and sometimes even if they miss. 2. In 3-D games, Buffering refers to executing a character's move before a current action completes, so that the instant the current action completes, the move you did the command for executes right away.

Bread and Butter Combo

- n. - A Bread and Butter combo is any basic combo that the player has practiced and memorized for game play. Bread and Butter refers to the fact that this combo should be the staple of the user's strategy. Also known as BnB.

Chain

- v. - Used to generically describe the cancellation of any move into any other move.

- n. - The act of Chaining one move to another.

Chain Combo

- n. - The ability for certain characters to cancel a Normal Move into another Normal Move. Also referred to as a Target Combo in some games.

Close Up

- adj. - Used to describe the type of Normal Move in some 2-D games that can only be performed if you are within a certain distance of the enemy, usually a very small distance.

Combo

- n. - A series of hits that, once the first connects, the rest all continue to connect without giving the opponent the ability to defend at any point. Some games have moves that act as "Combo" breakers, but most do not. - v. - To perform a Combo on an opponent.

Combometer

- n. - The counter on the side of the screen that tells you how many hits your combo was. Some games have a combometer that follows the hit opponent rather than staying in a fixed position.

Command Throw

- n. - A special type of Throw that is a Special Move. That is, it requires a joystick motion to perform and has all the other properties that Special Moves have (able to be Buffered into, etc.).

Corner

- n. - The ends of the playing field, where the screens stop scrolling. The corner is the furthest to the side you can go. Some games do not have corners and in many 3-D games there are various walls that indicate the end of a stage, but are not referred to as Corners.

Counter Attack

- n. - The ability for characters to perform a counter attack in the middle of blocking an attack. The motion is different for every game, as is the cost of performing the Counter Attack. Counter Attacks originated in Street Fighter Alpha, thus being often called "Alpha Counters."

Counter Hit

- n. - This is when you connect an attack against an opponent in the middle of their attack. Not all games give any special reward for landing a Counter Hit, but oftentimes it rewards extra damage, longer Hit Stuns, or higher Floats.

- v. - To hit the enemy with a Counter Hit.

Counter Throw

- n. - In a few games, there are ways to soften or negate a Throw your opponent attempts on you. If successful, you will often escape without harm or only take a fraction of the damage you would have had you now performed the Counter Throw. Also referred to as "Tech Throw", due to the fact that the message "Tech Hit" would appear whenever you performed one of these in the first game they appeared in: Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Cross-Up

- n. - The type of attack that can hit the opponent behind you when you jump over them. An example of this is Zangief's Down+Fierce in the air in just about every game he's been in. It can hit behind him when he jumps over the opponent.

- v. - To land such a hit on an opponent.

Crouch

- adj. - The condition your character is in if you hold any of the three down positions on the joystick. Describes attacks done from this position. - v. - To press one of the down positions to cause your character to be in a crouching position.

Damage Scaling

- n. - The system in many fighting game where combos do less and less damage as the number of hits on the Combometer increases.

Dash

- n. - The act of making your character move forward more quickly than if you just walked. In some games, Dashing is distinguished from a Run because Dashes stop after a set distance, while Runs can keep you moving forward indefinitely. However, every game implements Dashes differently, and in many games, Dashes and Runs are the same thing.

- v. - To perform a Dash.

Far Away

- adj. - Used to describe the type of Normal Move that is performed at a slight distance away from the opponent. This only applies to games that have Close Up moves. If the game does not have Close Up moves, then everything, in essence, is a Far Away move.

Frame

- n. - Unlike Animation Frames, Frames refer to the frame count of the game. Most games output at 30 Frames per second (Some more recent games output at 60.), so when you refer to a Frame, you are referring to 1/30th of a second. This is used heavily in Move Analysis, learning about which moves have Frame Advantage or how many Frames a move takes to recover and such.

Frame Advantage

- n. - This refers to having the ability to act against your opponent while they are stuck in Block or Hit Stun. Moves that have large Frame Advantage means that if you connect against the opponent with said move, you will be free to act before your opponent, giving you a lot of time, positional, and mental advantage in the fight for that small instant.

Frame Disadvantage

- n. - This refers to situations where you are unable to perform any actions while your opponent is free to perform whatever he/she likes. You are usually put into this situation when struck by a move that has Frame Advantage.

Health Meter

- n. - The Meter that shows how much energy you have left. The first person to have their Health Meter drained is the person who will lose the Round/Match, depending on the game.

Hit Box

- n. - In most Fighting Games, there are invisible "zones" for a character that, if struck by an attack, registers a hit on the character. This also applies to the attacking moves, as well. Attacks also have invisible boxes that determine the zone that they are attacking. If an attacking Hit Box overlaps a character's Hit Box, then a hit is registered. Oftentimes, Hit Boxes are the sole determining factor to a move's Priority.

Hit Frame

- n. - An Animation Frame of your character that actually can register a hit. For example, Ryu's Crouching Fierce in Super Street Fighter II Turbo has multiple Hit Frames. He can hit with the Animation Frame with his fist still at chest level as well as the Animation Frame with his hand up in the air. The Animation Frame where he is retracting his arm, however, is NOT a Hit Frame because it cannot hit anyone in the particular frame.

Hit Freeze

- n. - This occurs in most Fighting Games, but not all (more typically in 2-D fighting games). It describes the tendency for moves that connect against the opponent to "freeze" and almost have time stop for a fraction of a second on the frame that it makes contact (Whether the move is blocked or not). Most 3-D games do not have Hit Freeze and some 2-D games, such as the Mortal Kombat series, also do not have Hit Freeze.

Hit Stun

- n. - Describes the period of animation when the character is in the process of getting hit. The character remains in Reel until he/she returns to a Neutral State and can block, attack, etc. If you can connect another hit on the opponent during Hit Stun, that rewards you with a Combo.

Hit Confirm

- n. - In most fighting games you have the ability to cancel or link attacks. The decision to do so may be based on whether the opponent has guarded the attack or if the hit connected. Visually confirming that the attack has connected in order to make a decision on how to proceed is called a Hit Confirm.

Instant Air Dash

- n. - This is a technique that applies to only a few certain games. It's a technique that allows you to go from a grounded position to into the air performing an Air Dash almost instantaneously, so that your Air Dash is right next to the ground. It allows for a quick way for people to attack from the air.

Invincibility Frame

- n. - Invincibility Frame refers to those frames of animation where an attack will have no effect on a fighter despite collision.

Juggle

- n. - Any hit that occurs against an opponent in the middle of a Reel in the air.

- v. - To hit the opponent with a Juggle.

Jump

- v. - To make your character to jump into the air, most of the time to perform jumping attacks or to avoid the moves of your opponent.

- adj. - Used to describe attacks done while in a Jump.

Knock-Down

- n. - A move that, when landed on an opponent, causes the opponent to fall on their backs (as opposed to landing on their feet).

- adj. - Used to describe a move that causes a Knock-Down.

Launcher

- n. - These are moves that put your opponent into the air so that you can perform a Super Jump Cancel or High Jump Cancel to follow the opponent into the air to Air Combos.

Link

- n. - A combo method where you combo two moves in a row not based on any special system built-in combo method. The first move simply recovers fast enough and the second move simply comes out quickly enough for the two to connect.

Match

- n. - One complete game of a Fighting Game. When you defeat your opponent, you've won the Match.

Meaty

- adj. - Describes attacks that are timed so that the enemy gets up into it when they get up after being knocked down.

Meter

- n. - When used in Fighting Game discussions, it almost always refers to the secondary meter for the character, most of the time the Super Meter. So when someone asks, "Do you have enough Meter for the move?", they are referring to the Super Meter.

Neutral

- n. - Describes the position of the joystick when you are not holding it in any direction.

Neutral State

- n. - The period of time when your character is NOT in the middle of any move or jump. A Neutral State is when you character is on the ground and has the freedom to choose any action including walk, Crouch, Jump, attack, and block. In most games, Neutral States do not come into play, but there are a very few games where it can affect gameplay.

Normal Move

- n. - This is used to describe any attack performed by a character that does not require a joystick motion. Normal Moves typically do not cause block damage and are done by simple, single button presses. Directional Moves count as Normal Moves because they only require a joystick position, not a motion. Many of the major 3-D games are not applicable to this term because there are no Special Moves.

Overheads

- n. - In 2-D games, describes the name of an attack performed from the ground that must be blocked while Standing. If the enemy Crouch blocks, they will get hit by Overheads. In 3-D games, this is usually referred to as a "Mid Attack".

Projectile

- n. - The generic name applied to all Special Moves where the character attacks the opponent with an essence that travels independently of the character who has thrown the Projectile.

Pushback

- n. - After Blocking or getting hit by an attack, your character will slide away from the attacker a slight distance. This is referred to as Pushback. In the Corner, your opponent will be pushed away from you rather than you getting pushed back, since you have no further room to move.

Reversal

- adj. - This describes the ability for a character to go from one a "non-hittable" state straight into a Special Move instantly with no extra Frames in between.

Round

- n. - In most games, matches are separated into Rounds. Whoever wins the majority of the Rounds wins the Match. Most Rounds are determined by who drains the opponent's Health Meter completely first.

Slide

- n. - This is the classification of moves that cause the character performing the slide to travel forward with an attack that must be Crouch blocked. v - v. - To perform a slide.

Special Move

- n. - This is used to describe the type of attack that requires a joystick motion or a combination of buttons to perform. One of the main properties of a Special Move is their ability to do damage even if the attack is blocked (although in some games, everything does Block Damage). Another property of a Special Move is the ability to be canceled into from a Bufferable Normal Move. This term is not applicable to the major 3-D games out there because there are no Special Moves.

Spinning Pile Drivers

- n. - This is the slang name given to all Command Throws that particularly require the 360º motion. The motion consists of six consecutive directional inputs [which amounts to 3/4ths of a circle] on the joystick plus a button. In many game manuals, it is notated as a 360º motion, but in fact all games only require the motion to be 270º for it to register. They've all been generically given this term due to Zangief, the popular Street Fighter II character who was the first character ever to have a Command Throw executed with this motion. That move, the Spinning Pile Driver, is his trademark move.

Moves such as Cammy's Hooligan Throw (not a Spinning Pile Driver motion to perform) or Sodom's Daikyou Burning (not an unblockable Throw even though it uses the 360 motion) do not count as a Spinning Pile Driver. Abbreviated SPD or 360 for short.

Standing

- adj. - The condition your character is in if the joystick is in any of the middle positions: Back, Towards, and Neutral. Describes attacks done from this position.

Super Combo

- n. - A special type of attack that usually consumes energy from a secondary Meter to perform a particularly damaging and powerful attack. The power and effectiveness of Super Combos does vary from game to game, but the key factor of a Super Combo is that it requires energy from a secondary Super Meter.

Super Meter

- n. - A secondary meter included in many Fighting Games that builds up energy during the course of a Match. Once filled up completely or to certain points, the character who the Super Meter belongs to is able to perform a Super Combo.

Sweep

- n. - An attack that must be Crouch blocked and knocks down when it successfully connects, including Slides. If you are performing a Stand block, you will be hit.

- v. - To hit your enemy with a Sweep.

Taunt

- n. - An action whose sole purpose is to taunt the enemy. These actions usually leave you completely wide open to attack. So by putting yourself into a position in which you are completely helpless on purpose, you are showing your enemy that you do not think them worthy enough to defeating you even though you are exposing yourself that much. In some games, however, Taunts can be canceled part way through and in other games, Taunts give you special abilities.

- v. - To perform a Taunt.

Tech Hit

- n. - In actuality, Tech Hit is a terminology used by Capcom to describe any sort of bonus to the score of a character who did something special, such as a Counter Throw or a Parry. Many times, though, people associate the term with a Tech Throw, which is actually just a Counter Throw.

Throw

- n. - Describes the form of attack, whether performed from the ground or in the air, that cannot be blocked at all. This can be a regular Throw or a Special Move Throw such as a Spinning Pile Driver.

- v. - To perform a Throw.

Tier

- n. - A term used by Fighting Game players to indicate a quality level of characters in a game. "Top Tier," for example, refers the the best characters in the game. Games are usually divided into multiple Tiers, the higher ones being where the best characters are, and the bottom ones being where the characters who stand less or little chance are.

Tiger Knee (Motion)

- n. - A slang term, originating from Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, which eventually became common jargon in many other fighting games. The original Tiger Knee command, used by the Street Fighter II character Sagat, consisted of the inputs: [Down, Down-Toward, Toward, Up-Toward Kick].

In later games, when aerial Special Moves were implemented, the Tiger Knee Motion was used to minimize the time required to Jump and perform an aerial Special Move from the ground, particularly ones that were of the Down, Down-Towards, Towards code variety. Now, however, the term "Tiger Knee Motion" applies to all aerial special moves performed quickly from a Standing or Crouching state by taking the normal command input and adding an additional [Up-Towards], [Up-Back], or [Up] at the end of the input with the corresponding attack button.

Towards

- n. - Describes the position of the joystick that matches the direction your fighter is currently facing.

Wake-up

- adj. - Wake ups are just the one class of Reversals that are performed when getting up from the ground. See "Reversal."

Walk

- n. - The action of moving forward or backwards simply by holding left or right on the joystick.

- v. - To actually perform Walking.

Whiff

- v. - An attack which does not connect with anything, e.g. missing the opponent. "You can be countered easily if you whiff this move."

Whiff Punish

- n. - To strike an opponent before their own missed attack has finished recovery.