For my next Capstone installment I realized that I should
explain the origins of common attacks like fireballs and dragon punches. These two attack motions have been the staple
for nearly every fighting game that has ever been released since its debut in
Street Fighter I in 1987. I want use
these same motions in my game since they are so widely used and they are what I
grew up on, so in order for others to understand these motion I’ll go into
detail explaining them.
The fireball is known in Japanese as the “Hadouken”. It literally translates to “Wave Motion Fist/Attack” as –ken means “attack” in Japanese, while “Hadou” describes the type of spirit energy being used. The motion input for this move is (now keep in mind were playing on an arcade here, so it’s a joystick rather than a directional pad) quarter circle forward, and any of the (usually three) punch buttons. Quarter circle forward would mean you start the joystick at a 6 o’clock position and swipe it to 3 o’clock position, travelling a fourth of the way around the “clock” that is the joystick. Another way of describing it is “Down, Down-Forward, Forward”, as if you were following written direction where to place the joystick. After this quick swipe if any punch button is pressed, a fireball will come out. The reason why any punch button can be pressed is because of the light, medium, and heavy version of attacks like previously stated, each button would represent a different strength (usually with Light being on the left closest to the joystick).
The dragon punch on the other hand is just as popular, but noticeably harder for beginners to do. The dragon punch is known as the “Shoryuken” in Japanese, again with the suffix –ken meaning attack, and Shoryu meaning “Rising Fist”. The shoyuken is a popular uppercut move that many characters have because uppercuts are notoriously safe moves with a lot of priority. This move is inputted by moving the joystick: forward (to 3 o’clock position), down (to 6 o’clock), and then down-forward (to 4 o’clock), and then any punch. To give a visual idea, you are making a letter “Z” where the top to points of the Z are neutral and 3 o’clock respectively. Once you get the hang of it down it becomes a very easy command to do, and an important on at that due to its priority.
These 2 motions are important because even though there’s only two different types of movements, they open up ways to do many different attacks with slight variations. For example, there’s the Hadouken, the backward Hadouken (which is the same input in reverse, so quarter circle backward, or a swipe from 6 o’clock to 9 o’clock), the Shoryuken, and the backward Shoryuken. Each of these four inputs can either be followed by a punch or a kick depending on the move, so that is 8 different combinations for moves right off the bat. Most characters only have about 4-6 moves anyway, so not all of these inputs are even needed! This prevents too much unnecessary repetitiveness and adds a realistic edge to the inputs. If a character had a fireball attack that involved them kicking out a ball of flame instead of it coming out of their fist, their fireball input would be quarter circle forward, any Kick. This customizability helps players remember moves easier and helps distinguish characters from each other because of their unique movesets.
There are other inputs that are not as widely used, such as inputs for charge or grappling characters. Charge characters do not use simple inputs such as quarter circle forward, but rather, they force the player the hold the joystick backward for a second, and then immediately press forward and any punch/kick. This style of characters is more defensive, an usually relies on the opponent making a mistake an punishing them with a charged up move. This same charge style input can be down from down to up, giving these characters only 4 types of inputs available outside of unorthodox inputs like mashing punch to send out a flurry of fists.
The last moveset belongs to grapplers, and these inputs involve a lot of half circles rather than quarter circles. A lot of these half circle moves are grabs that have very high priority, so the extra quarter of a distance to travel hinders the usefulness and priority to some of their attacks. The attack may have more priority, but if the opponent can consistently throw out a fireball quicker than you can input a half circle, you’re going to have to rethink your strategy.
-History of the Hadouken and Shoryuken are from Street Fighter: World Warrior Encyclopedia by Matt Moylan
The fireball is known in Japanese as the “Hadouken”. It literally translates to “Wave Motion Fist/Attack” as –ken means “attack” in Japanese, while “Hadou” describes the type of spirit energy being used. The motion input for this move is (now keep in mind were playing on an arcade here, so it’s a joystick rather than a directional pad) quarter circle forward, and any of the (usually three) punch buttons. Quarter circle forward would mean you start the joystick at a 6 o’clock position and swipe it to 3 o’clock position, travelling a fourth of the way around the “clock” that is the joystick. Another way of describing it is “Down, Down-Forward, Forward”, as if you were following written direction where to place the joystick. After this quick swipe if any punch button is pressed, a fireball will come out. The reason why any punch button can be pressed is because of the light, medium, and heavy version of attacks like previously stated, each button would represent a different strength (usually with Light being on the left closest to the joystick).
The dragon punch on the other hand is just as popular, but noticeably harder for beginners to do. The dragon punch is known as the “Shoryuken” in Japanese, again with the suffix –ken meaning attack, and Shoryu meaning “Rising Fist”. The shoyuken is a popular uppercut move that many characters have because uppercuts are notoriously safe moves with a lot of priority. This move is inputted by moving the joystick: forward (to 3 o’clock position), down (to 6 o’clock), and then down-forward (to 4 o’clock), and then any punch. To give a visual idea, you are making a letter “Z” where the top to points of the Z are neutral and 3 o’clock respectively. Once you get the hang of it down it becomes a very easy command to do, and an important on at that due to its priority.
These 2 motions are important because even though there’s only two different types of movements, they open up ways to do many different attacks with slight variations. For example, there’s the Hadouken, the backward Hadouken (which is the same input in reverse, so quarter circle backward, or a swipe from 6 o’clock to 9 o’clock), the Shoryuken, and the backward Shoryuken. Each of these four inputs can either be followed by a punch or a kick depending on the move, so that is 8 different combinations for moves right off the bat. Most characters only have about 4-6 moves anyway, so not all of these inputs are even needed! This prevents too much unnecessary repetitiveness and adds a realistic edge to the inputs. If a character had a fireball attack that involved them kicking out a ball of flame instead of it coming out of their fist, their fireball input would be quarter circle forward, any Kick. This customizability helps players remember moves easier and helps distinguish characters from each other because of their unique movesets.
There are other inputs that are not as widely used, such as inputs for charge or grappling characters. Charge characters do not use simple inputs such as quarter circle forward, but rather, they force the player the hold the joystick backward for a second, and then immediately press forward and any punch/kick. This style of characters is more defensive, an usually relies on the opponent making a mistake an punishing them with a charged up move. This same charge style input can be down from down to up, giving these characters only 4 types of inputs available outside of unorthodox inputs like mashing punch to send out a flurry of fists.
The last moveset belongs to grapplers, and these inputs involve a lot of half circles rather than quarter circles. A lot of these half circle moves are grabs that have very high priority, so the extra quarter of a distance to travel hinders the usefulness and priority to some of their attacks. The attack may have more priority, but if the opponent can consistently throw out a fireball quicker than you can input a half circle, you’re going to have to rethink your strategy.
-History of the Hadouken and Shoryuken are from Street Fighter: World Warrior Encyclopedia by Matt Moylan
No comments:
Post a Comment