Capcom vs SNK 2/Glossary

From SuperCombo Wiki
Term Acronym Meaning Notes
2P Cross-Up Glitch A glitch that allows characters controlled by player 2 to get behind downed opponents in the corner. Can only be setup with moves that leave the opponent downed but their heads facing "out" of the corner, such as Blanka's kick throw or Vice's Deicide.
Baku Cancel Joe's cancel after the 4th hit of TNT Punch.
Block String A series of positive on block or safe moves performed on a blocking opponent to pressure, lower their guard bar, and build meter. A block string that cannot be interrupted with a reversal is considered a "true" or "tight" blockstring. One that has gaps that can be reversaled out of are known as "pseudo" or "not true" blockstrings. Pseudo blockstrings done on purpose to earn counter hits are basically what "Frame traps" are.
Boxer (character) BX A term used to refer to the boxer that looks suspiciously like Mike Tyson, since his name is different outside of Japan. USA: Balrog JPN: M.Bison
Chain When normal moves cancel the active or recovery parts of the move into another normal move on hit or block. Only Maki, Morrigan, Kyosuke, and Yun have chain combos. Characters using A-Groove can chain combo after entering custom combo mode.
Chain (Rapid Fire) When light moves can cancel into other light moves at any point. Differs from chain combos because these moves chain into themselves, and can be chained on hit, block, or whiff.
Chicken Guard Air Blocking a move late and low to the ground in order to avoid high/low mixups (Air blocking can only be done in C-Groove). By doing this, some additional punishes are possible.
Chip Damage Damage done by special moves while an opponent is blocking. Not to be confused with Guard Damage.
Claw (character) CL A term used to refer to the Spaniard who fights with a claw and wears a mask, due to his name being different outside Japan. USA: Vega JPN: Balrog
Command Grab Different from a normal grab/throw, command grabs are special moves that result in an untechable throw. A staple of the grappler archetype, such as Zangief or Raiden.
Counter Hit CH When a move strikes another move during the startup frames, awards bonus damage and hit stun.
CvS2:EO EO Stands for "Easy Operation". This is the Xbox and GameCube version of the game, which allowed for special moves to be done with the right analog/C-stick due to these controllers being terrible for fighting games.
Dash Done by pressing forward twice in quick succession. Your character will hop a short, set distance forwards. Backdashing can be done by pressing backwards twice. Available in C, A, and P Grooves.
Deadly Rave DR Geese's Level 3 Super, in which a series of inputs must be pressed after the initial hit connects. Rock and Hibiki also possess similar moves.
Delayed Wakeup DWU See also "Tactical Recovery". The act of adding 15 frames onto your character's wakeup animation. Messes with okizeme and setups. Available to C, P, and S grooves.
Dictator (character) DI Used to refer to the evil leader of Shadaloo, who uses Psycho Power, due to his name being different in Japan. USA: M.Bison JPN: Vega
Dodge Otherwise known as "spot dodging", and is different from rolling. Done by pressing LP and LK, your character will sidestep in place, becoming temporarily invincible for a short while. Only available in S-Groove.
Dragon Punch DP or SRK Dragon Punch or Shoryuken, is Ryu and Ken's uppercut move, usually performed with a f, d, df motion. The acronym also refers to this input. The acronym can also refer to almost any similar move in the game, such as Kyo's Oniyaki or Sagat's Tiger Uppercut.
Empty jump Jumping without performing an attack. Can serve as a mixup tool by getting an opponent to block high by making them think you'll do a jumping attack, only to land and perform a low. By not performing an attack in the air, a character skips the landing recovery period, allowing them to go low or, most importantly, block.
EX Groove EX "Extra" grooves. Unlockable in the console versions of the game, these grooves can be customized using selectable abilities available to all the different groves, including extra features such as chain combos outside of A-Groove. Banned in tournament play.
Fireball FB Fireball or Ryu and Ken's "Hadouken", performed with a QCF (236) motion. Also used to refer to any characters projectiles, and is the shorthand name for the QCF motion.
Footsies General fighting game tool used to describe the neutral game, where neither character has frame advantage over the other and tries to "poke" with normals. A very important concept to learn in CVS2. Strong footsies separate new players from mid or high level players.
Frame What all fighting game moves are measured in. Normally, there are 60 frames in a second in most if not all fighting games.
Frame advantage/disadvantage Defined as the difference in the time it takes for you to recover from your attack and the time it takes for your opponent to recover from hit stun or block stun. If you can move first after hitting your opponent with an attack, this is frame advantage, or "plus". If your opponent can move first after being hit or blocking an attack, this is frame disadvantage, or "minus".
Fuzzy Guard Tricky to understand, but this refers to the act of blocking in a way that blocks both potential low attacks and potential high attacks. Think of it as holding down-back to block low, and then when your opponent can perform either a low or high attack, input back and then down-back. If they went for a high, you'll block high. If they went for a low, you'll block low. The trick is to recognize the timing of when the opponent can do their highs or lows, and switching your blocks depending on how long it would take for them to do a low or a high attack.
Frame Trap Allowing small gaps in your attack patterns so that an opponent can *attempt* a counterattack, but if they do they will be counter hit.
Guard Cancel Attack GCA During blockstun, input forward, MP, and MK. This will knock the opponent away from you in the middle of their attack. Costs one section/stock of meter, as well as part of the Guard Gauge. Only available in C, A, S, and N-Grooves. The small amount of damage from a GCA can never KO.
Guard Cancel Roll or Counter Roll GCR/CR During blockstun, input forward or backward and LP and LK to do an invincible roll, useful for escaping pressure. Only available in N-Groove, costs one stock.
Guard Crush Happens when then the guard gauge reaches 0 from blocking too many moves in a short time. The character will reel back, and will be vulnerable for about 1 second.
Instant Air Reversal IAR A move that is off the ground on frame 1. These moves allow the defender to get hit into an aerial reel if the attack does a meaty attack, possibly causing an advantageous situation. Also if they are special moves, the resulting roll cancel cannot be thrown out of startup.
Instant Overhead IOH A move that hits high on the first frame or very quickly soon after. Mostly done by immediately doing a quick air normal like Kyo's jumping LK immediately after leaving the ground via jump or short hop. Pretty much impossible to react to, requiring a read in order to block. Instant overheads can leave the attacker wide open, since they performed their IOH on the way up from their jump, meaning they will be vulnerable on the way down after recovery. Because of this, instant overheads are usually best used to finish off a character with low health.
Just Defense JD Refers to blocking a move "just" before it connects. Also known as instant blocking. This results in shorter blockstun, fills your super meter a bit, and a very small health gain. Only available in K-Groove.
Kara Cancel KC Canceling the first few frames of a normal move into a special move. This can allow for extra range or increased meter gain. Commonly denoted by a "~" in notation.
Knocked Down KD The term referring to the state a character is in when they are knocked down onto the ground, usually from a sweep or other move. Untechable knockdowns allow for okizeme.
Link The act of performing a move after another move finishes recovering, fast enough so that the second move will combo after the first one. Not the same as canceling, since linking requires one attack to finish recovering before another can be performed. Links are how most combos are done in CVS2 outside of special or super canceling. They are difficult at times, but important to learn.
Low Jump/Short Hop/Hop A short jump that is done by tapping up, up back, or up forward briefly, like in the KOF series. Available only in P, S, N, and K-Grooves. Has additional landing lag when a move is performed in air. Cannot perform specials, supers, parry, air block, or just defense while hopping.
Low Profile Refers to when a move allows the character to duck under the hitbox of another move.
Meaty Attempting to hit an opponent with a move on the very first frame after they finish getting up from the ground/recovering from an aerial reel. A core part of okizeme, meaties can also allow for less recovery when connecting on the last few active frames of an attack.
Milkman Nickname for M.Bison/Vega/Dictator in his white alternate color.
Negative Edge When special and super move inputs register on the RELEASE of a button.
One Character Victory OCV In team based fighters, beating an opponent's entire team with your first character. Obviously, every victory by a Ratio 4 is an OCV, but that's kinda cheating.
Okey-Doke Called "boppa" in Japan, this is using invincible supers without confirming that they will be successful, a very high-risk action. Most common in K-Groove where the supers are "use it or lose it", when the super is safe from punishment, or when a custom combo allows for additional safe mixups.
Oki/Okizeme Literally in Japanese "get up attack". Refers to pressuring an opponent while they are getting up from being knocked down.
Option Selects OS Inputting a command that will be read multiple ways by the game depending on the situation, preferably resulting in positive outcomes over several different opponent reactions. The simplest situation in CvS2 that is an option select is the one button throws. With Iori, he can throw with forward and HP. If the opponent tries to avoid the throw by jumping, they are unthrowable, and pressing towards and heavy punch won't attempt the throw, he does his close range fierce, which is a pretty good anti air and is safe on block.
Original Combo (JPN)/ Custom Combo (USA) OC/CC The term for A-groove activation combos.
Paint The Fence PTF A nickname for M.Bison's/Vega's/Dictator's custom combo where he "paints" an opponent with repeated Psycho Vanish moves.
Poking The act of reaching out and attempting to hit the opponent with long range, low risk moves in the neutral game. Often used to test reactions or judge distance.
Priority A move having better chances to hit than others Colloquialism, used before hitboxes and hurtboxes were really well understood. Now you could say moves with bigger hitboxes than hurtboxes have high "priority".
Raging Demon (US) or Shun-Goku-Satsu (JPN). RD or SGS Akuma's/Gouki's Level 3 Grab Super, done by inputting LP LP forward LK HP. Also used to describe any similar supers with rapid button inputs (Morrigan's Darkness Illusion).
Reversal Performing a move (preferably an invincible one) directly out of a recovery state, like on wakeup or after recovering from blockstun.
Roll Cancel RC To cancel a roll (LP+LK) with a special move within the first 3 frames. Converts the invincibility from the roll onto the special move.
Roll Super An invincible, roll-canceled super.
Rushdown An aggressive style of play focusing on getting up close to an opponent and pressuring them with normals in order to open them up for damage.
"Save That Shit for Nationals" STSFN Keeping important tactics to yourself until you need it to win a big tournament.
Rush That Shit Down RTSD Overly aggressive gameplay, another form of rushdown.
Setplay AKA "Setup Playstyle". Upon a desirable result such as a knockdown, this playstyle revolves around setting up okizeme and making the opponent guess on which way to block. If they guess wrong, another knockdown will happen, and the cycle continues.
ShoSho Nickname for Sakura's custom combo with repeated Sho-oh-kens.
Special Cancel Otherwise known as "two in one", this is the act of canceling the active frames of a normal move into a special move. Only certain moves can be special cancelled. Only moves on hit or block can be special cancelled. Cancelling is commonly denoted by "x" or "xx" in notations.
Spinning Pile Driver SPD Zangief's special throw performed with a 360+P motion Also used to refer to any 360 command grab special move.
Super Freeze The amount of time "frozen" after a super flash occurs. Between 3 and 7 frames.
Tech Roll AKA "Safe Fall", it's a quick getup roll after being knocked down. Vulnerable at the end, like normal rolls. Available to A, N, and K-Grooves.
Tick Throw The act of throwing an opponent after doing a quick, low blockstun move like a crouching LP or LK.
Tiger Knee TK Named after Sagat's Tiger Knee special move, this is when an aerial special move is performed as soon as possible upon leaving the ground, often by doing the special move input on the ground and tacking on an upward input to jump at the end. The term refers to both attacks done this way and the input itself. For example, an aerial special move done with a QCF+P input can be done as down, down forward, forward, up forward + punch. If done right, the move will be performed as soon as you leave the ground.
Trip Guard The ability to block low upon landing from a jump. If you do not perform a move in the air, you can block low immediately upon landing. This is called "keeping your trip guard". If you attacked, you can be hit with a low upon landing due to landing recovery.
Turtle Overly defensive gameplay. The opposite of rushdown, with the goal of frustrating your opponent so that they will make a mistake or waiting out the timer.
Wakeup The situation of recovering from being knocked down.
Zoning Keeping the opponent at a distance with long range attacks and projectiles. A staple of turtle gameplay.

CvS2 Wiki Navigation

General
Controls
Notation
HUD
Glossary
System
Roll Cancel
Combo
CvS2 Versions
Netplay/ Training
FAQ
Grooves
Groove Overview
Groove Subsystems
C-Groove
A-Groove
P-Groove
S-Groove
N-Groove
K-Groove
Capcom Characters
Akuma (Gouki)
Balrog (Boxer)
Blanka
Cammy
Chun-Li
Dan
Dhalsim
Eagle
E.Honda
Guile
Ken
Kyosuke
Maki
M. Bison (Dictator)
Morrigan
Rolento
Ryu
Sagat
Sakura
Vega (Claw)
Yun
Zangief
SNK Characters
Athena
Benimaru
Chang
Geese
Haohmaru
Hibiki
Iori
Joe
Kim
King
Kyo
Mai
Nakoruru
Raiden
Rock
Rugal
Ryo
Terry
Todo
Vice
Yamazaki
Yuri
Boss Characters
Shin Akuma
Ultimate Rugal
Evil Ryu
Orochi Iori