# Glossary of Game Jargon



## Chamcham Trigger (Mar 11, 2007)

*Glossary-*
*1CC: * 
*Alternate Name(s):* All complete, one credit complete, SCC, Single Credit Clear
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups, Fighting games, Gun peripheral shooters, puzzle games....generally any game that uses credits.
*Definition:* Short for "one-credit completion" or "one-credit clear" (abbreviated "1CC") which refers to a player's having managed to complete all stages (one loop or more) of an arcade game without losing all of her/his lives, thus not needing to continue at all. Often used as a verb, i.e. "I managed to one-credit R-Type for the first time yesterday".  This term is mostly used for shmups, but is sometimes (albeit rarely) used for other games other than shmups like fighters and puzzle games.  

*2 in one:*
*Alternate name(s):* N/A (Suggestions are welcome)
*Associated Genre(s):* Fighting games
*Definition:* A type of combo which includes stringing a normal attack into a special movie (i.e shoto (read *shoto*) classic fierce punch into Dragon Punch, or low short into dragon punch combo is considered a 2 in one).  There's a video "ode to the 2 in one" which elaborates on this idea.

*Active Frames*
*Alternate Name(s):* N/A
*Genre(s):* Fighting games (Beat 'em Ups?)
Definition - The animation frames of a move, after the start up frames, in which, the move becomes capable of hitting the opponent.

*Active Time Battle:*
*Alternate name(s):* ATB
*Associated Genre(s):* Console RPG
*Definition:*  Usually associated with Final Fantasy games (starting from 4 but also seen in Chrono Trigger, and altered for other unrelated RPGs including Grandia), the active time battle is an alternative battle system which uses a gauge (either seen or unseen) to determine a character's turn to act.  The gauge speed is determined by many factors including, but not limited to, the stats of the character as well as (in later games) the move used and has been tweaked a lot to further exploit this in successive games (including lengthening or shrinking the gauge in Final Fantasy X-2).  Status ailments such as slow, and the situation that you're in at the start of the battle (surrounded, back attack, first strike etc) can also affect the gauge, though ailments usually have a more longterm effect on the battle when unchecked.  There are usually two different ways to play this in the Square (Enix) versions which are active and wait.  Active keeps the gauges moving while you are selecting spells/techs, and items, while wait pauses gauges while you are doing such things.  

*AGGRO * 
*Alternative Name(s):*( Sometimes referred to as HATE or Threat)
*Associated Genre(s):*- MMORPGS
*Definition* -  lang terms for the internal measures in MMORPGs that determine whether a non-playing character (NPC) will attack a playing character (PC). The game keeps track of several quantities in calculating hate, such as:

 * How much damage has been done to the mob by the player.

    * Debuffs placed on the mob by the player.

    * Heals to other players or NPCs (such as pets) who are attacking the mob.


Aggro may also be used as an indicator - "We're getting aggro" would mean that the player or party of players is being attacked by aggressive NPCs. To "aggro" an enemy character is to attract its attention - this can be done by using a long distance attack, drawing an individual character away from a group

*Auto Guard:*
*Alternate Name(s):* Auto Block (only related to definition 1)
*Associated Genre(s):* Fighting games
*Definition:*
1.) The ability to block without needing to input a command.  Some fighting games have this as a default feature (keeping the controller in neutral for Tekken games), while others have settings or modes to make this feature possible (such as easy mode and X-ism in the Street Fighter Alpha series).  This feature usually works with high blocking only, but some games have it for low blocking as well.

1.) An built-in feature for various fighting game characters that originates from the King Of Fighters series. Moves with autoguard have a specific set of animation frames, during which any move that comes in contact with the character is automatically blocked: this is different from regular move invincibility in that autoguard usually nullifies any move that comes in contact with it during its duration by blocking it and thus renders it harmless, while moves with invincibility might run out of invincibility while the attack is still able to connect with the character, causing the character to get hit regardless.

As a tradeoff, moves with autoguard are often slowed down when they block enemy attacks, allowing the other character to avoid getting hit by them if the move they use to trigger the autoguard is fast enough. Moves with autoguard are most effective at going through projectiles due to the fact that projectiles usually hit only once and it's relatively easy to time the move with autoguard animation frames so that they're active during the point of impact with the projectile. Some Super Moves also have this feature, and the length of the autoguard animation frame might be exceptionally long for them, in some cases even several seconds.  Some auto guard moves to have characters receiving damage while the move is in motion, though those types usually don't have slowed down animation when hits connect.

*Balance:*
*Alternative Name(s):*
*Associated Genre(s):* Almost every game can be considered to have some form of balance in it.
*Definition:*
A term (derived from "balance of power") used to describe the overall cast of a particular game, specifically referring to whether or not certain characters are inherently stronger or weaker than others. The term is most often used for fighting games, but can actually be used with almost any genre.  "Good balance" or "well-balanced" refers to when most, if not all, of the characters in a game are on generally even footing and usefulness with one another when all of their parameters are considered. The larger the cast, the more difficult it becomes to maintain good balance (MVC2 being a great example of this difficulty).

*ATB:*
*Definition:* (See *Active Time Battle*)

*Back Dash:*
*Alternative Name(s):* N/A
*Associated Genre(s):* Fighter, run 'n gun
*Definition:*
A technique usually associated with fighting games where the player can quickly backup; usually by jumping back, or running back.  Back Dashes serve many purposes, usually for poking and zoning tactics by creating the correct distance along with normal dashes (see *Dash* and *Forward Dash*), as well as sometimes being used for escaping.  Depending on the game, a back dash can have the extra advantage of having invincibility frames to help with the escape aspect as well as setting up an attack bait in order to counter such as in the Guilty Gear series.  

*Bait*
*Alternative name(s):* Faking 
*Associated Genre(s):* Fighting games, sports games (if you make a stretch)
*Definition:*
Baiting is the art of doing a move in order to get your opponent to react in a certain way, then punishing their reaction.  A basic example for a fighting game would be the classic Street Fighter 2 Hadouken Shoryuken trap where you throw a fireball for the opponent to jump and hit them with a dragon punch while they're in the air.  To purposefully *whiff* a move is another way to bait an opponent, though it's risky at times.  In sports games an example would be a pump fake.  

*Base Point Value*
*Alternative name(s):* N/A
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups
*Definition:*
Term normally related to shmups that have some kind of multiplier associated with their scoring system; it refers to the "basic" amount of points that an enemy is worth when shot down without being affected by a multiplier or any other system that affects scoring.

*Blast-'em-Up:*
*Alternative name(s):* N/A
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups
*Definition:*
Term used to describe a shmup, which generally does not include any type of scoring system beyond shooting enemies and perhaps collecting set-amount score items. Generally not played "for score", but instead with the exclusive goal of a one-credit in mind.  This was usually associated with some older shooters as later shooters started to focus on points as well as one credit play throughs.

*Block Stun*
*Alternate Name(s):*N/A 
*Genre(s):* Fighting, Beat 'em Ups(?)
Definition - The amount of time, calculated in frames, in which a character is put into a state of "stun" in which they cannot perform any action, upon blocking an opponents attack. 

*Bomb:* 
*Alternative name(s):* Bomber, insurance, smart bomb, nuke, mega crush
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups, (some) action games
*Definition:*
1)A special weapon available in limited numbers or at limited intervals, which causes large amounts of damage, covers a wide area, or both. In many cases also cancels bullets and/or gives your ship an invincibility window while it's activated. A particularly powerful bomb which automatically damages or destroys every enemy onscreen is sometimes called a "smart bomb," "nuke," or "mega crush." Items which can be collected to add spare bombs to a player's stock are often called "bomb(er) icons."

2) A weapon which drops to the ground and explodes to attack enemies there, most commonly featured in horizontal shmups.

3) A technique that is used to clear part of or the entire screen.  Usually wastes life, consumables or a meter with each usage.  Sometimes is only usable once per life/continue unless extra icons are available.


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## Chamcham Trigger (Mar 11, 2007)

*Bomb Delay:*
*Alternative name(s):* waiting period
*Associated Genre(s):*Shmups
*Definition:*
In some shmups, a small amount of "setup time" or "lag" that occurs between the instant a player pushes the bomb-activation button and the moment when the "bomb" action actually occurs onscreen. An excessive bomb delay can more or less limit the bomb to purely pre-planned, offensive use, since a last-second defensive utilization to prevent being shot down is rendered all but impossible, due to the delays enabling a close-range threatening bullet to sneak in and hit the player during the "window" between the command and the action.

*Bomb icon* (also known as bomber icon): see *Bomb*

*Bomb Stock:*
*Alternative name(s):* Stock
*Associated Genre(s):*Shmups
*Definition:*
1) The maximum or default amount of bombs that a player can hold in reserve at one time: many times this amount is set in stone for the duration of a game, but in other cases it can either be increased through certain gameplay actions or adjusted in an Options menu. Important to note, since in most (though not all) shmups if a player is shot down he will have his bombs restocked to their default number, even if he has more (or less) bombs than that in stock upon being shot down.

2) More casually, refers to the number of bombs a player possesses at a given time, whether the stock is at maximum/defaults or not.

*Boss Timer:* 
*Alternate name(s):*  Boss Counter
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups
*Definition:* 
A countdown timer which appears during boss battles in some shmups: once it reaches zero, the boss will automatically usually either escape or self-destruct (or some other such action), quickly ending the battle. Used to limit milking of the boss by the player. Some shmups feature invisible boss timers, and as such the player cannot tell when a boss fight will automatically end without prior experience; further discouraging milking and/or forcing players to memorize the time limit by experimenting.  

*Bot(s)*:
*Alternate name(s)*: robot(generally never used)
*Associated genre(s)*: can be used in most genres but mostly seen in FPS
*Defenition(s)*:
Bots are computer controlled characters in a game used to substitute for human players in a multi-player game.  They can be either opponents or allies.  Bots are programmed to act as close to a human opponent as possible and often need to be programmed specifically for the map they play in.  In ealry gaming Bots could also refer to a human player who was using a cheat program to gain an advantage, such cheat programs could include full control by the computer which would almost never miss or auto aim which would allow the user to control the movement of their character but would auto-matically lock on to opponents meaning the player would never miss.

*Button Masher:*
*Alternative name(s):* Button basher...scrub (?)
*Associated genre(s):* Various genres can fall under this category, but the most associated genres are Fighting games, beat em ups, shmups
*Definition:*
Term used to define games which mostly consist of button mashing and not much else, when strategy and technique is considered.  This term varies from the term *"Button Mashing"*, mainly because the player's strategy is forced, to be nothing more than mashing due to the lack of anything else involved in the game.  This term is 100% derogatory when dealing with fighting games due to the main purpose of fighting games being lost to random button pushing making anyone able to win based on who hit the random buttons faster.  When associated with shmups and beat em ups, the connotations can vary.  

*Button Mashing:*
*Alternative name(s):*Button Bashing
*Associated genre(s):* Fighting games, beat em ups, shmups
*Definition:*
Derogative term used to define the way in which inexperienced players play various games, but mostly fighting games. It literally involves the consistent, focused mashing of one or more buttons in a random fashion, with or without random joystick movements.  In shmups, this isn't usually a derogatory term towards the player, but rather a complaint for not having an auto fire button in games made after the mid 90s.  In beat em ups, the term is usually neutral.  

It can also be used to describe what occurs in certain situations where buttons must be mashed to achieve a desirable outcome, such as weapons clashing in Samurai Shodown, rapidly mashing on punch buttons to increase the damage on a Shoryu Cannon performed by Sean of Street Fighter III, mashing on buttons to try to escape from a dizzy state, or an attempt to mash out of certain combos like Magneto's Magnetic Tempest combos in Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

One feature of Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is a mini-game titled "Test Your Might." It required the player to rapidly bash the buttons to keep a green meter above a certain level when the count-down ended.

When a player is intentionally trying to mash more hits from a super, a common technique is to fan or drum the fingers out over the buttons and wave the entire hand back and forth over the buttons.

*Camping*
*Alternate name(s)*: none
*Associated genre(s)*: Mostly FPS but can also refer to MMORPG and Strategy.
*Defenition(s)*:
Camping is to stay in one spot for a long period of time.  This is usually an area highly travelled by all players in a game, thus allowing the camping player to make numerous kills from this area.  In a MMORPG this can also mean to stay in a certain area and allow a quest or NPC(see which) to regenerate so the player can continually defeat the quest or NPC enemy and level up faster.  The most frowned upon form of camping is spawn camping, in which a player stays close to a spot where opposing players are brought back into the game world after a death or when first entering the game.  These spawning players are often vulnerable and easy to kill and in older games players spawn in certain spots with great frequency.  Spawn camping has been combated in more modern games by making newly spawned players invulnerable for a short period of time.

*Canceling*
*Alternative Name(s):* Interrupting, 
*Associated Genre(s):* Fighting games, Beat em ups (to a lesser extent)
*Definition:*
Cancelling is defined as breaking out of a current animation or move by inputing another move that cancels the previous one. Attacks are defined as "cancelable" meaning they have the ability to be canceled (and effectively combed) into a special or super (the act of canceling a special move into a super move is usually called *Super Cancel*). It also sometimes referred to as interrupting. In some games, the move which is used to cancel a previous move usually does less damage than if the move is used alone.

Normal to special move combos are based on canceling a normal attack into a special attack. The King of Fighters and to a lesser extent Street Fighter Alpha are known for having guard cancel techniques that immediately put you out of block stun and allow you to hit your opponent at the cost of some super gauge (Street fighter Alpha calls them *Alpha counters*). The King Of Fighters has a detailed system of evasion and counterattacking based on canceling your blocking animation, the "CD *Guard Cancel*" allows you to knockdown your opponent breaking out of your blocking animation to land a CD attack that does little damage at the cost of 1 power bar (which is even cancelable in some cases and allows you to start combos), while the "Guard Cancel Emergency Evade" allows you to roll both backwards and forward to evade and punish the attacker if you time it when he's doing an attack whose recovery will leave him open after your evasion. Systems like Guilty Gear X, which features the ability to completely *Roman Cancel* any move a character is doing by pressing 3 different attack buttons (except Dust) and spending 50% of your Tension bar (super gauge; 25% bar in the case of *False Roman Cancels* in GGXX and later) -- thus completely eliminating recovery time.

A term exclusive to King of Fighters XI is *Dream Cancel*, where the leader of the team of three, the sole character who can use Leader *Desperation Move*, can cancel a Desperation Move (a 1-stock super move) into a Leader Desperation Move (a 2-stock super move).

Soul Calibur allows players to cancel moves, sometimes stopping the move altogether. This can effectively be used as a form of *baiting*, since canceled moves take little time and can often be followed up by a quick attack.


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## Chamcham Trigger (Mar 11, 2007)

*Chain:*
*Alternative name(s):* (dependent on genre) barrage, blanket, Canned strings, chain combo, dial-a-combo, gatling, precanned strings, (arial) rave, Target combo (note: strings are different from combos but due to years of misunderstandings some terms related to strings have given certain terms ambiguous meanings)
*Associated Genre(s):* Fighting games, Shmups, rhythm and music,
*Definition:*
1. (Fighting Games) A specific type of combo (see combo). These usually involve stringing together a combo consisted of normal attacks (see normal attack) and may or may not end with a special or super move (see special move and super move). The usual convention consists of an order going from weakest to strongest, while some games like melty blood allow for any order to be followed. Certain games have only specific normal moves that can be linked called target combos in Street Fighter 3. The title given to a chain combo can be different depending on the game played. In Street Fighter 3 they're called target combos, in Guilty Gear they are called gatling combos while games like the vs series (see vs series) are called aerial raves for example.

2. (Rhythm and music) Usually consisted of the length of time the player can go without missing a beat. As with other games that use chains for points, the longer the chain, the better.

3. (Shmups) Any of a number of various repeated techniques a player can perform to increase the points awarded for shooting enemies, collecting items, or other things under the right circumstances: the most common varieties involve shooting down many enemies (or enemies of a specific type) quickly in a row, or collecting a certain type of score item many times in a row. Sometimes called "combos".

*Charge Move:*
*Alternative name(s):* Charge command, Charge motion
*Associated genre(s):* Fighting games, RPGs, beat em ups, run n' guns (possibly other genres)
*Definition:* 
A move whose command input involves holding (charging) either a direction on the joystick or button(s) for a brief period of time. This kind of move is most popular in 2D fighters, although it is occasionally seen in 3D fighters (more commonly as a button charge than a joystick charge).  Some beat em ups and run n' guns with command motion add ons use this technique as well, though they usually use command motions more often with this type of innovation.

*Close Quarters Combat:*
*Alternative Name(s):* CQC
*Associated Genre(s):* Metal Gear/Solid, though technically usable in other stealth games like Tenchu, though the techniques used are different.  
*Definition:*
They fighting style Naked Snake and The Boss have developed in their 10 years together in the metal gear series. Like the name suggests it is for fighting at close quarters and usually involves using fisticuffs along with bladed weapons when it is considered more convenient to fight with hands and melee weapons than with a gun. The term is really limited to Metal Gear, but has sometimes been used to describe fighting up close in other stealth games due to how the systems greatly relate and to simplify things with uniformity. Please note that CQC has actual roots in military fighting of the same name.

*Combo:*
*Alternative name(s):* 
*Associated genre(s):* fighting games, shmups, beat em ups, rhythm games, puzzle games, and many other genres to varying degrees
*Definition:*
1. (Fighting games, beat em ups) In traditional 2D fighter terminology, a string of attacks that cannot be blocked if the first hit is not blocked. The word "combo" is also used presently by some 3D fighter fans to describe simply a series of moves which when done in a certain order perform more quickly than when done out of order (also known as a "string").

2. (shmups) usually confused with the *chain* category, it is different in that most combos in shmups are assiciated with point multipliers, which can be affected with how well you use a chaining system (which is where the confusion comes in).  With many modern shmups, the more you're able to combo the higher the point multiplier will go up

3. (other) usually just a blurred meaning with the *chain* definition with little significant differences.  

*Continue Service:*
*Alternative Name(s):* Continue Bonus, Continue roulette  
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups, Fighting games
*Definition:*
 A feature found in some fighers (usually SNK related), shmups (and sometimes even in other genres) which gives players some extra incentive to continue their game after losing all their lives: usually causes lots of extra powerups and the like to appear in order to quickly get the player's craft back up to full strength if the player chooses to continue in shmups, and to give life, damage and/or super meter bonuses/handicaps as well as AI dumb downs in fighting games to give the player an edge when continuing.  

*CQC: *
*Definition:* (See *Close Quarters Combat*)

*DPS*
*Associated Name(s):* 
*Associated Game(s):* MMORPGs
*Definition(s):*
Damage per second.  This is a damage type that is commonly used within MMOs.  Damage per second is the raw damage output of the weapon, divided by the time it takes between 2 strikes.  In other words, a 100 dmg weapon that take 2 seconds between attacks would have a DPS of 50.  DPS is a much more stable way of comparing the damage capabilities between players than simply using the plain damage numbers.

*Enhanced Special Move:* 
*Alternate Name(s):*EX move, Especial move, ES move 
*Associated Genre(s):*Fighting Games
*Definition:*
A special move where attacks can increase in power by using power stored in a super move gauge. Also known as an ESpecial Move, EX Move, or an ES Move.

*Frag*:
*Alternate Name(s)*: Sometimes Gib(see which), Kill
*Associated Genre(s)*: Mostly Multi-player FPSs
*Defenition*:
To make a kill.  Frag derived from the Vietnam war jargon to kill an enemy or be killed by an enemy, possibly derived from fragmentation grenades.  The Frag count keeps track of the number of Frags by killing opposing players, possibly losing frags by dying from a cause other than another player's weapon.

*Frame Advantage*
*Alternate Name(s):* Advantage, Static Difference, SD
*Genre(s):* Fighting games
Definition - The period after a player blocks, or is hit by one of his or her opponents attacks. Calculated by the subtracting remaining frames left on the attackers move by the amount of block or hit stun caused by said move.

Ie - P1 hits P2 with a standing fierce on it's first active frame causing 15 frames of hit stun to P2. With 5 remaining active frames and 8 frames of recovery on P1's attack, that leaves P1 at +2 frame advantage, or a static difference of +2. Meaining there are 2 frames in which P1 may move his character, where P2 cannot act.

In the same scenario, had there been more recovery, less hit stun, or both, it woul leave P1 at a disadvantage, meaning P2 would have x amount of frames to move before P1.


*Gib*
*Aleternate name(s)*: none
*Associated Genre(s)*: Mostly FPS (multiplayer)
*Defenition(s)*:
A Gib  is a kill which completely destroys the model of a player resulting in chunks of flesh flying through the air and leaving no complete corpse.  Gib can also refer to the hunks of flesh resulting from such a kill.  Term was coined for the original FPS games from id software and has migrated to all multi-player FPS games.

Hadoken
Alternative Name(s): Quarter Circle
Associated Genre(s): Fighting Games
Definition - As with most fighting games, after Street Fighter 2 (SF2), the quarter circle forward and either a punch, kick, or a combination of the two would yield some special technique. In the case of ST2, used with a punch and in the forward direction would produce the trademark Hadoken. This D-Pad format can be applied to both directions that the character is facing.

*Head Shot:*
*Alternative Name(s):* Boom head shot(?)
*Associated Genre(s):* FPS (though the action as well as the term has been spread onto many other genres, like stealth games (see *Stealth Games*) like Metal Gear Solid and some third person shooting games (see *third person shooters*) like winback)
*Definition(s):*
A simple term which basically means to shoot someone in the head; usually in first person shooters.  The head shot is one of the hardest achievements to get in said games due to the head being such a small target in the body, thus when one is achieved, either an instant death is achieved, or an instant death is achieved along with added bonuses or praise from an announcer...as well as an ego boost accompanied by the anger of the target.  The phrase has been given more fame by a character named FPS Doug in a series called pure Pwnage (see...*Pwnage*) with his constant yelling of "BOOM HEAD SHOT" whenever he achieved one.


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## Chamcham Trigger (Mar 11, 2007)

*Hitbox: *
*Alternative Name(s):* also Collision Detection, Hit Detection, Hit Area
*Associated Genre(s):* Most genres with action have this in some form or another. 
*Definition:*
*(General)*
The specific area on a character that, when hit, registers damage for said character.  Many games usually have one big hit box covering the character, while others may have multiple hit boxes for sophisticated reasons; usually dealing with elaboration on damage to certain body parts (first person shooters are usually known for dealing damage based on where the enemy is hit with the head (see head shot) usually dealing the most, and usually fatal damage).  Then there may be games with inaccurate hit boxes, either due to inaccurate programming (usually in fighting games), or done purposefully to add an extra dimension to the game play (usually in Shmups).  In most RPGs and strategy games, the hit box is usually based on a general area that is hit rather than a specific body part, with some exceptions being in the Tales and Star Ocean series.  
*(Fighting Game)*
The specific area(s) on a character that are able to be hit to cause damage to said character.  The position(s) of the hit box(es) usually change depending on the action of the player (standing, crouching, jumping, or attacking in any of those states).  Certain moves eliminate the hit boxes for characters during a certain time frame (ie certain special moves' starting frames like a dragon punch in Street Fighter, or beginning frames in certain super moves).  The 
*(Shmups)*
1) The specific area within a shmup's onscreen craft which will register as a "hit" when a shot, or, in some cases, an onscreen obstacle, touches it. In some shmups the hitbox is (or can be made) separately visible from the rest of the craft, while in others the player must rely on experience to know where it is. The term can refer to such areas as they exist within enemy craft, but almost always refers to the player craft.

2) The specific area within a visible shot, usually near the center, which will register as a hit if it touches a craft's hitbox. In most shmups a shot's entire onscreen image serves as its hitbox, but in some, especially certain manic shmups, the edge of a shot can overlap a craft's hitbox and it can still escape without being damaged or destroyed.

For both of the above definitions, it's worth noting that, despite the name, the hitbox does not have to be a perfectly square "box" shape (though it often is); in many cases it is rectangular, circular, or some other kind of shape altogether.

*Hit Stun*
*Alternate Name(s):*N/A 
*Genre(s):* Fighting, Beat 'em Ups
Definition - The amount of time, calculated in frames, in which a character is put into a state of "stun" in which they cannot perform any action, upon being hit by an opponents attack. 

*Meaty*
*Alternate Name(s):* N/A
*Genre(s):* Fighting games (maybe Beat 'em Ups maybe?)
Definition - A move performed against a knocked down opponent, wherein the downed character stands up into the later active frames of the attack, thus gaining extra frame advantage.

Ie - P1 knocks down P2 and puts out a standing fierce punch while P2 is in his standing up animation, causing P1's standing fierce to hit on it's 6th and final active frame, causing 15 frames of hitstun. With only the remaining 8 frames of recovery, that leaves P1 at a +7 frame advantage.

*Mix Up*
*Alternate Name(s):* N/A
*Genre(s):* Fighting
Description - An offensive situation in which a player has access to multiple attack options, all of which must defended in a seperate manner, forcing the defending opponent to have to either guess, or react sharply.

Ie - P1 is left with +10 frame advatage from his previous attack, and closes in on P2 with the option to attack with overhead attack that must be blocked standing, a low attack that must be blocked crouching, or a throw that can't be blocked and must be escaped by either jumping, or performing a throw escape (game specific), or as a generally escape to all of the above, P2 may use an invincible move like a dragon punch or super as a reversal, however those moves generally have long recovery time and can be punished pretty badly if P1 baits the reversal.

*Mod*: 
*Alternate name(s)*: Modification
*Associtated Genre*: Mostly PC Games
*Defenition*:
An aftermarket modification of a game not done by a commercial studio.  Often done by a fan or fan groups.  Mods can go as far as to completely changing the genre of the game with new artwork, new weapons and new gameplay mechanics.  Or they can simply add new maps and campaigns or they can be as simple as changing the character skins.

*Non Playable Character:*
*Definition:* (See *NPC*)

*Noob:*
*Alternative name(s):* n00b, newb, nub. |\|008
*Associated Genre(s):* Primarily FPS, but also in Fighting and MMORPGs, due to the nature of the word it is possible to hear it in genre, all though a general requirement is multiplayer.
*Definition:* Noob is a degrading term usually used as an insult against another player's (or players') skill. Originally short for newbie before the terms gained slightly different meanings (see *newbie*), being called a noob is equivalent to being called a beginner (and hence not accustomed with the game you're playing). Noob, like many nouns, can also be turned into an adjective, noob-ish. Although taunts like "noob" were originally reserved for mistakes that an actual beginner might make, it has subsequently been perversed into the go to insult (short of merely spewing profanities) of many online gaming communities. Nowadays, in order to tell whether noob is being used as a blunt insult or playful taunt one must pay attention to context clues and (or if available) tone of voice.

*Normal move:* 
*Alternative name(s):* Normal attack, normal  
*Associated genre(s):* Fighting games (may pertain to other genres with a bit of a stretch)
*Definition:*
Any attack performed using a single button press, without moving the joystick and usually without being in midair.  It can be stretched to mean the starting weapon in various types of games like run n guns (see run n gun) and shmups (see shmups) with a stretch of the term.      It should be noted that in the two other games stated, depending on where you are, they're usually refered to as pea shooters (seep pea shooters) in the respective games.


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## Chamcham Trigger (Mar 11, 2007)

*NPC*:
*Alternate name(s)*: Non-playable Character, PC player, computer controlled player, Bot(see which)
*Associated genre(s)*: All genres, yet mostly refered to in RPGs
*Defenition(s)*:
A NPC is a character that cannot be played by a human player.  These players are computer controlled and can be opponents, allies, just to add to the atompsphere of the game or they can be there to give you quests or move the story along.  Generally the term is used for characters in an RPG who populate the world but cannot be controlled by the human player.  These NPCs often give the player quests to complete.

*Okizeme*
*Alternate Name(s):* Oki, Wake Up Games
*Genre(s):* Fighting
Definition - Attacking an opponent when getting up from a knockdown state. In general, the goal is to try to keep offensive pressure, or create a mix up situation, while staying safe from reversal moves. Though, not exclusive to attacks, baiting is a large part of okizeme as well. Particularly against characters with good reversal options.

*Recovery Frames*
*Alternate Name(s):* Recovery
*Genre(s):* Fighting games (Beat 'em Ups?)
Definition - The ending animation frames of a move, following the active frames that leave the character in possibly vulnerable position, depending on whether the move hit, was blocked, or whiffed.

*Reversal*
*Alternate Name(s):*N/A
*Genre(s):* Fighting games
Definition - The act of performing a move (typically special move) on the very first frame possible after exiting any condition that disallows movement, ie hitstun, blockstun, or knockdown state. 

The most common example is using an invincible move like a super or a dragon punch when gettng up from a knockdown.

*Rush*
*Associated Name(s):* massing, swarming, zerging
*Associated Game(s):* RTSs and team FPSs
*Definition(s):*
In an RTS, this is an attack that occurs almost immediately against an unprepared opponent who has usually not even built any defenses. The speed of the attack usually prevents any hope of counter-attack. Many games have tried to prevent it with various methods. In FPSs, it is the practice of immediately mass attacking the other team without worry of casualties, to catch them offguard.

*Shmup:* 
*Alternative Name(s):* Shooting game, STG, Shoot em up, vertical shooter, horizontal shooter, vert shooter, horr shooter, yoko, tate, scrolling shooter, japanese scrolling shooter, shooter (this term is usually confused with other genres that use the term shooter like run'n guns and first person shooters (FPS).  Run'n guns have the added confusion of sometimes being considered in the shmup category, though now widely accepted as the "borderline" category (see "*borderline*").
*Associated Genre(s):* see the *"Alernative Name(s)"* section directly above
*Definition:*
(Believed to be started in the UK) Short for "shoot-'em-up." Semi-official classification for video games in which a large amount of shooting is involved, and the gameplay is executed in a 2-dimensional style (though the graphical objects onscreen can be 3-D), and controlled strictly from a third-person perspective. Most shmups automatically scroll the background in a certain direction to create the impression of movement as the player progresses, and involve taking control of a plane spacecraft (as such they are sometimes called "Space Shooters"), or, in some cases, a being, as well as collecting various power-ups (see "*power-ups*"), but there are many, many exceptions to and variation on this. Though some use the term "shooter" by itself to refer to shmups (in Japan, in fact, shmups are usually called "Shooting Games," or "STG's" for short), this sometimes gets them confused with first-person shooters or light gun shooters.

Different gamers have vastly different hard-and-fast definitions of what a "shmup" technically is (or even whether the term "shmup" should be used at all), but the above covers most of the essentials.

*Slowdown:*
*Alternative Name(s):* N/A
*Associated Genre(s):* (mostly found in older consoles, they still exist in a few later gen ones) fighting games, beat em ups, shmups, borderline, run 'n gun, FPS, RPGs, action, adventure, action adventure, light gun, overback.  
*Definition:*
*(General)*
Programming phenomenon, in which all onscreen action slows down and/or the framerate drops when high amounts of separate elements (i.e. enemies, bullets, effects, etc.) appear at once. Can be used to a player's advantage by giving him more time to react to what's going on, but can seriously hamper a game's playability when found in abundance. The amount of slowdown present can be adjusted in some later gen console games via various options dependent on the game and genre. Usually an unintentional/unavoidable "side effect" of software programming and/or hardware limitations, but is sometimes added by developers on purpose to make a game more manageable (like in mega man x7 though that was more of novelty's sake).
*(Shmup)*
In this case, usually presented as two words ("Slow Down"). An ability found in some shmups, which enables the player to deliberately slow his craft's movement speed, to assist in dodging tight and/or slow-moving bullet patterns; sometimes also changes the effect of the weapon the player is firing when in use. A few shmups also contain a built-in "slow down" function which can slow enemies and their attacks similar to bullet time (see "*Bullet Time*"), but utilization of these (bullet time like feature that is) is almost always considered a form of cheating unless the said feature comes with a score bonus feature needed for score attack challenges.

*Start Up Frames*
*Alternate Name(s):*Start Up
*Genre(s):* Fighting games, beat 'em Ups
Definition - The initial, non-hitting frames of animation at the start of any move a player performs. generally vulnerable with the exception of some special and super moves.


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## Chamcham Trigger (Mar 11, 2007)

*Telefrag*:
*Alternate name(s)*: teleportaion frag, spawn frag
*Associated genre(s)*: Multi-player FPS
*Defenition(s)*:
In FPS games which use spawn spots to bring players into the game world or use teleportation portals to move players from one portion of the map to another, in order to prevent glitches programmers made it so that two players could not occupy the same spot at the same time, thus one player is killed often gibbed.  It can either be the player first to the spot or the player teleporting to the spot.  Sometimes this does not effect frag count and in some games it does.  Newer games integrate telefraging into the intended gameplay, such as Unreal Tournament 2004 with its teleportation gun.



*Turtle*
*Associated Name(s):* Porcupine
*Associated Game(s):* RTS, Fighting Games
*Definition(s):*
1. RTS-The exact opposite of a *Rush*.  Instead of building a few units and attacking as soon as possible, the player will instead keep his units within the confines of his base while he gathers resources and researches upgrades.  The main goals of this strategy are to stay alive as long as possible, and to hope that one can build up a sufficiently powerful army by the end of the game for one large strike.  Turtling has its disadvantages however, since it allows the other players to expand their control over the rest of the map and potentially overwhelm the turtling player.

2. Fighting games- 
(For now the definition is from Wiki, but I will eventually personalize the definition) In the world of fighting games, especially those of the 2D variety, a turtle style of play is a defensive style that focuses on patience, positioning, timing, and relatively safe attack options to slow down the pace of the game and minimize the number of punishable mistakes made during the course of the match. This style can be very useful in timed matches, as it allows a player to deal a negligible amount of damage to an opponent, and then win the match by running down the clock. However, it is possible to counteract this by turning off the timer or setting it to infinite in the options or settings menu.

*Vertical Shmup:*
*Alternative name(s):* Top-Down Shmup,  Vertscroller, Vert
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups
*Definition:*

A shmup in which the screen scrolls from top to bottom and the action is seen from above by the player. Sometimes called "top-down shmups," though not all shmups viewed from the "top-down" perspective are vertscrollers.

*Vertizontal:*
*Alternative name(s):*N/A
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups
*Definition:*
1) Term sometimes used to describe a vertical shmup which is designed with a wider 4:3 (*yoko*) ratio playfield instead of  the "traditional" 3:4 (*tate*) vertical ratio, so as to be played exclusively on a yoko screen. Not to be confused with *tateyoko* or panorama mode, or "*ghetto tate*."

2) An additional term for an alternating view shmup.

*Vulcan:* 
*Alternative name(s):*rapid shot, machine gun
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups, Run 'n Guns, 
*Definition:*

Common term for a weapon that is often a craft's default or "main" armament (or subweapons similar to it): generally shoots "regular" bullets straight ahead of the craft, though some "vulcan" weapons have a spread quality to them.

*Wait:*
*Alternative name(s):* N/A
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups
*Definition:*

An option found in some console shmups which allows the player to adjust the amount of slowdown present in the game: when "wait" is turned on, the slowdown, usually as it existed in the game's original arcade manifestation, is present, and when it is off, the slowdown is reduced or eliminated altogether.

*Wall:* 
*Alternative name(s):*
*Associated Genre(s):*
*Definition:*

All-encompassing term for any "neutral" obstacle in a stage (as opposed to actual enemies), usually refers to said obstacles which have the ability to damage your craft if it touches them. This characteristic varies from shmup to shmup (and even from area to area within a single shmup), but regardless the term "wall" is generally used to describe any ceiling, floor, outcropping, or other "foreground" surface or object which your craft can interact with, as opposed to background elements which cannot affect you.

*Wave:*
*Alternative name(s):* Wide shot
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups, Run 'n gun, action adventure
*Definition:*

1) Common term for a type of shmup weapon which covers a wide area with one or more solid, often crescent-shaped, energy beams of some sort.

2) A specific group of enemies (or several) which appears at a certain point in a stage.

3) An enemy bullet formation which forms a tight line or "front" across all or most of the width of the screen, and moves towards the player in a manner similar to the way an ocean wave moves towards shore. Requires precise movement to successfully dodge.

*Whiff*
*Alternate name(s):* miss
*Associated Genre(s):* Fighting games
*Definition:* 
To miss a move completely.  Sometimes whiffing is done intentionally to bait or build up super meter (if the game has super meters).  Certain games have whiff animations for throws, which can be used for the same purposes stated above.

*Wobble Mode:*
*Alternative name(s):*Follow mode, Scroll Mode
*Associated Genre(s):*shmups
*Definition:*

Unofficial but widely-used name for a viewing option available in some vertical shmups, which is set up in similar fashion to letterbox mode, but causes the screen to scroll a limited distance to "follow" the player's movements in either direction, creating a "wobbling" effect when the player moves up and down.

*Wrap-around Scrolling:*
*Alternative name(s):* World mode, infinite scrolling, Flinstones mode
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups, Action, Fighting
*Definition:*

A variation of sorts on the pan feature found in some shmups; in this case, the actual playfield is also larger than the visible area onscreen, but there is no real "edge" of the screen to be reached, since the playfield is actually composed of an infinite, repeating pattern of background area. It's something like moving around the edge of a sphere or cylinder; if you move in one direction long enough, you'll eventually end up back at the point where you started, ad infinitum....Flinstones syndrome.

*Yoko:*
*Alternative name(s):* Widescreen
*Associated Genre(s):* Shmups, many arcade games in general
*Definition:*

A very general term for any viewing mode of a shmup, horizontal or vert, intended to be displayed on a horizontally-oriented screen. Sometimes also called "4:3" mode, since a horizontal screen's area is based on a ratio of 4 (width) to 3 (height), as opposed to the inverted "3:4" ratio of vertical screens. Horizontal shmups as a whole are intended to be played exclusively on a yoko screen; certain vertical ("*vertizontal*") shmups are made the same way. Some verts originally created to play in tate orientation can be played on a yoko screen as well, but with certain limitations (i.e. letterbox mode, panorama mode, etc.) The term "yoko" encompasses all such view modes made to play on a horizontal screen.

The word "yoko" comes from a Japanese adjective which means "horizontal."

*Yo-Yo:* 
*Alternative name(s):* (also Boomerang) 
*Associated Genre(s):*Shmup,Run'nGun, RPG, Action, Adventure, Fighting
*Definition:*

An uncommon type of shmup weapon which launches a projectile (or several), which travels a fixed distance and then returns to the player's craft to be launched again. Often has the ability to pierce enemies and cause damage on both the initial launch and the return trip, but the fire rate is often slow and the player can be easily left open to enemy attack in between shots.

*Zoning:*
*Alternative name(s):*
*Associated genre(s):* Fighting games
*Definition:*
A tactic in 2D fighters usually used at mid-range or far mid-range, the purpose of which is to *out-prioritize* your enemy's moves. The idea is to space yourself so that you are in a position to respond to or punish any entry angle or attack of your opponent's. Ideally, you can use certain *pokes* and attacks to beat your opponent's attacks, punish his advances or jumps, and hopefully shut down his offensive options, while landing hits. In attempting to zone, it is important to know the properties of your own attacks as well as the attacks of your opponent, in order to find the best move to use in countering your opponent's move. The ability to predict your opponent's next move, and having good reflexes to react to that move, are also important.  Street Fighter 3 is an example of a game which is heavily reliant on zoning.


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## Chamcham Trigger (Mar 11, 2007)

Well I've seen some gaming sites in the past try this to varying degrees of success and failure and now I'd like to try my hand at it for fun.  Basically what I want to do is create a sort of guide to gaming terms.  I've thought of only limiting it to fighting game terms, but now I'm thinking we could just try to do as many genres as possible, and I guess it wouldn't be hard to include all if we just follow a simple format:



			
				simple format just said before said:
			
		

> *Gaming term:*  This is where we put the name of the gaming term (cross up, tick, 1CC, camping, ATB, hit box, etc etc)
> *Alternate term:*  This is where you would put any terms that have the same meaning as the main term, but are composed of different words (i.e. a smup can be called a scrolling shooter, or simply a shooter.  Fighting game can be called a fighter or whatever else you've heard).  This alternate term part is optional of course
> *Genre:* The genre this term is usually associated with.  If it's used in multiple genres, then include all of them in the order of importance you think is right
> *Meaning:*  This is where we finally explain the term.  Simple enough right?



*A good amount of terms here were had and slightly edited from  and wikipedia (though not edited enough, so full credit should be given to them).  I'd like go give a lot of credit to the two sites for the encouragement and most of the resources*

*NF CONTRIBUTORS:
slimscane
Kami-Sama
HOOfan_1
Sapwood2
SeruraRenge
Ssj3_Goku
bbq sauce
Proxy
*


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