Inputs

An Input (, lit. "Command Technique") are the "directions" for the use of attacks in fighting games.

All inputs mentioned are meant to be read from the "default" perspective of a right-facing player character, unless noted otherwise. For a left-facing character, simply invert the direction.

Quarter Circle Motions




Quarter Circle Motions (236/214) are performed by moving the stick or pressing the pad in a 90° motion (e.g., , or , ,  as shown above). They are the most commonly used motions in special attack inputs, and appear in the move lists of many different character types.

Dragon Punch Motions




Dragon Punch Motions (623/421) are performed by moving the stick or pressing the direction pad in an 'Z' motion (e.g., , or , ,  as shown above). Dragon Punch Motions are often used for rising anti-air attacks.

Half Circle Motions




Half Circle Motions (41236/63214) are performed by moving the stick or pressing the pad in a 180° motion (e.g., , , , ). The direction varies with the special attack. They appear somewhat less frequently (and especially the diagonal ones), though they appear in fighting styles that are just as varied. These Inputs are usually reserved with Command Grabs, Teleports or Projectiles.

Charge Motions




Charge Motions ([4]6/[2]8) is performed by holding the stick down and/or away from the opponent for at least half a second, and then moving forward and/or up. Charges can be performed mid-combo, depending on when the charge is started. Charges can be performed diagonally as well; holding or  can be followed up by either an upward or forward move, as well as crouch blocking during the charge, and by jumping backwards, allowing charge characters to use their moves using charge inputs as soon as they land. Charging can occur at any point in a round, even including the time before the round starts.

Characters that focus on this style of Inputs are called Charge Characters.

Full Circle Motions




Full Circle Motions (360°) are rare in special attack inputs, and can be performed clockwise or counterclockwise. Characters that use grapple moves may have inputs that use many half-circle and full-circle motions in attack inputs. They are comparatively rare when compared to the above motions, which can be attributed to its relative difficulty.

It should also be stated that Full Circle Motions are non-existent in The King of Fighters series, often using Half Circle Motions instead.

Mashing


Mashing is a type of Button Input that require the player to mash buttons rapidly in order to execute them require the buttons to be pressed at least 4 times; the more the button is tapped, the longer the attack is performed. Moves that require mashing are indicated with this icon.

It should be noted that many Mashing Inputs were changed in The King of Fighters XV.

Holding


Holding is a type of Button Input that require the player to hold a button or holding multiple buttons for a set period of time and then release them, at which point the move is performed. Few attacks use this, such as Chain Drive or Kaiser Wave.

Pretzel Input




Pretzel Input (1632143) is an infamously rare and difficult Input in fighting games. The input is, ,. Moves that require Pretzel Motions are extremely powerful attacks, and are often Reversals.

Pretzel Inputs are exclusively used in the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series.

Shokoken Input




Shokoken Inputs (641236) are performed by holding the stick or pressing the direction pad, then. Shokoken Inputs are usually reserved for powerful projectiles.

Numpad Notation
You may have noticed that there are numbers next to the Inputs. This is called Numpad Notation, which is a way to describe motion inputs by using numbers instead of using words. Each direction is mapped to a number, following the same layout as a keyboard's numpad. For example, holding is "2", and if you wanted to talk about a crouching heavy kick, you'd call it "2D". Or, holding and pressing light punch would be "6A". You can also describe Special Move Inputs this way. For example, a standard Quarter Circle Forward would be 236, and a Dragon Punch motion would be 623. Note that numpad notation always assumes you are facing right; QCF is always 236, no matter which way your character is pointing. Below is a chart showing each direction in Numpad Notation:

Numpad notation can be used for pretty much every game, although the Mortal Kombat and English-speaking Tekken communities use numbers for attack buttons instead of directions in their notation, so be careful of that. In particular, it is preferred among fans of anime fighting games such as the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series since it is language independent, letting people share combo notation and strategies between cultures in ways that saying "QCF" or "DP" can struggle to do. It also lets you describe moves or techniques with difficult inputs (such as the aforementioned Pretzel Input) very precisely, which makes it versatile and succinct.

While the SNK Wiki does not use Numpad Notation for its pages, it is an While some people find it easier to understand notation when English abbreviations are used, there's no denying that numpad notation has some strong advantages. You should be comfortable understanding both methods, especially since it only takes a few minutes to learn.