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Understanding input leniency in Street Fighter 4

Guide last updated on
January 11, 2010 at 3:14 a.m. PST


Adon: Super Street Fighter 4 Character Guide

Original guide written by D3v, slight edits by EventHubs.com staff


While the popular belief is that there are a set number of shortcuts for each move type, what's happening is that there is "input leniency" for some motions. This means that you don't need to hit the exact inputs for some of the special moves to execute.

Listed below are the inputs that Street Fighter 4 requires to pull off some special moves.

Note that all commands within parentheses "( )" mean that any variation of that input is acceptable, i.e. — (Joystick) means that any forward, be it forward, up-forward or down-forward will work.

Dragon Punch (Shoryuken) motion:
(Joystick)(Joystick)(Joystick) Joystick Joystick — in other words, any forward, any down and any forward + punch will trigger the move. This is why you can hit Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick and get a Tiger Uppercut with Sagat without having to stand up.

Quarter-circle Forward (or Back) motions:
Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick — no leniency.

Half-circle motion:
(Joystick)(Joystick) Joystick Joystick Joystick — Any back, to any down to forward, which is why Rose can combo crouching medium kick into a Soul Spark.

Chicken Wing/Hooligan Combination motion:
(Joystick)(Joystick)(Joystick)(Joystick) Joystick Joystick — Can get some crazy inputs with this, but your move will still come out because of how input leniency works in the game.

Flash Kick move:
Charge (Joystick)(Joystick) Joystick Joystick — Down-up charge moves have always been this way and the article author believes that is probably where the Street Fighter development team got the concept of input leniency from.

Sonic Boom move:
Charge (Joystick) Joystick Joystick Joystick or Joystick — Unlike down-up charge moves, a Sonic Boom requires that you hit only Joystick to complete the motion.


Comments

Default avatar
Raius1 said on March 18, 2010 at 10:06 p.m.

Don't mash, and you won't have problems. I kept popping out random SRKs. Sure enough, even though I though I wasn't, I was over executing when I had someone watch my hands. Retrained my self not to touch the edge of the joystick ring, and lo and behold, no more randoms. And there's always been shortcuts. Third Strike had tons. Nobody whined like this back then.

#1
Default avatar
SuperNihilarian said on March 21, 2010 at 12:28 a.m.

It seems they failed to mention the best shortcut of all in my opinion. Downback to forward=hcf and downforward to back=hcb. U can use these to spam out ultras for the trials a lot easier than qcf cus you just throw the stick back and forward real fast. Helps with a lot of hard trials.

#2
Default avatar
SuperNihilarian said on March 21, 2010 at 12:42 a.m.

It seems they failed to mention the best shortcut of all in my opinion. Downback to forward=hcf and downforward to back=hcb. U can use these to spam out ultras for the trials a lot easier than qcf cus you just throw the stick back and forward real fast. Helps with a lot of hard trials. In response to the old school people who are bitching about shortcuts. 15 years ago sf wasn't nearly as complex and didn't have any fadc sh@t. These shortcuts just add to the complexity and don't make it any less of a game.

#3
Default avatar
7331Squall_Leonhart said on March 21, 2010 at 7:35 p.m.

There is also Another trick similar to the Sonic Boom Move stuff...

It's done with Characters Supers and Ultras activated by the Charge Back > Forward > Back > Forward > Button (Either one or three punch or kick), like Chun-Li, Balrog, or Blanka.

The first three directional inputs can be done pressing diagonals instead.

Since i'm a noob I don't know if it helps in a Professional Fight, but remember that, like the Sonic Boom Move, the last input is not optional and MUST be pressed without diagonals...

What I mean is: The move would be, for example, to execute Chun-Li's Hosenka, Charge (Back)~(Forward)~(Back)~Forward + KKK

#4
Moosh's avatar
Moosh said on September 3, 2010 at 10:27 p.m.

My main problem with the shortcut system as Gouken is getting Kongoshins while crouching and blocking and attempting to do normals. All I want is a jab or something, but apparently the game frequently reads me as pressing down-back twice, which, thanks to input "leniency" allows this to pass for a SRK motion.

#5
Ixion's avatar
Ixion said on October 2, 2010 at 3:22 p.m.

Input shortcuts should be removed from the face of the Earth.

#6
Default avatar
shadow050 said on October 7, 2010 at 9:32 a.m.

leinecy screws up some of my flying barcelona attacks, in exchange for scarlet terror... whenever it does i'm pissed lol.

#7
Mmneggs's avatar
Mmneggs said on August 1, 2011 at 7:03 a.m.

i think that capcom needs to implement an input leniency that the player can set to their own setting, going all the way down to 0 leniency and no more than the default that it it currently at. atm i play on a pad and have a hell of a time canceling crouching punches into shouryken motions. most of the time it reads as a hadouken motion or a double hadouken, makes me unintentionally burn my super... its rather frustrating

#8
Default avatar
bluesman461 said on June 25, 2012 at 3:45 p.m.

Easy inputs have gotten to the point of having a negative effect. I agree they should have been made easier, but now you have to be too cautious.

#9
Default avatar
jimmyeatsquaids said on July 5, 2012 at 6:06 a.m.

I think the first street fighter didn't have input leniency and there it was very hard to get the motions to work...daigo himself said he couldn't even throw a hadouken...so input leniency is and will always be important...sure sometimes, this does have a negative effect...all I can say is, learn your character and try to do something different if you're keep getting special moves you didn't mean to do.

#10


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