Frame Data
It's time to talk about frame data. I know I know, nobody wants to learn frame data but you have to learn it to improve. Frames are a unit of time. Most fighting games run at 60 frames per second. If an attack takes 300 frames to recover that means it took 5 real life seconds to recover. If an attack is active for 10 frames that means it's active for 1/6th of a second.
Fighting games are about taking turns. Frame advantage and frame disadvantage refer to whose turn it is. I do an attack and when it hits it's my turn, I'm at a frame advantage and can move again before my opponent. I do an attack and when it's blocked it's my opponent's turn, I'm at a frame disadvantage and my opponent can move before me. If an attack is +5 on hit, it means the player can move 5 frames before their opponent. Even means the characters are at 0 and neither character has a frame advantage or disadvantage.
In 2D fighting games, the fastest normal attacks hit around the 3rd, 4th, or 5th frame. In 3D fighting games, the fastest normal attacks hit around the 10th frame.
Your character has attacks that are advantageous on block. These attacks usually have very short range and are your reward for getting very close to your opponent. This boxer was able to move five times in a row before his opponent got a turn. He used an attack that was plus on block five times.
Pushback is what keeps fighting games from being just about turns. When attacks connect, distance is created between the two characters. After a few blocked attacks, the characters are too far away for plus on block attacks to reach.
Frame Data Notation
There are three parts of an attack. Startup, active, and recovery.
Startup is how many frames it takes an attack to come out. Like you're beginning to extend your arm because you're going to punch someone.
Active is how many frames the hitbox of the attack stays out. Like how long your fist stays fully extended during a punch.
Recovery is how many frames it takes before the character returns to neutral. Like you're returning your arm to your body after a completed punch.
In this example: the yellow frames are the startup frames, red frames are the active frames, and the green frames are the recovery frames.
Learning frame data is confusing because the fighting game community uses multiple frame data notations, doesn't clearly label which notation is being used, and sometimes even mixes notations together.
In Legacy Frame Data Notation the first active frame hits after the last startup frame. If an attack has 7 frames of startup, it hits on the 8th frame.
In Modern Frame Data Notation the first active frame is included with the last startup frame. If an attack has 7 frames of startup, it hits on the 7th frame.
It's so confusing to newcomers! Players never specifiy which notation they're using and sometimes the same community uses different notations for the same game! The English community will use one notation and the Japanese community will use another! Can all the leaders of the fighting game community come together and decide on a notation or invent a new one? Confusing frame data notation has scared countless newcomers away from the genre.
Do me a favor and refer to when attacks hit and not how many startup frames they have.
Say...
This attack hits on the 8th frame.
This attack is i8.
Instead of...
This attack has 8 frames of startup.
This attack is 8f.
This attack starts up in 8 frames.
Frame Advantage & Disadvantage
Frame advantage and disadvantage influence who gets to move first, what attacks can be used without being interrupted, and which attacks are unsafe if blocked. Here's how I'll show frame advantage and disadvantage. I will hold the up direction on both controllers and the characters jump as soon as they can.
Sasquatch’s crouching light punch is +5 on block. Sasquatch jumps 5 frames before B. B. Hood does.
Sasquatch’s typhoon kick is -15 on block. She jumps 15 frames before him.
Sasquatch’s typhoon kick is so disadvantagous at -15 it is considered unsafe on block. B. B. Hood has attacks that are faster than 15 frames. While he is still recovering from the attack, she can startup an attack and hit him before he can return to neutral and block.
Frame data only matters if the characters can reach each other. Sasquatch can safe space his unsafe attack by performing it from farther away. It's still -15 on block but B. B. Hood can't punish it because she's too far away.
Frame Data in Footsies
Frame data does not determine everything. Range still decides what options are available. Let's look at how frame data affects footsies.
This is Ryu and his uglier counterpart Evil Ryu. They have almost identical ranges on their atttacks but different speeds. Ryu's crouching medium kick hits on the 5th frame and Evil's crouching medium kick hits on the 7th frame.
Those 2 frames don't seem important but they give Ryu an advantage in footsies. Evil never wants to be in crouching medium kick range because Ryu will interrupt him every time. Evil will have to fight inside or outside that range.
In fact, if Ryu is at -2 or Evil is at +2 and they're in crouching medium kick range, Evil is still not in a favorable situation. It's considered a neutral position despite what the frame data says.
Here's another example of how range interacts with frame data and the mind games that comes with it from both players. Zangief has some long range attacks and Ken has shorter ranged attacks. Zangief's medium kick is -3 on block and he's at a frame disadvantage. After pushback, the characters are far from each other and the only attack Ken has that reaches is crouching heavy kick.
Despite being at a frame disadvantage, this not a bad range for Zangief. He has fast long range attacks from this range. Ken's crouching heavy kick is so slow that Zangief can interrupt it even at a frame disadvantage. Zangief uses crouching light punch to interrupt.
Ken has options too. He can interrupt Zangief's crouching light punch with crouching medium punch. Ken's attack is normally slower than Zangief's but because he is at a frame advantage his attack comes out first.
If Zangief predicts this, he can let crouching medium punch whiff and whiff punish it with a slow or delayed attack.
I'll stop here before it starts getting complicated. But you can already start seeing it's becoming a mind game within a mind game within a mind game. That's what fighting games are all about.
Never forget the options you have. You may be at a frame disadvantage but if you're left in a range where your attacks are faster than your opponent's, you're not really in an unfavorable situation. If your attack is unsafe but your opponent is too far away to punish, you're not really in an unfavorable situation either.
Block Punishment Exercise
The input buffer is a window where the game accepts inputs for an action to be executed at a later time. If you're in blockstun and you want your attack to immediately startup when you return to neutral, you don't have to wait until you've entered neutral to input the attack. There is an input buffer window during the final frames of blockstun that "stores" inputs for you and executes them when your character is able to. You need to take advantage of the input buffer window to hit frame perfect block punishes.
Back into training mode. Pick Ken for Player 1 and Nash for Player 2. For all the recordings, have the training dummy dash forward twice, execute the attack, then hold down-back for a second. Then open the menu while still holding down-back. The down-back input is to leave the dummy in crouch block. If the dummy blocks your attack, you are not punishing properly.
Go to Action Recording Settings and record this:
Recording Slot 1: Forward medium kick.
Recording Slot 2: Crouching medium kick.
Recording Slot 3: Heavy punch.
Recording Slot 4: LP Sonic Boom. (down, down-forward, forward light punch)
Recording Slot 5: Crouching medium punch to forward medium punch. (Second hit must be stand blocked)
Forward medium kick is -3 on block and is punished with LP Dragon Punch (forward, down, down-forward light punch), which hits on the 3rd frame.
Crouching medium kick is -4 on block and is punished with crouching light punch, which hits on the 4th frame.
Heavy punch is -5 on block and is punished with back medium punch, which hits on the 5th frame.
LP Sonic Boom is -6 on block and is punished with crouching medium punch, which hits on the 6th frame.
Crouching medium punch to forward medium punch is -7 on block and is punished with medium punch, which hits on the 7th frame.
Try one Recording Slot at a time then turn all 5 on when you're comfortable.
After you're comfortable with that, convert those block punishes into more damaging combos.
I'm not in a rush but... let's rushdown to the next page.
