Command input

A Command Input in a fighting game is anything that requires a direction or button press or a sequence of direction/button presses in order to execute a move. In most fighting games, five common types of command inputs exist: Button Inputs, Directional Inputs, Motion Inputs, Charge Inputs, and Sequence Inputs.

Button Inputs
A button press is the most basic form of input. Button presses in M.U.G.E.N consist of the 7 buttons a, b, c, x, y, z, and start. In most fighting games, these buttons would refer to LK, MK, HK, LP, MP, HP, and start, respectively.

Directional Inputs
The second of the most basic inputs. Directional inputs, as the name implies, consists of the 8 directions on the D-pad, Joystick, or Numpad (F, DF, D, DB, B, UB, U, or UF). Some people prefer to use numpad notation for directional inputs, with each direction corresponding the each of the number keys on the keyboard's numpad as follows:

7 8 9    UB U UF

4 5 6      B X F

1 2 3    DB D DF

Motion Input
Motion Inputs are a bit more complex than Button Presses, and require usually 2 or more directional inputs combined with one or more button presses. These kinds of inputs are usually reserved for Specials and Supers. The most common Motion inputs are as follows:

Quarter Circle Forward

 * (Denoted as QCF) consists of a directional input sequence of D, DF, and F (236 in numpad notation). Mostly used for projectile specials.

Quarter Circle Backward

 * (Denoted as QCB) consists of a directional input sequence of D, DB, and B (214 in numpad notation).

Dragon Punch

 * (Denoted as DP) consists of a directional input sequence of F, D, and DF (623 in numpad notation). Mostly reserved for Shoryukens and similar uppercut specials.

Reverse Dragon Punch

 * (Denoted as RDP) consists of a directional input sequence of B, D, and DB (421 in numpad notation).

Half Circle Forward

 * (Denoted as HCF) consists of a directional input sequence of B, DB, D, DF, and F (41236 in numpad notation).

Half Circle Backward

 * (Denoted as HCB) consists of a directional input sequence of F, DF, D, DB, and B (63214 in numpad notation).

360 Motion

 * The most complex Motion Input to perform. As the name implies, the command requires a complete 360 degree rotation with the directional inputs (such as B,DB,D,DF,F,UF,U,UB,B, or 412369874 in numpad notation). Most fighting games give the player leeway and allow the player to perform a 270 degree rotation instead (such as B,DB,D,DF,F,UF,U or 4123698 in numpad notation). These motions are usually reserved exclusively for command grabs and grappler characters.

Charge Inputs
First utilized by Guile in Street Fighter 2, Charge Inputs are similar to Motion Inputs in that they require multiple Directional Inputs, the difference being that Charge Inputs require the player to hold a specific direction for a period of time (anywhere from 3/4 of a second to 1 second depending on game) before executing the rest of the command. The most common types of Charge inputs are as follows:

Horizontal Charge

 * Consists of holding B, then pressing F. Sometimes denoted with brackets as [B]F to indicate holding the direction (denoted as [4]6 in numpad notation).

Vertical Charge

 * Consists of holding D, then pressing U. Sometimes denoted with brackets as [D]U to indicate holding the direction (denoted as [2]8 in numpad notation).

Double Horizontal Charge

 * Similar to the Horizontal Charge, this input consists of holding B, then pressing F, B, and F(denoted as [4]646 in numpad notation). This motion is usually reserved for supers.

Delta Charge

 * The most complex Charge Input. Consists of holding DB, then pressing DF,DB, then UF (denoted as [1]319 in numpad notation). This motion is usually reserved for supers.

Sequence Inputs
These are complex command inputs that do not fit into the other categories that consist of multiple Directional and Button Inputs. One such example is the Raging Demon, which uses a Sequence Input of LP,LP,F,LK,HP (xx6az in numpad notation).