Getting into fighting games can be difficult. Not only do you need to learn the ins and outs of various games’ mechanics, but the jargon used by more experienced players can sometimes sound like a totally different language. That said, this huge barrier to entry just got a little easier thanks to a new database from fighting game guru Infil.
Known simply as The Fighting Game Glossary, this website does exactly what it says on the tin by defining and explaining over 600 fighting game-centric terms. But it’s not just words. Oh no, this is a multimedia project, with video examples accompanying many of the entries to help folks gain a deeper understanding of the concepts involved. There are even Japanese translations to facilitate further research outside of the often-cloistered Western perspective.
My favorite part is probably the inclusion of in-jokes that newcomers are also liable to run into. Sure, terms like “unga”—characters or strategies that allow unthinking, relentless offense—and “American reset”—a tongue-in-cheek way to describe a reset performed completely by accident after a failed combo—may not be the most vital parts of the community lexicon, but they’re important to becoming acclimated with the unique culture surrounding fighting game competition.
While this sort of database has been attempted in the past (I was very partial to the IPLAYWINNER glossary when that site was still a thing), Infil and the project’s various collaborators have gone above and beyond here. Check it out if you come across something confusing while playing or watching fighting games in the future. I’ve been intimately familiar with the genre for decades at this point and I’m already learning new stuff from this.
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