Practical Use Cases for Motion Inputs

February 17, 2025 - Published

As fighting games have slowly been introduced to the mainstream, a lot of people have been asking: what's the actual point in having motion inputs? Companies have responded by creating alternative control schemes that are simplified and easier for beginners, but not without backlash. Are these fighting game players just stuck in the past, or is there an actual reason for keeping them? 

While I'm generally against motion inputs in fighting games, I've listened to a lot of discussion around them and feel there are genuine reasons for including them. 

But first, let's go over the basics.

What are motion inputs?

Most games with combat feature multiple attacks you can perform. These attacks can be done in a variety of ways -- maybe having specific buttons dedicated to each attack, maybe using some form of menu system, or maybe combining a directional input with an attack button at the same time. Motion inputs are none of these, and unlike how their name might sound, they are not related to motion controls.

A motion input refers to a series of directional inputs used to perform a special attack. For example, if I rotate the joystick in a circle and then press the attack button, that's referred to as a 360 input. While there are many ways to express these types of inputs, the most popular and universal way is with numpad notation.

If you look at a common numpad, imagine an arcade stick right on the number 5, which is considered "neutral" (no directional input). That makes 8 up, 2 down, 6 right, and 4 left. Since characters face right by default, 6 is usually referred to as "forward" and 4 is referred to as "back."

A "half circle forward" input would be 41236. A "quarter circle forward" input would be 236. A "quarter circle back" input would be 214. You can see how performing these would be motion inputs, because it creates a specific motion with the arcade stick.

As a side note, I will be using "motion inputs" in this article to be synonymous with "charge inputs," since they're lumped together for this particular subject. A charge input is usually holding one direction, then pressing a different direction and an attack button at the same time. If you held down 4 for a second, then suddenly pressed 6 and the attack button A at the same time, then that input would be [4]6A.

With all that in mind, why would you add these to a fighting game?

#1: To increase the number of attacks

Most modern fighting games only have 3-6 attack buttons (e.g. 3 face buttons for attacks and one button for a shield, or all 4 face buttons and 2 shoulder buttons for light/medium/heavy punches and kicks). While having 6 attack buttons is certainly higher than most combat games, having 6 attacks total is actually rather low for a fighting game. In order to maximize these buttons, using unique inputs like motion inputs can help expand the movelist, which may be more desirable than something like attack menus which would be unfitting for a real-time action game.

This is the most straightforward reason, but to me, it's also the weakest, since there are many ways to expand the movelist.

Tekken is the easiest example -- while it definitely has motion inputs, about 90% of each character's movelist does not include motion inputs, and these are dozens of moves. If the attack buttons are A, B, C, and D (yes I know this isn't Tekken notation but we're trying to stay consistent here), then you can do A+B, A+C, A+D, B+C, B+D, etc. Adding directional inputs, we can do 6+A, 3+A, 4+A, 2+A+B, 3+C+D, etc. Once you include crouching attacks, while-standing attacks, and even sidestep attacks, you could easily reach 100 moves without ever making a single motion input.

However, this concept of expanding the moveset lends itself better to a different point.

#2: To create recognizable inputs to fighting game players

What's the fireball input? If you're a fighting game player, you know that's 236A.

What's 623A? If you're a fighting game player, you know that's a shoryuken input.

However, if I asked someone "What's 4B?" then the answer would be "I don't know, depends on the character and game."

Fighting game inputs are so ingrained in the FGC's consciousness that I could tell someone to guess what 623C is and they would be able to say, "a heavy shoryuken that's most likely a risky, rising attack meant to counter aerial opponents by having anti-air invincibility," and if they performed that input in any fighting game with any character, there's a good 80% chance that they're correct. This is really impressive for a series of button inputs!

While the Tekken method of combining buttons maximizes the possible button inputs, most of these button inputs only really work within Tekken and would be unrecognizable elsewhere. Meanwhile, having a recognizable motion input means that you're using the collective's fighting game knowledge to help them get an immediate understanding of the game. Yes, it's built on years of tradition and doesn't help outsiders, but this is pretty much completely absent in any other game other than basic things like "A is to jump" or "Left click to shoot," which is very different from "a 360 input is a move only reserved for grapplers who will use a close-ranged grab that deals massive damage, but has a notable whiff animation which makes it very punishable if it misses."

For those outside the FGC consciousness, how would they be affected?

#3: To limit the character's abilities

Now we get to the real juicy stuff. The actual difference between motion inputs and other input types is the fact that it's tied directly to your movement. Since most traditional fighting games use back to block, a forward input would require you to go on the offense. If I had a move like 4B to use while blocking, there wouldn't be much risk involved. However, if there was a move like 623B, then that would be at least 3 frames of vulnerability, one for each directional input.

This isn't a hypothetical! The shoryuken input is often cited as a good example of motion input design because it's a counter that requires you to be vulnerable. Traditional fighters also usually have crouching normals that can function as weaker but more consistent anti-airs, which can be inputted through something like 1B. Since 1 is still a backwards input, you can perform it while blocking. This creates an interesting split-second decision to make purely due to the motion input. While the shoryuken could be a non-motion input like 6B, it would be a lot less risky because that's only 1 frame of guaranteed vulnerability. In other words, the shoryuken is allowed to be more powerful because the motion input makes it riskier.

If you're playing a charge character, you can't walk forward while holding back. If you're playing a Tekken character with a 236 stance, you're forced into a short vulnerability period where you can't block. These inherent drawbacks allow the moves to be stronger without falling back on more traditional methods like simply adding startup or recovery frames. 

Why not just add a set amount of startup vulnerability?

#4: To create character mastery

I said that the 623B input could be done in 3 frames, but that would be frame perfect. What if you created scenarios where the decision-making came down to doing the input as fast as possible?

One of the most difficult techniques in Tekken is the "perfect Electric," where you input a 6523 input as fast as possible. Each of those inputs has to be completely frame perfect, and results in a frame 14 combo starter, the fastest standing normal-hit launcher in the entire game (to my understanding). This means that if you do a -14 attack on a character like Kazuya, he could put you in a full combo that 95% of the cast wouldn't be able to do at all! However, the prerequisite is that this is really really really hard, so much so that most top players wouldn't even dare to do it in a tournament setting out of fear for messing up. That being said, if you DID land it, you would immediately be treated as a god, which would not happen if the input was just something like 3B.

To a lesser degree, regular motion inputs still create a bridge to mastery in a way that other inputs don't. It's a rite of passage for beginner Street Fighter players to be able to do a Hadouken consistently, and it feels great to be able to climb that difficulty curve! While I could not find a source for this being the actual reason, I have heard a theory that having to master the Hadouken input puts you in the shoes of Ryu trying to master the ability of shooting actual fireballs out of his hands, creating a sort of connection between the player and character. However, I think most people would say we're far past the era of special moves being "special" moves anymore, and since they're basically mandatory now, it can be very frustrating to not have consistent access to a "basic" part of your moveset.

Motion inputs will probably forever be a controversial subject, but I hope that these points help illustrate that motion inputs don't have to just be arbitrary inputs assigned to do an attack. I think that they have no place in games meant to be "simple" fighting games, but I think that the current compromise of having simpler control schemes for beginners with clear downsides in more modern fighting games is pretty good for now.

• Vecderg