5 Common Fighting Game Terms All Beginners Need To Know

It helps to know the difference between your overheads and okizemes. Here are some of the common terms you should know!

If you’ve ever tuned in to a stream or video where a fighting game is being played, you may catch some odd-sounding terms being thrown your way. And if you’ve ever been confused, it’s completely understandable since even common fighting game terms can be esoteric at best.

After all, it’s built on the histories and cultures of different players around the world who’ve also played a multitude of fighting games for decades.

So, don’t be intimidated by this if you’re a fresh face interested in getting into fighting games — it isn’t like required reading, anyway. However, they can help bring you a better understanding of what’s happening during a match.

Here are five common fighting game terms that beginners should know.

Neutral

As the name implies, Neutral refers to a state in the match where both players are not actively engaged in fighting. There is usually some distance between players when they are Neutral, giving them room to move around and position themselves.

Think of this as two fighters pacing around each other, eyeing up their opponent, and waiting to see what they’re going to do.

Footsies

Coming from the Neutral state, this term refers to the act of players attempting to control the space in front of them using far-reaching attacks.

Footsies, in essence, are both players engaged in a dance to see who can take the initiative and get an advantage over the other. This can be done in a number of ways, from players shuffling back and forth while whiffing jabs at each other to players constantly throwing projectiles across the screen to see who cracks first.

Wakeup

When a player is knocked down from an attack, they rise up from the ground after a few moments. This Wakeup state makes the rising player invincible until they’re back on their feet but it’s usually a disadvantageous position for them as their opponent can close in and keep applying pressure.

The player isn’t completely helpless in this state, however, and knowing what defensive options they have available during Wakeup is important in turning the tide back in their favor.

Meaty

A really silly-sounding term, but it is one that’s very important in establishing your offense in a fighting game.

A Meaty is an attack that, if timed correctly, will hit an opponent at the very moment they rise up after getting knocked down. This means that the opponent must block as their other options will only result in them getting hit by a Meaty attack. These are powerful, but as we mentioned before, the player on the back foot has options they can use, such as invincible attacks, to reverse the situation.

Okizeme (also known as Oki)

We’ve talked about Wakeups and Meatys, terms that refer to the defensive and offensive options players have during a specific situation. This situation is referred to as Okizeme, or Oki for short.

Meaning “wake up offense” in Japanese, the term mostly focuses on the way an offensive player asserts their advantage on their knocked down opponent. A player who has Oki wants to keep the pressure on their knocked-down opponent but also has to be mindful of what their opponent could do to break their advantage.

There are more common fighting game terms out there, but these basic terms will make sure that you’ve got at least a few in your arsenal that may even make you a better gamer.

Images from Street Fighter 6. Banner image from Freepik.