Some of the hardest motion inputs in fighting games are rarely seen these days as developers are trying to popularize the genre by removing the steep learning curves.
Games such as 2XKO are even removing the need for directional motion moves and trying to set new standards for input layout. Veteran franchises such as Street Fighter, are embracing a modern input mode to bring in new players.
While it may be beneficial for keeping these games afloat in the long term, sometimes the hard execution barriers make these games more exciting.
Fighting games with the hardest special inputs
Geese Howard – Raging Storm
Originating in SNK’s popular King of Fighters franchise, Raging Storm is one of the hardest motion inputs in a fighting game, for being totally wrist-cracking. It’s also one of the oldest when it comes to this whole topic of hard special inputs.
King of Fighters games are, in general, considered to be one of the hardest fighting games when it comes to combos due to how tight the input windows to link buttons are at times.
To top it off, the game literally gives the player an input notation shaped like a pretzel, which has been the cause of frustration for many!
Zangief – Critical Arts
Zangief’s ultra moves, or critical moves as they are called in the modern Street Fighter titles, are iconic in the fighting game scene, because they’re some of the hardest to learn.
Since the move requires a double 360-degree rotating directional input to be performed, the community calls it a ‘720’ move.
Even though the move is associated with Zangief, the 720 motion input is synonymous with other grappler characters beyond Street Fighter. Seasoned fighting game players don’t find the input hard, but it is intimidating for new players.
Ivy – Summon Suffering
Soul Calibur is a beloved game in the fighting game scene, and is one of the more unique fighting games for having its own systems that most 3D fighters have not yet tried to replicate or str influenced by.
It is also the home to some of the hardest motion input moves, most notably the move called ‘Summon Suffering’, which has been a part of Ivy’s toolkit since the first game
Calling it ‘notorious’ would be an understatement considering how insane the motion input is. It requires the player to be in close proximity to the opponent since it’s a command grab input.
Dizzy – I can’t contain my strength
The Guilty Gear franchise leaped into popularity with the release of Guilty Gear STRIVE in recent years. The game sparked debates in the community between newcomers to the franchise and old players.
The point of argument usually lingers around the fact that the newer games have simplified a lot of the gameplay elements that Guilty Gear, as a fighting game, was famous for.
Instant Kill moves were notorious for being one-touch kill moves, and some of these had the hardest motion inputs, most notably Dizzy’s “I can’t contain my strength.” The input involved motions that were very hard to execute on arcade sticks.
Chada – Giga death pressure level 5
Chada is a grappler character from a game named Yatagarasu, which is not really on everyone’s radar, even though it has been out for years now and is easily available to pick up and play.
The game is an indie fighting game that was made with games such as Street Fighter 3 in mind, having really beautiful 2D sprite art. It earns its spot on your list for taking the idea of Zangief’s 720 input motion and dialing it up to eleven.
Chada’s Giga Death Pressure is one of the hardest command grab super moves that involves 360 rotating directional input, but the level 5 version of this move takes things a bit further by making the player dial the 360 motion 5 times, pushing it up to a 1800 motion input.
King Piccolo – Maou Rebirth Ranbou
Dragon Ball is an extremely popular franchise, so it’s natural that it has seeped into other forms of popular media such as video games. One of the most talked-about genres in games surrounding this series are the fighting games.
But we aren’t here to talk about the popular Dragon Ball fighting games, but an underrated one that probably has one of the hardest yet most interesting special inputs ever.
In the Japanese arcade game titled Super Dragon Ball Z, you can play as the evil king Piccolo, and his special move called Maou Rebirth Ranbu requires a pentagram motion input, which is a nice reference to the demon king himself.
Hayate – Raijin
This one might be the only exceptional motion input on this list that gets harder the more a player continues to execute. It is a command grab with several parts of different directional inputs that the player has to time perfectly.
Hayate’s Raijin might be one of the hardest motion input sequences any command grab character has ever had in a fighting game, purely because of how much precision is required to chain the directional motion input sequence.
Hopefully, we will get to see Dead or Alive return someday in the future, and it stays true to the hard executions that made it so popular among fighting game fans.
