Don’t know how to start playing? Well, I was in your shoes not all that long ago. Unfortunately, there is a pretty steep learning curve for most fighting games. Fortunately, this depth keeps the genre from getting boring, and tricks learned in one game often apply to at least the rip-off versions of that same game (if not a whole lot of others). Moreover, genuine skill gained in one game is often an improvement of your own strategy and reaction, which applies to pretty much all games in the long run.
In this collection, I (with the assistance of Tiny Denis Diderot) have created a miniature fight-o-pedia. It doesn’t even come close to covering everything, but the good news for you is that it is in one place, and you’re here.
To begin, here are terms (in no particular order) generally found in fighting games that are either unclear from the name, or indispensable to play.