The small jump (or “hop”, etc.) is one sort of jump particularly characteristic of the King of Fighters series. It is performed by tapping a jump direction ( , , or ).
This causes one to jump at the speed of a normal jump, but at half the height.
The small jump was introduced in KOF ’96 along with the medium jump; it has been in every KOF since.
In Capcom vs. SNK 2, it exists for P-, S-, N-, and K-grooves. In Capcom Fighting Jam, it exists for Shin Gōki.
Normally a small jump is short, but even so, jump attacks performed during this jump still have overhead hitboxes. It is an extremely important jump for some characters when it comes to mixup.