elheber
Smash Lord
I have a pet peeve -well, I have many... but one of them pertains specifically to Luigi and Luigi mainers like you. I keep hearing people call Luigi's Cyclone the "Tornado". I'll try to keep my rants to a minimum while I explain the proper names to Luigi's moves and advanced techniques (skip the rest of this paragraph... it's only a rant and not funny a funny one at that), but the straw that broke the camel's back was hippydude's How to get better with Luigi guide. No disrespect to hippie for calling him out since it was, like I said, only a drop of water on an already topped glass of water. I spent a good while looking through other guides and contributions and nearly all of them have fault for this.
This not only an up-to-date glossary of proper terms and definitions of Luigi's moves, but also a discussion that will keep said glossary up-to-date. We can, then, discuss what names should be added, removed, or changed to fit Luigi's current metagame and trends. If you find something that should be added/removed/changed, discuss it.
AD Buffer - An AT in which you airdodge and then input an action such as an attack just before landing. The airdodge will prevent you from performing the action in the air before landing and will instead buffer (see below) that input for when you land. The result is that the action you input will automatically be performed ASAP after the landlag animation ensuring you attack (or whatever you input) as quickly as possible. Due to the quickness of Luigi's attacks, his AD Buffering advantage is among the best of all characters.
Auto Cancel - Also correct as "Autocancel" as one word, is the act of the game automatically canceling any aerial animation or aerial landing lag animation upon landing, but only if you landed during certain windows of the animation. Each aerial attack that Luigi has can be autocanceled... notice that if you fAir too close to the ground he will be stuck with a horrible aerial landlag animation upon landing, but if you fAir so it's almost ending as you land (such as in the dAir fAir Double Aerial [see below]) Luigi will land as if he hadn't done an aerial. The timing of Luigi's aerials are so nice that 8 of his Double Aerials will autocancel. Read more about this in the Aerial String Analysis.
Auto Jump Cancel - Also correct as Auto-Jumpcancel, is the act of the game automatically Jump Canceling (see below) a shield (Out of Shield, below) or Dash Pivot Lag (see below) if you have tap-jump on and you input an attack or special by smashing the analog up. With tap-jump on, the game will read your up-smash or up-special as having started with a jump input, and therefore automatically jumpcanceling for you.
B-Reverse - An AT in which the player begins a B special and then immediately tilts the analog backward. The result is Luigi starting his B special animation and instantly turning around to perform the special attack backward. It can be done with all his specials except the Super Jump Punch; though, for various reasons, it's most useful with the Fireball.
Buffer - To input an attack or other action shortly before the character is able to perform it, resulting in the execution of that attack/move immediately once able to perform it. You do this without thinking, such as in the Jab Combo where you probably press A before the last jab even finished. If you input an action and your character is currently unable to perform it, the game will buffer it for a max of 10 frames (1/6th of a second).
Crawldash - A difficult AT generally considered minimally useful in which Luigi ducks and initiates a backward crawl during forward movement from a walk or landing. This results in Luigi quickly sliding backward a short distance while continuing to face forward.
Dash Pivot Lag - The huge lag that locks nearly all of Luigi's movement after a dash pivot. When pivoting from a full dash, Luigi will turn and slide backward a considerable distance (depending on which way you're tilting the analog after the pivot) and be completely unable to do almost anything until that momentum is gone. The only way to interrupt this lag is to Jump Cancel (below) or Auto Jump Cancel (above).
Cyclone - The proper shortened name of the Luigi Cyclone, Luigi's down-special. "Tornado" or "Nado" are incorrect terms for this.
Delayed Recovery - Purposely falling for a longer time during a recovery to throw off the timing of your opponent. If the opponent chases you off stage, it will force him to chase you further making it harder for him to recover.
Double Aerial - A string of two aerial attacks during a single shorthop. Due to Luigi's slow fall speed and the quickness of his aerials, Luigi is the only character able to do double aerials with any aerial in any order (with the exception of nAir to fAir). It was the staple of his early Brawl metagame. Read more about this in the Aerial String Analysis.
FastFall AirDodge (FFAD) - An AT in which the character performs an airdodge immediately after a fastfall after having reached the peak of his jump or shorthop. This results in Luigi landing faster with the added benefits of invinsibility frames extended Buffering time for grounded attacks/moves. The FFAD is not what is called 'Buffering' but can be used as a means of performing it.
Fingerbang - The AT in which Luigi walks forward and charges a forward-smash (forward or backward) without initiating a dash by charging the smash with the C-Stick and Z button. This results in Luigi sliding forward a considerable distance as he charges a forward-smash.
Fireball - The neutral B special move.
Fire Jump Punch (FJP) - The Super Jump Punch (below) up-special when it 'sweetspots' the opponent. Resulting in a flash of fire, massive damage and strong vertical knockback to the opponent, and a 'ping' sound when done on the ground.
Green Missile (GM) - Luigi's side-special which can be charged for extended range and power, and which will sometimes result in a Missfire (below). Releasing a Green Missile will temporarily cancel fall momentum and makes it slightly easier to gain height in a Jumpless Rising Cyclone (below).
Grounded Cyclone - the Luigi Cyclone down-special used on the ground without any tapping of the B button. Its properties are different in that the horizontal speed surpasses even Luigi's dashing speed.
Hyphen Smash (HS) - An up-smash done during a dash or initial frames of a dash. Luigi's Hyphen Smash slidles more than any other character due to his low traction. The name comes from the "-" character known as a "dash" or "hyphen".
Jab1, Jab2, and Jab3 - The names for each of the jabs in Luigi's 'AAA' jab combo. Jab 1 is the first jab with the highest hitstun and the best to do Jab Cancels with (see below), Jab 2 is the second jab, and Jab 3 is the last attack in the combo with the highest damage and knockback in which he's actually using his butt.
Jab Cancel - An AT in which Luigi cancels any following jab in the tripple jab combo by crouching. It results in Luigi making a jab followed by a quick crouch, allowing him to quickly follow up with any other grounded attack, other than the jab combo, including another initial jab.
Jab Grab - A jab followed by a grab (or shield grab) which has proven to be a reliable grabbing technique due to the stun and quickness of Luigi's jab.
Jump Cancel - Also correct as Jumpcancel, is the AT of canceling the shield (Out of Shield, below) or Dash Pivot Lag (above) by jumping. You can Jump Cancel into an up-smash or up-special which behaves the same way as an Auto Jump Cancel (above).
Jump Enhanced Rising Cyclone (JERC) - A Rising Cyclone (below) with the aid of a jump just beforehand. It's the easiest way to perform a Rising Cyclone since you do not have to tap B as fast.
Jumpless Rising Cyclone (JRC) - An AT for the Luigi Cyclone down-special in which the player performs a Rising Cyclone (below) without the aid of a jump. To gain the same height as one with the help of a jump, the B button must be tapped much more rapidly. The potential height gain of the JRC is the same as one with the aid of a Jump. All JRCs are RCs, but not all RCs are JRCs. To discuss: what name should this AT change to? JRC is much too similar to JERC.
Luigi Cyclone (LC) - The official name for Luigi's down-special. Mario and Metaknight do "Tornados" (Mario Tornado and Mach Tornado respectively) while Luigi does Cyclones.
Missfire - An explosive Green Missile with more damage and knockback, which occurs only by chance. Green Missiles have a 1 in 8 chance, wether charged or not, of resulting in a Missfire.
Out of Shield (OoS) - Performing a move or attack Out of Shield performing said move/attack without dropping the shield first. The result is the move or attack is performed immediately after the shield drops; an excellent way to connect FJPs. Only jumps, up-smashes, and up-specials can be performed Out of Shield and uses the effect of the Jump Cancel or Auto Jump Cancel (above). Due to Luigi's low traction, it's best to Perfect Shield (below) an OoS attack.
Perfect Shield - An AT in which you shield an attack with the initial frames of the shield. The result is that your character receives no shield stun and no pushback, allowing the player to drop the shield and immediately counterattack. Due to Luigi's low traction, being able to Perfect Shield will greatly expand his counter offensive capabilities as it will prevent him from sliding away.
Reverse Aerial Rush (RAR) - An AT in which Luigi dash pivots into a short hop back aerial (bAir). The result is Luigi shorthops backward at a fast speed as he attacks in that direction, thus allowing Luigi to quickly close-in and attack from a far range in a short amount of time with one of his most powerful aerials.
Reverse Hyphen Smash (RHS) - An AT in which Luigi performs a Hyphen Smash (above) facing backward. It's better than the regular Hyphen Smash because the back of Luigi's up-smash has a larger hitbox with more range, and the hitbox comes out sooner from behind. It's performed by pivoting during a full dash and immediately holding an up-smash. If you have tap-jump off, you'll need to jump as you up-smash to manually jumpcancel the dash pivot lag.
Rising Cyclone (RC) - A technique for the Luigi Cyclone down-special in which the player rapidly taps B during the Cyclone animation. This results in Luigi gaining substantial vertical height, dependant on the speed the button is pressed and Luigi's vertical momentum at the start of the Rising Cyclone. Jumping shortly before the Rising Cyclone will make it easier to reach maximum height. Inversely, fastfalling or falling at full speed will make it harder. Only one Cyclone in the air can be a Rising Cyclone unless the Cyclone animation is interrupted by an attack.
Shoryuken - A comedic slang term for the Fire Jump Punch (above). The name means "Rising Dragon Fist" and comes from the similar special move of Ryu/Ken in the Street Figher series.
Super Jump Punch (SJP) - The official name to Luigi's up-special. All FJPs are SJPs, but not all SJP are FJPs.
Tauntpop - Using Luigi's down-taunt to pop opponents straight upward. Luigi can slide into a Tauntpop by initiating it during a walk, and can lead to the perfect air Fire Jump Punch humiliation.
Tauntspike - Using Luigi's down-taunt to spike opponents. Luigi's down-taunt has the ability to meteor smash anyone it hits on a ledge or from below a platform. Luigi can slide into a Tauntspike by initiating it during a walk.
Tornado - The incorrect, yet widely accepted and used, name for the Luigi Cyclone. "Nado" is an abbreviated version.
Other Discussions
To discuss: should we have a new specific term for up-angled forward-smashes? It's an important and widely used technique but I don't know of any short ways of saying it.
To discuss: what else am I missing?
Updates:
18-May-2009: Initial incomplete post. Had to do stuff so I left it incomplete. Will finish soon.
18-May-2009: Added Double Aerial, Grounded Cyclone, Jab Cancel, and Jab Grab.
19-May-2009: Refined Missfire. Added Tornado against my own will. I hate you WiGi.
19-May-2009: Added OoS and PS as per kigbariom.
20-May-2009: Added Tauntspike as per WiGi.
09-June-2009: Oops... had "Jumpless Enhanced Rising Cyclone" by mistake. Fix'd.
09-June-2009: Fixed "Shoryuken" to mean only FJP as per Kev!
14-August-2009: Added AD Buffer and Autocancel. Added links to the Aerial String Analysis thread.
14-August-2009: Added Jab1, Jab2, and Jab3.
19-August-2009: Added Reverse Hyphen Smash, Jump Cancel, Auto Jump Cancel, Reverse Aerial Rush, B-Reverse, and Tauntpop.
This not only an up-to-date glossary of proper terms and definitions of Luigi's moves, but also a discussion that will keep said glossary up-to-date. We can, then, discuss what names should be added, removed, or changed to fit Luigi's current metagame and trends. If you find something that should be added/removed/changed, discuss it.
GREEN GLOSSARY:
(alphabetical order)
(alphabetical order)
AD Buffer - An AT in which you airdodge and then input an action such as an attack just before landing. The airdodge will prevent you from performing the action in the air before landing and will instead buffer (see below) that input for when you land. The result is that the action you input will automatically be performed ASAP after the landlag animation ensuring you attack (or whatever you input) as quickly as possible. Due to the quickness of Luigi's attacks, his AD Buffering advantage is among the best of all characters.
Auto Cancel - Also correct as "Autocancel" as one word, is the act of the game automatically canceling any aerial animation or aerial landing lag animation upon landing, but only if you landed during certain windows of the animation. Each aerial attack that Luigi has can be autocanceled... notice that if you fAir too close to the ground he will be stuck with a horrible aerial landlag animation upon landing, but if you fAir so it's almost ending as you land (such as in the dAir fAir Double Aerial [see below]) Luigi will land as if he hadn't done an aerial. The timing of Luigi's aerials are so nice that 8 of his Double Aerials will autocancel. Read more about this in the Aerial String Analysis.
Auto Jump Cancel - Also correct as Auto-Jumpcancel, is the act of the game automatically Jump Canceling (see below) a shield (Out of Shield, below) or Dash Pivot Lag (see below) if you have tap-jump on and you input an attack or special by smashing the analog up. With tap-jump on, the game will read your up-smash or up-special as having started with a jump input, and therefore automatically jumpcanceling for you.
B-Reverse - An AT in which the player begins a B special and then immediately tilts the analog backward. The result is Luigi starting his B special animation and instantly turning around to perform the special attack backward. It can be done with all his specials except the Super Jump Punch; though, for various reasons, it's most useful with the Fireball.
Buffer - To input an attack or other action shortly before the character is able to perform it, resulting in the execution of that attack/move immediately once able to perform it. You do this without thinking, such as in the Jab Combo where you probably press A before the last jab even finished. If you input an action and your character is currently unable to perform it, the game will buffer it for a max of 10 frames (1/6th of a second).
Crawldash - A difficult AT generally considered minimally useful in which Luigi ducks and initiates a backward crawl during forward movement from a walk or landing. This results in Luigi quickly sliding backward a short distance while continuing to face forward.
Dash Pivot Lag - The huge lag that locks nearly all of Luigi's movement after a dash pivot. When pivoting from a full dash, Luigi will turn and slide backward a considerable distance (depending on which way you're tilting the analog after the pivot) and be completely unable to do almost anything until that momentum is gone. The only way to interrupt this lag is to Jump Cancel (below) or Auto Jump Cancel (above).
Cyclone - The proper shortened name of the Luigi Cyclone, Luigi's down-special. "Tornado" or "Nado" are incorrect terms for this.
Delayed Recovery - Purposely falling for a longer time during a recovery to throw off the timing of your opponent. If the opponent chases you off stage, it will force him to chase you further making it harder for him to recover.
Double Aerial - A string of two aerial attacks during a single shorthop. Due to Luigi's slow fall speed and the quickness of his aerials, Luigi is the only character able to do double aerials with any aerial in any order (with the exception of nAir to fAir). It was the staple of his early Brawl metagame. Read more about this in the Aerial String Analysis.
FastFall AirDodge (FFAD) - An AT in which the character performs an airdodge immediately after a fastfall after having reached the peak of his jump or shorthop. This results in Luigi landing faster with the added benefits of invinsibility frames extended Buffering time for grounded attacks/moves. The FFAD is not what is called 'Buffering' but can be used as a means of performing it.
Fingerbang - The AT in which Luigi walks forward and charges a forward-smash (forward or backward) without initiating a dash by charging the smash with the C-Stick and Z button. This results in Luigi sliding forward a considerable distance as he charges a forward-smash.
Fireball - The neutral B special move.
Fire Jump Punch (FJP) - The Super Jump Punch (below) up-special when it 'sweetspots' the opponent. Resulting in a flash of fire, massive damage and strong vertical knockback to the opponent, and a 'ping' sound when done on the ground.
Green Missile (GM) - Luigi's side-special which can be charged for extended range and power, and which will sometimes result in a Missfire (below). Releasing a Green Missile will temporarily cancel fall momentum and makes it slightly easier to gain height in a Jumpless Rising Cyclone (below).
Grounded Cyclone - the Luigi Cyclone down-special used on the ground without any tapping of the B button. Its properties are different in that the horizontal speed surpasses even Luigi's dashing speed.
Hyphen Smash (HS) - An up-smash done during a dash or initial frames of a dash. Luigi's Hyphen Smash slidles more than any other character due to his low traction. The name comes from the "-" character known as a "dash" or "hyphen".
Jab1, Jab2, and Jab3 - The names for each of the jabs in Luigi's 'AAA' jab combo. Jab 1 is the first jab with the highest hitstun and the best to do Jab Cancels with (see below), Jab 2 is the second jab, and Jab 3 is the last attack in the combo with the highest damage and knockback in which he's actually using his butt.
Jab Cancel - An AT in which Luigi cancels any following jab in the tripple jab combo by crouching. It results in Luigi making a jab followed by a quick crouch, allowing him to quickly follow up with any other grounded attack, other than the jab combo, including another initial jab.
Jab Grab - A jab followed by a grab (or shield grab) which has proven to be a reliable grabbing technique due to the stun and quickness of Luigi's jab.
Jump Cancel - Also correct as Jumpcancel, is the AT of canceling the shield (Out of Shield, below) or Dash Pivot Lag (above) by jumping. You can Jump Cancel into an up-smash or up-special which behaves the same way as an Auto Jump Cancel (above).
Jump Enhanced Rising Cyclone (JERC) - A Rising Cyclone (below) with the aid of a jump just beforehand. It's the easiest way to perform a Rising Cyclone since you do not have to tap B as fast.
Jumpless Rising Cyclone (JRC) - An AT for the Luigi Cyclone down-special in which the player performs a Rising Cyclone (below) without the aid of a jump. To gain the same height as one with the help of a jump, the B button must be tapped much more rapidly. The potential height gain of the JRC is the same as one with the aid of a Jump. All JRCs are RCs, but not all RCs are JRCs. To discuss: what name should this AT change to? JRC is much too similar to JERC.
Luigi Cyclone (LC) - The official name for Luigi's down-special. Mario and Metaknight do "Tornados" (Mario Tornado and Mach Tornado respectively) while Luigi does Cyclones.
Missfire - An explosive Green Missile with more damage and knockback, which occurs only by chance. Green Missiles have a 1 in 8 chance, wether charged or not, of resulting in a Missfire.
Out of Shield (OoS) - Performing a move or attack Out of Shield performing said move/attack without dropping the shield first. The result is the move or attack is performed immediately after the shield drops; an excellent way to connect FJPs. Only jumps, up-smashes, and up-specials can be performed Out of Shield and uses the effect of the Jump Cancel or Auto Jump Cancel (above). Due to Luigi's low traction, it's best to Perfect Shield (below) an OoS attack.
Perfect Shield - An AT in which you shield an attack with the initial frames of the shield. The result is that your character receives no shield stun and no pushback, allowing the player to drop the shield and immediately counterattack. Due to Luigi's low traction, being able to Perfect Shield will greatly expand his counter offensive capabilities as it will prevent him from sliding away.
Reverse Aerial Rush (RAR) - An AT in which Luigi dash pivots into a short hop back aerial (bAir). The result is Luigi shorthops backward at a fast speed as he attacks in that direction, thus allowing Luigi to quickly close-in and attack from a far range in a short amount of time with one of his most powerful aerials.
Reverse Hyphen Smash (RHS) - An AT in which Luigi performs a Hyphen Smash (above) facing backward. It's better than the regular Hyphen Smash because the back of Luigi's up-smash has a larger hitbox with more range, and the hitbox comes out sooner from behind. It's performed by pivoting during a full dash and immediately holding an up-smash. If you have tap-jump off, you'll need to jump as you up-smash to manually jumpcancel the dash pivot lag.
Rising Cyclone (RC) - A technique for the Luigi Cyclone down-special in which the player rapidly taps B during the Cyclone animation. This results in Luigi gaining substantial vertical height, dependant on the speed the button is pressed and Luigi's vertical momentum at the start of the Rising Cyclone. Jumping shortly before the Rising Cyclone will make it easier to reach maximum height. Inversely, fastfalling or falling at full speed will make it harder. Only one Cyclone in the air can be a Rising Cyclone unless the Cyclone animation is interrupted by an attack.
Shoryuken - A comedic slang term for the Fire Jump Punch (above). The name means "Rising Dragon Fist" and comes from the similar special move of Ryu/Ken in the Street Figher series.
Super Jump Punch (SJP) - The official name to Luigi's up-special. All FJPs are SJPs, but not all SJP are FJPs.
Tauntpop - Using Luigi's down-taunt to pop opponents straight upward. Luigi can slide into a Tauntpop by initiating it during a walk, and can lead to the perfect air Fire Jump Punch humiliation.
Tauntspike - Using Luigi's down-taunt to spike opponents. Luigi's down-taunt has the ability to meteor smash anyone it hits on a ledge or from below a platform. Luigi can slide into a Tauntspike by initiating it during a walk.
Tornado - The incorrect, yet widely accepted and used, name for the Luigi Cyclone. "Nado" is an abbreviated version.
Other Discussions
To discuss: should we have a new specific term for up-angled forward-smashes? It's an important and widely used technique but I don't know of any short ways of saying it.
To discuss: what else am I missing?
Updates:
18-May-2009: Initial incomplete post. Had to do stuff so I left it incomplete. Will finish soon.
18-May-2009: Added Double Aerial, Grounded Cyclone, Jab Cancel, and Jab Grab.
19-May-2009: Refined Missfire. Added Tornado against my own will. I hate you WiGi.
19-May-2009: Added OoS and PS as per kigbariom.
20-May-2009: Added Tauntspike as per WiGi.
09-June-2009: Oops... had "Jumpless Enhanced Rising Cyclone" by mistake. Fix'd.
09-June-2009: Fixed "Shoryuken" to mean only FJP as per Kev!
14-August-2009: Added AD Buffer and Autocancel. Added links to the Aerial String Analysis thread.
14-August-2009: Added Jab1, Jab2, and Jab3.
19-August-2009: Added Reverse Hyphen Smash, Jump Cancel, Auto Jump Cancel, Reverse Aerial Rush, B-Reverse, and Tauntpop.
