Hadoken

Hadouken (波動拳, hadōken?, "surge fist", a Japanese neologism, literally "wave motion fist") is a fictional special attack that originated in the classic Capcom fighting video game series Street Fighter. The practitioner thrusts his or her palms forward, sending a surge of spirit energy (or ki) flying towards the opponent. It is normally performed by moving the joystick or D-pad a quarter circle forward towards the opponent from the down position, then pressing a punch button; which is usually written in manuals and guides as "↓↘→P" (assuming a right-facing character). It is referred to colloquially as the "Fireball", even though most versions of the Hadouken do not involve the use of fire.

The Hadouken is the archetypal projectile attack in 2D fighting games. Almost all fighting games of the sprite-based era used projectile special moves, and while the actual type of projectile launched varies from game to game and character to character, the execution and behavior of these attacks are almost always identical to the Hadouken. These moves are sometimes informally referred to as a Hadouken or fireball, especially if the equivalent directions and buttons are used to perform it. The move is used to control the horizontal playing area, and often used to force an opposing character to jump towards the player, since most characters using the Hadouken can also use the Shoryuken as a follow up.

Most Street Fighter games feature three different strength punches and kicks: light, medium, and heavy. Like many other attacks in these games, the Hadouken can usually be performed in three different degrees depending on which type punch is used; these will affect its speed, damage caused on impact, and sometimes its range. As a general rule in Street Fighter and similar games, if two standard Hadouken (or any other type of fired projectile) meet, they will cancel each other out.

In most Street Fighter games, if one looks closely at the Hadouken sprite animation, a pair of disembodied hands in the Hadouken firing position can be clearly seen within the projectile