Cross-up

A Cross-up is an attack which hits behind a blocking opponent, thereby bypassing their defenses. A common way for this to happen is when a character jumps over their opponent while attacking; if the attacking character lands behind the opponent, the attack will be treated as coming from behind, and a defending player who is holding backward on the joystick will actually be holding toward the attack, and will not block it.

There are other ways to cross-up an opponent; for example, if M. Bison uses his Psycho Crusher to fly past an opponent who is about to stand up at the right time, Bison will actually be on the far side of the opponent when they become hittable. This will cross them up and hit them if they do not block it in the proper way.

To block against a cross-up, one must hold the joystick in the other direction at the moment of impact. This can be counter-intuitive, as a player who does this will be holding the stick in the direction their character is facing, which normally does not block. However, since the opponent is treated as being in the other direction, this is the only way to block, even if a player's character has not yet turned around to face the opponent.