Special Attack

Special attacks (Japanese Hisatsuwa, as stated by Dan in Street Fighter X Tekken) are moves available to all fighters in the Street Fighter games.

Description
Special attacks usually require a "complex" motion, e.g. quarter-circle forward, and a butto, e.g. punch. In fact, very few "motionless" special moves exist in the series as a whole; two examples of such moves are the Double Lariat and the Turn Punch (in certain games).

In the very first Street Fighter game, the playable character Ryu had two special moves: the Hadoken and Shoryuken. However, these moves were "secret moves" hidden from players, and with good reason: both are incredibly powerful in this game (the Shoryuken was in fact an instant KO if it landed).

From Street Fighter II on, every character has their own set of special moves. The Street Fighter II series also introduced Super Combos, more powerful versions of special attacks.