Parry

The Parry is a gameplay mechanic used in the Street Fighter III series as well as in Capcom vs. SNK 2 and Street Fighter V.

Description
When an attack is parried, no damage will occur whatsoever. In addition, the person who parried will recover more quickly than the attacker, and will have the opportunity to launch their own attack. Because of this, the parry can often be single-handedly responsible for turning the tide of battle: a player who was on the offensive suddenly gets puts on the defensive, and vice-versa.

There are, however, certain types of attacks which cannot be parried, including throws and command grabs.

Street Fighter III series
There are three types of parry in the Street Fighter III series:

High Parry
The high parry is executed by tapping forward at the exact moment of impact of a high attack or mid attack. If the attack is instead a low attack, the parry will fail and the attack will hit. This can also be done in mid-air.



Low Parry
The low parry is executed by tapping down at the exact moment of impact of a low attack. If the attack is instead a high attack or mid attack, the parry will fail and the attack will hit.



Guard Parry
The Guard Parry, known informally as the Red Parry, is a gameplay mechanic used in ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. ''The guard parry is performed when by inputting a parry after blocking at least the first hit of a multi-hitting combo, and is indicated with the user turning red. If the player successfully times a parry attempt right as the combo ends, the guard parry will grant them a major frame advantage and allows them more time to punish the attacker with a reversal attack or a combo of their own.

Capcom vs. SNK 2
Parries are available in this game when players select the P-Groove. They function exactly the same as their Street Fighter III counterparts, and are open to all characters provided their player selects P-Groove for them.

If the player instead selects K-Groove, they will get a somewhat similar mechanic called Just Defense. Performing this (by executing the block command right before the attack would hit) will recover a small portion of health depending on the attack, but doesn't always provide the large window for counterattack that a Parry would. Just Defense can be performed on the ground or in the air.

SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos
In this game, parries are exclusive to Hugo and are executed by inputting forward and A + C (both punch buttons) for a high parry, or downward and B + D (both kick buttons) for a low one. The window that Hugo gains for counterattack is slightly larger than in Street Fighter III, giving him more than enough time to punish with any move he wishes, even with his EXCEED, Gigas Breaker.

Like in Street Fighter V, parries can miss in this game, so the technique must be used carefully.

Ultra Street Fighter IV
Ryu, Hugo, and Zangief receive a parry move in OMEGA Mode, which is activated by pressing Forward+HP+HK. Ryu's version (Hanagashi) has two follow ups available. Throws, Command Grabs, and Armor Breaking attacks cannot be parried.

Ryu
The Mind's Eye is Ryu's V-Skill in Street Fighter V.

Executed by pressing both medium attack buttons at the exact moment of impact of an enemy's attack, Ryu will deflect the attack and recover faster than his adversary. Unlike in Street Fighter III, this type of parry will deflect high, medium and low attacks, but it can not be used in the air.

However in this game, due to its unique input, Ryu can miss a parry; thus, he will be left open to another attack. For this reason, it is important for the Ryu player to use the V-Skill in moderation and not give an opportunity for an opponent to feint an attack and thus bait out a misuse.

M. Bison
Main article: Psycho Reflect

This skill, executed using the same input, allows Bison to parry a single-hit attack and counter with a 2-hit projectile. Unlike Ryu's V-Skill, M. Bison's can only parry one hit at a time and thus can be beaten outright by "meaty" or EX attacks.

Alex
While in Rage Shift, Alex gains access to the Sledgehammer move, a clothesline that can be charged. During the charging period, Alex will parry an attack. If this ocurrs, he can charge again for another parry, or release to retaliate.

Parries in other fighting games
While parrying arguably originated with the Street Fighter III series, the mechanic was arguably influential enough within fighting games to spawn a number of notable, similar mechanics that have since appeared in other fighters.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves
In this SNK fighter, holding back just before an attack would hit, as opposed to forward in Street Fighter III, will trigger a Just Defense which gives back a small portion of health rather than a frame advantage. This can be done on the ground or in the air. As mentioned above, Just Defense returns in Capcom vs. SNK 2.

Guilty Gear series
This series's parry-style mechanic is also called Just Defense and is executed much like its SNK counterpart, but unlike in Capcom vs. SNK 2, it grants faster recovery akin to a traditional parry.

Super Smash Bros. series
In the Super Smash Bros. series beginning with Super Smash Bros. Melee, perfectly timing a Shield results in a Perfect Shield. Perfect shielding physical attacks does not negate shield stun, but the defender's shield suffers no damage, they will have maximum pushback, and they are able to attack during the shield release animation immediately after shield stun ends. Perfect shielding projectiles eliminates shield stun as well as pushback, but does not allow the defender to attack during the shield release animation. A unique trait about Perfect Shields in Melee in particular is that they can reflect projectiles, unlike most Parries.

Perfect shields do not protect the user from attacks that would normally ignore other shields, such as a Final Smash or level 3 Focus Attack.

Killer Instinct
In the 2013 reboot of the Killer Instinct franchise, Parries are introduced to the series in limited fashion. They can only be performed by the Arbiter, after he has entered Instinct mode (similarly to activating one's V-Trigger). Once in this mode, the Arbiter can press heavy punch and heavy kick simultaneously to parry an attack from any direction; this can be done either on the ground or in the air. It is also one of the very few examples of parries in miscellaneous fighting games which actually refers to Parries as such, rather than by an alternative name.

Trivia

 * In Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, when Ryu Perfect-Shields any attack, he will use the same pose and sound as a High Parry. He is the only character in the game to have this trait, although it does not alter a Perfect Shield in any way other than by aesthetics.