Sweep

Ibuki sweeping Ling Xiaoyu in Street Fighter × Tekken.

A sweep is a term for an attack that for most of the Street Fighter cast refers to their crouching hard kick.

Description

Some characters, such as Hugo do not have conventional sweeps, as his own crouching hard kick sees him launch his giant posterior at his opponent (shown against Ling Xiaoyu). However, in Hugo's case, his crouching Medium Kick acts as his traditional sweep.

A sweep refers to an attack accessible to most characters in the Street Fighter series where the attack, if it connects performs a hard knockdown (soft in Street Fighter V) on the opponent when it connects. Some characters such as Hugo having an actual "sweep" with his crouching medium kick as his crouching hard kick is another kind of attack while other characters such as Dudley doesn't have a traditional sweep. It is a rarity where characters can combo off their sweep with some exception such as Ibuki with her Target Combo 10 or Dudley with his launching sweep.  Pre-Street Fighter III sweeps had more defined animations for the hit character (mostly for the females) that reflected their personality such as Sakura quickly flapping her arms before hitting the ground or Cammy landing in a sensual position before recovering.

In Game

As sweeps that connect cause knockdowns, they tend to inherit the pros and cons of how the mechanic is treated in the game. The safety of sweeps varies, as in some games, they are an inherit part of character footsies due to speed and Pushback, while in other games, such as Street Fighter V, they usually are very negative in terms of frame data. Some sweeps can be special canceled, making them useful for pressure.

Street Fighter IV

Swept characters are knocked down for a certain amount of time. In the Ultra update, the delayed wakeup mechanic was introduced, making sweep attacks a little less desired as a finisher for Links. Oddly enough, Ibuki's sweep knocks down characters for longer than other sweeps in the game itself.

In OMEGA Mode sweeps can be quick risen.

Street Fighter × Tekken

Linking into sweep rather than Cross Rushing provides more time to follow up.

Sweeps can be used either normally or as part of a Cross Rush. Super Charge mechanics benefit characters that can sweep into a special cancel such as Poison and Yoshimitsu, as on hit it makes a great approach and positioning opportunities and on block the dashing character can be safe. Special Cancelable sweeps used as part of a Cross Rush can still be special canceled with 1 bar of the Cross Gauge. Characters hit by sweep can choose to Roll in order to escape further pressure.

Street Fighter V

Sweeps no longer cause hard knockdowns without Counter Hits. They also are much more punishable in terms of Frame Data on block and most characters can't take nearly as much advantage on hit due to being techable. In addition, every character's sweep is one of their Crush Counter attacks.

Trivia

• Despite using the same Street Fighter Alpha sprites in Capcom Fighting Evolution, Sakura's hit by sweep animation was changed in timing, with the arm flapping part being significantly reduced.

Gallery

Ryu using his crouching hard kick against Joe. There are no traditional sweeps in the original Street Fighter.

Ken sweeping Dhalsim in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.

Some character sweeps come from sliding attacks, such as M. Bison using this against Chun-Li.

Ken sweeping Chun-Li in the SNES version of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.

Zangief sweeping Guile in Street Fighter II: Champion Edition.

Balrog "sweeping" Ken in Street Fighter II': Hyper Fighting. It is interesting to note that Balrog did not have a sweep in The World Warrior and his sweep from within this game reuses his crouching LK and MK animation. He would eventually gain a true sweep animation in the following update.

Zangief sweeping Chun-Li in Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting for the Super Nintendo.

Dhalsim sweeping Chun-Li in Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition for the Sega Genesis.

Cammy sweeping T. Hawk in Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers.

Sagat sweeping Cammy in Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Rose sweeping Chun-Li in Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams.

Rose sweeping Sakura in Street Fighter Alpha 2.

Rose sweeping Cammy in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold.

Rose sweeping Karin in Street Fighter Alpha 3.

Alex sweeping Ibuki in Street Fighter III: New Generation.

Ibuki sweeping Elena in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact.

Ibuki sweeping Chun-Li in Street Fighter III: Third Strike.

Captain Commando sweeping Rogue in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

Batsu sweeping Hinata in Project Justice.

Ibuki sweeping Felicia in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (referred to as a "slow sweep" in this game).

Ibuki sweeping Ryu in Super Street Fighter IV.

Roll sweeping Chun-Li in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes.

Ibuki sweeping Ling Xiaoyu in Street Fighter × Tekken.

Hugo's crouching medium kick acts like a traditional sweep, shown here against Xiaoyu.

Ibuki sweeping Ken in Street Fighter V.

Ingrid sweeping Sakura in Capcom Fighting Evolution.

Skullomania sweeping Chun-Li in Street Fighter EX2 Plus.

Skullomania sweeping Chun-Li in Street Fighter EX3.

Guile sweeping Chun-Li in Street Fighter: The Movie (arcade version).