After covering the concepts of offense and defense, as well as where a new player should start in fighting games, Frabisaur examines the science of hitboxes and hurtboxes in episode 3 of his new Fighter’s Dojo series. Noting that the episode will answer the questions of “why did or didn’t that hit?” and “what button should I use?” Frabisaur provides visual examples from Street Fighter V to display what hit and hurtboxes look like, as well as why certain moves–such as Urien attempting a Spartan Bomb on a crouching Ken–don’t work, despite his hand visually going through Ken’s body. He also provides a succinct definition of the concept:
Hitboxes and hurtboxes are how the program understands that two things have come in contact with each other. This is how the game, computer, console, whatever, is looking at to go, “Hey, this character has now touched this character, or this character is touching this projectile.” This is the way that it knows that something has happened on the screen.
Though this knowledge is specifically applied to Street Fighter V, hitboxes and hurtboxes exist in all fighting games, so these concepts can be easily applied to your preferred fighter of choice. This video is a great way to familiarize yourself with this terminology in an easily digestible fashion, and could also be worth a watch for veteran players looking for a refresher course. You can catch the video in its entirety below.
Feel free to pose questions to him in the video’s comments section, as he replies quite often. You can also follow him on Twitter at Frabisaur or catch him on twitch.tv/frabisaur for more content and further explanations on some of these concepts.
Source: Frabisaur