History Main / LagCancel

* In {{Metroidvania}} ''{{Castlevania}}'' games there are a few methods of canceling, the most universal being the back dash and landing. Many of the ''[[{{ptitle1btexpw9}} Sorrow]]'' souls and ''PortraitOfRuin'' subweapons are AMAZING when canceled (Killer Clown, Dart), key for {{Boss Rush}}es. ''Dawn of Sorrow'' also the Succubus cancel, which, when combined with a special dagger that temporary moves you forward, [[SequenceBreaking lets you teleport though walls]].

Of course, in real examples the time is much shorter. And this trope is almost exclusive to {{Fighting Game}}s, and is almost completely ubiquitous there. It's like combos or health meters; almost every fighting game has them since ''StreetFighterII''.

* ''StreetFighterIII'' allowed you to cancel certain attacks with a super jump which allowed you to extend some combos. These carried over to characters with super jumps in ''StreetFighterIV''.

* ''GuiltyGear'''s version is called a "roman cancel". They're very costly (half of a full tension bar), but there's a variation by character called "Force roman cancel" that costs less. Jam's card abilities allow her to cancel certain attacks to combo into whatever attack she has a card for.

In all {{Fighting Game}}s, each attack you do has a lag time; the amount of time after you make that attack that you cannot make another attack. After you throw a punch, there may be a second or two wherein you cannot throw another punch, to stop you from just hammering the punch button and throwing out fifteen punches per second.

In almost all {{Fighting Game}}s, there are actions that you can perform ''while lagged'' that ''reset the attack lag'', allowing you to attack again before you would normally be able to. Usually this allows you to still dodge, block, jump, duck, etc. even though you can't attack, so as not to leave you defenseless. The side effect that experts in fighting games seek is that they can attack again after performing this action, thereby shortening the lag time between their attacks.

These lag-shortening actions are known as '''canceling'''.

For example, let's say that you have a special attack called Punch Rush, and that after you do a Punch Rush you are lagged for three seconds (an eternity, but I want to use round numbers here). Ducking takes one second. It also resets your attack lag. Therefore, if you Punch Rush and then, immediately after hitting your opponent, duck, and then Punch Rush again, you were able to "cheat" the system and punch-rush after only one second instead of three. This would be referred to as a '''Punch Rush Cancel''' or '''Punch Rush Canceling'''.

* Many cancels exist in ''SuperSmashBros''. The most famous non-character specific cancels is Z-Canceling/L-canceling in 64 and Melee respectively, where most air moves can be have the landed lag removed by shielding at the right time.

* In some ''{{Tetris}}'' games (such as the [[TetrisTheGrandMaster TGM]] series), there is a short delay between when you lock a piece into place and when the next piece appears. One ''Tetris'' fangame, ''DTET'', features this, but allows you to cancel it and immediately spawn the next piece by performing an input.

* An unusual genre for this, MetalGearSolid has the 'Quick Reload' technique. Normally when you exhaust a clip you have to reload normally which actually does take about 2 seconds; in a boss fight is often about 1.9 more seconds than you have to spare. By unequipping and reequipping a weapon, it automatically reloads for you. On top of that, the manuals actually tell you about this technique!

Of course, in real examples the time is much shorter. And this trope is almost exclusive to {{Fighting Game}}s, and is almost completely ubiquitous there. It's like combos or health meters; almost every fighting game has them since ''StreerFighterII''.

** Before ''{{Halo}}'' came out, most shooters (including ''[=CoD=]'') didn't let players interrupt animations like reloading and attacking at all. Of course, even ''Halo'' forgot to let you cancel the ContextSensitiveButton's making you [[StopHelpingMe slowly into nearby vehicles]].

* Before ''{{Halo}}'' came out, most shooters (including ''[=CoD=]'') didn't let players interrupt animations like reloading and attacking at all. Of course, even ''Halo'' forgot to let you cancel the ContextSensitiveButton's making you [[StopHelpingMe slowly into nearby vehicles]].

Of course, in real examples the time is much shorter. And this trope is almost exclusive to {{Fighting Game}}s, and is almost completely ubiquitous there. It's like combos or health meters; almost every fighting game has them since ''{{Street Fighter II}}''.

* ''Gorf'', like many other {{shmup}}s from the early 80's and late 70's, only lets you have one shot on the screen at one time, so if you fire a shot and miss, you have to wait a bit before firing the next shot. However, ''Gorf'' allows you to cancel your current shot and immediately fire your next one, simply by firing when you have a shot on the screen.

* The entire gameplay premise of the four ''{{Virtual On}}'' games are built upon knowing when to cancel moves. The most well-known and important move accepted by the players community is "jump-cancelling", which can do anything from reducing time spent frozen after landing from a full jump (and thus being a very tantalizing target) to avoiding melee attacks, and in later games, set up for other forms of attacks.

* In ''DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'', tumbling moves (unlike regular blocking) cancel a melee attack. Many enemies in the game have nasty special attacks with longer animations. The fact that it's possible to instantly roll away from one of these, whereas blocking has to wait until the character's attack and follow-through is over (and both are safer than fighting while running), is one reason why many character builds go cross-class to get 1 rank in the Tumble skill.
* The original TombRaider games have many different ways to cancel recovery times from different moves, and working out ways to fit them in using level geometry is one of the main parts of most [[{{Speedrun}} speedruns]] for them.

* A huge part of ''GodOfWar'''s combat system is the ability to cancel Kratos' standard blade combos with a press of the block button, so if the player is fighting a {{Mook}} and his buddy attacks, one can quickly press the block button without breaking the combo. This leads itself to creating much more fluid combat...[[YourMileageMayVary or excessive button mashing.]]
* Some classes in ''World of Warcraft'' can obtain a kind of passive cancel. One example is the Elemental-spec Shaman's Lava Surge talent. The damage ticks of Flame Shock, a damage-over-time spell, have a 10% or 20% chance (depending on the rank of the talent) to immediately end the cooldown on your Lava Burst spell. Since Lava Burst is guaranteed to land a nasty CriticalHit on a target suffering Flame Shock damage, this talent will provide huge boosts to your damage output when it's feeling generous.
* CallOfDuty games also have this. All firearms have their clip reloaded before the animation ends, so it's usually interrupted with melee attack or weapon switch (especially the fast-switching pistols). Especially valuable for slow-paced machineguns or notably longer empty clip reload animations.

* CallOfDuty games also have this. All firearms have their clip reloaded before the animation ends, so it's usually interrupted with melee attack or weapon switch (especially the fast-switching pistols). Especially valuable for slow-paced machineguns or notably longer empty clip reload animations

* CallOfDuty games also have this. All firearms have their clip reloaded before the animation ends, so it's usually interrupted with melee attack or weapon switch (especially the fast-switching pistols). Especially valuable for slow-paced LMGs or notably longer empty clip reload animations

* In a very rare RPG example, WildArms3 features an AnimationCancel. As long as you have at least 25 Force Points, you can cancel the move you just queued at that character's turn to move, enter another move and you will start your action without waiting. While not often used (by this troper, at least), it is important if you suddenly want to stop attacking the enemy for whatever reason (the enemy is preparing an instakill move, or a reflect barrier, for example).

* In'' DevilMayCry'' there are a few ways to Grenade Cancel, which allows you to fire the normally slow grenade launcher gun at a really fast clip. Also in ''3'' and onwards, cancelling short hops and rolls into the guarding animation of the Royal Guard style is a very effective defensive tactic and makes the Difficult part of its DifficultButAwesome slightly less so. You can also cancel the after-shot lag of the Spiral rifle and Kalina Ann rocket launcher by either switching to Ebony&Ivory immediately afterwards or timing a use of Royal Guard properly.

* In'' DevilMayCry'' there are a few ways to Grenade Cancel, which allows you to fire the normally slow grenade launcher gun at a really fast clip.

* Also in ''DevilMayCry 3'' and onwards, cancelling short hops and rolls into the guarding animation of the Royal Guard style is a very effective defensive tactic.

Of course, in real examples the time is much shorter. And this trope is almost exclusive to {{Fighting Game}}s, and is almost completely ubiquitous there. It's like combos or health meters; almost every fighting game has them since Street Fighter II.

* In {{Metroidvania}} ''{{Castlevania}}'' games there are a few methods of canceling, the most universal being the back dash and landing. Many of the ''[[{{ptitle1btexpw9}} Sorrow]]'' souls and ''PortraitOfRuin'' subweapons are AMAZING when canceled (Killer Clown, Dart), key for {{Boss Rush}}es. ''Dawn of Sorrow'' also the Succubus cancel, which, when combined with a special dagger that temporary moves you forward, [[SequenceBreaking lets you teleport though walls]].