LogFAQs > #942144135

On top of everything else that has been said, there's also consideration for pressure versus what's called resetting to neutral. If somebody is in your face and you need a second to get your bearings a big hit will knock them far away and give you a chance to recover. That's basically resetting to neutral, because both characters are standing up some distance away from each other. That's great if you are being bullied, but not if you are the one trying to apply pressure.

To use Street Fighter as an example, if I am playing Cammy and you are playing Sagat, I had to work my ass off to get close enough to you to hit you. The last thing I want to do is hit you with a move that knocks you across the screen. What I want to do is damage you, then put you in a position where you have to guess what I'm going to do next and if you guess wrong I get another combo.

Some characters in some games also have combos that are called Plus on block. What this means is that I can recover from the combo more quickly than you can recover from your block. That lets me jump into another combo to force you to keep blocking which lets me stay on the offensive. Big hits are generally not Plus on block.

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