Hello! I am sorry for being so late to reply, I was a bit swamped with work.
Actually there are two things that might be making that command more difficult to do.
- The first is that in KOF there is plenty of time to perform the joystick movements. For half circle motions this is usually between 21 and 24 frames. This can be measured using an emulator with a step framing function as follows:
Perform the HCB command by doing f (3), df(3), d(3), db(3), b(3), button The (3) denotes that the direction should be held for 3 frames. If it works, this means that you have at least 18 frames to input a half circle motion. Increase the time spent holding one direction by one frame, and test it by doing:
f (4), df(3), d(3), db(3), b(3),
f (4), df(4), d(3), db(3), b(3),
f (4), df(4), d(4), db(3), b(3),
f (4), df(4), d(4), db(4), b(3),
f (4), df(4), d(4), db(4), b(4),
f (5), df(4), d(4), db(4), b(4)...
And so on, until the move fails. The last pattern you obtain will let you know how much time the game allows for the player to enter the command and still get the special move.
This is the time you should be using in the "time" parameter when you define them in the .CMD. Remember, changes in this parameter define how long the player has to input the directions on the joystick, so this will have a direct impact on how strict they feel.
- The second and very important thing is that in KOF it is possible to "cheat" diagonals because the official NeoGeo hardware utilized an 8-way joystick. In general most SNK joystick motions will feel "lighter" and easier to perform due to this design difference.
In modern fighting games the diagonals are seldom required to be 100% strict, even in Capcom games. So one possibility would be to redesign the command to be a little more lenient in this direction.
One compromise could be turning the command into a "power geyser" style half circle. That is, something like
~F, DF,$D,B
This retains the strictness of the first diagonal (which is usually input by the player) but becomes forgiving in the second. Not too strict and not too easy.
I hope this helps.