What does ‘buffer’ mean

terminology

Because LK roll is the safest/leaves you with the most time to buffer/do that whatever.

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/a/177208/46216
 

There are three standard ways of pulling off a 360:

  1. Perform a normal attack. This is usually the preferred way of doing the move. Street fighter allows you to 'buffer' an attack up while doing another motion, and this is very similar to how to buffer up a charge attack as well.

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/a/32734/46216
 

Have you ever seen Zangiefs going forward and backwards, which translates to left and right, very fast before a pile diver? They do this as footsies plus they buffer 2 of the 4 required cardinal directions, they only need to input down and up + punch to execute the move.

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/a/57046/46216
 

Links are performed by executing a follow up move as soon as the first one finishes. They cannot be performed by cancelling or buffering, so they are very timing dependent and mashing is unlikely to succeed.

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/a/133826/46216

I think I get the gist, but I'd like a dictionary-tier definition.

Best Answer

noun 5 : a temporary storage unit (as in a computer); especially : one that accepts information at one rate and delivers it at another

"Buffer." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2014. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buffer.
 

To buffer is to queue input—hence the term being more specifically known as "input buffering"—during an uninterruptible animation so that the input is executed after the animation ends or becomes interruptible.

To buffer, the video-game must be a system that buffers. A notable example is the difference between Super Smash Bros. Melee vs. Super Smash Bros. Brawl:

Whenever a move is used in Brawl, a tiny "window" of time is created at the end of every move and animation; a time of 10 frames, in comparison to Melee's 0 frames.

http://www.ssbwiki.com/Buffer
In other words, Brawl buffers, but its prequel does not.
 

More definitions:
- http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_fighting_games#Buffering
- http://critical-gaming.com/critical-glossary/
- http://devilmaycry.wikia.com/wiki/Input_Buffering
- http://www.speedrunslive.com/faq/glossary/

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