What is Frame Data?

Frame data, and anything regarding frames in the context of these games, is a term coined from how the games are programmed.

Nearly every fighting game is animated at 60 frames per second. Because these games are loosely based off of martial arts, speed is everything, and outsmarting your opponent on using quick attacks versus slow attacks will make the difference in a match.

Game balance, therefore, is calculated by the amount of frames the move takes to start up, the amount of frames the move has an active hitbox and can deal damage, and the amount of frames the move takes to recover back to a neutral state.

How does it impact the game?

For example,

In Street Fighter 6, one of Ryu's best tools is his standing heavy punch. In the context of frames, it has a 10 frame start up, 5 frame active period, and a 32 frame recovery. Comparing that to his stubbier, yet faster, standing light punch with a 4 frame start up, heavy punch loses to an opponent's move that every time. However, slower moves with higher risk attached to their usage often nets a greater reward on hit. It's important to keep this in mind when playing or spectating to see which moves an opponent is using in neutral and finding solutions to start your offense.