History Main / DiagonalSpeedBoost

** ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|1998}}'', on the other hand, retains this. In fact, going forward, strafing, pitching your hovertank forward (auto-stabilizing needs to be turned off or the tank will try to level out by itself) and using the jump thrusters all at once gives much faster movement - to say nothing of an engine glitch (?) that allows hovertanks to float high enough to be out of range for most weapons.
*** Naturally, all versions of ''Battlezone 2'''s unofficial 1.3 patch take flying out, [[BrokenBase to much rage from the veteran players]].

* Some [[RacingGame Racing Games]] have an unintentional technique called "snaking" in which zig-zagging left and right across a straightaway causes the vehicle to move faster than if it just went in a straight line. This is due to to how these games give out boosts for drifting in certain ways. The VideoGame/MarioKart series and ''[[VideoGame/{{F-Zero}} F-Zero GX]]'' are examples of games with snaking.

** This occurs in any game with a square grid that treats diagonal movement the same as vertical and horizontal movement.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9ti_endgame_study Réti Maneuver]] in {{Chess}} (published in 1921, but based on a 1914 game) is a candidate for TropeMaker. The black king is able to chase white's pawn on one side of the board while simultaneously approaching his own pawn on the other. The trick is that white's pawn can only move vertically, but black's king can move diagonally.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9ti_endgame_study Réti Maneuver]] in {{Chess}} (published in 1921, but based on a 1914 game) is a candidate for TropeMaker. The black king is able to chase white's pawn on one side of the board while simultaneously approaching his own pawn on the other. The trick is that white's pawn can only move horizontally, but black's king can move diagonally.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9ti_endgame_study Réti Maneuver]] in {{Chess}} (published in 1921, but based on a 1914 game) is a candidate for TropeMaker.

* Occurs in ''MarbleBlastGold''. Hold down two direction keys at once and the marble will travel faster than normal. This is sometimes needed to beat the gold times.

** Similar anomalies show through in the [[HalfLife Half-Life/Source]] games. Spamming directional keys can get you moving slightly faster than your maximum speed, which is excusable, but you can still [[LadderPhysics strafe and walk up ladders simultaneously]]. Custom maps have even used this as a puzzle element since you can jump from the top of a ladder with more upward velocity than your legs can provide. Even the recent VideoGame/Left4Dead series only sports new ladder code for survivors; the zombie team can still climb walls 50% faster with this trick.

* TabletopGame/{{Chess}}: Averted for the bishop since it can't turn while moving so it takes two turns to get to a position that the rook could reach in one (although it can be vice versa in other situations). Played straight for the king, whose movement is ''critical'' to the endgame.

** ''{{Descent}}'': Took this into the third dimension. To travel fastest, combine a diagonal slide (eg, up+right) with forward thrust. This gives a 73% speed boost, not counting the afterburner added in Descent 2. Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as using several of your ship's thrusters simultaneously.

* The online RPG program [=MapTool=] is variable; the GM can choose the movement metric, which lets one play the trope straight, avert it, or outright invert it (the "No Diagonals" metric, which forces movement along straight axes). It also lets you use hexes instead, just avoiding the whole issue altogether.
* The first ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}'' averted this trope, and managed to replace it with invulnerability to most damage when moving horizontally. Most commonly used to dodge missiles like arrows and fireballs, it could also be used to walk safely through a firewall or lightning (chain or otherwise) spell. On the Diablo Strategy Forum, we called it "Happy Feet."
* YoujuSenkiAD2048 has an odd variation: moving one space diagonally is considered the same as moving one space vertically or horizontally (counted as one space when moving or shooting), but the characters cannot move like this if the spaces next to them are occupied by enemies or obstructions (to put it simply, if you can't move there without diagonal movement, you can't move there period). However, this limitation does not affect attacks (meaning that even if a character can't move diagonally into a space, they can still shoot that space if they're in range).

* An odd variation in ''SonicLabyrinth'' is that Sonic walks slightly faster if he moves to the left or to the right.

* Peculiarly subverted in the original ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games. The hexagonal grid makes vertical movement impossible. Any attempt to do so would result in characters moving in a zig-zag that is much slower than, for example, moving horizontally, which was actually a lot quicker.
** This was frustrating in some areas, but could also be exploited to slow down a large number of approaching enemies.
* Deliberately subverted in ''Anachronism.'' Warriors fought on a 4 by 4 grid, and could not move diagonally--they had to spend one of their (usually three) actions to move on one axis, then a second action to move on the other. The ability to move diagonally was a special ability that appeared only rarely. Its most notable use was as Achilles' warrior ability; Achilles was considered one of the best cards from set 1 because this meant, even placing second, there wasn't enough space in the arena to run away entirely.

* Inverted in the ProgrammingGame ''[=RoboWar=]'', where the cost of diagonal movement was proportional to the sum of the rates along the X and Y axes.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{X-COM}}'' tactical combat. Diagonal movements cost 1.5 more time and energy than straight on the same terrain with same bonuses and penalties.
* In VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}, minecarts travel diagonally over curved rails. If you place rails on two adjacent diagonals, you get a zig-zagged track, which you can travel over as if it were a straight diagonal. This results in a speed boost.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{X-COM}}'' tactical combat. Diagonal movements cost 1.5 more time and energy than straight on the same terrain with same bonuses and penalties.

** The ''PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series.

* An odd variation in ''SonicLabyrinth'' is that Sonic walks slighty faster if he moves to the left or to the right.

* Peculiarly subverted in the original VideoGame/{{Fallout}} games. The hexagonal grid makes vertical movement impossible. Any attempt to do so would result in characters moving in a zig-zag that is much slower than, for example, moving horizontally, which was actually a lot quicker.

** Similar anomalies show through in the [[HalfLife Half-Life/Source]] games. Spamming directional keys can get you moving slightly faster than your maximum speed, which is excusable, but you can still [[LadderPhysics strafe and walk up ladders simultaneously]]. Custom maps have even used this as a puzzle element since you can jump from the top of a ladder with more upward velocity than your legs can provide. Even the recent Left4Dead series only sports new ladder code for survivors; the zombie team can still climb walls 50% faster with this trick.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': Strafing and running forward at the same time is 30% faster than just moving forward or strafing - this is [=SR40=], named so because you move at ~40 units/tic. It is also possible for a further speed boost known as [=SR50=] (~50 u/t), where you look and strafe in the same direction, with "strafe on look" on. Combined with moving forward, this gives the full ~41% speed boost, and is used in many speedruns.

* TabletopGame/{{Chess}}: Averted for the bishop since it can't turn while moving so it takes two turns to get to a position that the rook could reach in one (although it can be vice versa in other situations). Played straight for the king.
** This fact becomes important in several chess problems.
** This fact is ''critical'' for the proper use of the king in pretty much all endgames. Which makes it critical for playing the game well, period.

** Averted in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': diagonal movement takes 362/256 times as long as orthogonal movement, which is as close as the game engine can get to the square root of 2.

* "Zig-zagging" is the best way to run in the open field in ''TecmoSuperBowl'' and its sequels because you don't lose speed when rushing diagonally.

Common in square grid based games, the diagonal speed boost is when it takes the same amount of time or turns to move to a diagonal square as it does to a horizontal or vertical square. This means that diagonal movement is about 40 percent faster[[hottip:*:specifically, it's √2, or approximately 1.414]] as movement in a straight line. This allows whatever's moving on the grid to cover more ground in the same amount of time.

* The first ''{{Diablo}}'' averted this trope, and managed to replace it with invulnerability to most damage when moving horizontally. Most commonly used to dodge missiles like arrows and fireballs, it could also be used to walk safely through a firewall or lightning (chain or otherwise) spell. On the Diablo Strategy Forum, we called it "Happy Feet."

* Oddly present in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach''. Picking up a turret normally causes you to move slower, but moving diagonally negates that speed decrease entirely.