Directional Influence

Directional influence is a technique present in the Super Smash Bros. series, and therefore, SSF2. It is used to escape combos, or to survive longer. To perform it, hold any direction before being sent flying.

Combo DI
Combo DI is the use of DI in order to escape combos and/or strings. It is usually characterized by holding away from the opponent. It is used to force the opponent to use another move in order to keep the combo going, or even stop the opponent's combo completely. It can also aid in your survivability; on attacks that send vertically, use combo DI to survive them.

Survival DI
Survival DI is the use of DI in order to survive many attacks at high damage. To do it, DI towards the top corners of the stage (up+left/up+right). It is used to prolong the stock of the player and is used on many popular finishing moves (ex. Mario's back throw, Fox's back air, Falco's forward smash). In some situations, many attacks can be survival DI'd, but will not let the player live. Examples are Zelda and Mega Man's back throw at the edge; because of the angle these attacks send at, if one has high damage tacked on to them, they will instead go nearly straight up and will be killed off the top. The way to survive attacks like these is, assuming that you are not at the edge of the stage, use combo DI instead.