Fightcade Lua Hotkey Top [LATEST]

Save this as hotkey_top.lua in your Fightcade emulator folder (e.g., Fightcade/emulator/):

-- Fightcade Lua Hotkey: Top Actions
-- Assign F5 to save state, F7 to load state
while true do
if input.read()["F5"] then
-- Save state (slot 0)
savestate.save(0)
console.write("State saved to slot 0")
while input.read()["F5"] do emu.frameadvance() end
end
if input.read()["F7"] then
    -- Load state
    savestate.load(0)
    console.write("State loaded from slot 0")
    while input.read()["F7"] do emu.frameadvance() end
end
emu.frameadvance()

end

Ironically, the top Lua hotkeys are also used to detect cheating. Tournament organizers run this script to check if players have illegal one-button super macros.

Hotkey: F12 – Dumps all custom Lua bindings to a text file.

-- Tournament mode: Detect active macros
local function audit_hotkeys()
    local log = io.open("hotkey_audit.txt", "w")
    log:write("Active Lua Hotkeys:\n")
    -- List all registered callbacks
    for k,v in pairs(debug.getregistry()) do
        if string.find(k, "macro") then
            log:write(k .. "\n")
        end
    end
    log:close()
    print("Audit complete. Check hotkey_audit.txt")
end
input.bind_key(88, audit_hotkeys) -- F12

Here's a realistic example: you're running Third Strike. You bind F1 to toggle hitboxes, F2 to save state, F3 to load state, F4 to record a 10-second replay buffer. All without alt-tabbing, all while blocking mixups. fightcade lua hotkey top

A minimal Lua script skeleton for Fightcade might look like:

-- Fightcade Lua: Hotkey Top template
local overlay = gui.create_overlay("Hotkey Top", 10, 10, 200, 100)
overlay:set_alpha(0.8)
overlay:show()
function on_hotkey(key)
if key == "F1" then
memory.write_u8(0x2C4A, 1)  -- toggle hitbox flag (example)
overlay:set_text("Hitboxes ON")
elseif key == "F2" then
savestate.save(1)
overlay:set_text("State saved")
end
end
bind_hotkey("F1", on_hotkey)
bind_hotkey("F2", on_hotkey)

If your "Fightcade Lua hotkey top" setup fails, check these three things:

Debug snippet: Add this line to your script: Save this as hotkey_top

print("Hotkey script loaded at " .. os.date())

If you don’t see that in the Flycast console, the script isn’t loaded.

Purpose: Practice punishing a blocked super or DP. The AI will perform a reversal on the first possible frame.

How it works: When you press your hotkey (e.g., F1), the script holds Up (to jump) and then immediately presses your chosen special move on the exact landing frame.

-- Top Lua Hotkey: 1-Frame Reversal (Flycast)
-- Bind to F1: Automatically does DP after blocking.
local reversal_key = 59 -- Scancode for F1
local function on_input()
if input.get_keys().keyboard[reversal_key] then
-- Simulate forward, down, downforward + Punch
input.set_macro(
 "hold", "Right" ,  "delay", 1 ,
 "hold", "Down" ,  "delay", 1 ,
 "release", "Right" ,  "delay", 1 ,
 "press", "Punch" ,  "delay", 1 ,
 "release", "Down" ,  "release", "Punch" 
)
end
end
input.add_callback(on_input)

Why it's top tier: It removes human reaction time. You can test if your frame trap is truly safe.