I was wondering if it would be an easy task to do 8 way movement like arcade platform games such as Final Fight. I have a rough idea on how it can be done but perhaps someone with more knowledge would be able to give some insight.

Im not sure I understand what you mean.

Do you mean Up Left, Up, Up Right, Right, Down Right, Down, Down Left, Left ?

If so yes you can detect the movement

Take a look at the Gamepad.GetState function and this overview on input.

moltione:

Im not sure I understand what you mean.

Do you mean Up Left, Up, Up Right, Right, Down Right, Down, Down Left, Left ?

If so yes you can detect the movement

Sorry I wasn't very detailed. I'm trying to tweak the Platform Starter Kit to be able to use 8 way movement. Meaning like in the NES game Double Dragon. You can move all around the board and jump around as well. When you hit a building you obviously are colliding with non passable terrain so you can't move on those spots.

The kit only takes into account the horizontal movement. when it talks about the y axis, that is for jumping. So would I have to think in terms of a pseudo 3D where the x axis the horizontal, the y is the jumping position axis and the z would be "up" or away and "down" or towards the edge/bottom of the screen.

I hope this was more informative. And thanks to Jim for the links to the Input articles. Gave me a better understanding of Input.