When you press LEFT, you are trying to hold LEFT for exactly 5 or 6 frames (1/12 or 1/10 of a second). Instead of bringing up the map to confirm Alucard's position, you can instead let Alucard's foot come to rest on the floor (takes slightly less than half a second after you let go of LEFT). Alucard's frontmost foot has 3 light gray pixels that touch the floor. If either the right or middle gray pixel of Alucard's foot is resting above the dark gray vertical line in the stone texture of the floor, Alucard is in the correct position to map buffer or menu buffer the rest of the inputs (LEFT and ATTACK).