Super (fighting games)
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Super (short for super move or super combo) is a term regarding fighting games. It indicates a special move, unique to each character, which is performed through a single and usually simple motion of the controller pad, and which is supposed to deal a great amount of damage to the opponent. It generally consists of a spectacular combo, although it can also be a single hit or a throw.
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[edit] The super mechanism
There are many different kinds of supers. Classifying them would be difficult, since each category would overflow into the others. Indeed, we can focus our attention on some key aspects.
[edit] Animations
A super is often based upon normal or special moves comprised in a character's fighting style. In this sense, a super is simply a move who retains normal or special moves animations while increasing the output power. An example of this is Super Street Fighter II Turbo, one of the first to introduce the super mechanism. Ryu's super was a powered version of his classic special move, the Hadoken, while Ken's super was based on his special move, the Shoryuken. Other examples of this can be found in the Darkstalkers series.
There also exist supers which are not based upon particular moves of a character but are heavily based upon his/her fighting style and/or behavior, thus showing unique animations during playtime. Iori Yagami's Ya Otome SDM from the King of Fighters series is an example of this.
[edit] Output power
In some games, such as the Street Fighter Alpha series, a super can be performed at different levels of power. Usually these levels require different conditions, such as the filling of a power gauge to a certain point (see the Conditions section for more details). Generally, the greater the output power is, the more time it requires to be charged up, although in many games there isn't such possibility. The power gauge can be filled to different levels but this does not add more power to the super, thus we basically have level 1 supers which can be performed quickly one after the another. Other examples of different power outputs can be found in the King of Fighters series, where a character can perform basic and super DM (short for Desperation Moves), the latter almost doubling the amount of damage to the opponent.
Some series offer particular levels of super which have tremendous output power and may even be unblockable by the opponent, but may require charge times or a few seconds of immobility to be carried out, thus leaving the character open to attacks. Examples of this are the Galactica Phantom (one of Ralf Jones' supers from King of Fighters), Ryu's Denjin Hadouken from Street Fighter III(or Metsu Hadouken in Capcom vs. SNK 2) and the HaraHara attacks from Waku Waku 7, devastating and unblockable attacks which require only one level of gauge power but 2 to 8 seconds of immobility of the character to be performed.
Finally, the power of a super may depend on what kind of character is performing it. Usually, final bosses' supers are considerably stronger and more spectacular than those performed by normal characters.
[edit] Number of hits
A super can consist in a series of hits or combo, a single hit, or a throw.
- As what regards combos, we can have supers with a number of hits ranging from 2 to N, where N can be high but generally under 100. These supers may be, for example, an energetic attack (such as Ryu's Shinku Hadoken), a physical and rushing attack ending with a final hit (such as Ryo Sakazaki's Ryuuko Ranbu) or a fullscreen attack (such as K9999' HSDM).
- Some supers consist of a single and usually very powerful hit, which can be, for example, a punch or an energy attack (such as Kyo Kusanagi's Orochi Nagi).
- A super can be a throw, i.e. the character grabs his/her opponent and, for example, slams them on the ground or hits them and then throws them away. An example of this is Zangief's Final Atomic Buster.
- A super can also require the mashing of buttons to increase the amount of hits and make it even more effective. The player can both mash on the attack buttons and rotate the direction control pad or joystick. An example of this would be Ken Masters' Shinryu-ken.
- Similar to the above point, a button combination may be entered to make the super more effective. If the combination is entered correctly, then damage will usually increase and more hits might be added. An example of this is the special system used in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja.
[edit] Conditions
A super can be carried out only under certain conditions particular to each game. A condition common to many games is the filling of a power gauge, which may lead to level 1, level 2, level 3 supers and so on. Every level may add spectacularness and power to the super while maintaining its basic animations. Thus, for example, a level 3 super takes more time to be performed but gives a greater deal of damage to the opponent than a level 2 super. Generally, the more time it takes to charge a super, the greater the output power will be, although this is not always guaranteed.
[edit] Special abilities
At certain points of the game, conditions may allow for the showing of personal abilities not common to every character, i.e. performable only by a particular character. Generally these abilities are supers which are difficult to perform, and which consist of animations, spectacularness and power very effective in impressing the player. An example of this is Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu from the Street Fighter Alpha series.
[edit] Effectiveness of a super
It is often thought that a super is the most powerful move a character can perform. This can be considered true in a sense - a super is usually the most powerful move, in terms of damage to the opponent's vitality bar, that can be carried out with a single motion of the pad. However, as what regards combination of moves, the power of a super is often superseded by that of a normal combo, or even a single throw, thus rendering the super mechanism a simple, but still very damaging, show of flashy graphics.
