Games - Super

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	Games - Super

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.

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.

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.

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) 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 way stronger and more spectacular than those performed by normal characters.

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.

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.

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