Special Zoom

Special Zoom is an aesthetic effect introduced in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, designed to add drama during a match. The term was coined by Masahiro Sakurai and his development teamhttps://nintendoeverything.com/sakurai-on-smash-bros-ultimate-tempo-items-changes-and-additions-choosing-taunts-much-more/ (referred to as Decisive Impact in the initial design documentWriting Game Proposals [Work Ethic]).
==Overview==
Special Zoom activates when a fighter is hit by certain attacks: for a short moment, the background flashes blue with dramatic "spark" effects pointing towards the impact, time will substantially slow down, and the camera zooms in on the impact. In games with more than two players, the slowdown and camera zoom effects will be nearly non-existent, although there are some exceptions (a few moves will always zoom even outside of 1v1 matches). A Special Zoom is usually accompanied by the sound effect previously exclusive to Little Mac's KO Uppercut in Super Smash Bros. 4. During some Special Zoom events, camera control is disabled, though this is not consistently enforced.
A few moves in Smash 4 which also had zoom-and-slowdown effects, such as KO Uppercut and Cloud's Finishing Touch and Limit Break Cross Slash, now use the standard Special Zoom effect.
In general, the attacks that trigger Special Zoom are slow and hard to hit with (such as Warlock Punch or Falcon Punch). Most other attacks that trigger Special Zoom have conditions that need to be met, such as 's Skewer needing to be sweetspotted, or Little Mac's smash attacks requiring his armor to be triggered during the start-up. Certain items and stage hazards may also trigger Special Zoom, also requiring special conditions in some cases. 
Special Zoom occurs even if the attack's knockback is negated by armor. However, Special Zoom will not trigger if the opponent is hit while invincible, during the last five seconds in a time match, when Nightmare is active, when hitting the AI-controlled character of the , or when a Final Smash is active.
===Finish Zoom===
Similar to Special Zoom is Finish Zoom or Final Zoom, terms also coined by Sakurai and his team. Finish Zoom is used when the game calculates an attack will likely result in a game-winning KO. Like the Deadly Blow mechanic introduced in Super Smash Bros. 4, this effect only factors in knockback and launch angle, and does not account for obstructions or DI being used to make an otherwise-deadly blow survivable. Like Special Zoom, Finish Zoom zooms in on the point of impact and briefly slows down time. However, Finish Zoom uses a red background instead of a blue one, and the sound is always the same. The sound used is also different again, being akin to a ping hit combined with the sound of slashing swords. With the exception of Giga Bowser Punch's instant KO, Screen KOs rarely occur when a Finish Zoom sends an opponent into the upper blast line, while Star KOs are very rare.
==List of moves that trigger Special Zoom==
===By character===
Character 	Move(s) 	Conditions 	
 	Aymr 	Clean hit. 	
 	Falcon Punch 	 	
 	Flare Blade 	Charged for at least 2.5 seconds. 	
rowspan=3 	Cross Slash 	Limit Break. 	
Climhazzard 	 	Limit Break. 	
Finishing Touch 	 	Limit Break. 	
 	Giant Punch 	Fully charged. 	
rowspan=2 	 	Clean hit. 	
Warlock Punch 	 	 	
rowspan=5 	All smash attacks 	Random critical hit. 	
Metal Slash 	Connecting with a metal opponent, including another Hero using Kaclang. 	 	
Hatchet Man 	 	 	
Whack 	When it Instant KOs. 	 	
Thwack 	When it Instant KOs. 	 	
 	Eruption 	Fully charged. 	
rowspan=3 	All smash attacks 	When Revenge is active. 	
Alolan Whip 	When Revenge is active and the move is sweetspotted. 	 	
Cross Chop 	Explosion hitbox while Revenge is active. 	 	
 	Rest 	 	
rowspan=2 	Rage Drive 	Occurs on final hit of the grab. 	
 	When hitting at the tip of Kazuya's fist. 	 	
 	Jet Hammer 	Fully charged. 	
 	Belly Super Armor 	If broken by an attack. 	
rowspan=2 	Hammer Flip 	Fully charged. 	
Any neutral special from other characters that triggers Special Zoom	If Kirby copies an opponent whose neutral special can trigger Special Zoom, Kirby will also experience it under the same conditions. The only exceptions are Little Mac's KO Uppercut, as Kirby can only copy Straight Lunge and does not have access to the KO Meter, and the Mii Brawler's Exploding Side Kick, since Kirby can only copy Shot Put.	* 	
rowspan=2 	All smash attacks 	When attacked during startup armor. 	
KO Uppercut 	 	 	
 	Force Palm 	On grab attack when at aura. 	
 	PK Thunder 	On last hit of PK Thunder 2. 	
 	Shield Breaker 	When breaking a shield. 	
 	Super Jump Punch 	Grounded sweetspot only. 	
 	Shield Breaker 	When breaking a shield. 	
 	Exploding Side Kick 	 	
rowspan=2 	Judge 	Judge 9. 	
Oil Panic 	On release. 	 	
 	PK Thunder 	On contact during PK Thunder 2. 	
 	Skewer 	Sweetspot. 	
 	Flare Blade 	If charged for at least 2.5 seconds. 	
 	TNT 	Explosion hitbox on anyone not triggering the pressure plate.	
 	Wario Waft 	Fully charged. 	
* None of the attacks that Kirby can copy have the 'Always zoom' effect.
===By item===
Item 	Conditions 	
Assist Trophy 	Upon defeat. Only possible for defeatable summons.	
Daybreak 	When a fighter has collected all three parts. 	
Death's Scythe 	Sweetspotted tilt or smash attack at ≥80% damage. 	
Home-Run Bat 	Smash attack. 	
Motion-Sensor Bomb	When detonated by touch. 	
Staff 	Any hit at maximum range. 	
===By assist trophy===
Character 	Conditions 	
Black Knight	Triggers for all attacks except a backhanded slash. No camera zoom occurs.	
Lyn 	 	
===By stage hazard===
Hazard 	Stage(s) 	Conditions 	
Invisible walls 	King of Fighters Stadium	When hit with enough knockback to KO, shatters with the special zoom effect. 	
Walls and ceiling	Mishima Dojo 	When hit with enough knockback to break, shatters with the special zoom effect. No camera zoom occurs.	
Klaptrap 	Jungle Japes 	On contact, causing a one-hit KO. Camera zooms in slightly. 	
Mimic 	Yggdrasil's Altar 	When it bites a fighter upon being attacked for the first time. 	
Red Bulborb 	Distant Planet 	Chomps down on any fighter that enters its mouth, which causes an instant KO. 	
Train 	Mementos 	When hit in front. Camera zooms in slightly. 	
Odin 	Midgar 	When his attack hits an opponent. 	
==Trivia==
*Should a character be hit by an attack that triggers a Finish Zoom, they will react with a shocked expression that overrides the expression normally displayed.
*If a non-cinematic Final Smash causes Finish Zoom, the background will change to the stage's normal background, rather than the background for the Final Smash.
*In-game parameters reveal that Captain Falcon's Knee Smash was planned to have the Special Zoom effect, although it is not active in the final game.
*Hero has the most moves which can trigger Special Zoom out of all characters, with 7.
*Collecting all three parts of the Dragoon and getting hit by Odin's slashing attack will cause the camera to zoom in, but do not cause the Special Zoom background to appear.
*In Home-Run Contest, Special Zoom does not occur on moves that trigger the effect; presumably to prevent such moves from costing the player time due to the timer not slowing down while Special Zoom is in effect.
**However, using a Special Zoom move in place of the Home-Run Bat swing will not result in an angled view of Sandbag flying, and will instead feature a normal Special Zoom.
*Certain moves are given a hidden multiplier that increases the amount of knockback needed to trigger Finish Zoom, usually for moves that are clearly telegraphed and/or heavily affected by DI, which the opponent would feasibly always react to and DI against accordingly. Star KOs will be more common if the match is finished this way than with the actual Finish Zoom effect.
**These multipliers are set manually, independent from the move's actual knockback calculations, and may not always accurately reflect the practical KO potential of the move. For example, Mario's back throw can KO at around 140% at the ledge with no DI and 160% with optimal DI for a roughly 1.15x increase in survivability, but it is set with an arbitrarily high multiplier of 1.5x, causing the Finish Zoom to begin occurring well beyond its minimum KO percent.
*A glitch involving and Finish Zoom was introduced in Version 8.0.0: if the opponent doesn't get KO'd (e.g. due to directional influence) after Min Min's attack triggered Finish Zoom, her last used ARM will be visually stuck in its stretched animation.
*If Finish Zoom occurs to a character getting hit from behind, the reverse knockback animation does not play, although they will briefly assume the pose.
*If uses Thwack on performing Withdraw, Squirtle will be instant KO'ed, but it will not trigger the Special Zoom.https://youtu.be/pWku5huh2Jw?t=706
*If Ryu uses Shin Shoryuken or if Ken uses Shippu Jinraikyaku as his Final Smash, the move uses a mechanic similar to Finishing Zoom where if the final hit has enough knockback to KO, the backdrop is set to an orange color.
*Characters launched out of the bury status that trigger Finish Zoom have a notably increased chance of being Star KO'd after Finish Zoom.
*If a character is on their last stock in a Stamina Battle and is grabbed, becomes invincible from a Super Star while being grabbed, and then thrown with low enough HP that the throw would KO, they will trigger a Finish Zoom as if they were KO'd, but won't take any damage or be KO'd. A similar effect occurs under certain circumstances in Classic Mode, such as in the fourth round of 's classic mode route, where if the player defeats all the s before the spawns, it will likewise trigger a Finish Zoom.
**In both cases, the screen will remain darkened for the rest of the match.
*Finish Zoom has a bug where knockback is applied during the freeze frames, causing victims to start launching with less knockback and surviving otherwise guaranteed KOs.
**This bug oddly doesn't apply to attacks with the effect, as those apply the full knockback properly.
***This causes a functional difference between and , particularly with their Forward smashes. Despite otherwise being identical, Dark Samus uses the electric effect while Samus uses the flame effect, causing Dark Samus to KO at a lower percent if Finish Zoom is triggered.
==References==
Category:Terms
Category:Game physics