Star KO

A Star Knock-Out, abbreviated as Star KO is a type of KO. When a character falls off the top of the screen (save for a few exceptions, see below), they fly through the background, yell/scream/etc, and eventually disappear as a star. Rarely, the character will fall in front of the stage. In Super Smash Bros., they simply fall past, but in Super Smash Bros. Melee, they will bump against the screen. The second method takes far less time than the first, which occasionally makes a difference in situations where two people with one stock are killed off the top at once, or when trying to KO someone with little time left. This may not happen as hitting the frontof the screen is faster. In Brawl some charaters have their yelling shortend like Falco, Marth, Sheik, Popo and others. Veterans have new ones or there are new players with them.

Exceptions

Members of a computer team (ie the Fighting Wire Frames) don't experience Star KO's, instead undergoing the usual colorful explosion. In addition, in the beginning the second trailer for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kirby uses his Up smash to knock Mario and Link off the top of the screen, but the usual colored explosion occurs, instead of a Star KO. The star KO is still in this game.

Trivia

• The concept of a Star KO is from a very common anime trope, where a character or characters is struck or blasted high into the air, eventually disappearing as a twinkle in the sky. It was made famous in anime like Pokémon (where this fate befalls Team Rocket every now and then) and Love Hina (whenever Keitaro Urashima is struck fiercely enough).
• If you throw a Freezie at an opponent and they get Star KO'd, they will still be frozen as they disappear into the background.