Screen KO

Screen KO is a term regarding a special type of KO in the last two Super Smash Bros games. Instead of a character being Star KO'd off the top blast line, the character appears to fly at the screen and hit the inside of the glass before falling down and being KO'd.

In Coin mode, Coins appear on the screen, surrounding the character being KO'd. Once paused, the coins disappear.

In Melee, there is a bonus for getting KO'd this way: Foresight.

There is a fair bit of controversy surrounding the idea that, since the choice of Star KO and Screen KO is random, two players may end up being KO'd at different times even though they hit the top blast line at the same time. If both players are on their last stock, this can determine the match.

While the Screen KO was not in Super Smash Bros. per se, there was an equivalent: sometimes top-KO'd characters would fall down between the stage and the camera. Depending on the camera angle, this may not be seen. Also, the distance from the camera is chosen randomly - sometimes the doomed character appears to be falling normally, while at other times he's just a quick flash of colour down the screen.