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 team.
Overview
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Special Zoom activates when a fighter is hit by certain attacks: the background flashes blue with dramatic "spark" effects pointing towards the impact. If there are only two players on screen, time substantially slows down and the camera zooms in on the impact. The slowdown only lasts for a short moment in 1v1s and is even shorter in games with more than two players, and is usually accompanied by the sound effect previously only used by Little Mac's KO Uppercut in Super Smash Bros. 4. (KO Uppercut previously had its own slowdown effect, but now uses Special Zoom along with Cloud's Limit Break special moves.)
During some Special Zoom events, camera control is disabled, though this is not consistently enforced.
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 Ridley'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 Ice Climbers, or when a Final Smash is active.
Similar to Special Zoom is Finish Zoom or Final Zoom, terms also coined by Sakurai and his team. Finish Zoom is used when an attack will likely result in a game-winning KO. Like the Deadly Blow mechanic introduced in Super Smash Bros. 4, this effect does not factor in 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. 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 | Always zooms |
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| Byleth | Aymr | Clean hit. | 
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| Captain Falcon | Falcon Punch |
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| Chrom | Flare Blade | Charged for at least 2.5 seconds. |
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| Cloud | Cross Slash | Limit Break. |
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| Climhazzard | |||
| Finishing Touch | |||
| Donkey Kong | Giant Punch | Fully charged. |
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| Ganondorf | Volcano Kick | Clean hit. |
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| Warlock Punch |
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| Hero | All smash attacks | Random critical hit. |
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| Metal Slash | Connecting with a metal opponent, including another Hero using Kaclang. | 
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| Hatchet Man |
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| Whack | When it Instant KOs. |
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| Thwack | |||
| Ike | Eruption | Fully charged. |
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| Incineroar | All smash attacks | When Revenge is active. |
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| Alolan Whip | When Revenge is active and the move is sweetspotted. | ||
| Cross Chop | Explosion hitbox while Revenge is active. | ||
| Jigglypuff | Rest |
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| King Dedede | Jet Hammer | Fully charged. |
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| King K. Rool | Belly Super Armor | If broken by an attack. |
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| Kirby | Hammer Flip | Fully charged. |
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| 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. | *
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| Little Mac | All smash attacks | When attacked during startup armor. |
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| KO Uppercut | |||
| Lucario | Force Palm | On grab attack when at high aura. |
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| Lucas | PK Thunder | On last hit of PK Thunder 2. |
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| Lucina | Shield Breaker | When breaking a shield. |
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| Luigi | Super Jump Punch | Grounded sweetspot only. |
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| Marth | Shield Breaker | When breaking a shield. |
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| Mii Brawler | Exploding Side Kick |
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| Mr. Game & Watch | Judge | Judge 9. |
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| Oil Panic | On release. |
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| Ness | PK Thunder | On contact during PK Thunder 2. |
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| Ridley | Skewer | Sweetspot. |
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| Roy | Flare Blade | If charged for at least 2.5 seconds. |
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| Steve | TNT | Explosion hitbox on anyone NOT triggering the pressure plate. |
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| Wario | Wario Waft | Fully charged. |
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*None of the attacks that Kirby can copy have the 'Always zoom' effect.
By item
| Item | Conditions | Always zooms |
|---|---|---|
| Assist Trophy | Upon defeat. Only possible for defeatable summons. |
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| Daybreak | When a fighter has collected all three parts. |
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| Death's Scythe | Sweetspotted tilt or smash attack at ≥80% damage. |
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| Home-Run Bat | Smash attack. |
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| Motion-Sensor Bomb | When detonated by touch. |
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| Staff | Any hit at maximum range. |
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By assist trophy
| Character | Conditions | Always zooms |
|---|---|---|
| Black Knight | Triggers for all attacks except a backhanded slash. Will not cause camera zoom. |
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| Lyn |
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By stage hazard
| Hazard | Stage(s) | Conditions | Always zooms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invisible walls | King of Fighters Stadium | When hit with enough knockback to KO, shatters with the special zoom effect. |
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| Klaptrap | Jungle Japes | On contact, causing a one-hit KO. Camera zooms in slightly. |
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| Mimic | Yggdrasil's Altar | When it bites a fighter upon being attacked for the first time. |
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| Red Bulborb | Distant Planet | Chomps down on any fighter that enters its mouth, which causes an instant KO. |
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| Train | Mementos | When hit in front. Camera zooms in slightly. |
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Trivia
- 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 7 moves which can trigger Special Zoom, the most out of all characters.
- Collecting all three parts of the Dragoon and getting hit by Odin's slashing attack will cause the camera to zoom in, but they don't cause the "Special Zoom" blue 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.
- There are notably times where the Finish Zoom does not trigger, even if the attack does well enough knockback to kill, most notably with up throws. Star KOs will be more common if the match is finished this way than with the actual Finish Zoom effect.
- A glitch involving Min Min and Finish Zoom was introduced in the Version 8.0.0; if the opponent didn'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 being stretched.
- Should a Finish Zoom occur, the attacked character will sport a surprised expression.
- Additionally, 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.
