KO
A KO, short for knock-out or knock-off, is the term used to describe the situation where a player is knocked back beyond the stage's blast lines by the opponent's actions. The KO'd player is sent to a revival platform to re-enter the match. The following may then happen depending on the type of match:
- In a Time match, the KO'd player loses a point, while the player who made the KO gains a point.
- In a Stock match, the KO'd player loses a stock. If a players loses all their stock they will receive the following:
- Single-player: A continuation or a Game Over (if the player doesn't have enough coins in Melee and Brawl).
- Multiplayer: Removal from the rest of the match. In a team match, the player can "borrow" a life from an ally.
- In a Coin match, KO'd players loses half their coins, rounded down. SSBB prevents a player from losing more than 100 coins at once. The lost coinage flies into play if the KO was made off the side.
- In the Subspace Emissary, the next character in the lineup is loaded and teleported into play without a revival platform. One stock is also lost.
- Characters can also be KO'd in the Subspace Emissary if they are crushed by moving walls, ceilings, or floors.
KO property
In Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, each character has a "KO property" which starts out empty. When characters are hit by an attack (be it a physical attack, a projectile, an item, etc), their KO property is set to match whoever made the hit. Stage elements do not change the KO property. The KO property is reset once a character lands on the ground and is no longer moving as a result of the attack's knockback. When the character is KO'd, the KO goes to whoever matches the KO property. If the property is null, the KO counts as a self-destruct. In simple terms, it goes to whoever made the last hit.
However, for whatever reason, this format was heavily altered for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In SSBB, a character's KO property is never reset during a stock. If a character is hit at any time during a stock, it becomes impossible to self-destruct; a KO will be given to whoever make the last hit. Which means if a character is hit by an attack and jumps off the edge, it will count as a KO, not an SD. It gives other characters free KOs when the target characters dies on their own.
