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 will lose 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 player loses all of 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 Coin match, the KO'd player loses half their coins, rounded down. SSBB prevents a player from losing more than 100 coins at once. The lost coinage will fly 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 Super Smash Bros Brawl's Subspace Emissary if they are crushed by moving walls, ceilings, or floors.
If a player has no stock remaining, then they do not reappear. They are then either removed from play (multiplayer matches) or receive a Game Over (single player modes).
KO Property
In Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, each character has a "KO property" which starts out empty. When a character is 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. So 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 character dies on his/her own.
