The Instant Kill
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus: Sol Badguy’s Napalm Death:
1 second
Although they have to be done during the match, Arc System Works’ Instant Kills are similar to Fatalities in that they are mainly flashy ways to end a round due to their limited strategic value. Guilty Gear’s franchise lead and hardened bounty hunter, Sol Badguy, takes the technique’s name to heart and skips the theatrics in his deathblow.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend: Platinum The Trinity’s Shining Layered Force: 9.5 seconds
Newer additions to the Guilty Gear franchise have more dazzling Instant Kills, and by the time ASW created the sister series BlazBlue, these newly christened “Astral Finishes” were no longer very instant. Sailor Moon knock-off Platinum The Trinity transforms into her cutesy ultimate form and defeats her opponent with the power of love and friendship. How does it compare to the moves from her inspiration’s TV series, which were notorious for reusing animations every episode? At nearly 10 seconds, this attack isn’t as tedious as the main character’s baton-twirling techniques that took half a minute to do — and made you wonder why the villain never tries to attack her during it. But it’s still about as long as the canned animations of her Sailor Scout teammates.
Yes, I checked.
Persona 4 Arena: Elizabeth’s Megidolaon: 22 seconds
Persona 4 Arena’s combatants come from a popular Japanese role-playing game series and thus are used to spells that take forever to complete. Elizabeth in particular was a superhard optional boss in the franchise, and although she is not as dominant in her first fighting game appearance, when played at her best she can mimic this status using her crushing combos and numerous status ailments. Her 9,999-damage-causing Instant Kill lasts 22 seconds and is the longest one both in the game and in any Arc System Works title. Still, it’s only fitting to end this tour with the franchise that birthed our lust for powerful blasts that take forever to fire.