Hit Stop

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Freezing or slowing time for a right at the moment of an impact to create the impression that something hits harder, or for dramatic effect. For particularly dramatic scenes it may continue into a full-blown Overcrank. Some video games will also use it to make combo input easier. Trope name comes from the term used for this in the Guilty Gear fighting game series.

Compare: Overcrank and Bullet Time.

Examples of Hit Stop include:

Anime

• Used in Usavich when the giant robot smacks Kirenenko and he collides with Putin and their robot.
• In the final episode of Cowboy Bebop when Julia is shot.
• Occurs in Bleach episode #144 when Chad punches the arrancar Demora in the face and crushes half of his mask.

Film

• Used a lot for the comic effect in Kung Fu Panda, especially during Tai Lung's escape, and later when Po lands on Tai Lung butt-first as they fight their way down the long, long, long, long stairway from the Jade Palace.
• The Matrix Revolutions, when Neo punches Agent Smith in the face in slow motion during their Battle in the Rain.
• Used a few times in the new Sherlock Holmes movie, while Holmes is going through his fight moves in his head. The actual fight is then shown in real time to prove that Holmes' moves worked.
• Watchmen had a ton of this.
• Romeo Must Die, complete with x-ray flashes of the underlying damage.

Live Action TV

• Used all the time in Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Video Games

• The Guilty Gear series applies this to moves in varying degrees.
  • As does its Spiritual Successor BlazBlue.
• Used in Golden Sun whenever a Critical Hit strikes.
• Happens in Sonic Adventure 2 when Sonic defeats the Egg Golem (from Dark Story perspective.)
• Used in the Mega Man X and Zero series whenever Zero cuts something with his Beam Saber.
• Critical Counters in The King of Fighters XII.
• Fully charged Focus attacks in Street Fighter IV and scoring a counter hit with a Hard-strength attack in Street Fighter Alpha 3
• Time slows during some third-person finishing blows in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Web Animation

• Super Mario Bros Z uses this. A lot.
• One of the most famous examples in the web animation occurs at the end of the third episode of Xiao Xiao series.