Supernova (ability)

A blast of such despair that it can send destruction even into other dimensions.

Menu description in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

Supernova (スーパーノヴァ, Sūpānova?), also known as Super Nova and Sunburst, is a recurring enemy ability that generally deals a large amount of non-elemental magic damage to all opponents. The same spell is also used by several enemies as a powerful move intended to finish off the player party. It is famously used by Sephiroth and it is also infamous for its lengthy animation of two minutes, but is not exclusive to him.

A separate ability similarly known as "Supernova" also exists in the series, the one used by Weapon-type enemies.

Appearances[]

Final Fantasy VII[]

Super Nova is a powerful attack used by Safer∙Sephiroth. It deals massive damage to the party and may cause Confusion, Silence, and Slow. In the original Japanese version, the move's animation was much shorter and it didn't deal fractional damage, instead dealing damage in the ~2000 range. The animation was greatly extended in the worldwide release, and the attack's properties were changed, reducing the party's HP by 15/16th of their current HP. The attack can be used more than once and accompanies every use of the move Pale Horse.

The original Super Nova animation showed three bodies slowly encompassed in bubbles of white light, which disappear after the light fades. The extended Super Nova animation is the longest in the game, showing the destruction of most of the planets in the solar system, including the dwarf planet Pluto, (Saturn, despite losing its rings, is spared from destruction, as well as Uranus, Neptune and Mars) by use of a comet that originated from outside the Milky Way.

In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, it is said that Super Nova is Sephiroth's Limit Break by a Sephiroth fan in the Sector 6 park.

Jason Greenberg, the only artist working on the original PC port, recalled a crash bug that happened during Sephiroth's Super Nova summon. Near the end of the development cycle, many team members were done with their work and simply helped test the game as much as possible. Greenberg mused he spent at least a full 24 hours playing that one battle.^[1]

Final Fantasy X[]

Sunburst is a Mix ability that deals fixed 19,998 damage to all opponents.

The following items when mixed result in Sunburst:

• Blessed Gem + Mana Tablet, Mana Tonic.
• Dark Matter + Accuracy Sphere, Amulet, Attribute Sphere, Blessed Gem, Blk Magic Sphere, Clear Sphere, Dark Matter, Defense Sphere, Designer Wallet, Door to Tomorrow, Evasion Sphere, Fire Gem, Fortune Sphere, Friend Sphere, Gambler's Spirit, HP Sphere, Ice Gem, Lightning Gem, Luck Sphere, Lv. 1 Key Sphere, Lv. 2 Key Sphere, Lv. 3 Key Sphere, Lv. 4 Key Sphere, Magic Def Sphere, Magic Sphere, Master Sphere, MP Sphere, Return Sphere, Shining Gem, Skill Sphere, Special Sphere, Agility Sphere, Strength Sphere, Supreme Gem, Teleport Sphere, Underdog's Secret, Warp Sphere, Water Gem, Wht Magic Sphere, Wings to Discovery, Winning Formula
• Gambler's Spirit + Underdog's Secret, Winning Formula
• Shining Gem + Supreme Gem, Three Stars
• Supreme Gem + Amulet, Blessed Gem, Door to Tomorrow, Gambler's Spirit, Mana Tablet, Mana Tonic, Supreme Gem, Three Stars, Underdog's Secret, Warp Sphere, Wings to Discovery, Winning Formula
• Three Stars + Blessed Gem, Three Stars
• Underdog's Secret + Underdog's Secret, Winning Formula
• Wings to Discovery + Gambler's Spirit, Underdog's Secret, Winning Formula
• Winning Formula + Winning Formula

Final Fantasy X-2[]

Sunburst is a Mix ability, which deals roughly 6,000 non-elemental damage to all enemies.

The following combinations result in Sunburst:

• Supreme Gem + Potion, Hi-Potion, X-Potion, Mega-Potion, Ether, Turbo Ether, Phoenix Down, Mega Phoenix, Elixir, Megalixir, Antidote, Soft, Eye Drops, Echo Screen, Holy Water, Remedy, Budget Grenade, Grenade, S-Bomb, M-Bomb, L-Bomb, Sleep Grenade, Silence Grenade, Dark Grenade, Petrify Grenade, Bomb Fragment, Bomb Core, Fire Gem, Antarctic Wind, Arctic Wind, Ice Gem, Electro Marble, Lightning Marble, Lightning Gem, Fish Scale, Dragon Scale, Water Gem, Shadow Gem, Shining Gem, Blessed Gem, Supreme Gem, Poison Fang, Silver Hourglass, Gold Hourglass, Candle of Life, Farplane Shadow, Dark Matter, Chocobo Feather, Chocobo Wing, Lunar Curtain, Light Curtain, Star Curtain, Healing Spring, Mana Spring, Stamina Spring, Soul Spring, Dispel Tonic, Stamina Tablet, Mana Tablet, Stamina Tonic, Mana Tonic, Twin Stars, Three Stars, Hero Drink, Gysahl Greens, Sylkis Greens, Mimett Greens, Pahsana Greens

Final Fantasy XI[]

Supernova is an ability used by Shinryu. Aside from inflicting magical damage in an area of effect, it also inflicts Doom on players caught in range.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII[]

Ereshkigal can use Super Nova in battle. In the final battle against Bhunivelze's third form, he uses an ability called Hypernova, which is based on Supernova. Hypernova deals heavy damage and dispels all status effects and status ailments from himself and Lightning.

Final Fantasy XIV[]

Nael deus Darnus uses Super Nova during the final phase of the fight against her inside the Holocharts of the Second Coil of Bahamut. The ability targets a single player to create an area-of-effect field that slows the player's movement speed and inflicts heavy damage to the target and other players near them.

Final Fantasy XVI[]

Final Fantasy Dimensions II[]

Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008)[]

Ruination to all.

Sephiroth

Super Nova is Sephiroth's EX Burst. Its animation is similar to its Final Fantasy VII incarnation, although the animation is much shorter. It consists of Sephiroth posing while the mathematical formula used in the original attack is shown.

If the player completes the EX Burst correctly the enemy is thrown into the expanding sun. Scenes like the comet appearing, the solar system being destroyed, and the sun exploding are not present. If the player fails to fill the bar entirely, Sephiroth simply performs an exploding slash with his katana. Super Nova is labeled as a Limit Break.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy[]

Super Nova is Sephiroth's EX Burst. On perfect execution it has slightly less power than in Dissidia, but is otherwise identical.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line[]

Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]

Supernova is performed as the Premium Skill for the Sephiroth memoria. The ability is Power based and deals heavy damage to all enemies. Instead of being based on later revised variants of the ability, attack's animation is uniquely based on the shorter Supernova animation from the original Japanese release of Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]

Final Fantasy Artniks[]

Final Fantasy All the Bravest[]

Supernova is the enemy ability that is used by Safer Sephiroth during battle.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]

Mobius Final Fantasy[]

World of Final Fantasy[]

Super Nova is Sephiroth's Champion summon ability. It inflict neutral physical damage to one enemy, ignoring defense. It also grants Strength+ to all allies. When used, Sephiroth appears surrounded by flames, reminiscent of the Nibelheim Incident, then rises up into the air, covered in formulas ranging in complexity to the area of a circle, to equations that appear to be from celestial mechanics and relativity. Sephiroth then unleashes Meteor, referring to the summoning of Meteor in Final Fantasy VII. It is unlocked as downloadable content (pre-order bonus also included with Day One Edition) and costs 1★ gauge to use. When used, "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII plays.

Non-Final Fantasy appearances[]

Kingdom Hearts[]

Supernova is an ability used by Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts. He drops meteorites around himself, spins them with himself at the center, then fires the energy forward and detonates it.

Bravely Second: End Layer[]

Supernova is the level 4 offensive-type Special move for G.Swords. It allows the user to attack all foes with a powerful light-based attack. For the duration of the music, all allies' P.Atk is raised by 50%. Music bonuses will stack with other attribute bonuses.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]

Sephiroth's Final Smash is Supernova. Sephiroth transforms into Safer Sephiroth, unleashing a powerful attack onto all opponents hit by the initial startup and inflicting them with different status effects.

Behind the scenes[]

The equations used at the start of Sephiroth's Super Nova are equations used in Astrophysics. They are as follows:

${\displaystyle \Phi\,\! = WU\gamma\,\! + RU\rho\,\! + SU\gamma\,\!U\rho\,\!}$

${\displaystyle W = -SU\gamma\,\!\Phi\,\!}$

${\displaystyle AU = (GMek^{-2})^{1/3}}$

${\displaystyle n = \pi\,\!r^2}$

The first two equations calculate the sun's and planet's potential attractive forces. The third equation calculates the Earth's potential attractive forces and the fourth misstates that the asteroid is working on a two-dimensional level, as it is the equation for the area of a circle, all to direct the energy used to cause the supernova. However, it should be noted that the sun cannot actually supernova, being too small to explode in such a fashion.

Ptolemy's diagram of the celestial spheres, also known as the classical planets, or the "Seven Heavens", is used in the Super Nova animation. Since there are seven, this can be seen as another allusion the game has to the number seven. Pluto is among the planets Super Nova destroys, as it was still considered a planet until eight years after the game's release. However, neither Pluto, Neptune, nor Uranus had been discovered when Ptolemy conceived of the celestial spheres. The Ptolemy celestial diagram also appears during Eden's summon animation in Final Fantasy VIII.

In the video game Disgaea 4, the animation for the spell "Tera Star" parodies the Final Fantasy VII animation for Supernova. When the spell is cast, the scene pans into space and names the planets Mars and Jupiter as they pass by, but the third object is a gigantic robot construct. The text humorously names it "Saturn?!" as the camera snaps back to center on the robot, and the robot fires a gigantic laser at the Earth, the planets swirling around the beam as it strikes its target.

Gallery[]

Etymology[]

[view · edit · purge]A supernova is an astronomical event that occurs during the last stellar evolutionary stages of a massive star's life, whose dramatic and catastrophic destruction is marked by one final titanic explosion. For a short time, this causes the sudden appearance of a 'new' bright star, before slowly fading from sight over several weeks or months.

[view · edit · purge]A sunburst is a design or figure commonly used in architectural ornaments and design patterns. It consists of rays or "beams" radiating out from a central disk in the manner of sunbeams.

Citations[]