@Triplefox regarding impact-boosting pauses, see also hit stop, which i think may have originated in Street Fighter II
http://sourcegaming.info/2015/11/11/thoughts-on-hitstop-sakurais-famitsu-column-vol-490-1/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity2D/comments/5ip3t5/how_would_one_make_the_hit_stop_effect_used_on/