Quote Originally Posted by DJZen
Okay, here's the real difference.

Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VII, Overdrives in Final Fantasy X, and Weapons Skills in FFXI are the closest to Hyper Combos because they require a gauge to be charged, which then empties upon execution of the move. FFVI's desperation attacks, FFVIII's limit breaks, and FFIX's trance all work differently.

Besides that, the big difference is that Hyper Combos are just that, COMBOS. They cause a fast sequence of hits that causes the combo meter to rise, and a regular combo can be chained into a hyper combo. Only a few limit break type attacks actually cause multiple hits. ALL hyper combos hit multiple times. This is why Zangief's Final Atomic Buster is not a single piledriver, but a series of piledrivers. A good number of limit break type abilities don't even do any damage at all (Aeris definitely comes to mind, as does Eiko's trance), and trance itself is an ability that, for a period of time, transforms your character to become more powerful as opposed to directly launching an attack.

So yeah, that's the big difference.
In Street Fighter, they have some "super arts" that either power you up or heal you rather than launch an attack at your opponent.

Quote Originally Posted by Fantasy Fan
a combo is a lot of hits, a limit break is pretty much one big hit. (by hit I mean damage deal)
Some super combos are just one very powerful hit, such as Chun-Li's Shichisei Senkukyaku in Marvel vs Capcom. Ryu's Shin Shouryu-ken is only three or four hits.