Super Smash Bros./Samus

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Introduction

SSB-Samus-Face.png

Samus is known competitively for having one of the few (outside Fox) good forward tilts in the game. However, Samus is last on the current tier list for a number of factors. Samus does moderately well against Ness and Jigglypuff, but is the only character in SSB to currently have no advantageous matchups. Samus's only even matchup is against Jigglypuff, with almost all other ones at least beating 40-60. She has a low amount of combos and relies on prediction and predictable finishers to KO. The few things that save Samus are spacing, recovery, and the fact that she cannot be comboed as easily as others.



Normal Move Analysis

Ground Moves

Normal
  • Neutral attack- Does a jab then brings down her arm cannon. 3% then 7%.
  • Forward tilt: Roundhouse Kick. Very fast, little ending lag. 9-12% (depends on angle)
  • Up tilt: Leg drop, 3-8% (upwards), 5-13%(down) Decent against aerial foes, better suited for wall-based ground combos.
  • Down tilt: Sweep Kick. She quickly does a grounded roundhouse kick, which knocks the foe forward. Has some KO potential at higher %s near the ledge, can hit foes hanging onto the ledge. 13%
  • Dash attack: Charges forward and rams opponent with shoulder, 12%. Bad shieldstun.
Smash attacks
  • Side smash: Arm Smash, 15%. She thrusts her arm cannon forward for decent knockback, is quite fast, with good range as well.
  • Up smash: Upwards Flame. She aims her arm cannon upwards and shoots flames in an arch. Multi-hiting, 10% per hit, 50% max. Best usage against heavier or fast falling characters.
  • Down smash: Doublesweep Kick. Does a round kick, first hits in front of Samus. 16%. Good spacing move or KO-er near the ledge.
Other attacks
  • Ledge attack- Gets up and kicks. 6% damage.
  • 100% ledge attack- Picks herself up, leaning on arm cannon, and jabs in front. 6% damage.
  • Floor attack- Does a breakdance-like spin with her feet, which hits on both of her sides at the same time. 6% damage.

Aerial attacks

  • Neutral aerial: Sex kick. Seems to be slightly angled upwards, 16% damage, weaker the longer it's out.
  • Forward aerial: Aerial Flame, 2-20% (1-4 hits). Not the best air move due to # of hits, and how hard it is to have all the moves connect.
  • Up aerial: Spiral Kick. Multi-hitting upwards drill kick. 2% each hit, 10% max.
  • Back aerial: Back Kick. A fast Backwards kick with good range and speed, which some arch. 14%
  • Down aerial: Downwards arm thrust. Swings her arm cannon downwards below her in an arch. Is a Meteor Smash, 14%

Throws

  • Forward throw: Grabs opponent via Grapple Beam and tosses him/her forward with good power, 12-16%
  • Back throw: Same as forward throw, but tosses him/her backwards and faces the position she was in before the throw. 14-18%

Special Move Analysis

Neutral Special

Pressing the special move button will cause Samus to start charging energy in her arm cannon, which can be fired by pressing the button again. When the attack has reached maximum strength, Samus will stop charging and resume her neutral standing position, but her arm cannon will start to flash. Pressing the special move button in this state will let her fire the fully charged shot. Alternatively, the player can press the grab and shield buttons or the control stick left or right to cancel the charge and/or dodge, and pressing the special move button again will resume her charge. This is called charge-canceling. If Samus is hit while she's charging, she will not retain the stored charge. When used in the air, Samus will instantly fire, whether the beam was previously charged or not.

Charge Shot has eight different stages of damage and knockback that is determined by the charge of the attack, there are seven stages of charging and the eighth stage which is when the Charge Shot is fully charged. Unlike other charge attacks there is no difference to damage and knockback when in the air and the last stage of charging is weaker than the fully charged stage.

Stage Damage Percent that can KO
Stage 1 3% Cannot KO
Stage 2 5% 802%
Stage 3 8% 486%
Stage 4 11% 348%
Stage 5 14% 254%
Stage 6 18% 176%
Stage 7 21% 137%
Stage 8 25% 124%

In all three games, Samus is capable of interrupting the charge of the attack by pressing the shield button. Since its possible to go directly into a jump while shielding, charge canceling can be used to bluff an opponent by allowing them to come close to the player while they're charging, only to find themselves attacked by an aerial. Because the shield button was held down to cancel the shot, many players that are just learning the basics of this technique can only perform an aerial Grapple Beam afterwards, since they do not let go of the shield button quickly enough. However, with precision timing, it becomes possible to perform any action that is possible at any other given time that Samus would be airborne. As an added bonus, the amount of time the Charge Shot had been charged is still retained after canceling via shield, in the same way as if it were canceled via a roll.

Up Special

Screw Attack: The move shoots Samus into the air, engulfing her in a blueish-tint electrical field, and spins her around and around, inflicting damage on any opponents that touch her. It does cumulative damage and sucks opponents into the center. It's also often used to survive from a fall off the stage (though rather poorly). This move can also be used as a Star KO when used from the ground on near-by enemies. One of two moves that Samus can use to send opponents upward. On the ground, it causes Samus to shoot up into the air quickly. The move has invincibility frame(s) in the first few frames of initiating the move. It also instantly shield breaks if it hits someone on a platform.

Down Special

Samus shifts into morph ball mode and lays a bomb, which will explode either after a set time period or upon contact with a character, shield, or breakable hitbox. If Samus is on top of a bomb when it explodes, she will shift into morph ball mode and bounce up; thus, if Samus uses Bomb while touching an opponent, she will hit the opponent or their shield with the bomb and be popped up into the air. Bombs almost always hit twice, although the two hits are essentially indistinguishable; if a bomb drops onto an opponent from above, it may hit them once and bounce off without exploding. Bombs may do between 2% and 7% damage.

Bombing while in mid-air causes Samus to go into Morph Ball mode, and slows down her fall. Thus, she can repeatedly bomb while holding towards the stage to better her recovery, although this takes away her midair jump if she still has not used it.

Basics

Advanced Strategy

Bomb Recovery

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Samus can bomb jump to greatly extend her horizontal recovery. In SSB, Samus cannot bomb jump. However, using bombs and immediately DIing towards the stage aids in her horizontal recovery to a degree, although not nearly as much as bomb jump recovery does. Just remember that once you use a bomb, the double jump cannot be used until Samus lands.

Matchups

Matchups Pikachu Fox Kirby C.Falcon Mario Yoshi DK Ness Puff Luigi Link Samus Total
Samus 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 - 43 Samus
Pikachu Fox Kirby C.Falcon Mario Yoshi DK Ness Puff Luigi Link Samus Total