Flip Jump



Flip Jump is Zero Suit Samus's Down Special Move. Zero Suit Samus flashes as she does a flip and an arching jump through the air. This provides some horizontal and vertical recovery. It functions as Zero Suit Samus's Third Jump, but does not put Zero-suit Samus into Helpless, allowing her to use her tether recovery in addition, which makes up for its relatively short length compared to other third jumps. In addition, this move provides a short time of invincibility for Zero Suit Samus during the inital rise. She cannot perform the Flip Jump again until she lands or is hit.

If Zero Suit Samus hits a wall while performing the Flip Jump, she will automatically perform a Wall Jump. This does not count as the Wall Jump Zero Suit Samus can perform without landing. She will automatically do up to 4 wall jumps if she continues to contact them soon enough, mostly in custom stages.

After using Flip Jump, in the air, Zero Suit Samus can not land on a fall-through platform until the move has completely finished (i.e. she is level in height with when she started), instead she will fall through it.

If the player inputs any attack button (A, B, or Z on the Gamecube controller) while Zero Suit Samus is flashing, she will stick out her foot at a 45 degree angle, performing a kick. Anyone hit by the initial extension of this kick will be sent downwards in a moderate-power meteor smash.

If the player attempts to Footstool Jump while Samus is flashing, she will do a special spinning jump that goes about half the height of her double jump. This also works on items, not just characters.

Zero Suit Samus will usually jump up and forwards in the direction she is facing, and then land facing the other way. However, if you tap backwards as soon as you use Down B, she will flip backwards. This is effective for playing mind games as they cannot predict if you are going to strike.

Applications
The Flip Jump is obviously useful for recoveries. However, there are many other uses.

Approach
One useful strategy for the Flip Jump is in an approach. As Samus, run towards your opponent, and when you are a short distance away from them, use Flip Jump and attack. The opponent will most likely be trying to block an attack from the front, so you should be able to catch them off guard.

Defense
A common use of the Flip Jump is defensive; when your opponent tries to attack you, use Flip Jump to arc over their heads and counterattack. This can be mixed up with rolls and dodges to make Samus very unnpredictable. Very scary for off-stage edge-guarders, as the attack can spike, and you can edge hog them in succession with a tether.

Glitch
On the Yoshi's Island: Yoshi's Island stage, if flip jump is used on either of the 45° slopes at each end of the stage (pipe, or wall), ZSS will not perform the move, but make the sound, and the initial flash, and move a little up the slope.