Samus (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

''This article is about Samus's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Samus Aran. Also, for information about the result of Samus using her Final Smash attack, see Zero Suit Samus (SSBB).''

Samus (, Samusu) is a character appearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Samus originally belongs to the Metroid series. She is a bounty hunter and uses a suit to perform strong attacks. Her different missions lead her all across the galaxy, making friends and enemies alike. Samus is a starter character, but also appears in the Subspace Emissary. Her alternate form, Zero Suit Samus, is acquired by use of the Final Smash. She is currently ranked 33 on the tier list, due to poor matchups and a huge nerf to her projectiles and killing power from Melee.

Attributes
Samus has a wide array of both projectiles and physical attacks, which can be used in promising combinations. Despite her lack of killing power, she has good moves to build up damage, like her up smash, side air, up air, and her up special. Samus is heavy-weight and ranks in the middle of the speed-class. However, she is tall, which makes her easier to hit, though all heavyweights have this problem (excluding Wario and Yoshi). Samus can be awkward to fight effectively with against the game's faster, more graceful characters, but with a good combination of long and short-range attacks, she can be deadly. Her floatiness, while occasionally a curse, can also be used to bolster her air game. Staying in the air longer allows Samus to follow-up with other aerials; given that many of her moves have low knockback, she can create all sorts of low-to-mid percent continuous string of attacks. More importantly, her floatiness allows her to have an above-average recovery game. Samus has much time to dodge attacks while throwing foes off with things like Bombs (and Bomb Jumping), or she can speed things up by using her surprisingly long Grapple Beam to zip to the safety of the edge. One of the most valuable uses of her slow falling speed is successfully spiking an opponent who has no ground on which to land and still being able to recover easily. She also has the largest ledge sweetspot.

Samus works best when transitioning well from the air to the ground. All of Samus's aerials have no landing lag, with f-air and up-air having any knockback except at the final hit. Samus can capitalize on this by canceling into more powerful moves like f-smash and d-tilt, or by using a fully charged Charge Shot in the event the opponent is a bit too far away. Missiles also factor into the air to ground transition; landing immediately after the missile has been fired negates the significant firing lag, so one can immediately follow up with another missile (of either kind). This lag negation allows for a "double missile" effect where Samus can fire one missile, land, and almost immediately fire another. A missile - charge shot combination can also be done in this way. Her aerial Grapple Beam ("z-air") actually acts as a move to complement this strategy, stunning opponents from far away with high speed, and also cancels immediately upon landing. Coupled with the Charge Shot's potency, Samus has no problem frustrating opponents from a safe distance, chipping away at her opponent's approach to best suit her.

Samus' biggest weaknesses lie in her extreme lack of killing power and the aforementioned floatiness. Her down-tilt is considered her best killing move, but with purely vertical knockback it doesn't start working properly until at least 130% in most situations. A small hitbox that doesn't extend very far up or back and not defending well against short-hops don't help either. This forces her to turn to either the d-air for spikes or the b-air for regular kills. Unfortunately, the b-air telegraphs itself, has a tiny sweet-spot, and requires good setup, while the d-air has low priority and a sweeping hitbox that also needs good placement. Even a fully-charged Charge Shot doesn't tend to kill until at least over 100%, making it one of the least KO-capable charged specials in the game. Her slow fall speed (third-slowest, only Peach and Jigglypuff are slower), means Samus can be easily juggled (but not too easily KOed and her fast fall is not along the slowest). Her slow fall speed also makes her recovery predictable and fairly easily edge-guarded. Another weakness is that Samus is fairly easily chain grabbed due to her heavy weight and large size with the exception of chain grabs that are ineffective on very floaty characters, and can be infinite chain-grabbed by King Dedede. Although Samus has three different projectiles, she still lacks a reliable way to deal with opponents' projectiles. Two other weaknesses (although they are both relatively minor) are Samus's shield roll is the slowest in the game and her grab is laggy if she fails to grab an opponent (although performing a dash grab can remedy this). Finally, given Samus's difficulty with killing and opponents' difficulty in killing her, high-level matches involving Samus can tend to take awhile, making time limitations in a match a crucial factor as well.

Normal

 * Dash Attack - Shoulder tackles. 10% damage. Decent dash attack with decent knockback, but will rarely kill and is better for setting up a b-air or other air games.
 * Neutral Attack - Punches and attacks with arm cannon in an arc. 3%, then 7%, with a total of 10%. Good on short-hopping opponents close-up, otherwise the second hit is usually shielded.
 * Forward Tilt - Spin kicks forward. 8% close range, 7% far range, 10% if angled up or down. Samus's best mid-range defense/spacing move.  Angling this one makes a much bigger difference than with most tilts.
 * Up Tilt - Axe kicks down. Similar to Captain Falcon's Up-Tilt. 13% damage. Great knockback, long duration.  Good for use beneath platforms, spiking opponents against the ground into the air.  Otherwise useful as a kind of anti-air move.
 * Down Tilt - Creates a fire burst on the ground with arm cannon. This is very similar to Snake's forward smash.  14% damage.  Samus's quickest kill move, but laggy if shielded, has a small hitbox, and doesn't defend against short-hops well.

Smash

 * Forward Smash - Thrusts arm cannon forward. Moderately weak knockback 12-19%. Quick speed somewhat makes up for the low range and below-average kill power of this move if not aimed upward; surprise opponents up close after a canceled f-air or whenever the opportunity presents itself.
 * Up Smash - Releases 5 fire bursts in an arc above herself. Hitbox behind Samus has knockback, all others don't. 4-6% each, 23-32% total. One of the more pointless Smashes in the game, this move can occasionally redeem itself by catching larger characters for significant damage.  Very situational, otherwise useless.
 * Down Smash - Spins around on the ground with her feet, sending her victims upward (back hit sends foes diagonally in front of Samus). Decent knockback. 15-21% for front hit, 14-19% for back. Samus's best and quickest power move on the ground, giving her breathing room, but the back hit does not happen quickly, nor will this move usually kill below 140%.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Air - Sex Kick. 9% initially, 6% if hit afterwards. Below-average knockback.  Samus's large character model makes this neutral longer-ranged than many of the others in the game, but it's still a primarily defensive maneuver.
 * Forward Air - Creates fire burst in front of her. 3-4% per hit, 18% total. Okay knockback on final hit.  Cancels quickly enough on landing to follow up with a d-tilt if someone was caught before the final fire burst.  Great on ledge-hops, and an overall useful offensive move.
 * Back Air - Spins once backward with kick. 10% normally, 14% if hit with the tip of her foot. Somewhat slow with a tiny sweetspot, this kill move can only be landed properly through trickery and good spacing.
 * Up Air - Spins in a drill upward. 11% damage. Great priority with low knockback makes this move one of Samus's setup moves.
 * Down Air - Swings arm cannon in an arc underneath herself, can spike. 15% damage. A great move to use while floating backwards over run-ins, but has a sweeping hitbox that needs good placement and is fairly slow. Low priority
 * Grapple Beam - Sends grapple forward, with long range. 4% damage, 7% with tip. A staple Samus move that makes Samus one of the campiest characters in the game.  Combine with Homing Missle/Super Missile-cancels and Charge Shots for a tremendous long-range obstacle course for opponents.

Grabs & Throws

 * Grab - Reaches forward with Grapple Beam. Incredibly laggy and dangerous, sped up slightly while running.
 * Pummel - Hits with fist. 1%
 * Back Throw - Flings backward. 8%
 * Forward Throw - Flings forward. 9%
 * Up Throw - Spins above her head and blasts opponent upward. Gradually deals a total of 9% damage
 * Down Throw - Slings back over her head then slams down. 6%

Taunts
Up: Salutes violently with her left arm as her booster goes off.

Side: Faces the screen and shows off what her arm cannon looks like while using her Zero Laser. (updated version of taunt from SSB and Melee).

Down: Holding her arm cannon with her left hand, she aims behind her, then aims lower in front of her. Her cannon glistens each time she aims.

If a player does the up and down Taunt alternately really quickly, She'll transform into Zero Suit Samus. This isn't two-way, meaning the only way to become Samus again is to use ZSS's Final Smash.

Changes from Melee to Brawl
As mentioned before, Samus's killing power has been drastically nerfed. Her neutral aerial, her Charge Shot, and her Forward Smash all deal less knockback, and Super Missles can no longer KO. However, her Down Tilt is more powerful, making it one of her very few kill moves. Her Grapple Beam can no longer be extended like in Melee, and has less range. Her Bomb Jump technique is less effective as recovery, and she can no longer attack out of Morph Ball form. While she is overall slightly slower, her aerials have absolutely no landing lag, making her damage-racking and setup abilities slightly better. Her Homing Missiles are now much better at homing in, and her Screw Attack now traps opponents for damage racking. The last real change to her playstyle is that her bombs no longer explode upon enemy contact. In terms of cosmetics, her Super missiles now have a new design, she has a new "toppling" pose, and she has new electronic sounds.

Role in Subspace Emissary
Samus begins the Subspace Emissary in her Zero Suit, infiltrating a sinister laboratory. After making her way through it, she encounters Pikachu trapped within a strange device that harnesses its electrical energy to provide power to the complex. Seeing that the device causes Pikachu pain, Samus breaks the machine. In thanks, Pikachu helps Samus continue through the lab. Eventually, the pair come across Samus's Power Suit within a tank. However, two clones of Samus, wearing the purple Gravity Suit, approach them, prompting Samus and Pikachu to battle. When they are defeated, an alarm begins to wail, and the R.O.B. Squad approaches. Samus regains her Power Suit and blasts her way through them, along with Pikachu.

As they attempt to escape the complex, however, Ridley strikes without warning, snatching up Samus and attacking her. Pikachu uses Thunder to free her, and the two face off against Ridley. After escaping from the facility, Samus and Pikachu discover another Subspace Army base producing Subspace Bombs. The two infiltrate it, and after fighting their way through, discover the Ancient Minister in a room filled with Subspace Bombs. The allies prepare to battle, but the Ancient Minister does not seem to want to fight them. Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, and Captain Olimar then break into the room, and all of them, including Samus, witness the Ancient Minister defy Ganondorf's commands. As a result, the R.O.B. Squad fires upon him, burning off his robe and revealing that he is an R.O.B., as well. It turns out that all of the R.O.B.s had been forced to work with the Subspace Army, with the main R.O.B., the Master Robot, as their leader. The rest of the R.O.B.s activate all the Subspace Bombs in the room, forcing all of them to escape. As they rush to the exit aboard Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Meta Ridley races after them. The group defeats the space dragon once more, and escapes just before R.O.B.s' island home is engulfed in Subspace.

They then meet up with Mario, Link, Kirby, Pit, Yoshi, the Ice Climbers, Marth, Ike, Lucas, the Pokémon Trainer, Meta Knight, Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, Lucario, Snake, Fox, Falco, and Mr. Game & Watch. All of them witness a Subspace Gunship emerge from Subspace. Samus's ship is among the ones that attack it.

Samus, along with all the other characters except for King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness, is turned into a trophy by Tabuu. Her trophy is obtained by Dedede's team, and she subsequently joins everyone else in The Great Maze, where they eventually defeat Tabuu.

Trophy Data
''The intergalactic bounty hunter named Samus Aran. Orphaned at an early age, she was taken in and raised by the alien race known as the Chozo. The Power Suit she wears is a product of their technology. Her unique combat skills combined with her athleticism and Arm Cannon have seen her through countless missions.''
 * Metroid
 * Super Metroid

Trivia

 * There's an interesting glitch with Samus. She sometimes cannot pummel attack Bowser. The animation goes normally but there's no damage at all. However, as long as Samus grapples Bowser while he is off the edge, she can cause damage to him.
 * Samus never makes any verbal noises (most likely because her helmet lacks a microphone). The only sounds she makes are those of her attacks. However, she has a voice as Zero Suit Samus.
 * Samus' lense colour is a lightish green instead of yellow when she destroys a smash ball when using the dark suit palette swap in gameplay.
 * In Brawl, if a player selects Samus using a Wii remote or classic controller, the screw attack sound from Melee will sound over the Wii Remote's speaker despite the fact that the screw attack makes a completely different noise in Brawl.
 * Samus, as well as Captain Falcon, are the only SSB veterans that are the only character to represent their own series in Brawl.
 * Unlike most characters, whose alternate costumes are either invented either in part or whole-cloth or are based on other characters, Samus boasts three alternate costumes based on specific power-ups from Metroid games: the purple costume, based on Super Metroid's Gravity Suit; the blue and yellow costume, based on Metroid Fusion's basic Power Suit, otherwise known as the Fusion Suit; and the maroon/brown costume, based on Metroid Prime's Phazon Suit.