Bomb's new appearance in Brawl
Bomb is Samus's Down Special Move in all three installations of Super Smash Bros. series.
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. The mechanics behind the Morph Ball result in the Super Wavedash in Melee. 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 in SSBM.
Bombing while in mid-air causes Samus to go into Morph Ball mode, and slows down her fall. Thus, in Super Smash Bros., Samus 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. In Melee bombing twice consecutively in the air will cause Samus to pop upward from the first bomb, giving her near-infinite horizontal recovery. "Bomb jumping", as this is known, is reputedly possible in Brawl, but is less efficient.
Bombs are a large part of Samus's approach in SSBM. Simply running, wavedashing, or SWDing towards the opponent and bombing off of them gives several options. If the bomb hits, a fast-fallen aerial will almost certainly hit as well during the stun, and can lead to easy combos or edgeguards. If the bomb is shielded, Samus can either fast-fall an aerial anyway and go into grounded shield pressure with jabs, tilts, and grabs; bomb again while still on top of the opponent and severely wear down the shield, or simply jump away onto a nearby platform. Wavebombing, a technique found by Co_and_me, consists of Bombing off an opponent followed immediately by a downwards airdodge: this functions as a quick wavedash and allows various continuations.
In SSBB, however, Samus is capable of also using her bombs to perform the Spider Ball technique. To perform, run off the edge of the stage or platform and immediately activate the bomb, then direct Samus back onto solid ground as she hops into the air. This will drop the bomb directly against the ledge of the stage, creating an effective edgeguard in itself as well as a setup for other possible attacks, such as a Down tilt or Down aerial spike.
Origin
Morph Ball bombs have been standard in all Metroid games, with the Morph Ball Bomb Jump, a common tool for puzzle solving. The appearance of the Morph Ball in all three Smash Bros. games is derived from the original Metroid, due to its lack of spiral patterns. In Brawl, it is also more detailed.
| Samus' Special Moves | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | Melee | Brawl | 3DS/Wii U | Ultimate | |
| Standard Special | Charge Shot | ||||
| Side Special | — | Missile | |||
| Up Special | Screw Attack | ||||
| Down Special | Bomb | ||||
| Final Smash | — | Zero Laser | |||