Dark Samus (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

This article is about Dark Samus' appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Dark Samus.

“	Dark Samus joins the battle as Samus's echo fighter. With floatier movement, it's a little different from Samus--and it doesn't roll when dodging or jumping. If you look closely, you can see that its bombs and missiles look a little different, too.	”
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

Dark Samus
Universe	Metroid
Shares slot with	Samus
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Phazon Laser
Tier	A (15)
Character Statistics
Number of Jumps	2
Can Wall Jump	Yes
Has a Tether	Yes
Character Stats
Weight	Heavyweight

Dark Samus (ダークサムス) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, representing the Metroid series. Her inclusion as a newcomer was revealed during the Ultimate-centric Nintendo Direct on August 8th, 2018. She is classified as Fighter #04ε, as she is the Echo Fighter of Samus.

How to Unlock

• Play VS matches, with Dark Samus being the 50th fighter unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Samus or any character in her unlock tree, with Dark Samus being unlocked after Incineroar.
• Have Dark Samus join the party in World of Light.

In the first two methods, Dark Samus must be fought and defeated on Frigate Orpheon.

Moveset

Attributes

• As an Echo Fighter, she shares the same attacks and stats as Samus; as such, Dark Samus is also a heavily defensive fighter fitting in the Zoner-archetype. With that said, there are a few slight differences the separate them from each other:
  • A majority of Dark Samus' animations are very different from Samus. This is most notable in her walking and dashing poses, as her floaty stance allows her to completely evade certain low attacks (such as Mario's Dash attack), while Samus can't at all.
  • With the exception of Missile and Bomb, all of the Phazon-based attacks Dark Samus can perform have an electric affect on them; this means that she cannot detonate bombs from a distance or harm the Yellow Pikmin.
• Much like Samus, Dark Samus can Wall jump and perform a Tether recovery with her Grapple Beam.

General Moveset

Note: The gifs used are not accurate representations of their standard knockback settings from 0%

Attack	Damage	Description
Jab - Straight / Cannon Hammer	Straight: 3% Cannon Hammer: 8%	A punch with her hand, followed by a forearm club with her Arm Cannon.
Grab & Pummel - Grapple Beam & Grab Chop	Pummel: 1.3%	Grab: Uses her Grapple Beam. It is one of the slowest grabs in the game. Pummel: Repeated palm strikes.
Edge Attack	9%	A legsweep as she climbs up.
Front Floor Attack	7%	A low grounded spin kick.
Back Floor Attack		Sweeps both in front of and behind her with the Arm Cannon.
Trip Attack	5%	A shin kick in front of her, followed by a back kick behind her.
Dash Attack - Shoulder Tackle	Full hit: 10% Late hit: 6%	A shoulder tackle / shoulder charge. Possibly based on Samus' Shinespark ability from Super Metroid.
Aerials
Neutral Aerial - Turning Kick	First hit: 10% Second hit: 9% (full) / 8% (late)	An aerial roundhouse kick that hits on either side of Dark Samus. The second hit has a sweetspot. Resembles the aerial Counter Attack from Metroid: Other M.
Up Aerial - Drill Kick	Hit 1: 3% Hits 2-4: 1.3% Hit 5: 4%	A diagonal corkscrew kick that can hit multiple times.
Forward Aerial - Aerial Fire	Hit 1: 3% Hits 2-4: 1.6% Hit 5: 5%	Fires off five mini explosions from the Arm Cannon in a slow downward arc.
Back Aerial - Sobat	Clean hit: 14% (foot) / 12% (leg) Late hit: 9%	A fast and powerful back kick.
Down Aerial - Meteor Drop	Full hit: 14% Early / late hit: 10%	Swings her Arm Cannon in an arc while facing downwards. It has a sweetspot that can Meteor Smash.
Grab Air Attack - Midair Grapple Beam	4% Early: 2.5%	Fires the Grapple Beam. It cannot grab opponents in the air but can grab ledges.
Tilts
Up Tilt - Heel Kick	On grounded opponents: 13% On aerial opponents: 12%	A wide axe kick. It can Meteor Smash grounded opponents and horizontally launch aerial opponents.
Forward Tilt - Spin Kick	Foot: 10% Leg: 9% Body: 8% Angled - Foot: 11% Leg: 10% Body: 9%	A wheel kick or roundhouse kick that can be angled. More power is concentrated at her foot.
Down Tilt - Earth Blaster	12%	Thrusts the Arm Cannon forward while kneeling and fires a small explosion.
Throws
Up Throw - Grappling Cannon	Grab: 5% Throw: 7%	Hoists the opponent upward and blasts them high.
Forward Throw - Grappling Throw Front	10%	Throws the opponent forward in a whipping motion.
Back Throw - Grappling Throw Back		Swings the opponent behind her.
Down Throw - Grappling Throw Down	5%	Throws the opponent downward in a whipping motion. Can be used as a combo starter.
Smash Attacks
Up Smash - Cover Fire	Hits 1-4: 3% Hit 5: 6%	An anti-air attack where she fires five small consecutive explosions in an overhead arc. It cannot hit grounded opponents unless they are next to her.
Side Smash - Arm Cannon Knuckle	Arm Cannon: 12% Explosion: 14% Angled Up - Arm Cannon: 13% Explosion: 15% Angled Down - Arm Cannon: 11% Explosion: 13.5%	An exploding thrust of the Arm Cannon, similar to Mario's Forward Smash. It can be angled up or down.
Down Smash - Spinning Low Kick	Front: 10% Back: 12%	A legsweep kick that can Semi-spike.

Special Moves

Dark Samus' Special Moves
	Ultimate
Standard Special	Charge Shot
Side Special	Missile
Up Special	Screw Attack
Down Special	Bomb
Final Smash	Phazon Laser

On-screen appearance

Dark Samus will emerge from a wormhole. It resembles the portals used by the Leviathans in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Idle Poses

Taunts

• For her Up and Side Taunts, Dark Samus will glow blue. This is Phazon - a toxic organic substance that makes up her physiognomy.
• Her Down Taunt resembles Samus' taunt in Super Smash Bros. Melee, as well as her pose in the box arts for Metroid II: The Return of Samus and Samus Returns.

Up Taunt

Side Taunt

Down Taunt

Victory Screens

• The pose Dark Samus assumes in her first victory screen is based on a similar pose she performs during her battle introduction in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
• Dark Samus creates a Dark Echo during her second screen; their overall animation also resembles her battle intro in Corruption.
• In the third screen, Dark Samus' eyes will flash through her visor. This is possibly based on the SA-X's intro in Metroid Fusion.

Aesthetic

• Beyond the Taunts and Idle poses, the rest of Dark Samus' non-attack animations are completely different from Samus, which include jumping, free falling, turning, braking, and item shooting. Different sound effects are also appropriately used to account for some of these changes.
• To reference her Phazon biological makeup, all of the explosions she produces from certain attacks will be in various shades of neon blue.
• When hit, Dark Samus will emit sparks. She shares this trait with other metallic characters (Samus, R.O.B., and Mega Man).

Classic Mode: The Great Poison Given Form

Dark Samus' congratulatory picture

Dark Samus' Classic Mode pits her against protagonists while she is teamed up with their dark/evil/corrupted counterpart, referencing her ability to corrupt organic beings through Phazon. The title alludes to this as well, as "The Great Poison" is what the Chozo called Phazon in the Chozo Lore on Tallon IV during Metroid Prime. The song "Multiplayer - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes" will play during the end credits.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Link	Hyrule Castle	"Hyrule Castle (Outside)"	Zelda is a CPU ally, referencing her possession by Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and by Malladus in Spirit Tracks.
2	Chrom and Lucina	Arena Ferox	"Power-Hungry Fool"	Robin is a CPU ally, referencing their future self's possession by Grima in Fire Emblem Awakening.
3	Ryu	Suzaku Castle	"M. Bison Stage Type B"	Ken is a CPU ally, referencing his transformation into Violent Ken after being brainwashed by M. Bison in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos and Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers.
4	Squirtle, Charizard, and Pikachu	Saffron City	"Battle! (Team Galactic)"	Ivysaur is a CPU ally; while no notable Ivysaurs have been possessed or corrupted in any Pokémon game, this might instead be a reference to its ability to learn a large amount of Poison-type attacks. Pokémon Trainer will not be present.
5	Mario, Peach, and Daisy	Princess Peach's Castle	"Main Theme - Luigi's Mansion (Brawl)"	Luigi is a CPU ally, referencing his time being brainwashed by Nastasia and becoming Mr. L in Super Paper Mario, or being possessed by Lucien the tennis racket in Mario Tennis Aces.
6	Samus and Ridley	Norfair	"Vs. Ridley (Brawl)"	This match is a free-for-all.
7	Bonus Stage
Final	Master Hand (and Crazy Hand on Intensity 7.0 and higher)	Final Destination	"Master Hand" (against Master Hand) "Master Hand / Crazy Hand" (against both Hands)

Role in World of Light

Dark Samus' location in World of Light

Dark Samus is absent from the World of Light opening cutscene, though she was vaporized offscreen and captured by Galeem alongside the rest of the cast (excluding Kirby) when the world was engulfed in light.

Dark Samus is not found until the story's final map, The Final Battle, where she is under the control of Dharkon. Her rescue is mandatory, as it will lead into a fight with Crazy Hand and the subsequent reveal of Palutena's location.

Fighter Battle

No.	Spirit	Type	Power	Stage	Song
04ε			12,500	Frigate Orpheon (Omega Form)	"Multiplayer - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes"

Palette Swaps

Blue	An amalgam of her designs in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Green	Could likely be made to match with Samus' green palette swap.
Purple	Based on Gandrayda from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Noxus from Metroid Prime Hunters.
Red	N/A
Yellow	Resembles the Golden Torizo from Super Metroid.
Grey	Resembles concept art of Dark Samus from Echoes.
Black	Resembles Orange Phazon from Metroid Prime, a Demolition Trooper from Corruption, and Spire from Hunters.
Pink	Resembles Zazabi from Metroid Fusion.

Gallery

Dark Samus' splash art

Dark Samus' fighter card

Dark Samus' unlock notice

Photo from Sakurai's Twitter celebrating the anniversary of Metroid Prime

Photo from Sakurai's Twitter celebrating the anniversary of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Dark Samus' amiibo

Videos

04ᵋ Dark Samus – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Dark Samus and Chrom gameplay (2 on 2, Stage Morph)

Trivia

• According to Masahiro Sakurai, Dark Samus' inclusion was due to her overseas popularity.
• Dark Samus is one of two fighters to have previously been an Assist Trophy, the other two being Little Mac and Isabelle.
• Dark Samus is the only Echo Fighter:
  • based on a starter character.
    • She is also the second Echo Fighter to be based on another woman, the first being Daisy.
      • Much like the case with Daisy and Peach, Samus loses her palette swap based on Dark Samus to better differentiate between the two.
  • who is mandatory to unlock in World of Light to beat it as all the others are optional.
  • who can Wall Jump.
  • to be a villain.
    • She is also the second playable female villain, following Wendy O. Koopa.
• Dark Samus is the first fighter to be created by an American studio, being Retro Studios.
  • She is also one of five fighters to come from the west, the other four are Diddy Kong, King K. Rool, Banjo & Kazooie, and Steve.
• Much like her fellow Metroid villain Ridley, Ultimate marks Dark Samus' first time being playable in any game.
• When Dark Samus is moving while holding a shooting item, footsteps can still be heard despite her ability to float.