Samus (Super Smash Bros.)

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

“	The greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy, Samus Aran fights with the super-human power of her hi-tech power suit.	”
—Super Smash Bros's instruction manual

Samus
Universe	Metroid
Also appears in	Melee Brawl SSBWU/3DS Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	C (8)

Samus (サムス, Samus) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Samus is a heavy, yet floaty, character with decent horizontal recovery. However, she also has sluggish moves with a lot of ending lag, and she lacks a quick and easy-to-land kill move.

Samus currently ranks 8th on the tier list, a noticeable improvement from her original placement, having risen two tiers. 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.

Despite not being at the bottom of the tier, however, Samus overall has the worst matchup spread in the game. She only has one even matchup with Jigglypuff, and has a losing matchup to everybody else. She is also one of the only two characters in the game to have no advantageous matchups, the other being Jigglypuff.

Attributes

Samus is a tall heavyweight character that is also rather floaty (which is uncommon for heavyweights). She has a fast dashing speed, but her low air speed, low falling speed, and long and slow roll heavily decrease her mobility. She has decent range and also has two projectiles, including Charge Shot (which covers a great distance and is fairly powerful, being quite useful for keeping opponents at bay, but requires a large amount of charging to have KO power) and Bomb (which can aid her horizontal recovery). Spacing works quite well with Samus, with her forward tilt and back aerial being useful. However, she has a high and slow short hop. Her grab is one of the three tether grabs in the game, giving it excellent range, but very high lag if it misses. Her back throw is a powerful KO throw and is also tied with Pikachu and Donkey Kong's back throws for the most damaging throw in the game.

Overall, most of Samus's moves have a high amount of ending lag, and she has no quick, easy-to-land KO moves, though her down aerial is an extremely fast meteor smash. While Samus's dair is a great edge-guarding move, she has poor to mediocre edge-guarding ability outside of it, and her primary recovery move (Screw Attack) travels extremely short horizontal and vertical distance, giving her a very poor vertical recovery. Her horizontal recovery, while still short and predictable, is slightly aided by her floatiness and Bombs.

Samus is known for being the only character in Super Smash Bros. who cannot 0-death easily, though her floatiness and Screw Attack can slightly help her escape combos. Posting a legitimate Samus combo is considered to be an inside joke in the Super Smash Bros. community, as there are players who state that Samus has no combos and that it's virtually impossible to make a combo video of her without hacking.

Moveset

		Image	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack				3%	A jab followed by a downward swing of her arm cannon that pushes enemies back.
				6-7%
Forward tilt	↗			9-12%	A spinning horizontal kick that comes very fast, has good range, and contains little ending lag. This attack can be angled up or down.
	→			8-10%
	↘			7-9%
Up tilt				6-8% (upwards), 10-13% (down)	Samus raises her leg before bringing it down in an axe-like fashion. A decent move to use against aerial opponents, better suited for wall-based ground combos.
Down tilt				10-13%	Samus crouches and does a sweep attack with her leg. Has some KO potential at higher percentages near and ledge and can also hit foes who are hanging onto one.
Dash attack				9-12% (clean), 8-10% (late)	Samus tucks her head and shoulder-rams onto the opponent. This attack has bad shield stun, and can leave Samus vulnerable against opponents at moderate percentages due to its very low knockback. However, if used correctly, it can occasionally be a combo starter.
Forward smash	↗			15-20%	Samus jabs her arm cannon forward that deals decent knockback. This attack can be angled up or down.
	→			14-18%
	↘			12-16%
Up smash			Cover Fire	40-50% if all hits connect	Samus fires her arm cannon in an arc above her head. This attack is best used against heavier or fast-falling characters as an anti-air move.
Down smash				12-16% (front), 11-14% (back)	Samus does a sweep kick attack that can hit on both sides. A good spacing move or finishing move when near near the ledge.
Neutral aerial				12-16% (clean), 10-13% (late)	Samus sticks her leg out in an upward angle. The attack itself is a sex kick, meaning it gets weaker the longer its out.
Forward aerial				16-20% if all hits connect	Samus blasts her arm cannon four times in a downward arc. It's often difficult for all four hits to connect, especially at high percents.
Back aerial				11-14% (clean), 8-10% (late)	A reverse back kick with good range and speed. One of Samus's strongest finishers when sweetspotted, though it is usually difficult to land the sweetspot, due to her bad short hop and limited ways of combo'ing into it.
Up aerial				10% if all hits connect	A spiraling upward drill-kick attack. An impractical move due to it being very difficult to land all the hits and with Samus being left very vulnerable.
Down aerial				11-14%	Samus swings her arm cannon in an arc below, meteor smashing enemies. Overall among Samus's best finishers, being able to KO earlier than most of her other moves. Against grounded opponents, it can also lead into moves such as a back aerial.
Grab			Grapple Beam	—	Samus fires her Grapple Beam forward to grab enemies from afar. The grab itself can lead to various unique combos due to its large range. Samus, along with Link and Yoshi, are the only characters in the game that has an "extended grab".
Forward throw				12-16%	Samus brings the opponent up with her Grapple Beam and launches them forward. Deals high knockback, even at low percentages.
Back throw				14-18%	Samus slightly turns around and flings the opponent behind her with her Grapple Beam. Very similar to her forward throw except being slightly stronger.
Floor attack (front)				5-6%	Samus sticks out one foot on one side and swings it down on the other side whilst getting up.
Floor attack (back)				5-6%	Stands on her hand and arm cannon and does a spinning double kick.
Edge attack (fast)				5-6%	Samus climbs onto the stage and thrusts one foot out to attack nearby enemies.
Edge attack (slow)				5-6%	Samus slowly hoists herself onto the stage and performs a short-ranged jab.
Neutral special			Charge Shot	3-26%	When used on the ground, Samus begins charging energy in her arm cannon. The charge can be cancelled by pressing the shield button or by pressing left or right on the control stick. Pressing the special button again will release the shot. When used in the air, Samus will unleash the shot for whatever level it's been charged to.
Up special			Screw Attack	15% if all hits connect (ground), 14% if all hits connect (air)	Samus balls up and spins into the air, striking anyone caught in her tracks multiple times; being a good move for racking up damage. Useful against opponents on soft platforms above Samus.
Down special			Bomb	7-9%	Samus drops a bomb from Morph Ball form. The bombs explode on impact or after a short time and deals extremely minimal knockback, though it causes Samus to fall slightly slower than normal, meaning it can be used for horizontal recovery. However, using it before a double jump will cause Samus to be unable to perform her double jump until she lands.

Taunt

• Takes her left arm off of the arm cannon and puts her left hand on her hip, at the same time raising her right arm so that her upper arm is perpendicular to her body, and her lower arm (the cannon) is parallel to her body. She then shakes the cannon like a fist.

On-Screen Appearance

• Exits a Super Metroid-style save point.

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Character Matchups

Avg.

In 1P Game

In the game's Single-player mode, Samus is fought on the Planet Zebes stage.

Techniques

Bomb Recovery

In 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 to use a double jump, because once the Bomb is used, Samus cannot double jump until she lands.

Glitch

When Samus performs an Up B Special Move in training mode with 4 Green Shells near the CPU, the CPU's damage will raise to 999% instantly. It's very similar to the Mario Up-B special glitch. The reasons for it are unknown, and are possibly just a fluke in the game. However, fans seem to enjoy it, as it doesn't ruin the game.

Character description

Samus Aran is the toughest bounty hunter in the galaxy. Using a special suit powered by the technology of the bird people which allows her to execute daring acrobatic feats, Samus pursues the airborne life form, Metroid, throughout the universe.

Works:

• Metroid (NES)
• Metroid II: The Return of Samus (GB)
• Super Metroid (SNES)

Alternate Costumes

Samus's changeable clothing in Super Smash Bros.

Trivia

• Samus is the only female character in Super Smash Bros. (as Pokémon, like Pikachu and Jigglypuff, were not considered gendered at the time of this game). While Pokemon --like Pikachu and Jigglypuff-- did not have genders, the other nine characters (in this game) are male. That is, including Link, Yoshi, Fox, Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Luigi, and Ness.
  • However, the latter character Pikachu does have a visible gender difference. This occurs in the later installment Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Because the last two of its eight alternate colors depict it female.
    • The female Pikachu has a tail that ends in a heart shape. That is, while the male's tail is the normal Pikachu tail.
• While all other characters show their skeletons (or lack thereof) upon being hit with an electric attack, Samus's suitless outline becomes visible instead.
• This is Samus's only appearance on the Nintendo 64. The only other playable character to share this distinction is Ness.
  • This is also her first appearance in 3D. Ness also shares this distinction.