Samus (SSBM)

Samus in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Metroid
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	A (11)

“	A space warrior with an arsenal of long-range projectile weapons.	”
—Melee's instruction manual

Samus Aran (サムス・アラン, Samus Aran) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Returning as a veteran from the previous game, Samus, similarly to Link, reprises her role as a short-ranged fighter with numerous ranged options. In addition, she received some powerful buffs, causing her to improve from a bottom-tiered character in Super Smash Bros. to a high-mid tiered character in Melee.

Samus is currently ranked 11th on the current tier list, placing her in upper A tier, a significant improvement from her 8th place position in Super Smash Bros.. This is mainly due to her numerous and effective projectiles, which adds to her KOing power and her approach on the ground. She also has a good air game, complimented with a powerful back aerial. Samus' recovery is among the best in the game; her bomb jumps, ability to wall jump, grappling beam, and heavy weight all contribute to making her among the toughest characters to KO horizontally. She also possesses techniques exclusive to her, such as the Super Wavedash and Extended Grapple, that aid her approach on opponents. However, she is floaty, allowing her to be KO'd vertically easily, and she has a below average combo ability due to a relatively low air speed. Her primary combo starter, her grab, is also very laggy if it misses, though it can be extended in the NTSC version. Regardless, Samus has a large amount of advantageous matchups, three of which are close to unloseable (against Roy, Yoshi and Pichu).

Attributes

Samus is a unique character. Although a tall heavyweight, she is unusually floaty, uncharacteristic of characters in her weight class. Her slow falling speed (the second slowest in the game, tied with Zelda) allows her recovery to travel more distance and gives her better potential combo game. However, it also makes her more susceptible to vertical KOs, even with her high weight, and it also gives her a poor SHFFL.

Arguably Samus's most valuable asset is her high range. While lacking a disjointed hitbox, Samus has a variety of long-reaching attacks and long-ranged projectiles that can assist with her ground-based approach. Charge Shot can quickly become one of her most powerful attacks, while her Missiles can act as both an approach option when non-tapped and as a powerful finisher when tapped. Samus's average traction and low falling speed also grant her a long wavedash that can mesh well with her long-ranged smash attacks, as well as her modestly-ranged tilts; assuming the player has particularly good timing, Samus also has access to the longest wavedash in the game, the Super Wavedash, which can also potentially surprise enemies due to its speed. While laggy, Samus is also owner of the longest grab in the game, and a technique unique to the NTSC release of the game can allow her to extend its reach by three, in addition to allowing it to home in on enemies.

Samus's recovery is also among the longest and most flexible in all the game. While Screw Attack grants relatively little horizontal and vertical distance, its multiple hitboxes can potentially frustrate edgeguarders, especially due to its final blow. Samus, however, owns arguably more options for her recovery than any other character in the game. Her average air speed and low falling speed aid her approach toward ledges, while her natural ability to wall-jump can aid her recovery on stages with walls underneath the ledge, such as Fountain of Dreams or Dream Land. Samus's down special, her bombs, can allow her to bomb-jump onto the stage without the loss of jumps, and her grab air can allow her to enter "safe zones" underneath the stage, as well as acting another long recovery technique. Owing to these variety of options, edgeguarding against Samus can be extremely difficult, especially for characters with poor recoveries. For Samus herself, this long recovery also grants her a powerful edgeguarding game of her own, aided by her fast and powerful neutral and back aerial attacks.

Despite having a good approach on the ground, Samus's aerial approach suffers due to her strange variety of attributes. Her below average falling speed and high jumps give her a poor SHFFL, despite the presence of low ending lag for her aerials when l-cancelled. Her low falling speed also can prevent her from quickly pursuing enemies that have been knocked into the the ground; as such, Samus can have particular difficulty in comboing fast-fallers, even with her variety of throws. Tying into this, Samus's grab is extremely laggy and can easily be punished if she fails to grab an opponent with it;

Samus also has a very poor defensive game; Samus's shield cannot easily cover her body and thus invites shield stabbing. While boasting an average sidestep dodge, Samus's rolling dodge is among the worst in the game, due to its low speed. While Screw Attack can potentially act as a decent out of shield option, Samus's other options are slow and laggy, such as her up smash and grab.

Changes from Smash 64 to Melee

Samus has been significantly buffed from Smash 64 to Melee. She is often considered the most buffed character from Smash 64 to Melee along with Jigglypuff, due to increased power, attack speed, range, combo ability, and recovery, and by going from a low tier to a semi-viable tournament contender.

Attributes

• Her attacks are generally faster in terms of both startup and ending lag.
• Slightly faster air speed.
• Has much more combo ability, though still not too favorable.
• Significantly improved recovery with many more options, due to Screw Attack giving much more vertical distance, and her now being able to bomb jump and wall grapple (the latter of which is further improved by the directional air dodge).
• Slower dashing speed.

Ground Attacks

• Up tilt is much more useful for both combos and KOing.
• New down tilt is more powerful, being able to KO under 200%.
• Dash attack is stronger and due to its improved knockback, it no longer leaves Samus in a vulnerable position at moderate percentages.
• Down smash is faster and more powerful.
• Dash attack no longer deals extra shield damage.
• Up smash has a lower maximum damage output (50% to 29%), and the individual hits no longer deal extra shield damage.
• Old down tilt's animation is now used as down smash's animation.

Aerial Attacks

• Down aerial is much stronger, being the fifth strongest meteor smash in Melee.
• Back aerial is slower and has less range and power (though it is still quite powerful when sweetspotted).
• As with almost every meteor smash from Smash 64 to Melee, down aerial has much slower startup.

Special Moves

• Fully charged Charge Shot now deals extra shield damage.
• Super Missile gives her a new projectile, greatly improving her projectile arsenal and projectile camping abilities.
• Bomb no longer disables Samus's midair jump before landing when used in midair. It also deals extra shield damage, and is a better gimping move on recovering opponents near the edge, due to the generally faster falling speeds in Melee.
• Screw Attack is unable to "trap" opponents within the multiple hits as easily.
• Charge Shot now dissipates after traveling a certain amount of distance, rather than continuing on forever until it hits something.

PAL differences

Like some other characters, Samus has received some changes in the PAL version of Melee.

• Extended grapple is no longer possible.
• Can no longer bomb out of a grapple.

Moveset

For a gallery of Samus's hitboxes, see here.

Samus's aerial attacks

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2-3%	A quick jab followed by an axe-like slash with her arm cannon.
			7%
Forward tilt	↗		11%	Extremely fast kick forward. Excellent in stopping close-up foes, useful spacing move.
	→		10%
	↘		9%
Up tilt			13%	Raises her leg and brings it down. Very similar animation to Captain Falcon's up tilt. It is a meteor smash according to the game, but it only works on grounded opponents, making it an unconventional meteor smash. The meteor can KO grounded opponents at high percentages, and can combo into a back aerial at moderate percentages. Hits aerial opponents horizontally.
Down tilt			14%	Brings her cannon arm down and fires an explosive weapon. Powerful, excellent option out of a crouch cancel. Can KO under 150%.
Dash attack			13%	Does a shoulder tackle.
Forward smash	↗		15%	Thrusts arm-cannon in front of herself. Somewhat fast, great knockback for a low damaging attack. 30 Base Knockback, 108 Knockback Growth.
	→		14%
	↘		13%
Up smash		Cover Fire	21% (Total)	Aims arm-cannon up and sets off many explosions, a multi-hit attack consisting of five hits. Below average knockback.
Down smash			16%	A spin kick around herself. Fast, good knockback, hitting opponents up and behind Samus. 110 Base Knockback, 50 Knockback Growth.
Neutral aerial			14%	A sex kick, meaning it does less damage and knockback the longer it's out. Good horizontal knockback, and useful for edgeguarding.
Forward aerial			23% if all hits connect	Fires several explosions in front of her with her arm cannon. Hits 5 times.
Back aerial			14% (sweetspot), 10% (sourspot)	A very fast kick behind her. The sweetspot is at her foot, notably her toe. A good move to use for edgeguarding.
Up aerial			10% (Total)	Brings her legs above her body and spins. Leads into a Missile well. Hits 6 times.
Down aerial			16%	Brings her arm cannon into a downwards arch swipe, a meteor smash. It is the fifth most powerful meteor smash in Melee and has a wide hitbox. A commonly used attack due to its strong power, ease of landing, and low risk. The meteor can KO grounded opponents at 115%.
Grab aerial		Grapple Beam	4%	Shoots out a long energy beam. This attack has transcendent priority.
Grab		Grapple Beam	—	Samus, along with Link, Young Link, and Yoshi, has an "extended grab". She uses the Grapple Beam while standing. This allows her to grab opponents from a distance, but the grab is very laggy if it misses.
Pummel			2-3%	Slaps her foe with her hand. Somewhat fast.
Forward throw			9%	Brings her opponent up with her Grapple Beam and launches them forward.
Back throw			8%	Launches opponent behind herself.
Up throw			7%	Holds opponent above herself with her Grapple Beam, then launches them upward.
Down throw			6%	Violently picks foe up with her Grapple Beam and slams them to the ground. With its very low knockback scaling, it can combo into a jab reset, up tilt, dash attack, or Charge Shot at virtually any percentage (though the latter doesn't work against Young Link, due to his high rebound height after being thrown down). This makes it a useful combo setup move at low percentages and KO setup at high percentages.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Gets up and kicks on both sides.
Floor attack (back)			6%	Gets up and kicks on both sides.
Edge attack (fast)			10%	Climbs onto the stage and kicks.
Edge attack (slow)			10%	Climbs onto the stage and punches with her arm cannon.
Neutral special		Charge Shot	3% uncharged, 25% fully charged	When the B button is pressed, Samus will start charging a ball of energy that gets larger, stronger, and faster the more charged it is. Pressing B during the charge will cancel the charge and fire the shot, while pressing the L or R button will cancel the charge and allow Samus to store her current charge. This can be resumed by pressing B again. When fully charged, it has KO potential. If used in the air, Samus will immediately fire the shot, regardless of its charge level and how long B is held for.
Side special		Missile	5% (homing missile), 10% (Super Missile)	Fires a missile that travels forward. The missile can either be a homing missile (when B is pressed while tilting the Control Stick) or a Super Missile (when B is pressed while smashing the Control Stick forward). Super Missiles travel straight forward instead of homing in the opponent, and are faster and stronger than homing missiles. Super Missiles produce decent knockback.
Up special		Screw Attack	12% (Total)	Shoots up into the air while spinning around rapidly via the "Screw Attack" ability from the Metroid series. It consists of multiple hits, though it does very little knockback, with its primary use being a recovery move, giving decent vertical distance. As with most multi-hit moves that operate similarly, it can be SDI'd out of rather easily. In the PAL version of the game, if Samus is hit during Screw Attack's animation, any charging of her Charge Shot will be cancelled. Hits 12 times.
Down special		Bomb	4%	Goes into Morph Ball mode and drops a timed bomb that explodes in a few moments. It produces little damage and knockback, though it can be used as a bomb jump to improve Samus's recovery distance horizontally. It also produces a weak semi-spike, though the hitstun allows it to gimp characters with poor recoveries.

Taunt

Samus raises her Arm Cannon and point it up.

Victory Theme

An orchestrated flourish originating from Metroid that played whenever Samus got a new power-up, obtained a Power Suit upgrade, or defeated Ridley and Kraid.

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Samus professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  Cyr
•  Darrell
•  Duck
•  ESAM
•  HugS
•  Plup
•  quiKsilver
•  Wes

Inactive

•  Dark Mike
•  DJ Nintendo
•  Phanna

Tier placement and history

Samus received a large amount of buffs from her transition from Smash Bros 64 to Melee, and was ranked quite high in inital tier lists, hovering around the 6th and 9th places. This was largely due to her improved projectile game, combo game, and improved recovery. Although with a much smaller player base than most high-tier mains, her representation and performances from dedicated mains such as HugS saw her remain in the higher tiers for many years to come. Innovations in other character's meta-games being discovered and adaptation to Samus's defensive fighting style has seen Samus fall in placings through recent Melee tier lists. However, she remains a very powerful fighter with dedicated mains such as Plup and Darrell continuing to make significant impacts with her. She currently sits at 11th in the middle of the High tier.

In Single Player modes

In Classic Mode

Samus appears in a one-on-one fight, as an ally, on a team with Captain Falcon or Fox, or in the metal battle. Samus is fought on Brinstar or Brinstar Depths with the exception of being on a team with Captain Falcon or in the metal battle.

In Adventure Mode

Samus is once again fought on the Brinstar stage, after Samus is beaten, the planet will start to explode and the player must evacuate to Samus's ship before the planet explodes, if not they will lose a life.

In All-Star Mode

Samus and her allies are fought on Brinstar

In Event Matches

Samus is featured in the following Event Matches:

• Event 3: Bomb-fest: This match pits the player's character against the team of Samus and Link with one stock each on the Princess Peach's Castle stage. Samus and Link only use their bomb special moves, but all the bomb (or likewise) items will appear on the stage.
• Event 8: Hot Date on Brinstar: This match pits the player's character against Samus on the Brinstar stage. The player has 3 stocks and start with 102% damage, while Samus has 130%.
• Event 15: Girl Power: This event places a tiny player against a Samus, alongside Peach and Zelda, on the Fountain of Dreams stage with two stock each.
• Event 17: Bounty Hunters: The player plays as Samus teamed up with Captain Falcon (with Friendly Fire turned off), and their shared opponent is Bowser on the Jungle Japes stage. With everyone receiving one stock and 2:00 as the time limit, the player's aim is to be the one to KO Bowser; they fail if Falcon delivers the finishing blow.
• Event 20: All-Star Match 2: Samus is the first opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. The player's character battles her on the Brinstar stage, and their character has 2 stock while Samus has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat her and the other four characters with the overall time and life they have: Link, Zelda, Captain Falcon, and Fox.
• Event 27: Cold Armor: This match pits Samus against three metal Samus's on the Brinstar Depths stage. The metal Samus's have two lives each while Samus only has one.
• Event 36: Space Travelers: As Ness, the player faces Samus, Kirby, Fox, Captain Falcon and Falco. Ness battles the first three on the Fourside stage while fighting the last two on the Battlefield stage. Each character has one stock.

Ending images

• 

  Classic Mode.

• 

  Adventure Mode.

• 

  All-Star Mode.

Trophy descriptions

In addition to the normal trophy about Samus as a character, there are two trophies about her as a fighter, unlocked by completing the Adventure and All-Star Modes respectively with Samus on any difficulty:

Samus (Classic Mode)

This intergalactic bounty hunter's full name is Samus Aran. Clad in a Power Suit made by the Chozo race and infused with their enhanced blood, she cleared the planet Zebes of a Metroid infestation. Samus is an orphan, the sole survivor of a Space Pirate raid that destroyed an Earth colony named K-2L.

• Game: Metroid

Samus Aran (Adventure Mode)

Samus has an abundance of projectile weapons, making her a long-distance attack specialist. The most powerful weapon in her arsenal is her Charge Shot, but be warned: it can be reflected. Her missiles have homing capabilities, but when fired as Smash Attacks, they fly on a straight trajectory and have boosted power.

• B: Charge Shot
• Smash B: Missile

Samus Aran (All-Star Mode)

While Samus's arsenal of missile weapons is indeed formidable, her enemies are in for a rude awakening if they guard against nothing else. Her Grappling Beam captures foes and latches on to walls, and the Screw Attack drags foes upwards in a series of spins that doubles as a recovery move. Samus can also use her Bombs to perform Bomb Jumps.

• Up & B: Screw Attack
• Down & B: Bomb

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  Adventure Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Alternate costumes

Samus's alternate costumes in Melee