Charge Shot
| Charge Shot | |
|---|---|
{{{content1}}}
{{{content2}}} Charging and firing the attack in Ultimate. | |
| Users | Samus Dark Samus |
| Universe | Metroid |
| Article on Metroid Wiki | Charge Beam |
Charge Shot (チャージショット, Charge Shot) is Samus and Dark Samus's neutral special move.
Overview
Pressing the special move button will cause Samus to start auto-charging energy in her arm cannon, which can be fired by pressing the button again. The move starts off as a tiny weak projectile but as it is charged, it becomes bigger and stronger. When the attack has reached maximum strength, Samus will stop charging and resume her neutral standing position, but her arm cannon will start to flash. Pressing the special move button in this state will let her fire the fully charged shot. While charging, the player can press the grab or shield button or the control stick left or right to cancel the charge and/or dodge or roll, and pressing the special move button again will resume her charge. This is called charge-canceling. If Samus is hit while she's charging, she will drop all the stored charge.
In games prior to Ultimate, the move could only be charged when used on the ground. When used in the air, Samus would instantly fire, whether the beam was previously charged or not; thus, the move cannot be charged in the air. A fully charged shot deals very high damage and solid knockback for a projectile, being a solid KO move.
In Super Smash Bros.
In Super Smash Bros., Samus' Charge Shot works on a stage system. The Charge Shot has eight different stages as it charges, with each stage being larger and dealing more damage and knockback than the last. The amount of startup the move has before it starts charging or before Samus shoots depends on the level of charge. With no charge, the move takes 15 frames to startup which then increases up to 19 frames as the move reaches higher charge levels. The whole move takes 155 frames (Just under 2.6 seconds) to fully charge. When Samus shoots her Charge Shot, it comes out on frame 2 and the entire animation takes 30 frames. When used in the air, Samus will not go into her charge animation and when she shoots her Charge Shot, she will perform a small jump.
A fully charged Charge Shot is incredibly powerful, dealing 26% and very high horizontal knockback, KOing Mario at 70% on Dream Land, making it Samus' strongest KO move. Samus is also capable of comboing into Charge Shot with down aerial being her strongest setup. This naturally makes a fully charged Charge Shot deadly as it is a large and very powerful projectile which can catch opponents landing, edgeguard opponents and end combos for early KOs. It only real downside is that its hitbox is deceptively small, making the Charge Shot easier to avoid than what the projectile suggests.
Charge Shot is also very effective against shields, especially the fully charged version. Samus can land a guaranteed charge shot on shield after a Z-canceled neutral, back or down aerial, with the entire string leading into a forward smash for a shield break combo. The fully charged version gives Samus an enormous frame advantage on shield (+32 frames at point blank) which easily allows her to pressure her opponents. The move can easily lead into her grab which then allows her to use her incredibly powerful throws. Samus even has a shield break combo from a fully charged Charge Shot with Charge Shot → upward angled forward smash → forward tilt although this is very difficult to perform and it also works against a few characters.
Charge cancel
Samus is capable of cancelling her charge shot with a roll or shield. With the shield variant, Samus is stuck in lag for one frame before she can shield. If Samus only presses shield for one frame, she will not go into the shielding animation, enabling her to immediately act out of the charge. This is very difficult to perform and utilise however due to the frame perfect timing required although the normal shield variant is still very useful as Samus can jump out of shield which can then lead into her aerials or her Screw Attack.
Overall, Charge Shot is a very powerful tool in Samus' kit due to its extreme power and range, in addition to its incredible shield pressuring potential.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Charge Shot has seen numerous changes. One positive change the move has received is that it takes less time to startup. The move always takes 13 frames to startup, which is two frames less than its non charged counterpart in the previous game and six frames less than its previous fully charged counterpart. The move also charges faster, taking half a second less to fully charge. Samus has also gained a new notable setup into the move with her new down throw .This down throw + Charge Shot combo is highly effective against numerous members of the cast.
The aerial version has seen a change where Samus now just continues to drop after using it. In the previous game, Samus would perform a small jump when shooting her aerial Charge Shot but now, it no longer affects her vertical momentum. This can be a positive or negative thing depending on the situation.
However, the move has also seen some negative changes. The move's power has been reduced with the move dealing less knockback and some levels (including the fully charged version) even deal less damage. The lower levels saw the largest reduction to their power although every level was made weaker. A fully charged Charge Shot still remains incredibly powerful however, only KOing around 10% later from center stage and as it is a more base knockback oriented move now, it can even KO slightly earlier if the opponent is very close to the horizontal blastzone.
The move is also less effective on shields. Not only does the move no longer deal extra shield damage (except for the fully charged version which deals more) but the move is heavily hindered by the changes to shields. Samus not only now has no ways to set up a Charge Shot on shield now but the fully charged version no longer gives Samus the frame advantage on shield if she lands it at point blank range. This means that the inescapable grab and shield pressure setups she used to have are gone, although the move does not leave Samus at a large disadvantage (-5 frames to be exact), with the move still being safe on shield overall.
The projectile also no longer has an infinite duration, now lasting for 70 frames before it disappears and the charge cancel animation has been made longer, going from one frame to eight frames. This makes it much riskier for Samus to cancel the charge shot although this also has a positive effective, as it is much easier for Samus to cancel the move without going into shield due to this longer animation. One last change which was not made to the move but still hinders it is that when Samus is hit out of her Screw Attack, she will lose the charge for her Charge Shot, which naturally hurts both Screw Attack and Charge Shot.
Overall, Charge Shot still remains a very powerful tool in Samus' kit as while it isn't as rewarding when it lands, the fully charged version is still a very powerful KO move and the reduced startup lag and reduced charge time were useful changes.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
| Stage | Damage | Percent that can KO in Brawl |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | 3% | Cannot KO |
| Stage 2 | 5% | 802% |
| Stage 3 | 8% | 486% |
| Stage 4 | 11% | 348% |
| Stage 5 | 14% | 254% |
| Stage 6 | 18% | 176% |
| Stage 7 | 21% | 137% |
| Stage 8 | 25% | 124% |
In Super Smash Bros. 4
In Super Smash Bros. 4, a Miiverse post first claimed it had "drastically improved" speed and power. Indeed, the attack as a whole has been improved considerably, with a slightly faster charging time, quicker startup, and significantly improved knockback that can KO at 115% from the middle of Final Destination. With these buffs, this makes Charge Shot one of Samus's standard finishing options.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Samus can now charge her shots in midair. This can be cancelled by jumping or air dodging. Additionally, Dark Samus, being an Echo Fighter of Samus, retains this move; compared to Samus, Dark Samus's version is fired at a slightly lower elevation, allowing her to hit grounded targets that Samus cannot.
Instructional quotes
 instruction booklet |
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Hold  to charge up power, then press again to fire. Press L, R, or Z to stop charging.
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 instruction booklet |
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Charge with the B Button and press again to fire. Press the Z Button to stop charging and resume later with the B Button. |
 case foldout |
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Charge energy, and fire a shot with  .
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 Move List |
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Charges up a projectile while on the ground or in midair. Can keep the charge after dodging or shielding. |
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Charges up a projectile while on the ground or in midair. Can keep the charge after dodging or shielding. |
Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:
| 1. Charge Shot | 2. Dense Charge Shot | 3. Melee Charge Shot |
|---|---|---|
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| "An energy ball that shoots straight. Can be charged and stored for later." | "A Charge Shot with even more power, but at the expense of range and speed." | "A point-blank Charge Shot that isn't a projectile. Charging expands its range." |
- Charge Shot: Default.
- Dense Charge Shot: Takes 30% longer to charge, but fires a larger, more powerful and much slower-moving projectile. 4% uncharged, 27% fully charged. The projectile moves so slow that Samus can walk by a fully charged one. There can be up to three uncharged shots on-screen at once. Useful for setups.
- Melee Charge Shot: Releases a short-range "shotgun blast" of energy rather than a projectile ball, meaning the attack can neither be reflected nor absorbed. Deals 5% damage uncharged and 20% fully charged. The move has plenty of hitstun, but high ending lag. Charges faster than the original move. Much like Mewtwo's Shadow Ball, this move slides Samus backward depending on how much it was charged, therefore making it potentially useful for recovering back on-stage.
Samus standing in front of a Dense Charge Shot blast.
Samus firing a Melee Charge Shot blast.
Origin
If she didn't start out with it, the Charge Beam was one of the first power-ups Samus would get in the Metroid games, starting with Super Metroid. A fully charged Beam's shot would become Samus's only way of damaging certain bosses should she run out of missiles. In Metroid Prime, Charge Beams can be used to clear debris blocking Samus's path or to suck in nearby Energy Balls and Ammo Energy, as well as being the starting point for Charge Combos. In the Metroid series, Samus cannot save a charge for later as she can in Smash Bros., though she can continue charging and just hold it for any length of time, as well as begin charging while in motion and in the air. In the Metroid games, the beam also charges noticeably faster.
Gallery
Samus charging the beam in Smash 64.
The blinking star indicates that Samus's beam is fully charged in Smash 64.
Samus shooting a fully charged beam in Smash 64.
Artwork of Charge Shot in the Super Smash Bros. 64 instruction manual.
Samus charging the beam in Melee.
Samus shooting a fully charged beam in Melee.
Samus in the process of charging her arm cannon in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Samus's arm cannon flashes at the end, a sign that her power beam is fully charged in Brawl.
Samus shooting a fully charged power beam in Brawl.
Villager pockets a Charge Shot in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Samus in the process of charging her arm cannon in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Samus shooting a fully charged blast in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Samus in the process of charging her arm cannon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Palutena reflecting the attack in Ultimate.
Samus using Charge Shot as shown by the Move List in Ultimate
Dark Samus using Charge Shot as shown by the Move List in Ultimate
Names in other languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
 Japanese |
チャージショット, Charge Shot |
 English |
Charge Shot |
 French |
Super tir |
 German |
Charge-Beam |
 Spanish |
Disparo cargado |
 Italian |
Colpo ricarica |
 Chinese (Simplified) |
蓄能射击 |
 Chinese (Traditional) |
蓄能射擊 |
 Korean |
차지 빔, Charge Beam |
 Dutch |
Superschot |
 Russian |
Усиленный выстрел |
Trivia
- When Kirby uses this move, he uses his hands to charge and fire the shot, since he has no Arm Cannon of his own.
- The charging sound for the Melee Charge Shot is shared with the Mii Gunner's Charge Blast.
- This move shares its name with Mega Man's forward smash.
