Samus (SSBM)

Samus in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Metroid
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	B+ (11) (North America) D (9) (Europe)

Samus (サムス, Samus) 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.

Samus is ranked 11th out of 26 on the current tier list, placing her in the B+ tier, ironically a significant improvement from her 10th (out of 12) position in Super Smash Bros. Samus' horizontal recovery is among the best in the game; her bomb jumps, ability to wall jump, wall grappling beam, low fall speed, and heavy weight all contribute to making her among the toughest characters to gimp or KO horizontally. Samus additionally carries numerous effective projectiles that see use in both zoning and covering approaches, alongside a good air game. She also possesses exclusive advanced techniques, such as the super wavedash and extended grapple, that aid her approach on opponents.

Samus's less than stellar ranking is mainly a result of how she fares against those who rank higher, as most meta-relevant fighters are often able to play around Samus's defensive tools without much difficulty. Samus's attributes have their drawbacks too, allowing her to be easily juggled and KO'd vertically sooner than most fighters of her weight class. She is also susceptible to combos due to her slow falling speed and being heavy and tall in stature. One of Samus's primary combo starters, her grab, is also easily punished if it misses.

Overall, Samus has decent matchups all-around and featured strong representation for most of Melee's history, courtesy of players such as Duck, HugS, and Wes. Though her representation has declined in the post-Slippi metagame, she remains moderately successful in competitive play thanks to players such as Morsecode762.

Attributes

Samus is a unique character. Although a tall heavyweight, she is unusually floaty, uncharacteristic of characters in her weight class. Her high weight (only being lighter than Bowser and Donkey Kong) lets her have amazing horizontal survivability. 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 sports one of the longest grabs in the game, and a technique that is 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. 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 as 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.

Samus also has a very good defensive game; despite her shield leaving her legs exposed, which can leave her vulnerable to shield stabbing, and having a poor roll due to its low speed, she still has very strong defensive options. For one, she has one of the best crouch cancels in the game, due to her high weight, and having very good options out of it, such has her down smash which can set up lethal edgeguarding scenarios and her down tilt. Her screw attack also offers a quick and difficult-to-punish out of shield option, due to being invincible for the first couple frames of the move which helps her when getting pressured. It can also work as a combo breaker, but this can be risky if missed. Her nair is also a good combo breaking tool, due to being decently quick (frame 5) and being powerful. Her defensive game is also complimented by her amazing horizontal survivability and great recovery, which allow Samus to frequently live to very high percents against characters without strong vertical finishers (and sometimes characters with them).

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-canceled. Her low falling speed also can prevent her from quickly pursuing enemies that have been knocked into 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.

This article or section is incomplete. You can help SmashWiki by expanding or finishing it. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Terribly short; needs heavy expansion on how power/speed/frame data have improved

Changes from Super Smash Bros.

Samus has been significantly buffed from Smash 64 to Melee, as she was considered to fare poorly in Smash 64 due to her poor approach and lack of reliable combos. She is often considered the most buffed character from Smash 64 to Melee along with Jigglypuff. Most of her attacks have received significantly better frame data, such as a faster neutral attack and forward tilt.

Aesthetics

• The graphical upgrades of the Nintendo GameCube give Samus a more proportionate build. Her power suit is more detailed and she has a more glossy visor.
• Samus has a new taunt. While Samus still lifts her arm cannon up, she performs a more elaborate pose and she no longer shakes her arm cannon while it is up.
• Samus's blue team costume is now available for selection in regular gameplay instead of being locked to team battles.
• Samus has a new teetering animation where she balances on her left foot.

Attributes

• Samus walks faster (0.9067 (27.2) → 1).
• Samus dashes much slower (1.8 (54) → 1.4), going from the 4th fastest out of 12 characters to the 11th slowest out of 26.
• Samus' traction is slightly lower (0.0667 (2) → 0.06). Compared with the returning veterans, however, her traction is significantly lower, making it harder for her to punish out of shield.
• Samus' air speed is slightly slower than her Japanese and North American Smash 64 counterparts, but slightly faster than her Australian and European Smash 64 counterparts (0.933 (28, JPN/NA) / 0.867 (26, AUS/EUR) → 0.89).
• Samus' air acceleration is significantly lower (0.1 (3) → 0.0325), making it the slowest.
• Samus jumps extremely lower (49.4 (1482) → 34.464), hindering her vertical recovery and ability to chase opponents above her.
  • Samus's short hop is drastically lower (33.2267 (996.8) → 22.75). Compared with the returning veterans, however, her short hop is much higher, going from the 3rd highest out of 12 characters to the highest out of 26.
• Samus' gravity is slightly higher (0.0633 (1.9) → 0.066), going from the lowest to the second lowest.
• Samus' fast falling speed is faster (2.233 (67) → 2.3). The difference between her falling speed and fast falling speed is higher (increase: 59.5% → 64.3%), which makes it less predictable when landing and gives her more options in the air.
• Samus is significantly lighter (117.391304 (0.92) → 110), hindering her endurance.
• Samus is smaller (model size multiplier: 1x → 0.88x). This makes her harder to hit but reduces the range of her attacks.
• Rolls have a longer duration (frames 4-23 → 4-30).
• Rolls have less ending lag (FAF 46 → 45) although they are still the slowest rolls.
• The removal of teleporting slightly hinders Samus' grounded approach.
• The introduction of air dodging greatly benefits Samus as it improves her recovery and it allows her to wavedash improving her grounded mobility and making up for her slower ground speed.
• Samus can now wall jump.

Ground Attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack has less startup lag (frame 4 (hit 1)/7 (hit 2) → 3/5).
  • The first hit has less ending lag (FAF 22 → 18).
  • The first hit has larger hitboxes (3u/3u/3u → 3.5152u/3.5152u/3.5152u).
  • The first hit now has static hitboxes.
  • The first hit has a new animation where Samus does not stretch her arm nearly as far. This noticeably reduces its range.
  • The second hit has higher base knockback (10 → 15).
  • The second hit's far hitbox is larger (3.66u → 4.3u) and it is moved further away from Samus (x offset: 4 → 4.3).
  • The second hit has a new animation where Samus swings her arm cannon downwards much sooner. The hitboxes do not become active until Samus is already moving her cannon downwards.
    • This allows the move to hit in front of Samus much sooner which makes the first hit connect more reliably into the second hit in theory (although this is compensated by the universal decrease to hitstun).
    • However, this also noticeably reduces the move's range above and behind Samus.
  • The second hit has a shorter duration (frames 7-11 → 5-7).
  • The second hit has slightly more ending lag (FAF 30 → 31).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup (frame 7 → 6) and ending lag (FAF 32 → 30).
  • Forward tilt has a new animation where Samus takes a step forward, increasing its range.
  • Forward tilt has larger hitboxes (3.33u/3.33u/1.82u → 3.91u/3.33u/2.3456u) and the foot hitbox has been moved further away from Samus (x offset: 6 → 7.03).
  • Forward tilt now has a hitbox on Samus' back leg.
  • Forward tilt has a shorter duration (frames 7-11 → 6-8).
  • Up-angled forward tilt deals less damage (12% → 11%).
  • Forward tilt can no longer be angled slightly up or down.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt now only hits opponents when Samus drops her leg, increasing its startup lag and shortening its duration (frames 8-23 (early)/24-28 (late) → 14-17).
    • This also means that the move can no longer hit opponents behind or directly above Samus.
    • However, the removal of the rising hit greatly improves the move's safety, with the move no longer being easily punishable on hit.
    • Additionally, the move has much less startup lag compared to the previous second hit (frame 25 → 14).
  • Up tilt has a shorter total duration (FAF 44 → 35).
    • However, its total duration does not fully compensate for the move's lower startup lag compared to the previous second hit, giving it slightly more ending lag.
  • Up tilt has higher base knockback (5 → 40).
  • Up tilt now meteor smashes grounded opponents (361° → 270°), significantly improving its combo potential.
    • However, this also hinders its KO and edgeguarding potential against grounded opponents.
  • Up tilt has slightly larger hitboxes (5u/5u → 5.0778u/5.0778u) and the foot hitbox has been moved further away from Samus (x offset: 6 → 6.2496).
  • Up tilt deals less damage against aerial opponents (13% → 12%).
• Down tilt:
  • Samus has a new down tilt: a quick downwards cannon strike that fires a small explosion as opposed to a simple low sweep.
  • Down tilt has less startup lag (frame 8 → 6).
    • However its total duration was unchanged, giving it more ending lag.
  • Down tilt deals more damage (13% → 14%).
  • Down tilt has more base knockback but less knockback scaling (10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 80/60).
    • This makes the move much safer at lower percents and improves its KO potential near the blast zone.
    • However, this hinders its overall KO potential.
  • Down tilt launches opponents vertically instead of horizontally (40° → 100°).
    • This grants it combo potential; especially with its altered knockback.
    • However, this significantly hinders its edgeguarding potential.
  • Down tilt has larger hitboxes (3.33u/3.33u → 3.1248u/3.5154u/5.859u), with the move having a similar amount of horizontal range despite its new animation.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 8-12 → 6-8).
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less ending lag (FAF 41 → 38).
  • Dash attack deals more knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 22/105).
  • The clean hit deals more damage (12% → 13%) which along with the previous change, significantly improves its KO potential.
  • Dash attack has larger hitboxes (3.66u → 5.0778u (clean)/4.3u (late)), which overall gives the move more range relative to Samus despite the hitbox being positioned closer to Samus (x offset: 0.533 → 0).
  • Dash attack launches opponents at a higher angle (361° → 60°). This grants it vertical KO potential but hinders its horizontal KO potential as well as its edgeguarding potential.
  • Dash attack has a shorter duration (frames 7-10 (clean)/11-26 (late) → 7-9/10-16).
  • The late hit deals less damage (10% → 9%).
  • Dash attack no longer deals extra shield damage (1 → 0).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has less startup lag (frame 12 → 10).
  • The cannon hitbox is larger (4u → 4.3u) and is positioned further away from Samus (x offset: 4 → 5.859).
  • The arm hitbox is positioned closer to Samus (x offset: -2.66 → -1.953) and it has lower priority (ID# 1 → 2).
  • Forward Smash deals much less damage (20%/18%/16% → 15%/14%/13%) without full compensation on its knockback (15 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/104). This hinders its KO potential; especially the up angled version.
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 42 → 44).
    • When combined with the changes to shieldstun, these changes drastically hinder the move's safety on shield; going from leaving Samus at a frame advantage on shield to leaving her at a rather significant disadvantage.
  • The arm hitbox launches opponents at a higher angle (40° → 361°), now matching the other hitboxes.
  • Forward smash has a new animation where Samus does not stretch her arm as far forward. This reduces the move's horizontal range despite its altered cannon hitbox; especially for the up angled version.
  • Forward smash can no longer be angled slightly up or down.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup (frame 17 → 12) and ending lag (FAF 60 → 58).
  • The angles for the first four hits have been altered (80° → 130° (hit 1)/120° (hit 2)/90° (hit 3)/85° (hit 4)).
  • The first four hits deal less knockback (22 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/50 (hit 1), 35/50 (hit 2), 25/50 (hit 3), 30/50 (hit 4)).
    • When combined with its lower damage, these changes allow up smash to connect more reliably.
    • However, this greatly hinders the already poor KO potential of the first four hits.
    • Additionally, the move still does not connect reliably against aerial opponents and it can still be easily SDIed out of.
  • Up smash deals much less damage (10% (hits 1-5)/50% (total) → 4% (hits 1-3)/5% (hit 4)/6% (hit 5)/23% (total)). The final hit's knockback was not fully compensated (22 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/120), hindering its KO potential unless used near the upper blast zone.
  • Up smash no longer deals extra shield damage (1 → 0).
    • When combined with its much lower damage output and the changes to shields, this drastically hinders the move's shield pressuring potential; no longer leading to a guaranteed shield break if all hits connect.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less startup (frame 8 → 6) and ending lag (FAF 50 → 45).
  • The front hit has much more base knockback but less knockback scaling (35 (base), 80 (scaling) → 110/50). This improves its KO potential unless used from a very long distance away from the upper blast zone.
  • The back hit deals more damage (14% → 15%).
  • Down smash now launches opponents towards Samus (60° → 120°).
  • Down smash has a shorter duration (frames 8-12 (front)/19-22 (back) → 6-8/14-16).
  • The back hit deals less knockback (35 (base), 80 (scaling) → 90/40).

Aerial Attacks

• All aerials except for up aerial have less landing lag (16 frames (neutral), 40 frames (forward/down), 31 frames (back) → 15 (all)).
• All aerials auto-cancel later (frame 28 → 35 (neutral), frame 28 → 47 (forward), frame 17 → 31 (back), frame 20 → 34 (up), frame 13 → 34 (down)), although despite this, she is, along with Ness and Luigi, one of the few returning veterans who can still auto-cancel all of her aerials in a short hop.
  • When combined with the weakening of L-canceling and the changes to shields, this hinders the combo potential and safety of her aerials, as well as removing the guaranteed shield break combos Samus previously had with her aerials.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has a new animation where Samus stretches her leg straight forward.
  • Neutral aerial has more startup lag (frame 4 → 5).
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (16% (clean)/13% (late) → 14%/10%), hindering its KO potential.
  • Neutral aerial has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 40).
  • Neutral aerial has a longer duration (frames 4-27 → 5-29).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has less startup (frame 5 → 4) and ending lag (FAF 52 → 50).
    • However, Samus can no longer perform two forward aerials in a short hop due to her lower short hop.
  • Due to forward aerial hitting five times instead of four:
    • It deal more damage (20% → ≈23.2%).
    • It has a longer duration (frames 5-6/12-13/19-20/26-27 → 4-5/11-12/18-19/25-26/30-31).
  • The final hit has increased base knockback (0 → 20), improving its KO potential.
  • The first four hits of forward aerial have increased base knockback (0 → 20) and they now launch opponents vertically (361° → 85°).
  • Forward aerial has a new animation which is slightly longer than the previous animation (51 frames → 55).
• Back aerial:
  • Samus's has a new back aerial with a new animation where she performs a reversed back kick and looks in front of her instead of behind her.
  • Back aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration due to no longer possessing a late hit (frames 5-8 (clean)/9-17 (late) → 9-12).
  • Back aerial has less vertical range.
  • Back aerial now consists of a sweetspot and a sourspot. The sourspots cover Samus' leg and deal 10% (like the previous late hit) while the sweetspot deals 14% and is positioned on Samus' foot with the lowest hitbox ID.
  • Back aerial deals less knockback (0 (base), 145 (scaling) → (30/42)/100). This hinders its KO potential, no longer being the strongest back aerial.
  • Back aerial has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 37).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less startup (frame 6 → 5) and ending lag (FAF 40 → 39).
  • The first hit deals more damage (2% → 3%).
  • The first hit's angle has been altered (80° → 90°).
  • Hits 2-5 deal less damage (2% → 1%).
  • Up aerial now has a proper final hit (which existed in Smash 64 but it never spawned due to its hitboxes ending the same frame they should have come out), greatly improving it safety and utility.
    • Because of this, the move deals marginally more damage overall when fresh, despite the 2-5th hits dealing less damage (10% → ≈10.28%).
    • This also gives the move a longer duration (frames 6-7/9-10/12-13/15-16/18-19 → 5-6/8-9/11-12/14-15/17-18/20-21).
  • The final hit has altered knockback (0 (base), 150 (scaling) → 40/120) and an altered angle (80° → 361°) compared to the previous unused final hit.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial deals more damage (14% → 16%) and has higher base knockback (0 → 30), being the fifth strongest meteor smash in Melee.
  • As with almost every meteor smash from Smash 64 to Melee, down aerial has drastically increased startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-12 → 18-22).
    • However, its total duration was not fully compensated, giving it less ending lag.
  • Down aerial has a longer total duration (FAF 40 → 49) and a longer animation (39 frames → 54).
    • Altogether, these changes prevent Samus from performing two down aerials in a short hop (which also means that she can't auto-cancel a second down-aerial in a short hop or even a full hop).
  • Down aerial has less range which along with its increased startup lag, greatly hinders its use as a landing option.
  • Down aerial's angle has been slightly altered (-90° → 270°), which along with the introduction of meteor cancelling, significantly hinders its reliability.
• Samus now has a grab aerial, giving her an extra attack and recovery option.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Samus has been given an pummel, up, and down throw, giving her more options out of a grab. Her down throw in particular has strong combo potential.
  • Grabs have less startup lag (frame 20 → 18) and ending lag (FAF 100 → 95 (standing), 75 (dash)).
  • Standing grab has a longer duration (frames 20-38 → 18-20/21-37).
    • However, Samus' new dash grab has a shorter duration (frames 20-38 → 18-20/21-33).
  • Standing grab overall covers slightly more distance than it did previously.
  • Samus now has an exploit known as the Extended grapple technique, which allows her to greatly increase the range of her Grapple Beam, as well as allowing her grab to home into opponents.
  • Samus' grabs have larger grabboxes during their first three active frames (3.5u/2.82u → 4.69u/4.69u).
    • However, these grabboxes are no longer attached to the grapple beam, giving the grab deceptively short range during its first three active frames.
  • The back grabbox is no longer present after the first three active frames.
  • Samus can no longer grab aerial opponents after the grab's first three active frames.
• Samus' throws are now weight dependent.
• Samus' throws no longer have an electric effect.
• Forward throw:
  • Samus releases opponents later from forward throw (frame 9 → 15).
    • This gives the opponent more time to DI the throw.
    • However, this also gives the throw less ending lag as its total duration was unchanged.
  • Forward throw deals much less damage (16% → 9%) and knockback (90 (base), 60 (scaling) → 50/45), drastically hindering its KO potential to the point where it is no longer a viable KO option.