Zero Suit Samus (SSB4)


 * Zero Suit Samus Zeroes In!

Zero Suit Samus (, Zero Suit Samus) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Her return to the series was announced during a Super Smash Bros. Direct on April 8th, 2014, which coincided with the 10th anniversary of the European release of . Like, Zero Suit Samus is now a standalone character, which means that she cannot activate or deactivate her Power Suit under any circumstances.

Rather than retaining Jessica Erin Martin and Ai Kobayashi, Samus' English and Japanese voice actors from Metroid: Other M, reprises her role as Zero Suit Samus' voice actor, albeit via recycled voice clips from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Zero Suit Samus is currently ranked 6th out of 54 on the tier list. This is a slight improvement from her high-tier placement in Brawl, where she was ranked 9th out of 38 and is her best placement in the series. Zero Suit Samus possesses a dominant air game: her neutral and back aerials are safe and reliable set-up and KOing options, respectively, whereas her up aerial is an incredibly effective juggling option that also boasts KO potential.

Zero Suit Samus' punishment potential is also one of the greatest among the cast, courtesy of her fast and nimble mobility, a paralyzing projectile in Paralyzer, and a potent combo game that can quickly rack up damage or even KO outright. In addition, she possesses a long-distanced and varied recovery, thanks to having two tether recoveries, a third jump in Flip Jump and her new up special, Boost Kick. This makes her recovery hard to intercept as it's unpredictable and can be very deadly. Her aerial moves possess enough power to KO rather early as if she was a heavyweight especially Boost Kick and Flip Kick.

Although she has outstanding strengths, Zero Suit Samus also has some noticeable weaknesses. Her ground game is unimpressive compared to her air game, which is most evident with her grab game: her grabs' long ranges are offset by their extreme amounts of start-up and ending lag, while her forward, back and up throws have very minimal utility outside of dealing damage. Most of her ground moves also lack KO potential. Her only ground move that truly has KO potential is her forward smash. Even so, it is one of the weakest smash attacks in the game. The rest of her ground moves require very high percents or rely on edgeguarding to score a KO.

By extension, many of Zero Suit Samus' attacks contain hitboxes that are positioned high above the ground, which can make it very difficult for her to fight against small characters. Even though Zero Suit Samus' air game is excellent, none of her aerials are effective combo breakers, which is further compounded by her susceptibility to combos. Altogether, these traits give Zero Suit Samus a weak neutral game.

Regardless of her flaws, Zero Suit Samus is widely considered to be a very viable character in competitive play, as shown by and  winning numerous national and regional tournaments, respectively.

Attributes
Zero Suit Samus is a tall lightweight who boasts overall excellent mobility, thanks to several of her attributes being among the top 10 of their respective categories. Her walking speed is tied with 's for the fifth fastest, her dashing speed is the fifth fastest, her air speed is tied with the default 's for the sixth fastest, her traction is tied with and 's for the third highest, her air acceleration is tied with  and 's for the eighth fastest, and her jump is the third highest. Unlike most lightweights, Zero Suit Samus has very quick falling speed, high gravity and, like in her home series, is able to crawl and wall jump.

Zero Suit Samus' greatest asset is her superb air game. In addition to her excellent aerial attributes, her short hop is tied with Bayonetta's for the second highest in the game, which collectively supplement her useful aerial attacks. Neutral aerial has long range, low landing lag and launches at 55°, all of which make it very useful for follow-ups. Forward aerial is quick and fairly powerful, making it useful as part of a combo at low percentages, and a dependable off-stage KOing option. Back aerial has long range and high power, making it her most reliable aerial KOing option. Up aerial is very quick, has very low base knockback, very high knockback scaling, and launches opponents vertically, all of which make it excellent at juggling and capable of KOing. Down aerial is able to meteor smash and possesses a strong landing hitbox, though it is dangerous to use off-stage due to being a stall-then-fall. Unlike in Brawl, she now has a grab aerial, which can be used for spacing, set-ups, or as a tether recovery.

Zero Suit Samus' special moves also possess considerable versatility. Paralyzer is quick, has decent range and paralyzes the opponent, granting it excellent follow-up potential. Plasma Whip has long range and, like her grab aerial, can be used for spacing or as a tether recovery. Boost Kick is decent for recovery, but thanks to it hitting on frame 4 and boasting impressive power, it is actually one of Zero Suit Samus' most viable KOing options, especially from out of shield. Lastly, Flip Jump functions like a third jump, but also grants intangibility at its start and allows her to move unpredictably. As such, it can enable her to avoid attacks or mix up her recovery, the latter of which is supplemented by its ability to automatically wall jump upon making contact with a wall. Like Boost Kick, it also boasts impressive offensive potential: its inputted kick is strong enough to KO easily and can meteor smash aerial opponents, whereas its footstool stomp is now capable of both burying grounded opponents and meteor smashing aerial ones.

Lastly, Zero Suit Samus possesses a few invaluable KO set-ups aside from Paralyzer. Down smash is one of the few smash attacks of its kind that only hits in one direction, but it is very quick and paralyzes an opponent like Paralyzer, allowing her to follow it up with a forward smash, back aerial, a grab, Boost Kick or Flip Jump, with the last KOing at very low percentages. In addition, down throw itself has guaranteed follow-ups at any percentage below 160%. Depending on the opponent's DI, it can combo into forward or up aerial, and sometimes back aerial and Boost Kick. This throw is also notorious for its ability to score very early KOs. Without proper DI, a series of up aerials leading into a Boost Kick can KO the majority of the cast at 50% while near the upper blast line. The latter's loop hits also have high base knockback and can KO if its last hit does not land due to SDI, even with perfect DI. Even with proper DI, this combo can also KO earlier if the opponent is near an edge. Due to its speed, neutral attack's first hit can also function as a surprisingly effective set-up into Boost Kick at medium to high percentages. Altogether, these traits make Zero Suit Samus' punishment potential one of the most potent in the game.

However, Zero Suit Samus has some noticeable weaknesses. She can be KO'd fairly early because of her status as a lightweight, but unlike the majority of her fellow lightweights, she is also burdened with a susceptibility to combos because of her tall frame, very quick falling speed, and high gravity. Aside from her pummel's speed and her down throw's excellent combo potential, the rest of Zero Suit Samus' grab game is poor. Her grabs' long ranges are offset by their overall lag: they are tied with Grapple Beam for the highest amount of start-up lag in the game, and their ending lag is the third highest in the game, surpassed only by 's grabs and her Power Suit's Grapple Beam. Despite having respectable damage outputs, her forward, back and up throws have no guaranteed follow-ups; although back throw has some semblance of mix-up potential, its mix-ups are very situational and require hard reads.

By extension, the overwhelming majority of Zero Suit Samus' attacks have hitbox placements that are high above the ground, making it easy for short characters to avoid getting hit, especially while crouching. Despite Paralyzer's paralysis effect, its range is decent at best, and it does not stay out for very long. As a result, her approach against most defensive and zoning characters is limited to dodging their projectiles with her mobility, powershielding, and either coming in from above with an aerial, or fast falling and then immediately grabbing. All of these drawbacks also make Zero Suit Samus susceptible to momentum shifts, which in turn gives her a weak neutral game.

Zero Suit Samus' custom moves are among the most polarized in the game. New advantages are gained from using them, but each one has a noticeable disadvantage to go alongside them, to the point that some are inferior to her default specials because of their disadvantages outweighing their advantages. Blast Shot is faster and Electromagnetic Net lasts longer, but both sacrifice Paralyzer's excellent utility. Plasma Dash has better offensive potential and Whip Lash has excellent set-up potential, but they both have distinct flaws: the former is less reliable at edge trumping and lacks recovery potential, whereas the latter requires precises spacing to be effective. Impact Kick is much stronger and Lateral Kick travels farther, but each has noticeable flaws: Impact Kick is much slower, which removes its status as a follow-up entirely and often makes it unable to connecting with itself, whereas Lateral Kick KOs much later, which hinders Zero Suit Samus' KO potential. Lastly, Shooting Star Flip Kick and Low Flip have much less utility overall: the former is difficult to hit with, whereas the latter is less reliable for both recovering and KOing.

Overall, Zero Suit Samus' very potent air and punishment games allow her to reliably set-up combos and KOs like in Brawl, while her KO potential has improved thanks to her newfound KOing options. However, she must nevertheless be wary of characters with strong neutral games, due to the poor quality of her own neutral game. Despite retaining her initial flaws and receiving subsequent ones from game updates, Zero Suit Samus has nevertheless achieved very impressive tournament representation and results, as evident with players such as and  having won national and regional tournaments, respectively.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Despite being a high-tier character in Brawl, Zero Suit Samus has been buffed in the transition to SSB4 mostly due to Smash 4's altered mechanics combined with the nerfs other Brawl veterans received. Her KO potential has improved, most notably thanks to her new forward smash and her new up special, Boost Kick, the latter of which is especially potent from out of shield. Zero Suit Samus' combo game has also improved, mainly due to the changes to hitstun canceling combined with her altered down throw and up aerial. She also greatly benefits from the introduction of rage which can allow her combos to KO opponents at insanely low percents. Lastly, Plasma Whip tethers the ledge much sooner, improving her already strong recovery, and she now has a grab aerial, improving her spacing potential and giving her an additional recovery option.

However, Zero Suit Samus also received some nerfs. The most noticeable of these was that as she is no longer tied to, she no longer has access to her Power Suit Pieces which significantly hinders her stage control and her item game combined with the removal of glide tossing. Although Plasma Whip has improved recovery potential, it has more ending lag and is significantly weaker, making it much easier to punish and far less reliable for KOing, eliminating one of her most useful KO moves. Her aerial prowess has also slightly worsened. Her jumps are lower (especially since she no longer has Plasma Wire) and her aerials except for down aerial are all weaker. She is significantly more vulnerable to combos due to the removal of hitstun canceling combined with her increased falling speed. Lastly, some of her ground attacks have been nerfed as well: down tilt has increased startup and much more ending lag along with a less favorable angle, removing all of its combo potential and making it arguably her worst move, her new dash attack has one more frame of startup along with much higher ending lag, making it much more punishable and removing its locking and follow-up potential, and her down smash is weaker, has smaller hitboxes, its stun duration was decreased, and it has increased ending lag, worsening its follow-up potential and making it less safe on shield.

Overall, Zero Suit Samus is an even larger threat in Smash 4 with her tournament results and representation being even higher although she is less effective than in earlier versions of the game as 1.1.4 added and it gave Zero Suit Samus some minor nerfs while 1.1.5 nerfed her further. Nevertheless, Zero Suit Samus remains one of the stronger characters in Smash 4.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Hit 1:
 * Hit 2:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Hit 1:
 * Hit 2:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Hit 1:
 * Hit 2:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Hit 1:
 * Hit 2:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Hit 2:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:
 * Grab aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:

Special moves

 * Paralyzer:
 * Plasma Whip:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Plasma Whip:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Plasma Whip:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Boost Kick:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Flip Jump:
 * Flip Jump:

Update history
Zero Suit Samus has been nerfed via game updates. Update 1.0.4 standardized her air dodge's animation in order for it to match the rest of the cast's, which increased its landing lag, while up smash and Paralyzer had their start-up and ending lag increased, respectively. Update 1.1.4 decreased Boost Kick's knockback scaling, which results in it now KOing slightly later. Her most substantial nerfs came about in update 1.1.5, which affected her damage racking potential by decreasing the damage outputs of her neutral aerial, up aerial and down throw, while all of her grabs had their active frames decreased.

Despite these direct nerfs, Zero Suit Samus also received indirect buffs because of the changes to shield mechanics brought about by updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1. These changes make her most damaging attacks and Paralyzer's electric attacks safer on shield. Overall, Zero Suit Samus' viability has remained largely intact in spite of her nerfs.

 1.0.4

 1.1.4

 1.1.5

Moveset
For a gallery of Zero Suit Samus's hitboxes, see here.
 * Zero Suit Samus can crawl and wall jump.

Tier placement and history
Zero Suit Samus has been widely been viewed as a top-tier character ever since SSB4 was released. She became infamous for her highly rewarding grab combos that could lead into early KOs, varied methods of setting up KOs with her back and down throws, down smash, and Paralyzer, her ability to escape pressure with her aerial mobility and down special, and, as of update 1.1.1, the incredible safety of her electric attacks like her neutral aerial. However, she also has a few weaknesses, such as her laggy grab and lackluster ground game. Although players would often point out both her weaknesses and her representation only being above average for a perceived top-tier character, Zero Suit Samus' weaknesses were also perceived as negligible. Additionally, her top-tier status was supplemented by the efforts of dedicated professionals, most notably, , , and , who dominated their respective regions with her and whose tournament results had been sufficient enough to position her as the second best character in the game in the eyes of most players.

Nairo's efforts in particular have demonstrated the former points: he is one of the best SSB4 players in the world, consistently achieves top 8 placings at major tournaments (most notably winning MLG World Finals 2015) and became the first person to eliminate, the undisputed best player in the world at the time, from a tournament. Other notable placings included Nick Riddle placing 2nd at Paragon Orlando 2015 and 7th at CEO 2015, and Marss placing 7th at GENESIS 3. Thanks to these very strong tournament results, Zero Suit Samus was ranked 2nd on the first tier list.

However, Zero Suit Samus received nerfs from game updates, with update 1.1.5 providing her most significant ones by exacerbating her grab game's lag issues, and somewhat toning down her immense strengths. These nerfs ultimately affected her results, with some of her main players eventually being outperformed by other characters, such as, which in turn saw her playerbase slightly shrink. Zero Suit Samus' downturn was reflected in her subsequent tier placements, as she lost her top 3 status by being ranked 8th on the second tier list, and then lost her top 10 status by being ranked 11th on the third tier list.

However as of recently, Zero Suit Samus has had a huge spike in results thanks to and  placing top 2 at many major tournaments and most notably Nairo's win at Super Smash Con 2017 while using Zero Suit Samus a majority of the tournament. Due to these impressive results and her ladder combos still being very frightening, her tier spot has been debated once again as many smashers claim that she should be ranked much higher due to her most recent results and these results being more impressive that characters ranked above her such as, , , , and. This is reflected by Zero Suit Samus's return to the top 10 on the fourth tier list, being ranked 6th. Some smashers however claim that despite her recent spike of results, her neutral and ground game hinder her enough to put her at a lower spot with players like, , and  believe that she is overrated and that she shouldn't be ranked as high as she is especially since other characters like , , , , ,  and  win tournaments more consistently than she does.

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PGR 100, which recognizes the official top 100 players in Super Smash Bros. 4 of all time.

See also: Category:Zero Suit Samus players (SSB4)


 * (#14) - Co-mained Zero Suit Samus alongside . Placed 1st at both and, 2nd at both  and , and 7th at.
 * (#35) - One of the best Zero Suit Samus players in the world. Placed 1st at both and, 2nd at , 5th at , and 7th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 3rd on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - Co-Mained Zero Suit Samus alongside . Placed 5th at, 9th at , 13th at , , and with wins over players like , , and . Ranked 72nd on the JAPAN Power Rankings.
 * - The best Zero Suit Samus player in Canada. Placed 2nd at, 3rd at , 5th at , and 25th at both and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 7th on the Canada Smash Ranking.
 * - Placed 5th at both and  and 13th at, , and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 1st on the Philadelphia Power Rankings.
 * (#16) - One of the Zero Suit Samus players in the world. Placed 1st at, 2nd at both and , 3rd at , and 7th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * (#2) - The best Zero Suit player in the world. Placed 1st at, , , ,.
 * - The best Zero Suit Samus players in Spain. Placed 5th at both and, 17th at , and 25th at  with wins over players such as  and . Ranked 23rd on the European Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - The best Zero Suit Samus player in Europe. Placed 1st at, 3rd at , 5th at , 7th at , and 9th at with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 6th on the European Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Zero Suit Samus players in Japan. Placed 3rd at both and, 5th at , and 7th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 18th on the JAPAN Power Rankings.

Solo Events

 * A Situation of some Gravity: Zero Suit Samus must defeat while she is affected by high gravity.
 * All-Star Battle: Brawl: Zero Suit Samus is one of the opponents fought in this event. All of the opponents debuted in Brawl.
 * Bounty Hunter Clash: As, the player must defeat Zero Suit Samus. After some time, two s will appear and must be defeated as well.
 * Identity Crisis: As and, the player must defeat Zero Suit Samus and.

Co-op Events

 * Peach in Peril: and  must defeat Zero Suit Samus, Rosalina & Luma, Zelda,  and female, but not . KOing Peach results into an instant failure.
 * The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Trivia

 * Zero Suit Samus is the only character who has more than one method of accessing her tether recovery.
 * Although and  have alternate costumes that correspond to their costumes' respective orders,  and Zero Suit Samus do not follow this trend. Zero Suit Samus lacks a purple alternate costume to match Samus', while her last two alternate costumes consist of her Casual Outfits instead of variations of the.
 * SSB4 marks the first time Zero Suit Samus is listed in the character selection screen.
 * Zero Suit Samus' entry in Nintendo of Europe's official Twitter account states she did crawl back in Metroid: Zero Mission, making fun of her ability to crawl with the infamous "Y can't Metroid crawl?" meme.
 * As of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Smash 4 is the only game which Zero Suit Samus is playable, but is not the lightest female character, with that title being held by Rosalina instead.