Zero Suit Samus (PM)

Zero Suit Samus is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. She was buffed between Brawl and PM, with many new tools given to her to aid in comboing opponents. She is currently ranked 13th out of 41, near the middle of the A- tier on the official tier list, slightly lower than her placement in Brawl, where she is ranked 9th out of 38. However, in the official Project+, she is ranked 2nd in the S tier, a significant improvement over her standing both in Brawl and in Project M.

Attributes
Zero Suit Samus is a powerful character with many great movement attributes that make her formidable to fight against. Her initial dash speed is as good as and, but her max speed is much higher. This also gives her a dash dance on par with 's in size. Furthermore, she has the highest horizontal air acceleration after and  (and tied with ), giving her strong mixups when jumping in. Her large, safe back air, huge down smash, and extremely quick up tilt can create a tough wall to get in on.

One powerful and unique tool in Zero Suit's arsenal is her down B, an extremely flexible flipping "jump". On it's own, it gives Zero Suit another powerful way to alter her trajectory in the air without expending her double jump. However, because Zero Suit can walljump or double jump out of the animation before it ends, it becomes an extremely powerful recovery tool as well. Her down B from ledge also helps gain her valuable space after recovering, and allows for flexibility in jumping up to the platform or even just wavelanding onto the main stage. Finally, it is a good edgeguarding and combo-ending tool. By pressing A, Zero Suit does a strong dive kick. The dive kick is a strong, long lasting hitbox that can be used in either direction from a down B, which makes it valuable for covering options when edgeguarding. Additionally, using down B allows Zero Suit to wait and follow DI after a linking move before committing to her finishing blow. Finally, the dive kick is easily edge cancelled, which allows for tricky movement mixups on platforms.

The other thing that makes Zero Suit Samus's recover so potent is an interesting interaction between her up B and her upward speed. Her up B will multiply any upward speed at the time of it's usage, allowing for a much larger jump than usual. By combining her down B, double jump, and up B, ZSS can easily make it back from nearly any position off stage. Additionally, it will boost the upward movement of any wall jump, allowing for death defying recoveries on stages with walls that go all the way down.

The main weaknesses of Zero Suit include aiming very low to the ground and her combo weight. Because she is so tall, it is difficult to hit a short crouching opponent with anything other than low aerials and her down smash, which get predictable quickly. Short enough opponents will even duck under her blaster, which can make fighting opponents with good crouches very tough. In terms of combo weight, Zero Suit falls very similarly to Sheik (in fact, due to a higher gravity stat, ZSS will stay vertically closer to opponents than Sheik for a given amount of knockback) with equally poor and slow descending options, which can give opponents extremely long juggles.

Changes from Brawl to PM
Zero Suit Samus received a mix of buffs and nerfs from Brawl to Project M, but was buffed overall. Her mobility has been considerably improved not due to her running and falling speeds increasing but also due to the reintroduction of wavedashing and Melee dash dancing. Some of her moves are significantly more useful. Her forward Smash is a superior kill move and the back hit sends her opponents up and towards her allowing her to combo out of forward Smash. Her new down aerial is much faster and has a lot more utility compared to her previous down aerial giving her a new fast combo option. Her recovery has also improved as her tether can no longer be edge hogged due to Project M's new tether mechanics and her new down special is more versatile. Lastly, she now has a non tether grab making her grab a lot more effective combined with her more effective throws due to Project M's physics changes.

However, Zero Suit Samus also received some nerfs. She no longer starts a round with Power Suit Pieces meaning that she no longer has access to powerful items she can abuse forcing her to play more aggressively. Her opponents are now capable of mashing out of moves which paralyse them ultimately making her paralysis based moves less effective. While her endurance has been improved from Brawl due to her higher weight, gravity and fall speed, they also make her significantly more vulnerable to combos. Her plasma whip has a lot less range and is no longer a strong kill option due to its reduced damage output and altered knockback angle although it is more useful for combos due to its new angle. Lastly, her up aerial is less effective at juggling due to its altered knockback angle and is a weaker vertical KO option although Project M's physics make it a more effective combo move and the move can now be used for edgeguarding.

Overall, Zero Suit Samus has much stronger offensive options at the cost of some of her defensive options.

Changes from PM to P+
Up Tilt

First Hit

Down Smash



Neutral Air



Forward Air



Down Air



Dash Grab



Side Special (Plasma Whip)



Up Special (Plasma Wire)



Down Special (Divekick)



Other



Moveset
Up to date as of version 3.6.

Notable tech
Labbing Discord Tech Post

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PMRank 2019, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Project M during 2019.

See also: Category:Zero Suit Samus players (PM)
 * - Ranked 29th on PMRank 2018.
 * - Ranked 8th on PMRank 2018.
 * (#1)
 * - Strong tristate player.

Project M
Project M 3.5 gives Zero Suit Samus three new costumes; one is based off Justin Bailey from the original Metroid, and the others are based off of Zero Suit Samus in the best endings of Metroid Fusion. They match 's Retro Suit, and  respectively.

Version 3.6. would be the final update to her alternate costumes, where cosmetic issues were corrected to properly represent her appearances in the respective games.

An unreleased update was planned to revamp Zero Suit Samus' model, which would've made her the first character to have her Brawl model completely replaced in Project M. This updated model is very similar to her design from Super Smash Bros. 4 and therefore uses elements from Metroid: Other M, with the exception of her high heels being removed, her Brawl paralyzer being retained, and her Other M holster being added. This would have included all her alternate costumes as well.

Project+
Zero Suit Samus is one of few characters in Project+ to have her overall design changed. Years after its initial reveal, the unused design planned for Project M became properly implemented in Project+. It incorporates elements from Metroid: Other M and Metroid: Zero Mission.

Like Samus, all her alternate costumes introduced in Project M were modified to match Zero Suit Samus' new design. In addition, two more costumes were included based on her appearances in the best endings of Super Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission respectively; the former gives her untied hair and black undergarments like the original, and the latter gives her orange shorts, boots, and shirt which is similar to the version in Smash 4. Her Fusion and Justin Bailey outfits have also been given recolors for team battles. Her Green Justin Bailey costume with black hair makes her look similar to her appearance in the Japan-exclusive Metroid: Zebes Invasion Order manga.



Z-Secret Costume: (Cadet Samus): Based off her cadet uniform from Metroid: Other M. This version of Samus is known as Young Samus in official material. R-Secret Costume (vBrawl): Her design in the un-modded base game of Brawl, which come from her appearance in Metroid: Zero Mission.''