Zero Laser

Zero Laser (, Zero Laser) is Samus's Final Smash, and Zero Suit Samus's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Samus
Samus charges her arm cannon and fires a large beam of energy that deals a high amount of damage. The Zero Laser also passes through characters and portions of stages. In Brawl, after firing the beam, Samus's Power Suit is "damaged" and falls off of Samus's body, transforming her into.

After the beam has been fired and the Power Suit removed, the damaged pieces of the suit can be picked up and thrown as items by any player. The items have very high knockback and decent damage, but, like any other item, they also can be picked up by opponents and thrown back at Zero Suit Samus or others.

Zero Laser lasts a total of about 4 seconds. The move's damage varies depending on how long a character is caught in the beam, ranging from 40-78% damage. While not necessarily a one-hit KO, if used near the edge of a stage the laser can push opponents past the blast line, or close enough that the final burst from the attack will do so.

While Samus is using the attack, she and the laser itself have a vacuum effect. Opponents behind Samus will be sucked into the line of fire, and opponents above the laser will also be sucked in.

Zero Laser can also be angled slightly up or slightly down by tilting the control stick in the desired direction, though this does not have much of an effect on the laser's area of effect and cannot be moved above approximately a 30 degree angle.

The transformation into Zero Suit Samus takes quite a while, and thus is easily punished. Even characters KOed by the Final Smash are often able to return to the stage and attack as the transformation finishes. It is also possible for an opponent to dodge the move by being behind Samus during the attack, again allowing them to attack Samus as soon as the laser stops.

Finishing the Final Smash in mid-air does not put Samus (or rather, Zero Suit Samus) into a helpless state; however, she will fall for quite some time until all her suit pieces fall off. If she is not above a platform, this is often enough to KO her.

Should Samus be falling off the stage, activating the Final Smash will not stop her from falling. If Samus activates the laser while falling off the stage, she will continue to fall until she actually fires the laser. If Samus reaches the blast line, she will be KO'd. The change to Zero Suit Samus will still occur.

Since the move does not engulf the entire screen and only a horizontal strip, some prefer to jump and then use the Zero Laser to maximize its area of effect. The reasoning behind this is that a shot fired on the ground will KO characters who are standing on the ground, but a shot that is fired even a short range above the ground will hit characters who are on the ground and characters who are a bit higher or trying to be able to stay above its range.

As demonstrated in the Tokyo vs Kyoto match, Zero Laser's effect was slightly changed in the released game's version; it lasted 2 seconds longer than what it currently is.

In Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Samus does not transform into Zero Suit Samus after the laser is shot, as Zero Suit Samus is a completely separate character in these games, despite Zero Suit Samus temporarily donning her Power Suit for her own variation of Zero Laser in the latter game. The laser is thinner than before, but it now fires faster.

Samus's Echo Fighter in Ultimate,, has a functionally identical Final Smash called Phazon Laser, albeit without the thruster hitboxes which deal extra damage.

Glitch
A glitch can be performed with this Final Smash that makes it so Samus doesn't transform to Zero Suit Samus, as well as the Laser resulting in a non-damaging energy ball. Performing it is the same as performing the other regenerating terrain glitches.

Zero Suit Samus
In Ultimate, Zero Suit Samus adopts Zero Laser as her new Final Smash by temporarily transforming into suited. The warrior rises into the air, then appears in the background atop her Gunship, wearing her Power Suit. A player-controlled crosshair then appears, and when the attack button is pressed, the now-suited Samus begins firing her Zero Laser with an area roughly equal to that of the crosshair. Like the Zero Laser used by the "regular" Samus, it hits multiple times and builds up damage. At the end of the move, there is a brief pause, then one final burst is fired with enough power to launch opponents. Once the move concludes, Samus reverts to her Zero Suit; unlike with Power Suit Samus in Brawl, she does not retain her Power Suit for gameplay after use.

Origin
The Zero Laser move is unique to Smash Bros., although certain games have had Samus use similarly powerful laser beams as attacks in certain situations:


 * In the climax of Super Metroid, the gives Samus the ability to use the devastating  to defeat Mother Brain.
 * In Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, when Samus enters the state via exposure to Phazon, she gains access to a powerful beam called "Phazon Beam"/"Hyper Beam". Unlike the Zero Laser, this attack consists of two intertwined, rapid-fire streams of Phazon rather than a single massive laser beam. As with Super Metroid's Hyper Beam, the Metroid Prime Phazon Beam is accessed temporarily during the final boss fight with the Metroid Prime by standing in pools of Phazon. Additionally, rival bounty hunter  can use a move nearly identical to the Zero Laser when mimicking Samus's form in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, though due to the game's release date, this is likely a coincidence or a possible reference to Brawl instead.
 * In Metroid Dread, Samus again uses the, this time appearing as a continuous large laser blast very similar to the Zero Laser. It appears near the end of the game after obtaining the . In the internal game files, the Hyper Beam is referred to as "zerolaser", suggesting that its appearance in this game was directly inspired by the Final Smash.

The Brawl functionality of the beam causing Samus's Power Suit to be lost is original to Brawl. While Samus does lose her Power Suit temporarily in Metroid: Zero Mission, it is lost in a crash when her starship is shot down, not in any way that involves any type of beam on her part.

In Ultimate, Zero Suit Samus's version of Zero Laser references all previous Final Smashes used by both herself and the suited Samus; it is a variation of Samus's own Final Smash, it has Zero Suit Samus temporarily transform into Samus (similar to Power Suit Samus), and it utilizes Samus's Gunship (similar to the Final Smash of the same name).

Trivia

 * Zooming in on the Zero Laser Trophy in SSB4, one can see Samus's helmet opens up at the top of her head, revealing the same black fabric used on other parts of the suit. This does not happen during gameplay.
 * In the trailer for SSB4, the laser for Samus' is colored differently to how it is in the final game.
 * Zero Suit Samus' version of Zero Laser is one of two Final Smashes in Ultimate that involve a non-playable appearance by another playable character, along with Pair Up. However, unlike Pair Up, this is because and  are the same individual.
 * Zero Laser is one of two Final Smashes in Ultimate to share the same name as another while being mechanically different, the other being Critical Hit. Additionally, both versions of Zero Laser are used by two versions of the same person, much like Zelda's and Sheik's Light Arrow in Brawl and SSB4; however, both variants of Light Arrow were mechanically similar.
 * In Zero Suit Samus' version of the move, she will always wear the default Varia Suit regardless of the Zero Suit palette swap she is using.

Technical details
Samus: Zero Suit Samus:
 * Samus (SSBB)/Final Smash
 * Samus (SSB4)/Final Smash
 * Samus (SSBU)/Final Smash
 * Zero Suit Samus (SSBU)/Final Smash