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Samus (SSBB)

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This article is about Samus's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For the character in other contexts, see Samus Aran. Also, for information about the result of Samus using her Final Smash, see Zero Suit Samus (SSBB).
Samus
in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Samus Aran
MetroidSymbol.svg
Universe Metroid
Alternate form Zero Suit Samus
Other playable appearances in SSB
in Melee
in SSB4
in Ultimate
Availability Starter
Final Smash Zero Laser
Tier F (32)
SamusHeadSSBB.png
The galaxy's greatest bounty hunter. Her variety of long-distance weapons make her lethal.
Brawl manual description

Samus (サムス, Samus) is a character that appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Samus, like Zelda, has an alternate form she can transform into. Samus can change into Zero Suit Samus by inputting her up and down taunt rapidly, using her Final Smash, or by holding the L/R button (Gamecube/Classic controller), Z button (Nunchuk), or the - button while selecting Samus on the character select screen.

Samus is currently ranked 32nd out of 38 on the tier list, placing her in the F Tier, a significant drop from her position in the Melee tier list, where she was ranked 10th out of 26th. Her ranking in Brawl is also her worst placement in the series. Samus has relatively fast attacks such as her tilts and her smash attacks, as well as aerials with nearly no landing lag. Along with this, Samus has her trademark bevy of projectiles, far reach in most of her attacks, and great horizontal survivability (possessing both strong horizontal endurance and a good recovery). However, Samus's KO potential has been significantly nerfed in almost every area from Melee; Samus' strongest finishers don't start reliably KOing until beyond 125%, and none of her potential finishers are especially effective. Her KOing problems are exacerbated by her difficulty in racking up damage on opponents; most of her attacks deal low to mediocre damage, she has rather slow attacking speed (combination of slow movement and her attacks being ending lag heavy), and has one of the worst comboing capabilities, with few attacks being able to set up. Her projectiles were also nerfed; her Super Missiles take longer to fire as well as travel slower and being unable to KO until near sudden death percentages, her bombs no longer explode on contact, and a fully charged Charge Shot cannot KO reliably until 124% fresh (and it is rarely fresh as Samus players must often use it to keep opponents at bay). This has resulted in terrible matchups against characters beyond low tier, and terrible tournament results.

Attributes

Samus has a wide array of both projectiles and physical attacks, which can be used in promising combinations. Samus is a heavyweight and ranks in the middle of the speed-class. However, she is tall, which makes her easier to hit (a common problem amongst most of the game's heavyweights). She has very low KO power and high floatiness for her weight class. Samus can be awkward to fight effectively with against the game's faster, more graceful characters, but with a good combination of long and short-range attacks, she can be deadly. Samus has the third-slowest falling speed in the game, behind Peach and Jigglypuff. This is both advantageous and disadvantageous. On the upside, her floatiness can be used to bolster her aerial game. Staying in the air longer allows Samus to follow-up with other aerials; given that many of her moves have low knockback, she can create all sorts of continuous strings of low-to-moderate percentage attacks. More importantly, her floatiness allows her to have an above-average recovery game. On the downside, her slow fall speed also makes her recovery predictable and fairly easily edge-guarded (though, her floatiness makes her edgeguarding game easier and safer). Samus can also be easily juggled because her fast fall is still very slow and as a result of this her momentum canceling is poor and only makes her live slightly above average vertically despite being the 7th heaviest in terms of weight. Despite her ground moves being weak in term of knockback, they deal decent damage. Samus has much time to dodge attacks while throwing foes off with things like Bombs (and Bomb Jumping), or she can speed things up by using her surprisingly long Grapple Beam to zip to the safety of the edge. One of the most valuable uses of her slow falling speed is successfully meteor smashing an opponent who has no ground on which to land and still being able to recover easily. She also has the largest ledge sweetspot.

Her neutral special, Charge Shot, does great knockback at higher percentages and is a deadly projectile for edgeguarding, when fully charged. Samus has two kinds of Missiles: the Homing Missile homes on opponents and deals 5% damage; and the Super Missile moves in a fast, straight line and deals 10 % damage and noticeable knockback. Her up special, Screw Attack gives her decent vertical height, is a good out of shield option and can trap opponents for damage racking. Her down special, Bomb, makes Samus shift into morph ball mode and lays a bomb, which will explode after a set time period. Her grab has great range, but it is laggy if she fails to grab an opponent (although performing a dash grab can remedy this). In the air, her Grapple Beam can damage opponents and can be used as a tether recovery.

Samus works best when transitioning well from the air to the ground. None of Samus's aerials have landing lag, with her forward and up aerials having no knockback except at the final hit. Samus can capitalize on this by canceling into more powerful moves like her forward smash and down tilt, or by using a fully charged Charge Shot in the event the opponent is a bit too far away. Missiles also factor into the air to ground transition; landing immediately after the missile has been fired negates the significant firing lag, so one can immediately follow up with another missile (of either kind). This lag negation allows for a "double missile" effect where Samus can fire one missile, land, and almost immediately fire another. These missiles can also stop opponents' recoveries, such as Pikachu's Skull Bash, Luigi's Green Missile, Jigglypuff's Rollout, Ike's Quick Draw or Wolf, Fox, or Falco's side special recovery, setting them up for an immediate meteor smash. A Missile Charge Shot combination is an excellent combo, but can sometimes be predictable, so Samus mains must learn to launch them unexpectedly. Her aerial Grapple Beam ("zair") actually acts as a move to complement this strategy, stunning opponents from far away with high speed, and also cancels immediately upon landing, which can combo into a down tilt or smash. Coupled with the Charge Shot's potency, Samus has no problem frustrating opponents from a safe distance, chipping away at her opponent's approach to best suit her. Although Samus has three different projectiles, she still lacks a reliable way to deal with opponents' projectiles especially since her shield roll is very slow (slowest in the game).

Samus' major problem lies in her extreme lack of finishing abilities. Her quickest KO move is her down tilt. But with vertical knockback and a small hitbox, has trouble KOing opponents before around 130% and is recommended to not be used until the right time as to not devalue it with stale-move negation. Also, her forward smash is quick and deals high damage, but doesn't KO properly before around 130%. Her down smash has rather low knockback, and doesn't KO reliably before 150%. Her only way to KO at lower damage percentages is using either the down aerial for meteor smashes or juggling with her back aerial. Unfortunately, the back aerial telegraphs itself, has a tiny sweet spot, and requires good setup, while the down aerial is rather slow and has a sweeping hitbox that also needs good placement, despite its fairly large hitbox. Even a fully-charged Charge Shot doesn't tend to KO until at least 124%, making it one of the least KO-capable charged specials in the game, however it is still a good move for edgeguarding.

All in all, Samus can be a character of good and bad situations with her wide array of projectiles and a fairly powerful meteor smash. A huge problem in competitive play is that Samus is easily chain grabbed due to her heavy weight and large size with the exception of chain grabs that are ineffective on very floaty characters, and can be infinite chain-grabbed by King Dedede.

Finally, given Samus' problem with KOing and opponents' difficulty in KOing her, high-level matches involving Samus tend to take awhile, making time limitations in a match a crucial factor as well.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

When making the transition from Melee to Brawl, Samus has received a mix of buffs and nerfs. She had inherited good buffs (such as her aerials having lower ending lag), many of which have helped her damage-racking game. However, her weakened projectiles and finishers have crippled her severely, to where she cannot KO effectively under 125% outside of her back and down aerials (and even those attacks are deemed ineffective at KOing, with the latter being predictable and slow as a move and the former requiring the sweetspot to hit). As such, her nerfs outweigh her buffs, making her a significantly less effective character than in Melee.

Aesthetics

  • Change Samus's design is now based on her appearance in Metroid: Zero Mission. The greater boost in graphics also give her suit more detail.
  • Change Samus's Super Missile now use their designs from Super Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission.
  • Change Samus has a new tumbling animation.
  • Change Samus has a new teetering animation.
  • Change Most of her moves now have updated sound effects.

Attributes

  • Change Samus is slightly lighter (110 → 108).
  • Buff Samus walks slightly faster (1 → 1.05).
  • Buff Samus dashes slightly faster (1.4 → 1.445).
  • Buff Samus' air speed has been improved (0.89 → 0.987), going from 15th out of 26 characters in Melee to being tied for 14th out of 39 characters in Brawl.
  • Buff Samus's traction is lower (0.06 → 0.0585), going from the 15th highest in Melee to the 18th highest. Compared with the returning veterans, however, Samus' traction is higher, allowing her to punish out of shield easier.
  • Nerf Her overall projectile and finishing games have been worsened drastically, harming her overall KOing power.
  • Nerf Samus's falling speed was reduced (1.4 → 1.07). When comparing to the returning veterans, Samus falls faster relative to them, worsening her recovery and making Samus more vulnerable to combos, but improving Samus's endurance.

Ground attacks

  • Buff Second hit of neutral attack has slightly increased knockback (15 (base)/100 (growth) → 30/95).
  • Nerf Normal angled forward tilt has received a sourspot on Samus' leg, has slightly more startup (6 → 7), ending lag (IASA 30 → 32), and up and normal angled hits deal less damage (11% (angled up)/10% (not angled) → 10%/8%/7%(foot/leg)).
  • Buff Down angled forward tilt deals 1% more damage (9% → 10%).
  • Buff Up tilt has much less startup lag.
  • Buff Down tilt deals much stronger knockback to the point where it can KO at 150%.
  • Nerf Dash attack deals less damage (13% → 10%) and knockback (22 (base)/105 (growth) → 30/80), no longer being the most powerful dash attack (King Dedede's is now the strongest). It has slightly more startup lag (7 → 8) and a shorter duration (7-16 → 8-16).
  • Nerf Forward smash deals significantly less knockback (30 (base)/104 (scaling) → 20/100), no longer being a viable finisher at high percents. It also has smaller hitboxes, its duration was cut in half (4 frames → 2), and it deals slightly less damage.
  • Buff Up smash's hits connect together better.
  • Nerf Down smash deals less damage (16%/15% → 15%/14%) and base knockback (110/90 → 90/80). It also has slower startup (6 frames → 10) and ending lag (IASA 45 → 52).

Aerial attacks

  • Buff All aerials have reduced landing lag, improving her air-to-ground transitioning.
  • Nerf Clean neutral aerial deals less damage (14% → 9%) and has significantly reduced knockback scaling (100 → 80), this making it much weaker to the point where it is now incapable of KOing at realistic percentages. It also has a shorter duration (5-30 → 5-25) and increased ending lag (IASA 40 → 45).
  • Nerf Forward aerial deals less damage (23.2% → 18%).
  • Buff Forward aerial's looping hits link together better and the final hit deals more knockback.
  • Nerf Back aerial has reduced knockback scaling (100 → 88), slightly more ending lag (IASA 37 → 40) and its duration was cut in half (4 frames → 2), making it harder to hit with.
  • Buff Back aerial is slightly easier to sweetspot with due to the sweetspot no longer having the lowest priority (ID# 2 → 1).
  • Nerf Down aerial deals 1% less damage (16% → 15%) and less base knockback (30 → 25).
  • Buff Grapple Beam comes out quicker, goes farther, and now has almost no landing lag, giving it better spacing capabilities. Additionally, it no longer renders Samus helpless.
  • Nerf Grapple Beam can no longer wall grapple, harming its utility as a recovery option.

Grabs and Throws

Special moves

  • Nerf Charge Shot has been significantly weakened (32 (base)/70 (growth) → 30/56). This means that while it could potentially KO at 80% in Melee, it won't KO until around 125% in Brawl.
  • Buff Homing Missiles have increased homing precision.
  • Nerf Super Missiles have greater start-up and ending lag, travel slower, deal 2% (12% → 10%) and have significantly decreased knockback (30 (base)/100 (growth) → 40/65), making it incapable of KO'ing at realistic percentages. They could KO under 150% in Melee, but can't KO at 300% in Brawl.
  • Change The start-up for the aerial version of her Missiles have switched; the Super Missiles come out on frame 24 instead of 15 and vice versa for the homing Missiles.
  • Buff Screw Attack has regained its trapping abilities from Smash 64, improving its damage-racking capabilities. Its final hit also no longer has weak set knockback.
  • Nerf Screw Attack has increased landing lag.
  • Change Screw Attack makes a different sound effect.
  • Nerf Bombs no longer explode upon enemy contact, and are less effective for recovery. Additionally, they no longer allow Samus to Super Wavedash.
  • Change Samus has a Final Smash: Zero Laser. She charges up a powerful beam that is controllable and hits full screen. After she finishes firing the beam, her Power Suit breaks apart and she now becomes Zero Suit Samus. Additionally, three pieces of her Power Suit lay where Samus used her Final Smash and can be picked up and thrown by anyone.

Moveset

  Name Damage Description
Neutral attack   3% Samus punches and then smacks the opponent with her cannon. Good on short-hopping opponents close-up, otherwise the second hit can be easily shielded or shield grabbed.
7%
Forward tilt   10% Samus does a roundhouse kick.
8% (foot), 7% (leg)
10%
Up tilt   13% (grounded), 12% (aerial) Samus does an axe kick. Very similar animation to Captain Falcon's up tilt. Meteor smashes grounded opponents, making it an unconventional meteor smash.
Down tilt   14% Samus blasts the opponent's feet. Deals high knockback.
Dash attack   10% (clean), 6% (late) Samus shoulder rams the opponent.
Forward smash   14% Samus thrusts her arm cannon in front of herself. Has high knockback scaling but has below-average knockback.
13%
12%
Up smash Cover Fire 4% (hits 1-3), 5% (hit 4), 6% (hit 5). Samus fires 5 bursts in an arc above herself. Moderately fast start-up lag, but has punishable ending lag with poor horizontal reach. The move is easy to escape out of with DI, especially at high percentages.
Down smash   15% (hit 1), 14% (hit 2) Samus does a 360° legsweep. The move deals good knockback, which is good for spacing.
Neutral aerial   9% (clean), 6% (late) Samus does a sex kick that deals good horizontal knockback.
Forward aerial   4% (hit 1), 3% (hits 2-4), 5% (hit 5), 18% total. Samus shoots five blasts forwards.
Back aerial   14% (foot), 10% (leg) Samus kicks backwards. A good move for edgeguarding.
Up aerial   3% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-5), 4% (hit 6), 11% total. Samus does a drill kick upwards. Great for horizontal momentum canceling when used in conjunction with a jump.
Down aerial   15% Samus swings her cannon downwards. Can meteor smash opponents.
Grab aerial   4% (early), 7% (tip) Samus fires the Grapple Beam forwards.
Grab   Samus sends out her Grapple Beam to catch the opponent. Has remarkable range.
Pummel   1% Samus chops the opponent with her free hand. Moderately fast pummel with very low startup frames. This pummel can sometimes miss Bowser due to his struggling animation.
Forward throw   9% Samus twirls the enemy over her head, then flings them forward.
Back throw   8% Samus flings the opponent behind her.
Up throw   1% (hits 1-5), 4% (throw), 9% total Samus holds the foe above her, then blasts them upwards with the Grapple Beam.
Down throw   6% Samus pulls the victim up, them whips them into the ground. Can be followed up with aerials.
Floor attack (front)   6% Samus gets up and kicks on both sides.
Floor attack (back)   8% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2) Samus gets up and kicks on both sides.
Floor attack (trip)   5% Samus gets up and kicks on both sides.
Edge attack (fast)   8% (right leg), 6% (left leg) Samus climbs onto the stage and kicks.
Edge attack (slow)   10% Samus slowly climbs onto the stage and punches with her arm cannon.
Neutral special Charge Shot 3-25% Samus charges up a ball of energy and fires it. Samus instantly fires the shot when the move is used in the air.
Side special Missile 5% (Homing Missile), 10% (Super Missile) Samus fires either a Missile that homes in on the target or a Super Missile that accelerates in a straight line.
Up special Screw Attack Ground: 2% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-12) 13% total; Air: 1% (hits 1-12) 12% total Samus shoots up into the air while spinning around rapidly, dealing multiple hits to any opponents caught in the move.
Down special Bomb (Samus) 4% (contact), (5% (explosion) Samus goes into Morph Ball mode and drops a timed bomb that explodes in a few moments.
Final Smash Zero Laser 40-78% Samus fires a bluish white large beam of energy in front of her that traps opponents caught in the blast before blasting them away. Move lasts about 5 seconds and passes through terrain. After firing the beam, Samus's Power Suit is "damaged" and falls off of Samus's body, transforming her into Zero Suit Samus.

On-screen appearance

  • Arrives from a Super Metroid-style save point, though the design is somewhat altered.
SamusOnScreenAppearanceSSBB.gif

Taunts

  • Up taunt: Salutes vigorously with her left arm as her Gravity Booster pulses.
  • Side taunt: Faces the screen and demonstrates the Arm Cannon mechanics.
  • Down taunt: Holding her arm cannon with her left hand, she aims behind her, then aims lower in front of her. Her cannon glistens each time she aims. Can sometimes trick opponents into thinking she will use a fully charged Charge Shot.
Up taunt Side taunt Down taunt
SamusUpTauntBrawl.gif SamusSideTauntBrawl.gif SamusDownTauntBrawl.gif

If a player rapidly alternates the up and down taunts, Samus will transform into Zero Suit Samus in mid-match. However, this is risky, as Samus must undergo the lag after the Power Suit disengages.

Idle poses

  • Traces her finger over her arm cannon.
  • Puts her arm cannon down for a few moments.
Samus Idle Pose 1 Brawl.png Samus Idle Pose 2 Brawl.png

Crowd cheer

English Japanese
Cheer
Description Sa-mus! Sa-mu-s!
Pitch Group chants Group chants

Wii Remote selection sound

  • Makes a blasting noise followed by her double jump noise from Melee.
Samus's selection sound

Victory poses

A flourish originating from Metroid that played whenever Samus obtained a power-up, addition to her Power Suit, or defeated Ridley and Kraid.
  • Shoots multiple shots while kneeling, and finishes with a pose.
  • Side kick flexes and readies her Arm Cannon.
  • Punches twice, then fires from her Arm Cannon.
Up Left Right
Samus-VictoryUp-SSBB.gif Samus-VictoryLeft-SSBB.gif Samus-VictoryRight-SSBB.gif

In competitive play

Matchups

Notable players

See also: Category:Samus professionals (SSBB)

Tier placement and history

Samus's significant nerfs severely compromised her ability to viably compete since the very beginning of Brawl; her inability to rack up damage quickly and effectively finish off stocks proved to be a fatal combination. As such, Samus has perpetually been a low tier character, who has sometimes even dropped into the bottom tiers. Throughout Brawl's time as a competitive game, Samus never made any significant rises on the tier list due to her lack of any successful tournament results or significant metagame advancement.

Despite this, Samus's competitive prospects are slightly better than other low tier characters. Unlike them, she can camp to some degree and keep opponents zoned away, which has favored her as Brawl has turned more defensively based. She also has better survivability than other low tier characters, being a heavyweight with a good and not easily gimpable recovery. Finally, while her overall tournament representation is very poor, she still has a handful of renowned players dedicated to developing her, while many former players of other low tier characters have since dropped them. However, while this will secure Samus against ever returning to the bottom tiers, it's very unlikely she will rise out of low tier, as while she competes well with other low tier characters and many lower middle tier characters, she still fares poorly against any characters above said point, and it is extremely unlikely that there will ever be a breakthrough that would allow her to viably compete with such characters.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Samus in SSE

Samus begins the Subspace Emissary in her Zero Suit, infiltrating a trap-riddled laboratory. After making her way through it, she encounters Pikachu trapped within a strange device that harnesses its electrical energy to provide power to the complex. Seeing that the device causes Pikachu pain, Samus breaks the machine. In thanks, Pikachu helps Samus continue through the lab. The pair eventually find Samus' Power Suit within a tank, guarded by two clones of Samus, wearing the purple Gravity Suit, prompting Samus and Pikachu to battle. When they are defeated, an alarm begins to wail, and the R.O.B. Squad approaches. Samus regains her Power Suit and blasts her way through them along with Pikachu.

As they attempt to escape the complex, Ridley strikes without warning, snatching up Samus and grinding her viciously against the wall. Pikachu electrocutes Ridley to free Samus and the two face off against Ridley. After escaping from the facility, Samus and Pikachu come upon a factory mass-producing Subspace Bombs. The two enter it, and after fighting their way through, discover the Ancient Minister in a room filled with Subspace Bombs. The allies prepare to battle, but the Ancient Minister does not seem to want to fight them. Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, and Olimar then break into the room, and all of them, including Samus, witness the Ancient Minister defy the holographic Ganondorf's commands. As a result, the R.O.B. Squad fires upon him, burning off his robe and revealing him as a R.O.B. as well. It turns out that all of the R.O.B.s had been forced to work with the Subspace Army, with the main R.O.B., the Master Robot, as their leader. The rest of the R.O.B.s activate all the Subspace Bombs in the room, prompted by Ganondorf's override, forcing our heroes to escape. As they rush to the exit aboard Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Meta Ridley races after them, furiously seeking revenge on Samus and Pikachu. The group defeats the space dragon once more, and escapes just before the Isle of the Ancients is engulfed in Subspace.

Samus and posse meet up with the rest of the Smash Bros. heroes aboard the Halberd. The Halberd is destroyed by the Subspace Gunship, but Samus boards her own Gunship and continues the assault on Subspace. Upon entry to the Subspace, Samus and friends are unfortunately reduced to trophy form by Tabuu's Off Waves.

King Dedede, Ness, Luigi and Kirby are revived by the Dedede Brooches and collect their friends' trophies. Samus and party venture through the Great Maze and defeat Tabuu.

Playable appearances

Samus starts out the first two levels as her Zero Suit form, then reclaims the Power Suit in The Research Facility (Part II)

In Event Matches

Solo Events

Co-op Events

Trophies

Samus's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Samus.

Trophy descriptions

Samus
The intergalactic bounty hunter named Samus Aran. Orphaned at an early age, she was taken in and raised by the alien race known as the Chozo. The Power Suit she wears is a product of their technology. Her unique combat skills combined with her athleticism and Arm Cannon have seen her through countless missions.
NES: Metroid
SNES: Super Metroid
Zero Laser
Samus's Final Smash. The beam emerging from her Arm Cannon is dreadfully powerful and causes great damage to enemies. The beam travels slowly but can be swept up and down. The recoil of the beam is so great that it tears off her Power Suit, revealing Zero Suit Samus. The pieces of her armor can be picked up and thrown as weapons.
Wii: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Alternate costumes

Samus's palette swaps, with corresponding tournament mode colours.
SamusHeadSSBB.png SamusHeadBlueSSBB.png SamusHeadPinkSSBB.png SamusHeadBrownSSBB.png SamusHeadPurpleSSBB.png SamusHeadGreenSSBB.png

Trivia

  • Samus (along with Olimar, R.O.B., and Mr. Game and Watch) never talks or makes any verbal noises. The only sounds she makes are those of her attacks and Star KO cry. However, she has a voice as Zero Suit Samus.
  • In Brawl, if a player selects Samus using a Wii remote or classic controller, her midair jump sound from Melee will sound in the Wii Remote's speaker despite the fact that she makes completely different noises in Brawl.
  • Throughout normal game play, Samus' visor is opaque. The only time the player can see her face from behind her visor is in the Subspace Emissary, where she looks at Pikachu after retrieving her Power Suit.
  • In the Subspace Emissary, even though Ridley damages Samus before battling her with Pikachu, Samus' damage is at 0% when the battle actually begins.
  • Despite using her default color during a Team Battle while on the red team in the the original Super Smash Bros. and Melee, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, her red team costume is switched to be her pink and red suit.
    • This is likely to avoid confusion involving Zero Suit Samus, who wears blue while Samus is in her default costume but wears red when Samus is in her pink costume.
  • Samus, Pikachu, Diddy Kong, Fox, and Lucas are the only characters in the Subspace Emissary to fight more than 2 bosses (excluding boss re-creations in the Great Maze). Samus can be chosen to fight Ridley in The Research Facility Part II, Meta Ridley in The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II), and Tabuu in the final battle at Tabuu's Residence.
  • Whenever Samus uses her red costume, her battle portrait will have her face zoomed in a little closer compared to the rest of her costumes.

External links