Samus (SSBM)

Samus in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Metroid
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Tier	C (11)

“

A space warrior with an arsenal of long-range projectile weapons. (Melee's instruction manual)

”

Samus Aran (サムス・アラン, Samusu Aran) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. She is a very versatile character in the game, possessing an excellent moveset that allows her to handle all kinds of situations. She is also fairly heavy and has arguably the best recovery in the game, due to bomb jumping and a long grapple beam. Announced at E3 2001, Samus also has an intriguing assortment of useful techniques such as the Super Wavedash and the extended grapple. Like Link and Luigi, she is much higher on the Melee tier list than she is on in the tier list of Super Smash Bros. She was last on the SSB tier list and 11th on the Melee tier list (near the middle of the list).

Samus is currently ranked 11th in the tier list. Namely, her powerful and effective projectiles can aid her KOing power and her approach on the ground, and she also has a good air game, with a powerful sex kick. Samus' recovery is among the best in the game, due to her bomb jumps, ability to wall jump, her grappling beam, and heavy weight, all of which make her among the toughest characters to KO horizontally. Additionally, techniques exclusive to her, such as the Super Wavedash and Extended Grapple aid her approach, resulting in favorable matchups. However, she is floaty, allowing her to be KO'd vertically easily, and she has a below average combo ability, due to a relatively low air speed. Her primary combo starter, her grab, is also very laggy if it misses, though it can be extended. Regardless of the disadvantages, Samus has a great amount of advantageous matchups, including three being close to unloseable (Roy, Yoshi and Pichu).

Attributes

Samus is a unique character. Although a tall heavyweight, she is unusually floaty, uncharacteristic of characters in her weight class. Her slow falling speed (the third slowest in the game) allows her recovery to travel more distance and gives her better aerial game, but makes her susceptible to vertical KO's, predictable recovery, and a painfully slow SHFFL. Samus's screw attack and bombs increase her recovery greatly, but her bomb recovery can be disrupted by certain projectiles. Samus has powerful projectiles (Charge shot and missile), but these specials are not as useful against characters with reflectors. Samus's grab has the largest range in the game, but it is very situational because of startup and long lag afterwards if she misses her opponent (although the lag can be avoided by performing a dashing grab).

Samus has many advanced techniques including a fast and fairly long wavedash, Super Wavedash, crouch cancel counter, and an extended grapple. Samus has the least average landing lag from her L-canceled aerials - all are 7 frames. On the downside, Samus has the slowest roll in the game. She also has a hard time comboing most characters. In the case of the space animals, it is hard to initiate the combos because the guaranteed ones require a grab.

Moveset

Normal

• Neutral attack- A jab followed by her bringing her cannon-arm down in an axe-like way. Jab does 2-3% damage, next hit does 7% damage.
• Dash attack- Shoulder tackle. 13% damage.
• Up tilt- Raises her leg and brings it down. Very similar to Captain Falcon's up tilt. It is a meteor smash according to the game, but it only works on grounded opponents. The meteor can KO grounded opponents at high percentage. 13% damage.
• Down tilt- Brings her cannon arm down and fires an explosive weapon. Powerful, excellent option out of a crouch cancel. Can KO under 150%. 14% damage.
• Forward tilt- Extremely fast kick forward. Excellent in stopping close-up foes. 10% damage.

Smash attacks

• Up smash- Aims arm-cannon up and sets off many explosions. Below average knockback. 21% uncharged, 29% fully charged.
• Down smash- A spin kick around her. Fast, good knockback. 16% uncharged, 22% fully charged.
• Forward smash- Thrusts arm-cannon in front of herself. Somewhat fast, moderate knockback. 14% damage uncharged, 19% fully charged.

Other attacks

• Ledge attack- Gets up and kicks. 10% damage.
• 100% ledge attack- Gets up and punches with her arm-cannon. 10% damage.
• Floor attack- Gets up and kicks on both sides. 6% damage.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial- A sex kick. 14% when first comes out, gets weaker afterwards. Good horizontal knockback, and good for edgeguarding.
• Back aerial- A very fast kick behind her. 14% damage if sweetspotted, 10% damage if not sweetspotted. The sweetspot is at her foot, notably her toe. A good edgeguard to use.
• Forward aerial- Fires several explosions in front of her with her arm-cannon. Up to 23%.
• Down aerial- Brings her arm-cannon into a downwards arch swipe, a good meteor smash. The meteor can KO grounded opponents at 115%. 16% damage.
• Up aerial- Brings her legs above her body and spins. Leads well into a Missile. Several hits, up to 10% damage.

Grabs & throws

• Pummel- Slaps her foe with her hand. Somewhat fast. 2-3% damage per pummel.
• Forward throw- Brings her foe up with her Grapple Beam and launches them forward. 9% damage.
• Up throw- Launches her foe upwards. 7% damage.
• Down throw- Violently picks foe up with her Grapple Beam and slams them to the ground. 6% damage. Almost 100% of the time can use Up tilt to punish nearly any opponent. This attack has a set knockback.
• Back throw- Launches foe behind. 8% damage.

Special moves

Samus's special moves

Neutral special	Charge Shot
Side special	—	Missile
Up special	Screw Attack
Down special	Bomb

PAL changes

• Can no longer perform the extended grapple.
• Can no longer bomb out of a grapple.

Changes from SSB to Melee

Samus has been buffed from SSB to Melee. Below are the changes:

• New side special (Missile)
• Can use Grapple Beam for a wall-grapple
• New Down Tilt
• Charge Shot is a little weaker, but still strong regardless when fully charged.
• Screw Attack no longer traps but gives more recovery.
• Culmination of bomb jump, wall-grapple and greater distance on Screw Attack makes recovery significantly better.
• Charge Shot's range is no longer infinite and now disappears in a few seconds if it doesn't hit an opponent.
• Slower dash speed
• Slower Down Aerial spike

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

In single-player

In the game's Single-player mode, Samus is once again fought on the Brinstar stage, after Samus is beaten, the planet will start to explode and the player must evacuate to Samus's ship before the planet explodes, if not they will lose a life.

Samus is featured in the following Event Matches:

• Event 3: Bomb-fest: This match pits the player's character against the team of Samus and Link with one stock each on the Princess Peach's Castle stage. Samus and Link only use their bomb special moves, but all the bomb (or likewise) items will appear on the stage.
• Event 8: Hot Date on Brinstar: This match pits the player's character against Samus on the Brinstar stage. The player has 3 stocks and start with 102% damage, while Samus has 130%.
• Event 15: Girl Power: This event places a tiny player against a Samus, alongside Peach and Zelda, on the Fountain of Dreams stage with two stock each.
• Event 17: Bounty Hunters: The player plays as Samus teamed up with Captain Falcon (with Friendly Fire turned off), and their shared opponent is Bowser on the Jungle Japes stage. With everyone receiving one stock and 2:00 as the time limit, the player's aim is to be the one to KO Bowser; they fail if Falcon delivers the finishing blow.
• Event 20: All-Star Match 2: Samus is the first opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. The player's character battles her on the Brinstar stage, and their character has 2 stock while Samus has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat her and the other four characters with the overall time and life they have: Link, Zelda, Captain Falcon, and Fox.
• Event 27: Cold Armor: This match pits Samus against three metal Samus's on the Brinstar Depths stage. The metal Samus's have two lives each while Samus only has one.
• Event 36: Space Travelers: As Ness, the player faces Samus, Kirby, Fox, Captain Falcon and Falco. Ness battles the first three on the Fourside stage while fighting the last two on the Battlefield stage. Each character has one stock.

Trophy descriptions

In addition to the normal trophy about Samus as a character, there are two trophies about her as a fighter, unlocked by completing the Adventure and All-Star Modes respectively with Samus on any difficulty:

Samus (Classic Mode, Trophy #10)

This intergalactic bounty hunter's full name is Samus Aran. Clad in a Power Suit made by the Chozo race and infused with their enhanced blood, she cleared the planet Zebes of a Metroid infestation. Samus is an orphan, the sole survivor of a Space Pirate raid that destroyed an Earth colony named K-2L.

• Game: Metroid

Samus Aran (Adventure Mode, Trophy #11)

Samus has an abundance of projectile weapons, making her a long-distance attack specialist. The most powerful weapon in her arsenal is her Charge Shot, but be warned: it can be reflected. Her missiles have homing capabilities, but when fired as Smash Attacks, they fly on a straight trajectory and have boosted power.

• B: Charge Shot
• Smash B: Missile

Samus Aran (All-Star Mode, Trophy #12)

While Samus's arsenal of missile weapons is indeed formidable, her enemies are in for a rude awakening if they guard against nothing else. Her Grappling Beam captures foes and latches on to walls, and the Screw Attack drags foes upwards in a series of spins that doubles as a recovery move. Samus can also use her Bombs to perform Bomb Jumps.

• Up & B: Screw Attack
• Down & B: Bomb

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  Adventure Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Costumes

Samus' changeable clothing in Melee