Plasma Whip

Plasma Whip
Zero Suit Samus using Plasma Whip.
User	Zero Suit Samus
Universe	Metroid
Article on Metroid Wiki	Paralyzer

Not to be confused with Plasma Wisp or Plasma Wire.

Plasma Whip (プラズマウィップ, Plasma Whip) is Zero Suit Samus's side special move.

Overview

Plasma Whip in Brawl.

Zero Suit Samus shoots the Plasma Whip forward a long distance, with small knockback and damage throughout its length except for a very large sweetspot at the tip. There is a sizable blind spot in the middle of the Plasma Whip where the opponent is not hit, although this was fixed in later games. The body of the whip can knock the enemy into the tip, which has large knockback (at least as large as Samus' forward smash, but with longer range) and is considered her best KO move outside of her forward and back aerials. It does 19% damage (if the opponent is close to Zero Suit Samus because it's pushed to the tip, doing two hits), but just 16% if only the tip hits. In Super Smash Bros. 4, Plasma Whip has been nerfed. Plasma Whip has higher ending lag, a significantly smaller sweetspot, and is much weaker, dealing less damage and knockback, and it no longer KOs at high percentages outside of edgeguarding and stage spikes. It is, however, a more useful horizontal recovery tool due to snapping the ledge much sooner. However, the move's power was restored in Ultimate, making it a reliable ranged KO tool once again. It has also gained a new effect where it launches opponents directly above Zero Suit Samus if the player holds the special button down, putting the opponent in a position for potential follow ups.

The move is a little laggy after extending, but comes out at about the speed of a smash attack. In the air, it can be used as a tether recovery; it differs from her other recovery move, (Plasma Wire/ Boost Kick), in that it has longer horizontal range, but much less vertical range, giving Zero Suit Samus several options for recovering, depending on whether she is level with or below the ledge.

Instructional quotes

instruction booklet		Attack with a lash formed of plasma. This move can also be used to grab onto the stage edges.
case foldout		Attack foes with an energy whip. Can grab on to edges.
Move List		Attacks foes with an energy whip. Can also be used to grab on to edges.

Customization

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:

1. Plasma Whip	2. Plasma Dash	3. Whip Lash
"Attack foes with an energy whip. Can also be used to grab on to edges."	"A dashing strike with your gun. Doesn't use the whip, so it can't grab on to edges."	"Knock foes toward you with the very end of the whip. The rest of the whip does nothing."

1. Plasma Whip: Default.
2. Plasma Dash: A small dash forward with Samus' gun, striking multiple times. Cannot tether recover.
3. Whip Lash: Ensnares an opponent and draws them in. Does not connect if Samus is too close to the opponent.

Origin

Both the Plasma Whip and the Plasma Wire are unique to Smash, and have no presence in any Metroid game but it could be a reference to the Grapple Beam which Samus uses in her Power Suit.

Gallery

• 

  The move in Brawl

• 

  Unused animation of Zero Suit Samus using Plasma Whip to grab an item.

• 

  Unused animation of Zero Suit Samus using Plasma Whip to throw an item.

• 

  Unused animation of Zero Suit Samus using Plasma Whip to throw an item upward.

• 

  Plasma Whip in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

• 

  Plasma Whip as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	プラズマウィップ, Plasma Whip
English	Plasma Whip
French	Fouet plasma
German	Plasma-Peitsche
Spanish	Látigo de plasma
Italian	Frusta plasma
Chinese (Simplified)	等离子鞭
Chinese (Traditional)	等離子鞭
Korean	플라스마 윕, Plasma Whip
Dutch	Plasmazweep
Russian	Плазмохлыст

Trivia

• Through hacking Brawl, unique item grabbing and throwing animations have been found for Plasma Whip. This suggests that the move was, at one point, also designed to have the ability to grab items from afar and fling them towards opponents. Judging from the animations, it also suggested that Zero Suit Samus could steal opponents' held items by using Plasma Whip against them.

Zero Suit Samus's special moves

Neutral special	Paralyzer
Side special	Plasma Whip
Up special	Plasma Wire	Boost Kick
Down special	Flip Jump
Final Smash	Power Suit Samus	Gunship	Zero Laser