Dark Samus (SSBU)

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Dark Samus in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Metroid
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Phazon Laser

“	Dark Samus Joins the battle!!!	”
—Introduction Tagline

“	Dark Samus joins the battle as Samus's echo fighter. With floatier movement, it's a little different from Samus--and it doesn't roll when dodging or jumping. If you look closely, you can see that its bombs and missiles look a little different, too.	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Dark Samus (ダークサムス, Dark Samus) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She was announced as a newcomer alongside Simon, Richter, Chrom, and King K. Rool in the Nintendo Direct on August 8th, 2018. She is an Echo Fighter of Samus.

Differences from Samus

NOTE: SmashWiki is not speculative. Please refrain from adding detailed data values derived from pre-release gameplay footage, such as the E3 demo. Such data (damage values, launch trajectories, frame data, etc.) are subject to change before the official release.

Aesthetics

• Dark Samus's on-screen appearance has her warp onto the stage from a dark portal.
• Dark Samus has a subtle rippling, smoke-colored aura radiating from her, most noticeable while falling.
  • Kirby seems to also acquire the same said aura (not to mention her helmet) when he copies Dark Samus.
• Dark Samus features many different animations compared to Samus, which extends to her idle, walking, dashing, and dodge animations, as well as her taunts. In addition to aesthetically hovering by default, many of her moves have slight alterations to their animations, giving her an overall "floaty and phantom-like" feel.
  • Many of Samus' two-handed animations are one-handed for Dark Samus, such as with Charge Shot and Missile.
  • Some of Dark Samus' attacks are given "corrupted" designs or effects. This can mainly be seen on her Charge Shot and Missiles.
• Dark Samus has a different victory pose, which references one of her attacks in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Attributes

• Dark Samus doesn't transform into the Morph Ball when rolling backwards, and as such it has significantly less ending lag.
• Dark Samus is floatier.
• Many of Samus' moves, especially ones that possess flame effects (except for Missile and Bomb), have been changed into electric effects for Dark Samus.

Ground attacks

• The angle of Dark Samus' dash attack appears to be like that of Samus' dash attack from Super Smash Bros. 4.

Throws/other attacks

• Dark Samus's grab has less startup.

Special Moves

• Dark Samus's Missiles do not make her lose momentum when used in the air.
• Dark Samus's Bomb jump appears to travel more horizontally.

Gallery

• 

  Dark Samus' splash art.

• 

  Charging a forward smash on the Great Plateau Tower.

• 

  Dark Samus with a fully charged Charge Shot on Great Bay.

• 

  Dark Samus using her grab aerial on Palutena's Temple.

• 

  Dark Samus using her forward aerial on Dark Pit on Gerudo Valley.

• 

  Dark Samus standing beside Lunala on Spirit Train.

• 

  Dark Samus' purple costume on Lylat Cruise.

• 

  Dark Samus' Morph Ball

• 

  Dark Samus and Chrom on Skyloft.

Character introduction video

<youtube>sXG-oI6VChg</youtube>

Trivia

• Dark Samus is the second playable character who was originally an Assist Trophy, the first being Little Mac.
• Dark Samus is the second character to be cloned from a female, being Samus.
• Dark Samus is the second foreign-created character to be playable in Smash Bros, following Diddy Kong, and is the first character in the series that was created by an American developer; Retro Studios.
• Dark Samus is the second playable female villain, the first being Wendy.
  • Though, Dark Samus is the first fully playable female villain due to Wendy just being an alternate costume for Bowser Jr.
  • Despite being referred to as a female in scan data in the Metroid Prime games and in previous Smash Bros. trophies, Dark Samus is given gender-neutral pronouns in Ultimate. This is due to her being composed entirely of a mutagenic substance known as Phazon. Her original form, Metroid Prime, was given gender-neutral pronouns before absorbing Samus' Phazon Suit and becoming Dark Samus.
• Dark Samus is the only character to do a victory pose in her showcase video.
• Unlike Samus' Zero Laser, Dark Samus' Final Smash resembles a move she has actually performed in her home series: a wide, blue Phazon beam performed during the final battle of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
  • It also resembles Samus' fully charged Phazon Beam while in the Hyper Mode of her PED Suit in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
• Just like fellow Metroid newcomer Ridley, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate marks Dark Samus' first playable appearance.
• Dark Samus is currently the only Echo Fighter to be based on one of the Original 12, as the rest are based on characters debuting in Melee onwards.
  • Therefore, she is the only Echo Fighter based on a starter character.
• According to Sakurai's weekly Famitsu column, Dark Samus was added due to her popularity overseas, while Chrom was added due to his popularity in Japan.