Samus (SSB4)

Samus in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Metroid
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Zero Laser

Samus (サムス, Samus) was confirmed to be a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4 in the E3 2013 trailers on June 11th, 2013. She was also among the first wave of amiibo figures that are compatible with SSB4. However, unlike in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, she is no longer capable of transitioning into Zero Suit Samus due to the latter now being an entirely separate character.

Attributes

Samus is unique among the other heavyweights in the game. Her air speed and ground speed are average, she is tied with Bowser Jr. as the 6th heaviest in the game, but despite being a heavyweight, she is a floaty character with slow falling speed. While this gives her an easier time chasing down aerial opponents and forcing air dodges, it also causes her to be juggled easier, leaving her with few reliable landing options as her slow fall speed gives the opponent more time to punish her as she attempts to return to the stage. In addition, many of her moves artificially extend her hurtboxes, leading to trades, an opponent grabbing her invisible hurtboxes and in some cases getting punished after landing a move despite her being visually out of range of the opponents counterattack. Furthermore, some of the hitboxes on her moves, most notably Up Smash, Forward Smash and Down Air, have the issue of failing to connect properly or outright whiffing.

Samus' moveset focuses more on keepaway and defensive play, spacing with her long range normals, grab aerial and projectiles to rack up damage and pressure shields. Many of her moves put the opponents in unfavorable positions that can allow Samus to tech-chase or guarantee a shield break if Bombs are used in conjunction with a sweetspotted back air or a powerful enough Charge Shot. Many of her combos can rack up more than 30%, and with platforms she is capable of stringing her up aerials multiple times and finish with her Up B, leading to a KO, or at the very least deal 40 to 50% damage. She possesses a very strong offstage game, having high jumps, a grab aerial and Down B, which enables to recover from nearly anywhere on the stage, stay in position for longer periods of time due to her floatiness, or bait the opponent by stalling in the air and punishing edgeguard attempts.

Changes from Brawl

Samus has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from Brawl to SSB4, despite her status as a low-tier character in Brawl. Samus has gained several new KOing options, the most notable of which is her staple move, Charge Shot, which has drastically increased speed and knockback. The other noteworthy options include her forward smash, up smash and Screw Attack. Forward smash now has a powerful sweetspot in the form of a fiery blast at the tip of her Arm Cannon. Up smash and Screw Attack have each have had their knockback improved (though only to the final hit in Screw Attack's case), while up smash's hits now connect better to further ensure that opponents cannot escape it. Samus' dash attack and neutral aerial are also capable of KOing due to a strengthened sweetspot and increased knockback respectively, but they are not as viable in doing so like the aforementioned attacks. Aside from her new KOing options, Samus' combo game has also been improved; attacks such as down throw and dash attack have been given better knockback angles, and with the removal of hitstun cancelling, she is able to chain attacks much easier.

However, Samus also received some nerfs that can offset her buffs. Her forward smash now has a new sourspot that is weak and runs along the Arm Cannon as well as more ending lag, while her up smash now deals less damage overall. To compound this, some of her finishers in Brawl, such as her down tilt and down smash, can no longer KO until very high percents. Her projectile game was weakened slightly, as Missiles are less effective due her losing the ability to perform her Missile Cancel technique, though her projectiles are still powerful in their own right. Additionally, many of Samus' attacks deal slightly less damage and have more landing lag (although these are universal nerfs among the cast), meaning that she still has some trouble in racking up damage. However, this has resulted in Samus being re-balanced to be slightly less reliant on projectiles while now wielding an improved close-range game.

Although Samus has been buffed overall as of update 1.1.1 and is slightly better than she was in Brawl, it is debatable as to how viable she is as of that same update. However, she is widely considered to still be a low-tier character and was even considered one of the worst characters in the game prior to update 1.1.1. Like in Brawl, this is ironic considering her status as a top-tier character when she is not wearing her Power Suit. As many of Samus' issues were not addressed, she has little representation in major SSB4 tournaments, despite having some dedicated players such as ESAM who continue to develop her metagame.

Aesthetics

• Instead of retaining her Super Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission-inspired design, Samus' design is now based off of her appearance in Metroid: Other M with some minor alterations. These include the addition of numerous black vents, perforated metal, an opaque visor, and the retention of her taller height.
• Samus' Missile and Bomb have updated designs, although her Missile still draws inspiration from Super Metroid.
• Samus has a new running animation and a different pose when firing Super Missile.

Attributes

• Samus is no longer connected to Zero Suit Samus via Final Smash, taunt, or menu input usage, with the latter becoming her own separate character.
• Samus jumps higher.
• Samus dashes faster (1.445 → 1.504).
• Samus walks faster (1.05 → 1.0615).
• Samus' air speed is slower (0.987 → 0.95).
• Samus' falls faster (1.07 → 1.25).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack's first hit has decreased hitstun and increased knockback scaling. This means the opponent may shield between the first and second hits, or the first hit will launch the opponent too far away and thus fail to connect with the second hit. It appears that this move is intentionally designed this way, as mentioned by an in-game tip.
• Neutral attack's second hit deals 1% more damage (7% → 8%) and has increased vertical range.
• Forward tilt now has a sourspot that deals minimal damage, hitstun and knockback.
• Down and upward angled and downward angled forward tilts deal less damage (14% → 12% (down), 10% → 8% (forward)).
• Up tilt is now much easier to set up combos on grounded opponents and has increased knockback against aerial opponents.
• Up tilt and all of Samus' grounded meteor smashes can be teched.
• Down tilt has slightly increased range.
• Down tilt is much weaker, as it no longer KOs until 200%.
• Forward smash now has a sweetspot and a sourspot.
• Sweetspotted forward smash deals more damage (14%/13%/12% → 15%/14%/13.5%) and can start KOing around 70% when angled upward and fully charged.
• Forward smash has 5 more frames of ending lag.
• Up, down and sourspotted forward smashes deal less damage (23% → 18% (up), 10%/12% → 15%/14% (down), 14%/13%/12% → 13%/12%/11% (forward)).
• Up smash has increased knockback, to the point where it can now KO at around 110%. The hits also connect better.
• Down smash is much weaker, as it could KO at around 150% in Brawl when fully charged, but not until 180% in SSB4. It is not only her weakest smash attack, but also the weakest down smash in the game.
• Dash attack's sweetspot is stronger, now being able to KO at higher percents. It also produces a more active sweetspot hitbox, and the move as a whole can now set up combos at very low percents, most notably with its sourspot.
• Dash attack starts up 2 frames later.

Aerial attacks

• All aerial attacks, especially forward aerial, have increased landing lag.
• Samus has a new neutral aerial, a swiveling flying kick. Compared to her previous flying kick, it has increased knockback and can now KO.
• Neutral aerial has 3 more frames of start-up and its hitbox is significantly smaller, as it no longer covers her entire body.
• Forward and down aerials deal less damage (18% → 12.8% (forward), 15% → 10%/14%/11% (down)).
• Forward aerial now launches at the auto-link angle and its last hit has increased knockback.
• Forward aerial can no longer auto-cancel from a short hop due to Samus' significantly faster falling speed.
• Back aerial's sweetspot is stronger and its sourspot deals 2% more damage (10% → 12%).
• Back aerial now has a late hitbox that deals 9%, slightly extending the move's duration and making it likelier to hit opponents who evaded a clean hit. However, it leaves Samus vulnerable at lower percents.
• Back aerial can no longer be used twice from a short hop.
• Up aerial's hits connect better and the last hit can now KO at around 100% near the upper blast line.
• Down aerial comes out 1 frame faster.
• Down aerial now has a sourspot at the edges of the attack that launches opponents horizontally.
• Grab aerial now has two hitboxes, with a sweetspot located at the tip of the Grapple Beam.
• Grab aerial deals less damage (4%/7% → 1%/3.5%) and now has 8 more frames of landing lag.

Throws/other attacks

• Standing grab has 18 less frames of ending lag. When coupled with her incredibly fast pummel, this noticeably improves her grab game.
• Pummel has been fixed to always hit Bowser.
• Down throw has a better follow-up trajectory.
• Grapple Beam has increased range as a tether recovery.
• Front floor attack deals 1% more damage (6% → 7%).
• Back floor attack and edge attack both deal fixed damage (6%/8% → 7%).

Special moves

• Charge Shot charges slightly faster, fires drastically faster and it has increased knockback, making it her most viable KOing option.
• Samus can now only have two Missiles and one Super Missile on-screen at the same time. If she attempts to shoot a Missile while one is already on-screen, she will still perform the firing pose, but no Missile will be fired. Additionally, they cover less distance, and she is no longer able to perform the Missile Cancelling technique.
• Screw Attack's last hit has increased knockback, to the point where it can KO near the upper blast line at around 100%. It also has increased vertical distance.
• Bomb has decreased knockback, which improves Samus' combo game.
• Aerial Bombs does not stop her falling speed as much as in Brawl.
• Zero Laser comes out faster and has a wider range.
• Zero Laser deals less damage overall.

Update history

Samus has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the game's updates, but has been buffed overall as of update 1.1.1. The new shield mechanics in 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 are also a mixed bag for Samus, buffing her projectile game while nerfing her close-ranged game. The new mechanics gave Samus a number of new Charge Shot combos that allow her to break shields (previously, she only had one such combo, using a Super Missile); however, most of her moveset has low hitlag which makes some of her close-ranged attacks difficult to land, and the only other moves that were improved were her down tilt and forward aerial (which are already difficult to land by themselves).

1.0.6

• Sweetspotted forward tilt deals more knockback and 1% more damage: 7%/8% → 8%/9%. This makes it capable of KOing middleweight characters around 180% at the edge.
• Forward tilt has a sourspot added to the middle part of Samus' leg. This results in little to no hitstun and it dealing 1% less damage: 6%/7% → 5%/6%.
• Forward tilt can no longer lead into Charge Shot tech chases due to the aforementioned sweetspot's increased knockback and added sourspot.
• Super Missile's speed is negligibly faster, resulting in it no longer being able to combo into Charge Shot if fired in succession.

1.0.8

• Up smash's hitbox sizes increased by 0.5.
• Up smash's final hitbox's size increased: 7/3.5 → 7.3/4.
• Up smash's final hit's knockback growth increased: 135 → 150.
• Certain hitboxes in up smash have split.
• Standing and pivot grabs have 4 less frames of ending lag.

1.1.1

• Up tilt's damage outputs have been reversed: 13% → 12% (grounded opponents), 12% → 13% (aerial opponents).
• Partially charged Melee Charge Shot deals 1% more damage: 5% → 6%.
• Partially charged Melee Charge Shot's base knockback increased: 30 → 50.
• Partially charged Melee Charge Shot's hitbox sizes decreased: 4.0u → 2.5u.
• Fully charged Melee Charge Shot deals 2% more damage: 18% → 20%.
• Fully charged Melee Charge Shot's base knockback increased: 65 → 70.
• Fully charged Melee Charge Shot's knockback growth decreased: 35 → 32.
• Fully charged Melee Charge Shot's hitbox's size increased: 8 → 10.
• Melee Charge Shot's recoil distance increased.
• Screw Attack's loop hits' weight knockback increased: 150/120 → 178/140.
• Screw Attack's loop hits' angles altered: 100° → 96°.
• Neutral aerial's initial hitbox size increased: 5.5 → 6.0.
• Neutral aerial's hitbox duration increased: 2 frames → 4.
• Neutral aerial's second hit's sweetspot hitbox size increased: 3.5 → 4.0.
• Neutral aerial's second hit's sourspot growth increased: 80 → 98.
• Neutral aerial's second hit's sourspot hitbox size increased: 2.8 → 3.3.
• Neutral aerial's aerial second hit's hitbox duration increased by 2 frames.
• Neutral aerial's second hit's angle altered: Sakurai angle → 45°.
• Forward aerial's loop hits deal 0.6% more damage: 1% → 1.6%.
• Forward aerial's landing lag decreased: 30 → 24.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Samus punches with her left hand and then performs a forearm club with her Arm Cannon. The first hit deals minimal hitstun.
			8%
Forward tilt	↗		9% (foot), 8% (lower leg), 6% (upper leg), 7% (body)	Samus does a reverse roundhouse kick. The sourspot located on the middle part of her leg deals little to no hitstun.
	→		8% (foot), 7% (lower leg), 5% (upper leg), 6% (body)
	↘		9% (foot), 8% (lower leg), 6% (upper leg), 7% (body)
Up tilt			12% (aerial), 13% (grounded)	Samus does an axe kick. Aerial opponents take extra damage and are meteor smashed.
Down tilt			12%	Samus blasts the opponent's feet. Very powerful for a tilt.
Dash attack			10% (clean), 6% (late)	Samus shoulder tackles the opponent.
Forward smash	↗		15% (fire), 13% (cannon)	Samus thrusts her arm cannon forward, which releases a small fiery blast. Can be angled.
	→		14% (fire), 12% (cannon)
	↘		13.5% (fire), 11% (cannon)
Up smash		Cover Fire	3% (hits 1-4), 6% (hit 5), 18% total.	Samus fires five fiery blasts in an overhead arcing motion.
Down smash			10% (hit 1), 12% (hit 2)	Samus does a 360° legsweep. Weakest down smash in the game.
Neutral aerial			8% (hit 1), 7% (hit 2 clean), 6% (hit 2 late)	Samus does a swiveling pair of kicks.
Forward aerial			3% (hit 1), 1.6% (hits 2-4), 5% (hit 5), 12.8% total.	Samus shoots five fiery blasts forwards.
Back aerial			14% (clean foot), 12% (clean leg), 9% (late)	Samus performs a back kick. A viable KOing option, especially while edge-guarding.
Up aerial			3% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-5), 4% (hit 6), 11% total.	Samus does a corkscrew kick upwards.
Down aerial			10% (early), 14% (clean), 11% (late)	Samus swings her Arm Cannon downwards. Its sweetspot will meteor smash opponents.
Grab aerial			1.5% (early), 3% (clean)	Samus fires the Grapple Beam forwards.
Grab			—	Samus sends out her Grapple Beam to catch the opponent. It has remarkable range, as expected for a tether grab.
Pummel			1.2%	Samus palm strikes the opponent with her free hand. The second fastest pummel in the game, only behind Lucario, but also the weakest.
Forward throw			9%	Samus twirls the enemy over her head, then flings them forward.
Back throw			8%	Samus swings 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 opponent high above her head, then whips them into the ground. Can be reliably followed up with her aerial attacks, particularly her forward aerial.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Samus waves her Arm Cannon in front of her, then blasts behind her.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Samus performs a low-level roundhouse kick.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Samus climbs onto the edge and performs sweep kicks.
Neutral special	Default	Charge Shot	3% (min), 25% (max)	Samus charges up a ball of energy and fires it. Unless the move is already charged, Samus will instantly fire the weakest shot if used in the air.
	Custom 1	Dense Charge Shot	4% (min), 27% (max)	Takes 30% longer to charge. Shots fired deal slightly more damage and travel at an extremely slow speed; up to three uncharged shots can exist at once. This can be used as a edge-guarding option, as it can be used to trap opponents and put them at a tough spot. The ending lag after Samus fires the shot is increased.
	Custom 2	Melee Charge Shot	6% (min), 20% (max)	Fires a shotgun-style blast of energy that only hits at point-blank range. Takes less time to charge, but the ending lag is increased.
Side special	Default	Missile	5% (homing), 10% (super)	If the special button is held, Samus will fire a Missile that chases the target. If tapped like a smash attack, Samus will fire a Super Missile that travels in a straight line.
	Custom 1	Relentless Missile	3% (homing), 12% (super)	Missiles more persistently chase the target, but are weaker and slower. Super Missiles cover less range, but are stronger.
	Custom 2	Turbo Missile	4% (homing), 9% (super)	Missiles pause in the air once fired before shooting forward at high speed at the cost of dealing slightly less damage.
Up special	Default	Screw Attack	2% (ground hit 1), 1% (ground hits 2-11), 1% (aerial hits 1-12), 12% (total)	Samus leaps upwards in a high speed somersault while discharging energy. Can KO near the upper blast line as low as 100%.
	Custom 1	Screw Rush	2% (loop), 5% (last)	Deals damage more sporadically, but with more control. It also covers more horizontal distance, but at the cost of decreased vertical distance.
	Custom 2	Apex Screw Attack	2% (hit 1), 9% (ground hit 2), 7% (aerial hit 2)	A much more powerful version of the regular Screw Attack that can KO as low as 50% near the upper blast line, depending on weight and DI. However, this version provides mostly vertical movement and only hits twice.
Down special	Default	Bomb	4% (contact), 5% (explosion)	Samus rolls into her Morph Ball form and drops a Bomb, which explodes on a timer. She can hit herself with the Bombs to bomb jump.
	Custom 1	Slip Bomb	2.5% (grounded explosion), 3.5% (aerial explosion)	Bombs do little damage, but trip grounded opponents and meteor smash aerial ones. If done properly, it can act as a set-up for a grab.
	Custom 2	Mega Bomb	4% (contact), 9% (explosion)	Samus can only have one Bomb out at a time, but the single Bomb deals more damage and provides a higher bomb jump.
Final Smash		Zero Laser	0.5% (fringe loop), 1.5% (main loop), 2.5% (fringe blast), 5.5% (main blast)	Samus fires a very large energy beam across the stage. The beam can be angled slightly up or slightly down.

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: Holds her Arm Cannon with her left hand and aims behind her, then kneels and aims lower in front of her.

Idle Poses

• Rubs her Arm Cannon with one finger.
• Brings her Arm Cannon down and then pulls it back up.

On-Screen Appearance

Arrives from a save point.

Victory Fanfare

A flourished remix directly from Brawl based on the sound clip that would play when Samus Aran obtained a new power-up or addition to her Power Suit. It would also play when Samus defeated Ridley and Kraid. It is shared with Zero Suit Samus.

Victory Poses

• SamusPose1WiiU.png
• SamusPose2WiiU.png
• SamusPose3WiiU.png

• Shoots multiple shots while kneeling, and finishes with a pose. The pose she does is based on the box art of Metroid II: Return of Samus.
• Side kick flexes and readies her Arm Cannon.
• Punches twice, then fires from her Arm Cannon.

In Competitive Play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Samus	1211	1221	1231	1212	1222
	1232	2211	2231	3211	1213

Notable Players

•  ChoZox
•  ESAM
•  Jonny Westside

Trophies

Samus

Samus Aran has fought her way across a variety of planets in the Metroid series. She wears a Power Suit designed by the Chozo, giving her incredible versatility in a fight. She can wade in, but she favors beams and missiles. A fully charged Charge Shot packs a serious punch!

The heroine of the Metroid series, Samus Aran. Her missions take her across the reaches of space, and her Power Suit gives her immeasurable fighting prowess. In this game, she uses a variety of ranged attacks based around beams and missiles. When her Charge Shot is fully charged, it can launch foes with devastating force.

: Metroid (08/1987)

: Super Metroid (04/1994)

Samus (Alt.)

Samus protects herself from overhead enemies with her up smash, Cover Fire, which can land multiple hits on anyone it connects with. Samus also fires a homing missile by holding sideways and pressing the special- attack button or launches a Super Missile by quickly tapping sideways instead.

Samus's up smash attack, Cover Fire, fires five small blasts overhead, making it great for countering incoming aerial attacks. Her Missile attack fires a homing missile if you hold sideways and then press the special button, but if you do these things at the same time, you'll fire a Super Missile.

: Metroid (08/1987)

: Super Metroid (04/1994)

Zero Laser

Samus unleashes a massive, long-range beam from her Arm Cannon as her Final Smash. Fighters on the edges of the beam will be drawn in, taking more and more damage. The sheer power of this weapon makes it tough to aim once it's firing, but it's possible to adjust the beam up and down.

In Samus's Final Smash, she unleashes a huge laser beam from her Arm Cannon that draws opponents to the centre of the beam. Quite handy, since the closer they are to the centre, the more damage they'll take! You can also angle it up and down (albeit slowly), letting you catch more of your enemies and create more havoc.

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  Classic (3DS)

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  Alt. (3DS)

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  Classic (Wii U)

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  Alt. (Wii U)

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  Zero Laser

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• All-Star Battle: Regulars: Samus is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are starter characters from the original Super Smash Bros. game.
• Galactic Avenger: Samus must defeat Dark Samus and Ridley in a 150 HP battle.
• Identity Crisis: The player, as Sheik and Zelda, must defeat Samus and Zero Suit Samus.

Co-op Events

• Final Battle Team-Up: Samus in her Dark Samus alternate costume is one of the opponents the player must defeat.
• Poisonous Planet: A flowered Samus and Olimar must defeat two giant Charizards in a 200 HP battle before their own health bars are depleted.
• The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Samus in the Nintendo Direct from April 8th, 2014.

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  Samus' amiibo.

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  Samus' appearance during E3 2013.

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  Samus charging a Charge Shot in the 3DS version of the game.

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  Samus firing a Missile in the Wii U version of the game.

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  Pit breaking Samus' Missile.

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  Samus dropping a Bomb in the 3DS version of the game.

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  Samus charging Zero Laser.

• Zero Laser SSB4.png

  Zero Laser.

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  The second hit of her neutral combo.

• Little Mac Counter.png

  Forward tilt.

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  Back aerial.

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  Crouching with Marth near a Steel Diver.

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  Samus and Bowser fighting on Arena Ferox.

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  Peach, Wii Fit Trainer, and Samus showing off a height comparison.

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  Side-by-side with Little Mac.

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  Samus posing in the Boxing Ring.

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  Toon Link using the Gust Bellows on Samus.

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  Zero Suit Samus with her Power Suit showing off their Jet Boots and thrusters, respectively.

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  Samus and Link simultaneously grabbing a ledge with their tether recoveries.

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  Samus battling enemies in Smash Run.

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  Samus in a new alternate costume based on the Light Suit.

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  Samus as she appears on the 3DS cover.