Charge Shot

Charge Shot
Samus in the process of charging her arm cannon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
User	Samus
Universe	Metroid
Article on Metroid Wiki	Charge Beam

“	Charge with the B Button and press again to fire. Press the Z Button to stop charging and resume later with the B Button.	”
—Brawl's instruction manual

“	Charge energy, and fire a shot with .	”
—Smash for 3DS's foldout

Charge Shot (チャージショット, Charge Shot) is Samus's neutral special move.

Overview

Pressing the special move button will cause Samus to start charging energy in her arm cannon, which can be fired by pressing the button again. When the attack has reached maximum strength, Samus will stop charging and resume her neutral standing position, but her arm cannon will start to flash. Pressing the special move button in this state will let her fire the fully charged shot. Alternatively, the player can press the grab and shield buttons or the control stick left or right to cancel the charge and/or dodge, and pressing the special move button again will resume her charge. This is called charge-canceling. If Samus is hit while she's charging, she will not retain the stored charge.

When used in the air, Samus will instantly fire, whether the beam was previously charged or not. A fully charged shot does 25% damage. The attack inflicts great knockback at higher damage percentages and is a good projectile for edgeguarding. A fully charged shot can also break a Smash Ball in one hit (although the charging time must be taken into account if planning this).

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Samus's down throw can be used to immobilize an opponent just long enough to allow a quickly-fired Charge Shot to connect with the opponent. This down throw + Charge Shot combo is highly effective against almost every character. Young Link is a notable exception, due to his high rebound height after being thrown down.

In the PAL version of Melee, Samus will lose her charge if she is hit out of her Screw Attack.

Charge Shot returns in Super Smash Bros. 4, functioning the same as in previous games. It was first mentioned in a Miiverse post that claimed it had "drastically improved" speed and power. Indeed, the attack as the whole has been improved considerably, with a slightly faster charging time, quicker startup and significantly improved knockback that can KO at 115% from the middle of Final Destination. With these buffs, this makes Charge Shot one of Samus' standard finishing options.

Stages

Charge Shot has eight different stages of damage and knockback that is determined by the charge of the attack; there are seven stages of charging and the eighth stage, which is when the Charge Shot is fully-charged. Unlike other charge attacks, there is no difference to damage and knockback when in the air, and the last stage of charging is weaker than the fully-charged stage.

Stage	Damage	Percent that can KO in Brawl
Stage 1	3%	Cannot KO
Stage 2	5%	802%
Stage 3	8%	486%
Stage 4	11%	348%
Stage 5	14%	254%
Stage 6	18%	176%
Stage 7	21%	137%
Stage 8	25%	124%

Charge cancel

In all four games, Samus is capable of interrupting the charge of the attack by pressing the shield button. Since it is possible to go directly into a jump while shielding, charge canceling can be used to bluff an opponent by allowing them to come close to the player while they're charging, only to find themselves attacked by an aerial. Because the shield button was held down to cancel the shot, many players that are just learning the basics of this technique can only perform an aerial Grapple Beam afterwards, since they do not let go of the shield button quickly enough. However, with precision timing, it becomes possible to perform any action that is possible at any other given time that Samus would be airborne.

As an added bonus, the amount of time the Charge Shot had been charged is still retained after canceling via shield, in the same way as if it were canceled via a roll.

Customization

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

1. Charge Shot	2. Dense Charge Shot	3. Melee Charge Shot
"An energy ball that shoots straight. Can be charged and stored for later."	"A Charge Shot with even more power, but at the expense of range and speed."	"A point-blank Charge Shot that isn't a projectile. Charging expands its range."

1. Charge Shot: Default.
2. Dense Charge Shot: Takes longer to charge, but fires a larger, more powerful and much slower-moving projectile. 4% uncharged, 27% fully charged. The projectile moves so slow that Samus can walk by a fully charged one. There can be up to three uncharged shots on-screen once. Useful for setups.
3. Melee Charge Shot: Releases a short-range "shotgun blast" of energy rather than a projectile ball, meaning enemies can't reflect or absorb the attack. 5% damage uncharged and 18% fully charged, the move has plenty of hitstun, but high ending lag. Charges more quickly than the original move.

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  Samus standing in front of a Dense Charge Shot blast.

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  Samus firing a Melee Charge Shot blast.

Origin

The Charge Beam being charged in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

If she didn't start out with it, the Charge Beam (as it is called in all Metroid games, due to it being one, unlike in Smash Bros. where it is depicted as a progressively larger ball of energy) was one of the first power-ups Samus would get in the Metroid games, starting with Super Metroid. A fully charged Beam's shot would become Samus's only way of damaging certain bosses should she run out of missiles. In Metroid Prime, Charge Beams are indeed depicted as energy balls (as they are in Smash Bros.), and can be used to clear debris blocking Samus's path or to suck in nearby Energy Balls and Ammo Energy, as well as being the starting point for Charge Combos. In none of these games can Samus save a charge for later as is done in Super Smash Bros., though she can continue charging and just hold it for any length of time, as well as begin charging while in motion and in the air. The beam also charges noticeably faster in the Metroid games.

Description from the Melee Instruction Booklet

Hold File:GCN BButton.png to charge up power, then press File:GCN BButton.png again to fire. Press L, R, or Z to stop charging.

Trivia

• When Kirby uses this move, he uses his hands to charge and fire the shot.
• The projectile of this move deals electric damage and is purple in color (except in Smash 64, where it is icey blue), which are traits shared with the Wave Beam from the Metroid series. It otherwise bears no resemblance to the upgrade.
• The charging sound for the Melee Charge Shot is shared with the Mii Gunner's Charge Blast.

Gallery

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  Samus charging the beam in Smash 64.

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  The blinking star indicates that Samus's beam is fully charged in Smash 64.

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  Samus shooting a fully charged beam in Smash 64.

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  Charge Shot in the SSB instruction manual.

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  Samus charging the beam in Melee.

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  Samus shooting a fully charged beam in Melee.

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  Samus in the process of charging her arm cannon in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

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  Samus's arm cannon flashes at the end, a sign that her power beam is fully charged in Brawl.

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  Samus shooting a fully charged power beam in Brawl.

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  Villager catches a Charge Shot in Super Smash Bros. 4.

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  Samus in the process of charging her arm cannon in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Samus shooting a fully charged blast in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Samus's special moves

Neutral special	Charge Shot
Side special	—	Missile
Up special	Screw Attack
Down special	Bomb
Final Smash	—		Zero Laser