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, she's a little different from Samus--and she doesn't roll when dodging or jumping. If you look closely, you can see that her 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 features many different animations compared to Samus, which extends to her idle, walking, dashing, and dodge animations, as well as her taunts.
  • Many of Samus's two-handed animations are one-handed for Dark Samus, such as with Charge Shot and Missile.
• Dark Samus's projectile attacks are visually different.
  • Charge Shot is mostly black and dark blue, with tendrils extending from the edges.
  • Missiles and Bomb have an organic appearance.
  • Dark Samus's Final Smash is also mostly black and dark blue.
• Dark Samus's arm cannon splits apart and grows Phazon tendrils for some moves, such as her grab, Missiles, side smash, and Final Smash.
• Dark Samus doesn't transform into the Morph Ball when rolling backwards.
• Dark Samus has a different victory pose where she creates a duplicate of herself and then they merge back together, which references her "Dark Echo" ability in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
• Another victory pose has Dark Samus raise her hand up before pumping it down to her side, with her fist clenched.

Attributes

• Many of Samus's moves, especially ones that possess flame effects (except for Missile and Bomb), have been changed into electric effects for Dark Samus.
• Dark Samus is floatier than Samus, which makes her less susceptible to combos, but also increases her vulnerability to juggling.

Ground Attacks

• Dark Samus' dash attack covers more range and supports a bigger hitbox.

Special Moves

• Dark Samus' Screw Attack seems to reach its maximum height faster.

Gallery

• 

  Dark Samus's 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's purple costume on Lylat Cruise.

• 

  Dark Samus's Morph Ball

• 

  Dark Samus and Chrom on Skyloft.

Character introduction video

<youtube>sXG-oI6VChg</youtube>

Trivia

• Dark Samus is one of three playable characters who was originally an Assist Trophy in a previous game, alongside Little Mac and Isabelle.
• Prior to formally being announced as a new echo fighter for Ultimate, her being a fighter in the game was hinted at with the exclusion of her Assist trophy as well as Samus having a different color for her dark costume in the game.
• Dark Samus is the second character to be cloned from a female (in this case, Samus), with Daisy being the first.
  • Much like Daisy's base fighter, Peach, having had Daisy-based alternate costumes in all of her previous appearances, Dark Samus's base fighter, Samus, had a Dark Samus-based color scheme in Smash 4. This color was removed in Ultimate, likely to make it easier to distinguish Samus and Dark 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.
  • However, Dark Samus is the first female villain to have her own slot on the character select screen due to Wendy being an alternate costume for Bowser Jr.
  • Originally on the Super Smash Blog, Dark Samus was referred to with gender-neutral pronouns, despite being referred to as a female in scan data in the Metroid Prime games and in previous Smash Bros. trophies. This may have been due to her being composed entirely of a mutagenic substance known as Phazon, and her original form, Metroid Prime, was given gender-neutral pronouns before absorbing Samus's Phazon Suit and becoming Dark Samus. This error on the blog was later corrected.
• Dark Samus is the only character to do a victory pose in her showcase video.
  • The victory pose shown in her showcase video greatly resembles Samus's pose in her official render in Ulimate.
• Unlike Samus's Zero Laser, Dark Samus's 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's 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's first playable appearance.
  • Dark Samus also marks the first time the Metroid series has a playable Metroid.
• 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.
• Dark Samus is also the only Echo Fighter who is a villain as the rest of the Echo Fighters are either heroes or in Dark Pit's case an anti-hero.