Samus (SSBB)

Samus in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Metroid
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Zero Laser
Tier	F (32)

Samus (サムス, Samus) is a playable character that appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. She was revealed at E3 2006. Samus can now transition into Zero Suit Samus through a variety of methods, similar to how Zelda can turn into Sheik.

Samus is ranked 32nd out of 38 on the tier list, placing her in the F Tier, a significant drop from her position in the Melee tier list, where she was ranked 11th out of 26th. Her ranking in Brawl is also her worst placement in the series. Samus has relatively fast attacks such as her tilts and her smash attacks, as well as aerials with nearly no landing lag. Along with this, Samus has her trademark bevy of projectiles, far reach in most of her attacks, and great horizontal survivability (possessing both strong horizontal endurance and a good recovery). However, Samus's KO potential has been significantly nerfed in almost every area from Melee; Samus' strongest finishers don't start reliably KOing until beyond 125%, and none of her potential finishers are especially effective. Her KOing problems are exacerbated by her difficulty in racking up damage on opponents; despite having a decent combo game thanks to the low knockback of her aerials, most of her attacks deal low to mediocre damage, and she has rather slow attacking speed (combination of slow movement and her attacks being ending lag heavy). Her projectiles were also nerfed; her Super Missiles take longer to fire as well as travel slower and being unable to KO until near sudden death percentages, her bombs no longer explode on contact, and a fully charged Charge Shot cannot KO reliably until 124% fresh (and it is rarely fresh as Samus players must often use it to keep opponents at bay). This has resulted in terrible matchups against characters beyond low tier, and terrible tournament results.

Attributes

Samus has a wide array of both projectiles and physical attacks, which can be used in promising combinations. She is a heavyweight and possesses average dashing speed. Her tall height, however, is both a blessing and a curse: while this grants her more range in some of her moves, this also makes Samus easier to hit (a common problem amongst most heavyweights). For a heavyweight, she has very low KO power and high floatiness. This also applies to her falling speed, which is the third-slowest in the game, behind Peach and Jigglypuff. On the upside, her floatiness can be used to bolster her aerial game. Staying in the air longer allows Samus to follow-up with other aerials; given that many of her moves have low knockback, she can create a versatile amount of low-to-moderate percentage attacks while bolstering her above-average recovery. On the downside, her slow fall speed also makes her recovery predictable and fairly easily edgeguarded, while also being vulnerable to being juggled. Her floatiness additionally renders her momentum canceling to be poor and makes her survivability merely above average vertically despite being one of the heaviest characters in the game.

Her ground moves, while weak in terms of knockback, can deal decent damage. Her jab is quite fast and can lock on opponents, which can enable follow ups. Her forward tilt is a flexible move, especially at higher percentages, which can be angled to suit how she can approach the opponent. Up tilt can juggle certain opponents and be a threatening KO move at higher percentages, capable of KOing heavyweights at around 120%. Down tilt is her slowest but strongest tilt, being threatening against floaty characters while still offering decent setup opportunities against heavyweights.

Samus can evade foes with projectiles like Bombs, or she can take a more aggressive approach by using her surprisingly long Grapple Beam to keep away opponents. One of the most valuable uses of her slow falling speed is successfully meteor smashing an opponent who has no ground on which to land and still being able to recover easily. She also has the largest ledge sweetspot in the game. Her neutral special, Charge Shot, does great knockback at higher percentages and is a deadly projectile for edgeguarding when fully charged. Samus has two kinds of Missiles: the Homing Missile homes on opponents and deals 5% damage; and the Super Missile moves in a fast, straight line and deals 10 % damage and noticeable knockback. Her up special, Screw Attack gives her decent vertical height, is a good out of shield option and can trap opponents for damage racking. Her down special, Bomb, makes Samus shift into morph ball mode and lays a bomb, which will explode after a set time period. Her grab has great range, but it is laggy if she fails to grab an opponent (although performing a dash grab can remedy this). In the air, her Grapple Beam can damage opponents and can be used as a tether recovery.

Samus works best when transitioning well from the air to the ground. None of Samus's aerials have landing lag, with her forward and up aerials having no knockback except at the final hit. Samus can capitalize on this by canceling into more powerful moves like her forward smash and down tilt, or by using a fully charged Charge Shot in the event the opponent is a bit too far away. Missiles also factor into the air to ground transition; landing immediately after the missile has been fired negates the significant firing lag, so one can immediately follow up with another missile (of either kind). This lag negation allows for a "double missile" effect where Samus can fire one missile, land, and almost immediately fire another. These missiles can also stop opponents' recoveries, such as Pikachu's Skull Bash, Luigi's Green Missile, Jigglypuff's Rollout, Ike's Quick Draw or Wolf, Fox, or Falco's side special recovery, setting them up for an immediate meteor smash. A Missile Charge Shot combination is an excellent combo, but can sometimes be predictable, so Samus mains must learn to launch them unexpectedly. Her aerial Grapple Beam ("zair") actually acts as a move to complement this strategy, stunning opponents from far away with high speed; the move also cancels immediately upon landing, which can combo into a down tilt or smash. Coupled with the Charge Shot's potency, Samus has no problem frustrating opponents from a safe distance, chipping away at her opponent's approach to best suit her. Although Samus has three different projectiles, she still lacks a reliable way to deal with opponents' projectiles especially since her shield roll is very slow (slowest in the game).

Samus' major problem lies in her extreme lack of finishing abilities. Her quickest KO move is her down tilt, though with its small hitbox and lack of stronger KO options, she has trouble KOing opponents before around 130% and is recommended to not be used until the right time as to not devalue it with stale-move negation. Her forward smash is quick and deals high damage, but doesn't KO properly before around 130%. Her only way to KO at lower damage percentages is through edgeguarding. Unfortunately, her primary options, back aerial telegraphs itself, has a tiny sweet spot, and requires good setup, while the down aerial is rather slow and has a sweeping hitbox that also needs good placement, despite its fairly large hitbox. Even a fully-charged Charge Shot doesn't tend to KO until at least 124%, making it one of the least KO-capable charged specials in the game, however it is still a good move for edgeguarding. While her weight and height aids in her staying power and reach in her attacks, this also means that she is very susceptible to being chain grabbed, which is especially problematic given how popular characters like Falco and Ice Climbers are in executing this technique. Finally, given Samus' problem with KOing and opponents' difficulty in KOing her, high-level matches involving Samus tend to last longer, making time limitations a detriment with her difficulty in approaching mixed with her lack of viable and fast options to turn matches around.

All in all, Samus capitalizes a zoning playstyle with her wide array of projectiles and good longevity. However, to avoid being overwhelmed, she must play as conservatively as possible, and capitalizing on aggressive approaches. Samus also has to diversify her utility options as optimal as possible, as excessive dependence on her more powerful moves will render her moves to be weaker and her playstyle to be predictable.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee

When making the transition from Melee to Brawl, Samus has received a mix of buffs and nerfs but was heavily nerfed overall. Her most useful benefit is being able to transform into Zero Suit Samus, allowing her to pivot out of difficult matchups as Zero Suit Samus is a much more competitively viable character. As for Samus' more direct buffs, her mobility has improved in the air, although the removal of wavedashing does hinder her ground movement. Her multi-hit moves are also more reliable and her grab aerial has been significantly improved. In addition, it now travels in a straight consistent arc, it has a stronger sweetspot, it has more favorable knockback and it now has minimal landing lag making it an excellent spacing and combo tool.

However, she has received some significant nerfs to both her overall damage output and knockback. Her projectiles, such as her Super Missiles, are significantly weaker, making her overall zoning game less effective. Many of her other moves, such as her neutral aerial, have been nerfed to the point where they are largely unviable KOing tools outside of extremely high percents. One of Samus' strongest KO options is her back aerial (and even it is weaker than in Melee and it still requires the sweetspot to hit in order to reliably KO). Samus' frame data has been toned down, with many of her useful advanced techniques such as her Super Wavedash being no longer applicable in Brawl.

As such, her buffs do not make up for the more severe nerfs she received, making her a significantly less effective character than in Melee.

Aesthetics

• Samus's design is more detailed due to the game's graphical improvements. It still based how she appears in Super Metroid, but with embellishments taken from the Legendary Power Suit from Zero Mission and her design in Metroid Prime.
• Samus's Super Missiles now use their design from Super Metroid and Zero Mission.
• Samus has a new tumbling animation.
• Samus has a new teetering animation based on how it appeared in Smash 64.
• Most of her moves now have updated sound effects.
• Samus has a new blue alternate costume which is used for the blue team instead of her purple costume. She also now uses her pink costume for the red team instead of her default costume.

Attributes

• Samus is slightly lighter (110 → 108).
• Samus walks slightly faster (1 → 1.05).
• Samus dashes slightly faster (1.4 → 1.445).
• Samus' air speed is drastically faster (0.89 → 0.987), going from the 12th slowest out of 26 characters to being tied for 14th fastest out of 39.
• Samus' air acceleration is much higher (0.0325 → 0.09) going from the lowest in Melee to the 19th highest in Brawl.
• Samus's traction is lower (0.06 → 0.0585), going from the 15th highest in Melee to the 18th highest. Compared with the returning veterans, however, Samus' traction is higher, allowing her to punish out of shield easier.
• Her overall projectile and finishing games have been worsened drastically, harming her overall KOing power.
• Samus's falling speed was reduced (1.4 → 1.07). When comparing to the returning veterans, Samus falls faster relative to them now having the third lowest fall speed in the game as opposed to the second lowest. This worsens her recovery but improves her endurance.
• Samus' gravity is lower (0.066 → 0.058).
• Spot dodge has a longer duration (frames 2-15 → 2-20).
• Spot dodge has more ending lag (frame 23 → 26).
• Rolls have a shorter duration (frames 4-30 → 4-23) and their ending lag was not decreased making them the slowest and most punishable rolls in the game.
• Samus can change into Zero Suit Samus by inputting her up and down taunt rapidly, using her Final Smash, or by holding the L/R button (Gamecube/Classic controller), Z button (Nunchuk), or the - button while selecting Samus on the character select screen.
  • The taunt method can be performed anytime during a match allowing Samus to adapt to different matchups. This immensely helps her as her Zero Suit character is a far superior character who overall has a much better matchup spread. However, players cannot use the taunt method to switch back to Samus

Ground attacks

• Second hit of neutral attack has slightly increased knockback (15 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/95). The first hit of neutral attack also has increased base knockback (0 → 5) and it can now also jab lock opponents.
• Forward tilt:
  • Normal angled forward tilt has received a sourspot on Samus' leg, all variants have slightly more startup (frame 6 → 7), ending lag (frame 30 → 32), and up and normal angled hits deal less damage (11% (angled up)/10% (not angled) → 10%/8%/7%(foot/leg)).
  • Down angled forward tilt deals 1% more damage (9% → 10%).
• Up tilt has increased start-up (frame 14 → 15) and ending lag (frame 35 → 40). The introduction to hitstun canceling hinders its combo ability on grounded opponents.
• Down tilt has much better KO potential due to the universally decreased falling speeds, now KO'ing more characters under 150% more reliably.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack deals less damage (13% → 10%) and knockback (22 (base), 105 (scaling) → 30/80), no longer being the most powerful dash attack (King Dedede's is now the strongest). It has slightly more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 7-16 → 8-16).
  • Dash attack launches opponents at a more favorable angle (60° → 75°) improving its followup potential.
• Forward smash deals less damage (15%/14%/13% → 14%/13%/12%) and knockback (30 (base), 104 (scaling) → 20/100), no longer being a viable finisher at high percents. It also has smaller hitboxes and a shorter duration (frames 10-13 → 10-11).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's hits connect together better (though still not too reliable).
  • Up smash now has a 1.2x SDI multiplier.
• Down smash deals less damage (16%/15% → 15%/14%) and base knockback (110/90 → 90/80). It also has more startup (frame 6 → 10) and ending lag (frame 45 → 52).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have reduced landing lag (15 frames → 9 (neutral/forward/up/down), 12 (back)). Due to the removal of L-canceling however, their landing lag was not fully compensated.
• Neutral aerial deals less damage (14% (clean), 10% (late) → 9%/6%) and has reduced knockback scaling (100 → 80) making it much weaker to the point where it is now incapable of KOing at realistic percentages. It also has a shorter duration (frames 5-30 → 5-24) and increased ending lag (frame 40 → 46).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial deals less damage (5% (all) → 4% (hit 1), 3% (hits 2-4), 5% (hit 5), 23.2% → 18% (total)). It also has more startup (frame 5 → 7) and ending lag (frame 50 → 56).
  • Forward aerial's looping hits link together better as hits 2-4 now have set knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 18/5 (set)/100)) and the final hit deals more base knockback (20 → 40).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has reduced knockback scaling (100 → 95/88/90), slightly more ending lag (frame 37 → 40) and its duration was cut in half (4 frames → 2), making it harder to hit with.
  • Back aerial is slightly easier to sweetspot with due to the sweetspot no longer having the lowest priority (ID# 2 → 1).
• Up aerial has slightly more ending lag (frame 39 → 40).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial deals 1% less damage (16% → 15%) and less base knockback (30 → 2).
  • Down aerial's lower strength improves its followup potential when used against grounded opponents especially since it can now cause tripping.
• Grapple Beam:
  • Grapple Beam has more range, and now has almost no landing lag, making it an extremely strong spacing tool. It also deals more knockback (15 (base), 40 (scaling) → 60/30) and it now has a sweetspot which deals more damage (4% → 7%) and knockback (15 (base), 40 (scaling) → 60/60) further improving its spacing and edgeguarding potential. Additionally, it no longer renders Samus helpless.
  • Grapple Beam now always travels in a straight arc making it more consistent but giving it less vertical range.
  • Grapple Beam can no longer wall grapple and can be ledgehogged, harming its utility as a recovery option. It also has a shorter duration (frames 9-28 → 9-18).

Grabs and Throws

• Grabs:
  • Grabs have less startup lag (frame 18 → 17) although they are still the slowest grabs in the game.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel has less ending lag (frame 25 → 9).
  • Pummel deals less damage (3% → 1%).
• Forward and back throw deal more knockback 50 (base), 45 (forward scaling), 42 (back scaling) → 60/55 (both)).
• Up throw deals 2% more damage as its multi hits now deal damage (7% → 9%) although the damage on the throw was decreased (7% → 4%) as well as its knockback (100 (base), 45 (scaling) → 80/70).
• Down throw has increased knockback scaling (20 → 50). When combined with the introduction of hitstun canceling, this significantly hinders its followup potential.

Special moves

• Charge Shot:
  • Charge Shot has larger hitboxes (1.17u (uncharged)/1.56u (level 1)/1.95u (level 2)/2.34u (level 3)/2.73u (level 4)/3.12u (level 5)/3.52u (level 6)/4.69u (fully charged) → 1.44u/1.9u/2.4u/2.88u/3.4u/3.9u/4.5u/6u).
  • The charge animation can now be cancelled immediately, rather than Samus having to go through 8 frames of lag.
  • Levels 3-7 launch opponents at an altered angle (361° → 40°).
  • Charge Shot has more startup lag when released (frame 2 → 3).
    • However, its total duration was unchanged, giving it slightly less ending lag.
  • The projectile has a slightly shorter duration (70 frames → 69).
  • Levels 4-7 deal less knockback, especially the fully charged version:
    • 28 (base), 58 (scaling) → 28/56 (level 4).
    • 32 (base), 62 (scaling) → 32/58 (level 5).
    • 36 (base), 66 (scaling) → 32/60 (level 6).
    • 50 (base), 72 (scaling) → 30/56 (fully charged).
  • Fully charged charge shot's projectile travels slower (3 → 2.65).
• Missile:
  • Homing Missiles have increased homing precision.
  • Super Missiles have greater start-up and ending lag, travel slower, deal 2% (12% → 10%) and have significantly decreased knockback (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/65), making it incapable of KO'ing at realistic percentages. They could KO under 150% in Melee, but can't KO at 300% in Brawl.
  • The start-up for the aerial version of her Missiles have switched; the Super Missiles come out on frame 24 instead of 15 and vice versa for the homing Missiles.
• Screw Attack:
  • The grounded version of Screw Attack has decreased SDI multipliers (1x → 0.5x/0.2x/0.4x) regaining its trapping abilities from Smash 64, improving its damage-racking capabilities. Its final hit also no longer has weak set knockback (80 (set), 100 (scaling) → 50/175 (grounded), 50/160 (aerial).
  • Screw Attack has more startup lag (frame 4 → 5) and has decreased intangibility (frames 1-5 → 3-6 (grounded), 1-3 → 3-4 (aerial)). It also has increased landing lag.
  • Screw Attack makes a different sound effect.
• Bombs no longer explode upon enemy contact, and are less effective for recovery. Additionally, they no longer allow Samus to Super Wavedash.
• Final Smash:
  • Samus has a Final Smash: Zero Laser. She charges up a powerful beam that is controllable and hits full screen. After she finishes firing the beam, her Power Suit breaks apart and she now becomes Zero Suit Samus. Additionally, three pieces of her Power Suit lay where Samus used her Final Smash and can be picked up and thrown by anyone.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Straight and Cannon Hammer	3%	Samus punches and then smacks the opponent with her cannon. Good on short-hopping opponents close-up, otherwise the second hit can be easily shielded or shield grabbed.
			7%
Forward tilt	↗		10%	Samus does a roundhouse kick.
	→		8% (foot), 7% (leg)
	↘		10%
Up tilt			13% (grounded), 12% (aerial)	Samus does an axe kick. Very similar animation to Captain Falcon's up tilt. Meteor smashes grounded opponents, making it an unconventional meteor smash.
Down tilt			14%	Samus blasts the opponent's feet. Deals high knockback.
Dash attack			10% (clean), 6% (late)	Samus shoulder rams the opponent.
Forward smash	↗		14%	Samus thrusts her arm cannon in front of herself. Has high knockback scaling but has below-average knockback.
	→		13%
	↘		12%
Up smash		Cover Fire	4% (hits 1-3), 5% (hit 4), 6% (hit 5).	Samus fires 5 bursts in an arc above herself. Moderately fast start-up lag, but has punishable ending lag with poor horizontal reach. The move is easy to escape out of with DI, especially at high percentages.
Down smash			15% (hit 1), 14% (hit 2)	Samus does a 360° legsweep. The move deals good knockback, which is good for spacing.
Neutral aerial			9% (clean), 6% (late)	Samus does a sex kick that deals good horizontal knockback.
Forward aerial			4% (hit 1), 3% (hits 2-4), 5% (hit 5), 18% total.	Samus shoots five blasts forwards.
Back aerial			14% (foot), 10% (leg)	Samus kicks backwards. A good move for edgeguarding.
Up aerial			3% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-5), 4% (hit 6), 11% total.	Samus does a drill kick upwards. Great for horizontal momentum canceling when used in conjunction with a jump.
Down aerial			15%	Samus swings her cannon downwards. Can meteor smash opponents.
Grab aerial			4% (early), 7% (tip)	Samus fires the Grapple Beam forwards.
Grab			—	Samus sends out her Grapple Beam to catch the opponent. Has remarkable range.
Pummel			1%	Samus chops the opponent with her free hand. Moderately fast pummel with very low startup frames. This pummel can sometimes miss Bowser due to his struggling animation.
Forward throw			9%	Samus twirls the enemy over her head, then flings them forward.
Back throw			8%	Samus flings 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 victim up, them whips them into the ground. Can be followed up with aerials.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Samus gets up and kicks on both sides.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			8% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2)	Samus gets up and kicks on both sides.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Samus gets up and kicks on both sides.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8% (right leg), 6% (left leg)	Samus climbs onto the stage and kicks.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Samus slowly climbs onto the stage and punches with her arm cannon.
Neutral special		Charge Shot	3-25%	Samus charges up a ball of energy and fires it. Samus instantly fires the shot when the move is used in the air.
Side special		Missile	5% (Homing Missile), 10% (Super Missile)	Samus fires either a Missile that homes in on the target or a Super Missile that accelerates in a straight line.
Up special		Screw Attack	Ground: 2% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-12) 13% total; Air: 1% (hits 1-12) 12% total	Samus shoots up into the air while spinning around rapidly, dealing multiple hits to any opponents caught in the move.
Down special		Bomb	4% (contact), (5% (explosion)	Samus goes into Morph Ball mode and drops a timed bomb that explodes in a few moments.
Final Smash		Zero Laser	40-78%	Samus fires a bluish white large beam of energy in front of her that traps opponents caught in the blast before blasting them away. Move lasts about 5 seconds and passes through terrain. After firing the beam, Samus's Power Suit is "damaged" and falls off of Samus's body, transforming her into Zero Suit Samus.

On-screen appearance

• Arrives from a Super Metroid-style save point, though the design is somewhat altered.

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: Holding her arm cannon with her left hand, she aims behind her, then aims lower in front of her. Her cannon glistens each time she aims. Can sometimes trick opponents into thinking she will use a fully charged Charge Shot.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

If a player rapidly alternates the up and down taunts, Samus will transform into Zero Suit Samus in mid-match. However, this is risky, as Samus must undergo the lag after the Power Suit disengages.

Idle poses

• Traces her finger over her arm cannon.
• Puts her arm cannon down for a few moments.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Sa-mus!	Sa-mu-s!
Pitch	Group chants	Group chants

Wii Remote selection sound

• Makes a blasting noise followed by her double jump noise from Melee.

Samus's selection sound

Victory poses

A flourish originating from Metroid that played whenever Samus obtained a power-up, addition to her Power Suit, or defeated Ridley and Kraid.

• Up: Shoots multiple shots while kneeling, and finishes with a pose.
• Left: Side kick flexes and readies her Arm Cannon.
• Right: Punches twice, then fires from her Arm Cannon.

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Samus has a poor matchup spread overall. She only hard counters Ganondorf, counters 2 characters, soft counters 3 characters, has 8 even matchups, gets soft countered by 6 characters, countered by 11, and hard countered by 5. Samus does well against characters she can zone out with her projectiles, such as Bowser and Ganondorf, and has decent matchups against some mid tier characters, such as Peach, Toon Link and R.O.B. However, Samus struggles against characters who can reflect her projectiles, like Fox and Falco; and characters who can chain grab her, like King Dedede and the Ice Climbers.

Notable players

See also: Category:Samus professionals (SSBB)

•  Dicks - A top Samus main in the United States, known for his flashy combo playstyle with the character.
•  ESAM - Had a strong Samus secondary.
•  NOID - Among the two best Samus players in the USA alongside Xyro. Placed 33rd at Pound V and WHOBO 3.
•  quiKsilver - Although much better known in Ultimate, quiKsilver was considered the best Samus player in Europe there.
•  Xyro Among the two best Samus players in the USA alongside NOID.
•  YB - The top Samus player in Japan.

Tier placement and history

Samus's significant nerfs severely compromised her ability to viably compete since the very beginning of Brawl; her inability to rack up damage quickly and effectively finish off stocks proved to be a fatal combination. As such, Samus has perpetually been a low tier character, who has sometimes even dropped into the bottom tiers. Throughout Brawl's time as a competitive game, Samus never made any significant rises on the tier list due to her lack of any successful tournament results or significant metagame advancement.

Despite this, Samus's competitive prospects are slightly better than other low tier characters. Unlike them, she can camp to some degree and keep opponents zoned away, which has favored her as Brawl has turned more defensively based. She also has better survivability compared other low tier characters, being a heavyweight with a good and hard to intercept recovery. However, while this will secure Samus from dropping further in placements, it's very unlikely she will rise out of low tier, as while she competes well with other low tier characters and many lower middle tier characters, she still fares poorly against any characters above said point, and it is extremely unlikely that there will ever be a breakthrough that would allow her to viably compete with such characters thanks to Brawl's metagame becoming highly stagnant.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Samus in SSE

Samus begins the Subspace Emissary in her Zero Suit, infiltrating a Reasearch Facility (Part 1). After making her way through it, she encounters Pikachu trapped within a strange device that harnesses its electrical energy to provide power to the complex. Seeing that the device causes Pikachu pain, Samus breaks the machine. In thanks, Pikachu helps Samus continue through the lab. The pair eventually find Samus' Power Suit within a tank, guarded by two clones of Samus' Power Suit, prompting Samus and Pikachu to battle. When they are defeated, an alarm begins to wail, and the R.O.B. Squad approaches. Samus regains her Power Suit and blasts her way through them along with Pikachu.

As they attempt to escape the complex, Ridley strikes without warning, snatching up Samus and grinding her viciously against the wall. Pikachu uses Thunder on Ridley to free Samus and the two face off against Ridley. After escaping from the facility, Samus and Pikachu come upon a factory mass-producing Subspace Bombs. The two enter it, and after fighting their way through, discover the Ancient Minister in a room filled with Subspace Bombs. The allies prepare to battle, but the Ancient Minister does not seem to want to fight them. Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, and Olimar then break into the room, and all of them, including Samus, witness the Ancient Minister defy the holographic Ganondorf's commands. As a result, the R.O.B. Squad fires upon him, burning off his robe and revealing him as a R.O.B. as well. It turns out that all of the R.O.B.s had been forced to work with the Subspace Army, with the main R.O.B., the Master Robot, as their leader. The rest of the R.O.B.s activate all the Subspace Bombs in the room, prompted by Ganondorf's override, forcing our heroes to escape. As they rush to the exit aboard Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Meta Ridley races after them, furiously seeking revenge on Samus and Pikachu. The group defeats the space dragon once more, and escapes just before the Isle of the Ancients is engulfed in Subspace.

Samus and the rest of the Fighters meet up with the rest of the Smash Bros. heroes aboard the Halberd. The Halberd is destroyed by the Subspace Gunship, but Samus boards her own Gunship and continues the assault on Subspace. Upon entry to the Subspace, Samus and friends are unfortunately reduced to trophy form by Tabuu's Off Waves.

King Dedede, Ness, Luigi and Kirby are revived by the Dedede Brooches and collect their friends' trophies. Samus and party venture through the Great Maze and defeat Tabuu.

Playable appearances

Samus starts out the first two levels as her Zero Suit form, then reclaims the Power Suit in The Research Facility (Part II)

• The Research Facility (Part I) (Zero Suit only)
• The Research Facility (Part II) (Zero Suit only until after False Samus battle)
• The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part I)
• The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II)
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part I)

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 10: 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.
• Event 16: Power Suit ON!: The player, as Zero Suit Samus, must obtain a Smash Ball and transform into Samus while fending off against two CPUs, who are also Zero Suit Samus.
• Event 23: Molten Norfair: Samus must survive the lava wave on Norfair by getting inside the safety capsule while fending off against both Fox and Captain Falcon.
• Event 36: High-Tech Special Forces: The player plays as Snake and must defeat Samus, Captain Falcon, and Wolf on Shadow Moses Island.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 7: Battle of the Dark Sides: Link and Samus, must defeat their dark forms in a 200 HP Stamina match on Bridge of Eldin.
• Co-Op Event 12: Come Back! Falcon Flyer: Captain Falcon and Olimar must defeat two Samuses in Big Blue within 30 seconds.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies

Samus's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Samus.

Samus

The intergalactic bounty hunter named Samus Aran. Orphaned at an early age, she was taken in and raised by the alien race known as the Chozo. The Power Suit she wears is a product of their technology. Her unique combat skills combined with her athleticism and Arm Cannon have seen her through countless missions.

: Metroid

: Super Metroid

Zero Laser

Samus's Final Smash. The beam emerging from her Arm Cannon is dreadfully powerful and causes great damage to enemies. The beam travels slowly but can be swept up and down. The recoil of the beam is so great that it tears off her Power Suit, revealing Zero Suit Samus. The pieces of her armor can be picked up and thrown as weapons.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• 

  Classic Mode trophy

• 

  Zero Laser trophy

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Link fighting Samus in Skyworld.

• 

  Samus using her forward aerial.

• 

  Samus in the process of charging her arm cannon.

• 

  Samus's arm cannon flashes at the end, a sign that her Charged Shot is fully charged.

• 

  Samus shooting a fully charged Charged Shot

• 

  Fox being hit by Samus's fully charged Charged Shot.

• 

  The Homing Missile, which can be used when applying only slight pressure to the control stick.

• 

  Samus using her Super Missile

• 

  Samus using her Screw Attack

• 

  Samus inside her Morph Ball

• 

  Samus getting ready to fire the Zero Laser.

• 

  Samus blasting the Zero Laser in Brawl.

• 

  Once the laser is finished, her Power suit pieces fall off of her.

• 

  Ike starting to use Aether against Samus.

• 

  Ike finishing Aether against Samus.

• 

  Samus being caught with Ike's Final Smash

• 

  Marth attacking Samus.

Trivia

• Samus (along with Olimar, R.O.B., and Mr. Game & Watch) never talks or makes any verbal noises. The only sounds she makes are those of her attacks and Star KO cry. However, she has a voice as Zero Suit Samus.
• In Brawl, if a player selects Samus using a Wii remote or classic controller, her midair jump sound from Melee will sound in the Wii Remote's speaker despite the fact that she makes completely different noises in Brawl. She shares this trait with Kirby, Peach, Bowser, and Ganondorf.
• Throughout normal game play, Samus' visor is opaque. The only time the player can see her face from behind her visor is in the Subspace Emissary, where she looks at Pikachu after retrieving her Power Suit.
• In the Subspace Emissary, even though Ridley damages Samus before battling her with Pikachu, Samus' damage is at 0% when the battle actually begins.
• Despite wearing her default color during a Team Battle while on the red team in the original Super Smash Bros. and Melee, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, her red team color is switched to be her pink and red suit. This is likely to avoid confusion as Samus's default color is orange while Zero Suit Samus wears light blue in her default color.
  • Brawl marks the only installment where Samus cannot use her default costume in Team Battles, and also the only installment where Samus and Zero Suit Samus are transformation characters.
• Samus, Pikachu, Diddy Kong, Fox, and Lucas are the only characters in the Subspace Emissary to fight more than 2 bosses (excluding boss re-creations in the Great Maze). Samus can be chosen to fight Ridley in The Research Facility Part II, Meta Ridley in The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II), and Tabuu in the final battle at Tabuu's Residence.
• Whenever Samus uses her red costume, her battle portrait will have her face zoomed in a little closer compared to the rest of her costumes.
• This is the only game where Samus has a unique design that is not reused in a later game.
  • The director later would claim that this design were based on Super Metroid, although it bears more similarity with to the one shown in ending screens of Metroid: Zero Mission, which in turn is very similar to Super Metroid.
• Samus' render pose resembles her "Smash Red" trophy pose in Melee, but with her left foot forward instead of her right foot, and with her free hand in a fist instead of on her Arm Cannon. Both poses resemble a shot from the end of Super Metroid.
• Samus teaming up with Pikachu in the SSE might be a reference to Pyonchi, her pet in the manga.
• Samus, the Ice Climbers, Meta Knight, Mr. Game & Watch, and Ganondorf are the only characters whose icon in the Subspace Emissary and the Sticker menu is not based on their renders.

External links

• Samus's page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
• Samus Character Guide on SmashBoards
• Samus' hitbox size of each of her moves
• Samus's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice (part 1)
• (part 2)