| Missile | |
|---|---|
 The Super Missile. | |
| User | Samus |
| Universe | Metroid |
- For Snake's attack, see Remote Missile.
The Missile is Samus's side special move. She makes a brief animation of pointing her launcher in front of her, then firing a missile. There are two types of missiles:
- Homing Missiles are fired by tilting (as opposed to tapping). They home on opponents to a degree (they do not move vertically very well), move slowly, and deal 5% of damage. Homing Missiles appear rocket-shaped with a purple nose, as they appear in the 2D Metroid games.
- Super Missiles are fired by tapping. They move in a fast, straight line (so no homing ability) and deal 10% damage with decent knockback. In Melee, Super Missiles look the same as Homing Missiles except with a blue trail. In Brawl, Super Missiles are distinguished with a fatter body and a green nose, as seen in Super Metroid and Zero Mission.
Strategy
In Melee, missiles are quite powerful, to the point where Super Missiles can KO at higher damages due to excellent knockback. Samus can even create a form of obstacle course with missiles if she fires Super Missiles in the air, then as she falls to the ground, then back in the air.
However, in Brawl, the Missiles have been severely nerfed in knockback and speed, and at best are used for comboing or for spacing.
Origin
The missiles are projectiles that are staples in the Metroid games. Once Samus finds the Missile Launcher, she can fire Missiles at any time as long as ammo persists. Since Missiles do more damage than most Beam weapons and are the only way to access certain areas and damage some enemies, collecting Missile Expansions to increase ammo space is critical. In later games, different kinds of missiles are introduced, such as Ice Missiles.
Super Missiles were introduced in Super Metroid as rarer, more powerful Missiles. In Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Super Missiles are fired by combining a Charge Shot and five Missiles.
Homing Missiles appeared in Metroid Prime as the standard for most missile types, but Super Smash Bros. Melee was released before Metroid Prime, meaning that the Homing Missile was new to Melee. From Metroid Prime 2: Echoes onwards, Samus could collect an upgrade called the Seeker Missile, which allowed her to fire up to five missiles at five targets.
Gallery
Samus fires a Missile in Super Metroid.
A Super Missile in Melee
The Homing Missile, which can be used when applying only slight pressure to the control stick
