- This article is about Zero Suit Samus' appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. For other uses, see Zero Suit Samus.
Zero Suit Samus (ゼãƒã‚¹ãƒ¼ãƒ„サムス, Zero Suit Samus) was confirmed for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, in the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U Nintendo Direct as a separate character, unlike in Brawl.
She currently ranks 6th on the tier list. Her punish game is one of the best in the game, with some very strong combos that can lead to death at low percents and powerful kill moves such as her back air. However, her ground game and grab, outside of setting up combos, are lackluster and punishable, and her featherweight status makes her easy to KO.
Attributes[]
Strengths[]
- Can wall jump.
- Can crawl. Also her crouch animation is low enough to duck under many projectiles and attacks.
- Has a tether grab, as well a tether recovery with Grab Aerial and Side Special.
- Very agile in both ground and air, with the 5th fastest running speed and 7th aerial speed.
- Relatively high jumping height.
- Great aerial attacks, with both power and speed.
- All her whip-related attacks, namely Up Smash, Neutral Aerial, Grab Aerial and Side Special, have disjointed hitboxes with transcending priority.
- In addition, all these moves inflict a decent amount of hitstun.
- Has two Meteor Smashes: Down Aerial and Flip Jump.
- Huge variety of KO setups.
- Versatile Special Attacks that complement her camping and hit-and-run capacities.
- Can stun opponents with Down Smash and Paralyzer. The stun effect is higher the long these moves are charged.
- Boost Kick is a very powerful finishing move for her aerial combos that can easily KO opponents at low percentages.
- Versatile recovery.
Weaknesses[]
- Featherweight, being tied with Meta Knight.
- Low range on many attacks, mostly tilts.
- Third slowest grab after Pac-Man and Samus'.
- Poor grab game, with no reliable throws for KO, and little follow ups outside of Down Throw.
- Poor neutral game.
- Some moves may miss on short characters.
Summary[]
Zero Suit Samus' stats by Kurogane Hammer.
Zero Suit Samus is a Zone-Breaker type of character, able to pierce her opponents defenses with many camping tools and stuns that lead to a plethora of Setups. With a hit-and-run playstyle, she is a very fast character in both ground and air, able to poke and interrupt enemy approaches with her fast attacks, punishing any mistakes with a flurry of juggles.
Zero Suit Samus' ground game somewhat lacks range, but is packed with a lot of utility. Her Tilts are great for poking and initiating combos, while her Smash Attacks are very versatile. Forward Smash is a strong KO, Up Smash covers great vertical range, and Down Smash can stun opponents.
Her aerial game, on the other hand, is her greatest asset, with quick and strong moves that lead into many kill setups. Neutral Aerial covers a good range around her and inflicts enough hitstun for other follow ups. Forward Aerial is very fast for combos at any percentages, being a good starter at low percentages and strong enough to KO at high percentages offstage. Back Aerial is her strongest aerial, with high range and power. Up Aerial is her bread and butter for juggling, being excellent at setups for Boost Kick. Finally, her Down Aerial is a stall-than-fall move that can Meteor Smash opponents at the initial frames. She can also attack with her Grab Aerial, which is also a tether recovery tool.
To complement even further her moveset, Zero Suit Samus' Special Attacks add a lot of versatility to her arsenal, granting her decent camping tools. Paralyzer, her Neutral Special, covers decent range even when uncharged, and can stun opponents briefly, leaving them open for attacks. Plasma Whip, her Side Special, much like her grab aerial, is a great poking and spacing tool, as well being useful for tether recovery. Boost Kick, her Up Special, adds yet another recovery tool for Samus, as well being a very potent move very reliable for KO. Finally, Flip Jump, her Down Special is a both defensive and offensive maneuver, allowing Samus to gain a third jump for recovery, but also can be triggered again to cause Samus to kick her opponents, giving her a lot of unpredictability; if used correctly, this move it can Meteor Smash opponents.
All these attributes combined give Zero Suit Samus very reliable KO setups. With her stun through her Down Smash and Paralyzer, increased hitstun from Up Smash, Neutral Aerial, Grab Aerial and Plasma Whip, she can get extra time to hit opponents and score pinpointed strikes.
Zero Suit Samus' flaws, however, are very notable. Being tall and lightweight, she is an easy target and therefore very easy to KO. This combined with her natural fast falling and high gravity makes her very susceptible to vertical knockback. Also, she lacks a decent grab game, starting by her very slow grab, and with only her Down Throw being really reliable for combos; she also has no throws that can KO at decent percentages. This gives her a very poor neutral game, specially against more defensive oriented characters.
Overall, Zero Suit Samus' players must react quick to their surroundings, making full use of her stun abilities and quick punishing aerial game to pressure opponents, spacing well attacks to cover all possible weak spots.
Changes from Brawl[]
Zero Suit Samus actually received many buffs, despite being a high tier character in Brawl. Her KO potential increased with the addition of a new forward smash and Boost Kick. Her down throw is significantly faster, gaining more follow-up options, and the addition of Boost Kick and grab aerial improve her recovery overall. The changes in hitstun cancelling also allow her to combo more effectively
However, Plasma Whip lost its KO potential, and her aerial game's potential has slightly decreased. Her down smash also has a shorter duration, weakening its follow-up options. She is also no longer capable of transforming into Power Suit Samus through her Final Smash, as Samus is now a separate character from her.
Appearance-wise, Zero Suit Samus bases her design from her appearance from Metroid: Other M, while retaining her signature features from Zero Mission and Fusion such as her athletic figure and high ponytail. Zero Suit Samus now wears a set of Jet Boots and bracers original to Super Smash Bros., and uses them for her kick attacks and jumps by releasing a burst of fire.
Attributes[]
- Plasma Whip has slightly more range in all her related attacks.
- Higher second jump.
- No longer able to pick up the pieces of the broken Power Suit and throw at enemies.
Ground Attacks[]
- Forward Tilt has slightly less startup lag.
- Forward Smash has a different animation, where Zero Suit Samus performs a double kick forward, with the second hit causing a small blast of fire. It faster and deals more damage and knockback.
- Down Smash has increased ending lag and the blast has smaller hitboxes. It also deals less damage and slightly decreased hitstun, even when fully charged, worsening its setup potential.
- Dash Attack has a different animation, where Zero Suit Samus charges with a flying knee rather than a flying kick, which has much lower range. It also deals slightly less damage, but higher knockback.
Aerial Attacks[]
- Neutral Aerial is much faster and with slightly longer range.
- Back Aerial deal less damage.
- Up Aerial has a different animation, with Zero Suit Samus kicking in an arc, increasing the horizontal range. However, it deal less damage.
- Down Aerial now causes a small shockwave when Zero Suit Samus lands, causing small damage and knockback.
Grabs and Throws[]
- All throws deal increased knockback.
- Grab has much less ending lag.
- Grab Aerial now functions like Samus', Link's and Toon Link's. She fires her whip forward, which has long range and almost no landing lag.
- Back Throw deals slightly more damage.
- Down Throw is faster and sends opponents almost directly above Zero Suit Samus.
- Grab range is slightly shorter but less lag.
Special Attacks[]
- Plasma Whip deals less damage and much lower knockback, even when sweetspotted, no longer being reliable for KO'ing.
- New Up Special, Boost Kick, replaces her old one, Plasma Wire. It propels Zero Suit Samus upwards, with a kick, covering high vertical range. If it connects with an opponent, she will also end with spin kick that causes high knockback.
- Flip Jump can bury grounded opponents and Meteor Smash airborne opponents at the end of its arc.
- New Final Smash, Gunship, replaces her old one, Power Suit Samus. In this one, Zero Suit Samus jumps offscreen aboard her Gunship, where the player controls a curso to fire high concentrated energy beams at the opponents, which are multi-hit and inflict knockback by the end. It is similar to Snake's Final Smash in Brawl.
Moveset[]
Ground Attacks[]
- Standard Combo: Jabs the opponent, then hits them with her pistol, then elbows them. Whole combo: 6%.
- Side Tilt: Does a spin kick with a boost from her jet boots.Can be tilted. Closest 8%. Regular 7%. Farthest 8%
- Up Tilt: Stands on her hands and swings her legs into the air. The attack can hit twice. 5%, then 7%. 12% combined.
- Down Tilt: Kicks forward, low to the ground, with a boost from her jet boots . She moves a bit forward as she does it. 8%.
- Dash attack: Boosts herself forward with her boots, knees lifted. 8%.
Smash Attacks[]
- Side Smash: Does a spin kick, then follows with a second kick with the sole of her boots, which explode in flames.
- Uncharged: 5% and 11%, total 16%.
- Fully charged: 7% and 15%, total 22%.
- Up Smash: Flails her plasma whip above her head. Damage is somewhat unpredictable, as it hits multiple times.
- Uncharged: 7%~11%.
- Fully charged: 9%~15%.
- Down Smash: Fires a paralyzing shot right next to her feet. Not good for launching (can only KO at about 220% damage), but an opponent struck by it will be paralyzed for a short duration, so its good for setting up combos.
- Uncharged: 8%.
- Fully charged: 11%.
Other attacks[]
- Edge Attack: Climbs the edge and does a sweeping kick. 7%.
- Rise Attack: Gets up swing legs around. 7%.
- Tether(as attack in the air): Shoots her Whip forward. if sweet spotted 6%, if not 3%.
Aerial Attacks[]
- Neutral Air: Swings her plasma whip horizontally around her. 10%.
- Front Air: Kicks twice in front of her with a boost of her jet boots. 5% and 7%, total 12%.
- Up Air: Kicks in a loop with a boost of her jet boots. 8%.
- Down Air: Gets boosted downwards with her leg outstretched. Also does damage when she lands. 5% in the air, 6% landing impact. 11% total.
- Back Air: Kicks backwards with a boost of her jet boots. 12%.
Grabs and Throws[]
- Zero suit samus uses her plasma whip to grab opponents and for tether recoveries.
- Pummel: A quick knee kick. 2%.
- Up throw: Quickly kicks the opponent twice as she performs a somersault. 2% then 8%, total 10%.
- Frontal throw: Shocks the opponent with her pistol. 2% then 7%, total 9%.
- Back throw: Kicks opponent to her back. 2% then 4%, total 6%.
- Down throw: Lays the opponent on the ground then kicks him. 2% then 5%, total 7%.
Special Moves[]
Taunts[]
- Up Taunt: Throws her pistol, spins around and catch it while saying "Is that all?".
- Side Taunt: Waves her plasma whip around while saying "Try me.".
- Down Taunt: Spins around with her plasma whip while saying "You're mine.".
In Competitive Play[]
Zero Suit Samus has been widely been viewed as a top-tier character ever since SSB4 was released. She became infamous for her highly rewarding grab combos that could lead into early KOs, varied methods of setting up KOs with her back and down throws, down smash, and Paralyzer, her ability to escape pressure with her aerial mobility and down special, and, as of update 1.1.1, the incredible safety of her electric attacks like her neutral aerial. However, she also has a few weaknesses, such as her laggy grab and lackluster ground game. Although players would often point out both her weaknesses and her representation only being above average for a perceived top-tier character, Zero Suit Samus' weaknesses were also perceived as negligible. Additionally, her top-tier status was supplemented by the efforts of dedicated professionals, most notably Marss, Nairo, Nick Riddle, Remzi and V115, who dominated their respective regions with her and whose tournament results had been sufficient enough to position her as the second best character in the game in the eyes of most players.
Nairo's efforts in particular have demonstrated the former points: he is one of the best SSB4 players in the world, consistently achieves top 8 placings at major tournaments (most notably winning MLG World Finals 2015) and became the first person to eliminate ZeRo, the undisputed best player in the world at the time, from a tournament. Other notable placings included Nick Riddle placing 2nd at Paragon Orlando 2015 and 7th at CEO 2015, and Marss placing 7th at GENESIS 3. Thanks to these very strong tournament results, Zero Suit Samus was ranked 2nd on the first tier list.
However, Zero Suit Samus received nerfs from game updates, with update 1.1.5 providing her most significant ones by exacerbating her grab game's lag issues, and somewhat toning down her immense strengths. These nerfs ultimately affected her results, with some of her main players eventually being outperformed by other characters, such as Cloud, which in turn saw her playerbase slightly shrink. Zero Suit Samus' downturn was reflected in her subsequent tier placements, as she lost her top 3 status by being ranked 8th on the second tier list, and then lost her top 10 status by being ranked 11th on the third tier list.
However as of recently, Zero Suit Samus has had a huge spike in results thanks to Marss and Nairo placing top 2 at many major tournaments and most notably Nairo's win at Super Smash Con 2017 while using Zero Suit Samus a majority of the tournament. Due to these impressive results and her ladder combos still being very frightening, her tier spot has been debated once again as many smashers claim that she should be ranked much higher due to her most recent results and these results being more impressive that characters ranked above her such as Sheik, Mario, Rosalina, Mewtwo, and Marth. This is reflected by Zero Suit Samus's return to the top 10 on the fourth tier list, being ranked 6th. Some smashers however claim that despite her recent spike of results, her neutral and ground game hinder her enough to put her at a lower spot with players like ANTi, ESAM, Mr.R and ZeRo believe that she is overrated and that she shouldn't be ranked as high as she is especially since other characters like Sheik, Cloud, Bayonetta, Corrin, Marth, Fox and Mewtwo win tournaments more consistently than she does.
Trophy Description[]
Zero Suit Samus[]
Samus is far from helpless when her Power Suit is deactivated, Sure, she loses a lot of the moves and weapons she had access to before, but her Jet Boots pick up the slack! She also has the Paralyzer, a versatile weapon that can shock her rivals or change into a Plasma Whip to grab edges and enemies.
- GBA - Metroid: Zero Mission (02/2004)
- Wii - Metroid: Other M (08/2010)
Zero Suit Samus (Alt)[]
Zero Suit Samus's up special Boost Kick involves a series of fast kicks that end with a swift, sideways-launching one. A perfectly executed attack will hit eight times! Her down special Flip Jump can bury a grounded fighter in the dirt. She can kick mid-flip by pressing the special button.
Other Features[]
- Zero Suit Samus has a new Final Smash, in which she uses her gunship to shoot at enemies.
- Zero Suit Samus is one of a few characters who can use her Grab and/or Side Special to grab on to ledges.
Costume Gallery[]
Gallery[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Zero Suit Samus is the only veteran who previously lacked special moves that could trigger helpless state in her debut appearance; she now has one in the Boost Kick.
- She is also the only character in the game that has more than one way to access her tether recovery.
External links[]
- Zero Suit Samus' page on the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U Website
- Zero Suit Samus' frame data at Kurogane Hammer
- Will add the link to Zero Suit Samus's amiibo training Guide as soon as the owner of the amiibodojo website updates it.
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 Metroid universe
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| Characters | Samus Aran (64 · Melee · Brawl · 3DS/Wii U · Ultimate) Zero Suit Samus (Brawl · 3DS/Wii U · Ultimate) Ridley (Ultimate) Dark Samus (Ultimate) | |
| Side Characters | Bosses | Ridley · Meta Ridley |
| Assist Trophies | Metroid · Dark Samus · Mother Brain | |
| Mii Fighter Costume | Samus Aran | |
| Background characters | Ridley · Kraid · Parasite Queen | |
| Stage Hazards | FG II-Graham · Joulion · Zero · Ridley | |
| Enemies | Geemer · Kihunter · Metroid · Reo | |
| Stages | Planet Zebes · Brinstar · Brinstar Depths · Norfair · Frigate Orpheon · Pyrosphere Brinstar Escape Shaft | |
| Item | Screw Attack | |
| Music | List of Music (Metroid series) | |
| Collectibles | Trophies | Melee Trophies · Brawl Trophies · 3DS Trophies · Wii U Trophies |
| Stickers | List of Stickers (Metroid series) | |
| Spirits | List of spirits (Metroid series) | |
| Masterpieces | Metroid · Super Metroid | |
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