Metroid Database :: Super Smash Bros. Melee Guide

Samus Aran - Super Smash Bros.: Melee (SSBM) SkillMASTER guide
Written by Tempest Stormwind
Written for the Metroid Database (MDb)
See the end for all the legalese mumbo-jumbo that I have to put in here, and contact information.
Best viewed at 1024x768 or larger. Anyone using anything smaller, I urge you to conform to the herd.

First off, this guide will not tell you how to beat any of the Metroid series, nor will it mention much about the
N64 Super Smash Bros. (SSB) version of Samus, save by comparison. You'll need to look elsewhere on this
great site for them. Second, I'm not officially affiliated with the site, so TJ is not responsible for anything I say here.
So don't flame him! Finally, I urge you to check out most of the rest of the new MDb for any other cool Metroid data.
Just because I'm not a staffer doesn't mean they don't get free advertising!

"This intergalactic bounty hunter's full name is Samus Aran. Clad in a Power Suit made by the Chozo race
and infused with their enhanced blood, she cleared the planet Zebes of a Metroid infestation. Samus is an orphan,
the sole survivor of a Space Pirate raid that destroyed an Earth colony named K-2L."
--Classic [read: Retro Samus!] Trophy. Date unknown.

"There are many, many things to be said about Super Smash Brothers: Melee. ...what you need to know [is]
that if you own a GameCube, you need to get your grip on this game. ...As if Samus Aran weren't reason enough
to own this one..."

"The protagonist/heroine/bad-ass Samus Aran is one of the coolest characters we've ever been given to maneuver.
Playing any iteration of this series - NES, SNES, or Game Boy - will very likely result in near-toxic levels of fun"
--Tycho, Penny Arcade, http://www.penny-arcade.com 12/5/2001 and 02/21/2001 (Note to all Samus fans, look at 4/10/2000.)

"SAMUS! SAMUS! SAMUS!"
--The crowd, Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Quite often.

'nuff said. Let's just cut to the chase.

Terminology
I assume that by reading this you know the game's differences between TILT and TAP, and the controller buttons.
I use slightly more specific terms, since "SMASH" doesn't say which one to use.

CONTROL:
Any directions (Up, down, left, right, forward, backward) all refer to the control stick.

Dash means tapping the stick forward or backward to run.

Jump is obvious. To perform some of the attacks, it may be helpful to learn to jump with the X and Y buttons
rather than the stick (the Instant Gun Sweep, for example, cannot be done with a stick jump)

Double-Jump is the midair jump.

"Triple-Jump" is informal for "recovery move" -- also called Up-B.

Weak refers to hitting A without using the control stick. Occasionally Called "Neutral" as in "midair-neutral".

Power-<direction> means TILT in that direction and hit A.

SMASH-<direction> is similar: TAP the direction and use A. Hold A to charge these.

Air-<direction> tells you which way to tilt the stick while in the air, then hit A. Note that it's VERY sensitive,
and the "UP" attack tends to also register as "double-jump".

<direction>-B refers to the 4 special moves. I ignore the direction if none is needed, and remember:
Forward-B means TILT, SMASH-B means TAP. This is very important with Samus (and a few others)
since it alters the move slightly. See also "Triple-jump".

Grab means hit L/R and A, or Z. To do this while running is called "dash-grab".

While grabbing, press Z or A to attack them, and a direction to throw them.

Shield or Guard is done by hitting L or R. Tilting the stick shifts the shield's position: It's not foolproof,
but it works. Hitting it at PRECISELY the right moment will bounce an opponent on their rear as well as
blocking the shot -- Called a power shield. Don't hold it too long, unless you want to see Samus' Varia Suit
short circuit.

Dodge and Roll are done by TAPPING while shielding. Rolls are forward/backward, and dodges are down.

Air Dodge <direction> means to hit L or R in the air. The direction moves you that way a little bit. Bear in
mind after doing this you can't double- or triple-jump, or Air Grapple (read below).

MISC:
There's some terms that only apply to specific tactics:
"Juggling" -- the computers do this a LOT. It involves doing whatever can be done to prevent the opponents'
control from responding. This includes hitting an opponent many times without them hitting ground (and getting
the midair jump back), grabbing them during an attack before it connects or after it misses, etc. Marth, Fox, and
Falco do this the most at high AI levels.

"Edge-guarding" -- Hands down the most annoying trick in Smash Bros. Hit an opponent who's trying to get
back to the field before they do. This typically means sending them flying again. Pikachu, Falco, and Ganondorf
do this the most at high AI levels. You'll learn to loathe it. Or love it, depending on your opponents. If you're against
a computer, go right ahead, but it will piss off human players to no end -- much like camping in FPS, but this is
worse because it's humiliation factor is 9.5. Imagine having the mighty Samus Aran held at the mercy of Pichu...
you get the idea.

Priority -- If two moves would hit at the same time, typically only one hits. The one that hits is said to have
higher "priority". To my knowledge, Mr. Game & Watch has top priority on 95% of his moves (to compensate
for his high learning curve and light weight), so watch out. The other high-priority moves are the Falcon Dive
(Capt. Falcon), Dark Dive (Ganondorf), Screw Attack (Samus), Spin Attack (Link/Young Link), the Chain AND
the Needle Storm (Sheik), Counter (Marth/Roy), any throw attack, and a few others. In essence, they're moves
that hit without actually using the character, but instead something they emit. The exception is the Fire Fox/Fire Bird,
since nothing actually envelops Fox's or Falco's head, so if hit bang on there, it'll be interrupted. That's harder to do
than you think. Regular moves sometimes "clash", much like two swords hitting each other -- this happens if both
timing and priority are equal. This isn't an issue with any of Samus' moves except her weak combo, though, since
her moves have somewhat of a unique priority.

Samus also has a few specific commands, either unique to her or rare among characters:

_Wall-jump: Yes, it's back. While falling VERY close to a wall, or jumping against one, hold toward it, then
TAP away from it to do the Super Metroid Wall Jump. Samus does this very well, notably in the Fourside
arena. The general rule of the Wall Jump is: Fast like Mario, Jumps like Capt. Falcon, turns like Sheik, and
light like Young Link. Samus isn't fast, can't turn fast, jumps high (but not fast), and is not light -- but she's
the exception to the rule, and is VERY GOOD at it. The game recommends practicing in Young Link's target
test, but since every character's timing and distance is different, the only way to practice with Samus is to
practice with Samus. A character actually performing the wall jump will blink for a moment, like in a dodge:
they're invulnerable during this instant.

_Bomb-Jump: Detonating one of her bombs under her causes Samus to switch to the morphing ball and
bounce. Aside from throwing off people's timing, I haven't found much use for this (as you can't do the
Infinite Bomb Jump from Super Metroid... and you already have the midair jump from Metroid.). It leaves her
as a morphing ball for a second, so she's harder to hit and you can lay another bomb if your timing's perfect.
On the other hand, it's midair variant, described below, is very useful.

_Air-Grapple: Samus (as well as Link and Young Link) can do the utterly unexpected with this. Most people
are prepared to edge-guard you during a triple jump before you land... well, hit Z in the air to toss out Samus'
grappling beam (or Link's Hookshot...) to latch on to any vertical surface. It sometimes is still not enough (it
misses, or is long enough to drop you below the bottom, or you're a split second early and it goes over the
ledge, etc.), but it throws off almost all the human opponents you meet if you use it sparingly. It lasts only a
short while, and pressing up and A retracts the beam so you can jump up to the ledge. Easiest to practice
with in the Fountain of Dreams or Fourside. Note that using this means you can no longer double-jump,
triple-jump, or air dodge, unless you actually latch on to something (which counts as touching the ground).
Note that the grappling beam is quite slow (compared to the two hookshots), but has slightly longer range.

ABOUT SAMUS
Samus is a 'realistic star', to use the game term. These are the human(oid) ones that both aren't
superdeformed (like Mario) and are superdetailed. Also in this category are Fox, Link, Zelda, Sheik
and Captain Falcon (the Fire Emblem team, Marth and Roy, along with Ganondorf, counts as well,
but being hidden characters means they count as such). The stats below all keep this grouping in
mind -- it's impossible to compare characters in different categories with the same scale.

GENERAL STATS:
Height: Average -- Approx. 6'. She's a decent-sized target in battle.

Mass: Above average -- She's tricky to throw because of her suit. Unlike most other characters, this
doesn't affect her jumping power due to the Hi-Jump boots and jump jets.

Strength: Melee: JUST below average. Made up for with explosive power and her ranged weapons.
Bear in mind people like Capt. Falcon, Link and Zelda are in this category, so below average on this is still VERY good.

Strength: Ranged: Best of all characters for power, second best for versatility. Read below under Special moves.

Speed: Below average on the ground, average in the air. This is really her only glaring weakness.

Manuverability: Average on ground, near-perfect for humanoids in the air. Her decent ground times
are nearly perfected by her Morphing Ball dodge and her affect-area attacks.

Jumping: Best. She acutally uses jump jets (and I assume the Hi-Jump Boots) to get astounding
jump power. She's also the exception to the Wall-Jumping Rule (see above), and as such gets by far the
best wall jumps. Their only downside is that they have limited horizontal range.

Attacks: Ground: Varies. Typically strong, but all of them can be interrupted if fast enough.
Try fighting a level 9 Sheik, Fox, or Capt. Falcon and you'll see.

Attacks: Air: Weaker. These moves are best used for juggling, except the Gun Sweep (below).
Watch a Level 9 Samus in action to see how this move should be used, as they're addicted to it. The
Chozo Kick (also below) is far stronger than it looks, but short-range.

Attacks: Throws: Absurdly powerful, but only the up and back throws send people flying very far.
Her advantage is the ranged Grappling Beam, but her disadvantage is that it's VERY slow. Compensate
by dash-grabbing... it's faster, but the cost is it's virtually melee-range.

ATTACKS (I gave these moves my own names, and it they're too lame for you, feel free to call them what you will):
Weak: Jab
Weak combo: Overarm
Power side: Roundhouse (steerable)
Power down: Ground Blast (fire)
Power up: Heel Drop (windup, Meteor)
SMASH side: Chozo Punch (steerable)
SMASH down: Sweeper
SMASH up: Cover Fire (fire, combo)
Dash attack: Tackle
Air neutral: Chozo Kick
Air up: Corkscrew (combo)
Air forward: Fire Rain (fire, combo)
Air back: Kickback
Air down: Gun Sweep (Meteor, windup)
Grab-Attack: Chop
Throw up: Liftoff (windup)
Throw front: Whiplash
Throw down: Varia Slam (windup)
Throw back: Recoil

Steerable attacks can be aimed 30-60 degrees up or down from straight accross. Do this by tilting the
stick predominantly forward, but up or down a bit too. Works with the C-Stick as well -- it's easier with it, but I
don't use the C-stick at all, so I guess it's your choice.

Fire attacks set the opponent on fire. During the first half of the time when they're on fire, they have
no hope of recovering. This is balanced in such a way that it's effective, but not unfair.

Combo attacks can hit more than once, if aimed properly.

Meteor Attacks either hit straight down, or hit sideways and have a chance of knocking all hope of
recovery out. If hit with one of these bang-on, half of the time it'll just be very strong, and the other half you
can't recover from (i.e., if it can knock you off, it WILL). Samus' Gun Sweep is one, but because it hits downward,
the target tends to hit ground before flying off, so try to time this one to hit someone over a pit or pull off the
Death from Above combo (see below). Her Heel Drop does the same trick, but only if you hit just after the heel
sparks at the top of it's arc. There's a ton of different Meteor-related awards to get, too.

Windup attacks have a visible lag time (half a second or more). Most of Samus' moves have lag time,
but not enough to really matter (Notably Cover Fire and Chozo Punch). The ones I marked as Windup are slow
enough that in 3 or 4 player battles it's easy to have these fail, as someone hits you. It's easy to see why they
added windups: the combos in the original with the Gun Sweep alone are insane, so they altered the timing.

Reflect (seen below) means that the attack can be reflected. There are to my knowledge 3 ways
to reflect: Fox/Falco's Reflector works on most anything, Mario's Cape/Dr. Mario's Super Sheet/Mewtwo's
Telekinesis require timing and only hit the side, but also reflect anything, and Power Shielding (I can't figure
out how the computers do this -- they use their shields to reflect things. It's something on the timing on activating
the shield. If anyone figures out how they do this, let me know!). Peach's Toad dissapates anything that's reflectable,
as well. Bear in mind, as well, if a projectile hits Link or Young Link from the front when they're at rest, it will hit their
shields instead, and do nothing.

Recovery moves (Typically only your Up-B or air dodge) leave you vulnerable on the way down from
the height they give you, meaning you can't do anything but fall. On the other hand, that height may be all that
saves you from certain falls.

"2.5 jumps" are special moves that extend how far you move in the air, but can be used over and
over (thus making recovery much easier). Remember Jigglypuff's Target Test? Her Pound move is a great
example of a 2.5 jump. For that matter, so are Samus' bombs (below). Mario, Marth, Dr. Mario, Roy, and to
a far lesser extent Peach. Luigi and Mewtwo also have 2.5 jumps.

SPECIAL MOVES
B: Charge Cannon (windup, reflect)
Oh, man, this looks sweet! Press once to start charging. During the charge, tap forward or backward to enter
the morphing ball and dodge, or hit L/R to shield. If you're hit during the charge animation, all the energy is lost,
so use this to interrupt the charge and continue later. Press B during the charge to shoot it -- the longer you
charged it, the stronger it is, the faster it goes, and the greater it's range and size. Once fully charged, sparks will
fly from the tip of her gun-arm, and she'll flash a little bit, and you can move around with the fully-charged blast.
It takes her a second to assume the firing stance, though, so don't shoot it if something's going to hit you. You can't
charge in the air, but you can shoot it. Beware here: you go backwards quite a bit on a full charge.
STRENGTHS: Very powerful, and the amount it hurts something increases as their damage does (At 0%, full charge
does about 24%. At 50% it does about 35%. I can't find a pattern to how it goes up, but it does go up.)
WEAKNESSES: Slow to charge (better than the N64 time, at least), slow shot, easy to reflect, and hitting the huge
blast with any projectile or thrown item neutralizes it. It's also hard to aim it over long distances because of the speed.

Side-B: Missiles (windup, reflect, if smashed they're also fire)
They're baaaaack... and perhaps one of her best assets. People probably complained that Samus only had one
shooting weapon in the first one... The regular missle is slow, and does about 5-9% damage, and has low range.
However, it does have limited homing capacity in this form, and will seek out opponents. It maintains a constant
speed, and stops at the end for a moment before exploding. If you shoot them out with SMASH-B, though, watch
out! Not only does her stance change, but the missles shoot VERY fast (after a short acceleration time akin to
Metroid 2) and do boosted damage (as high as 15% in some cases) with a little explosion. When they hit the end
of their range, they just explode like they hit the wall. The downside? They lose the homing power and fly straight.
As an added gift, try pausing or zooming in when doing this move: her gun's barrel opens up, just like in Metroid 2
and 3!
STRENGTHS: Easily one of the best moves for Samus. Using these allows for long range juggling and edge-guarding,
as well as dishing out great damage. Vary the speeds of the missles at random (fire smash and homing missles
intermittedly) and virtually no one can avoid them. The homing version is nifty for breaking into a melee.
WEAKNESSES: It takes a second to wind up and shoot (longer for the homing missle), and they're easy to reflect.

Up-B: Screw Attack (recovery, combo)
If you've played any of the games Samus is in, then you've already fallen in love with this move. Not only does
this look MUCH better than the dorky sparks from the first one, it's also got a small vaccum on it. This means you
only have to be NEAR a foe to hit them with this. Used on the ground it's rising time is virtually nil (as she activates
the jump jets as she uses it), and it hovers for a moment at it's max height. It sends people flying further up than the
airborne version, but only hits once. In the air, the rise time is longer and the hover time is shorter, meaning you don't
have to be as bang-on accurate to hit someone. It's easy to steer, as well. The Screw Attack item turns a character's
first and second jumps into screw attacks, with an altered sound effect (I think it's the one out of the original Metroid --
been too long to be certain), as compared to the Super Metroid-esque sound given to Samus'. I specify the first two
jumps because for Kirby and Jigglypuff (who have 5 jumps, not 2), the last ones don't count. Just like Samus, if you
hit someone by throwing the Screw Attack at them, they lose their double jump, triple jump, and air dodge -- this is the
main reason why people throw them in the first place.
STRENGTHS: Throws off the opponent quite a bit while racking up around 15% damage. Useful in recovery, and
ESPECIALLY if you come out of the screw just above a platform (leaving you vulnerable for the smallest time). It also
has one of the highest priorities, so she's nearly invincible while doing this. Note: The attack priority is still high, but not
as high as in the N64 version. If you're surrounded and on the ground, do it to break up the fight, then tap down to land
and resume.
WEAKNESSES: If you miss, good luck. You've used up your double-jump, air grapple, and air dodge by using this
move, and you're VERY vulnerable on the way down. On a side note, while damage-wise it's virtually unchanged from
the N64 version, it's also easier to hit without being sucked in.

Down-B: Bombs (Windup, fire, 2.5 jump)
Returning from the first Smash Bros, these babies are much more useful. They fall a little faster, and Samus'
morphing ball form is much more controllable. To use these as a 2.5 jump, when in the air, use a bomb, then
hold the stick toward the ledge. Repeat as needed. This can also be done by holding the stick in the down-<side>
direction, where side is toward the ledge, and tapping B. Combine this with her great jumping skills and her air grapple,
and it's VERY hard to knock Samus off the ledge. In actual combat, these are best used on a foe climbing a ledge, as
they'll walk right into them. They're also cool for getting to the other side of your opponent -- walk into them, hold DOWN
(and to the side, if you wish), and tap B like a maniac to lay several bombs in their face. If you keep moving, not only are
you hard to hit, but you rack up the damage quickly and leave the foe off balance. It's a great combo opener.
STRENGTHS: These faze the target for a while. They're more useful as a 2.5 jump. The explosion can be used to open
some great combos, but if Samus is hit with the explosion, she involuntarily enters Morphing Ball Mode. Unlike Link's
bombs, these don't hurt the user.
WEAKNESSES: Slow, and hard to aim. It is the least used of her special moves, while being the most versatile. Most
players just don't know how to use them -- or how to defend against them.

COMBOS
Just like any other fighter, some moves naturally combo into others. Anything in (parentheses) is a choice of attacks,
and in [square brackets] is an optional hit.

Elevator: Grab-Chop-[Chop]-Liftoff-Corkscrew-Screw Attack
One of the easiest to do with Samus. If you're feeling brave, add another Chop. A slight variation allows for you
to skip the Screw attack, and time the Corkscrew so you end up above them. That's when you do a Gun Sweep
or Kickback.

Projectile Hell: Random missles and charged shots, plus the Sweeper/Chozo Punch
While not so much a combo as a plan of attack, you'll be the bane of all characters without reflectors (or even
some that have them...). The varied speeds of the missiles are hard to guard against, and if you can time it just
right, the Charge Shot will deliver the finishing blow. Try this one out at Final Destination or Great Bay. If they manage
to get close, use the Sweeper (or Chozo Punch) with the C-stick for speed to send them flying for long enough to
make a getaway and repeat. Don't do this one if your opponent (the player, not the character) gets easily annoyed.

Midair Madness: Corkscrew-Fire Rain-(Chozo Kick/Gun Sweep/Kickback)
A nifty one to try out when jumping off high ledges. Switch the positions of the Fire Rain and the Corkscrew if you
wish (that's easier to do, but harder to combo out of). The last hit is up to you, based on where the target is in
relation to you. The first two hits hold the target stationary while racking up damage for the last hit.

Groundrunner: Grab-Chop-[Chop]-Varia Slam-[(Bomb/Ground Blast)]-Sweeper-(SMASH Missles x2/Charge Shot)
This one's tricky to do with the extra hits added. Use the Ground Blast if the opponent is below 35-40%, as anything
higher sends 'em flying out of the sweeper's range if you aren't VERY fast. Use the Missles ONLY if the opponent is
huge (Bowser, Ganondorf, even Mewtwo) and/or you can time them so they either haven't landed or are standing up
again from the Sweeper, otherwise they'll miss. If you have a fully charged arm cannon, then use that. Follow up with
a missle if you want.

Stairway to Heaven: [Tackle]-Bomb(until above target, then one more)-Gun Sweep
The bigger they are, the better this works. I devised it against Giga Bowser myself, but it works against anyone
Samus' size or larger, just vary the number of bombs. You rapidly ascend them (since the bombs toss you up
when they blow), and they blow IMMEDIATELY since they're deployed right in your target's face. Shift back and
forth slightly to avoid repurcussions, and overshoots. The one extra bomb gives them one more explosion to deal
with before you Gun Sweep them. It's hard to dodge if it gets started, but the whole combo can be thrown off if the
target sees it coming and shields, then dodges and counters. Or if it's Marth/Roy and he Counters. This can also
combo into Death From Above.

Death From Above: When target is above 70%, mass adjusted, and ON THE GROUND: Gun Sweep-(Chozo Kick/Kickback)
Borrowed from the N64 Smash Bros. This one requires the Gun Sweep to be a Meteor Attack (you'll know it is if the
sound is loud and reverberates, and the opponent pirouettes upward when hit). Use multiple Gun Sweeps to ground
the opponent and rack up the damage. Unlike the first one, the Chozo Kick is the better choice to finish them off with,
and you MUST hit them before they hit the peak of the bounce (and stop spinning).

Any combo beginning with a grab may instead begin as: Tackle-Jab-Overarm-Dash Grab. I don't list this
above since it doesn't always work and you need to know the timing on the grapple like nothing else. Bear
in mind that if you grab while dashing it's much faster with no windup, but has much decreased range.

That should be enough to let you get started. Send in more if you want.

SINGLE PLAYER
Rather than write a hand-holding guide through the relatively simple single-player levels (since I was rather
verbose above), I'll instead give some little tips with fighting the more difficult opponents. This is written for
NORMAL difficulty. Easier than that, you shouldn't have any trouble. By the way, my Single Player High Score
records for Samus are:
Classic: Hard 980180
Adventure: Hard 1449100
All-Star: Hard 675940

HOME-RUN CONTEST: I have to admit. I could never get Samus over 1000 ft with a method I could come up with.
Compare this with our Ganondorf, Roy and Yoshi records (1680, 1590, and 2059 respectively) and it looks awful.
However, I did visit GameFAQs (Great bunch of people, they are), and found a guide for this. The best record there
is 1128.6, and here's how Big Joe (BigJoe7x7@aol.com) did it, but I've corrected a few spelling mistakes:

Grab the bat and hit the bag with toward+A, as you're in the move, hold
up. While holding up, press the A button to do a hammer kick. The bag
will bounce straight up with little vertical distance. Continue this
until time is just about up. Samus has a lightning fast swing (which
you could probably abuse in fights), so be sure to take note of that
before you try swinging at the last second.

Of note with this: Samus DOES have a fast swing. It's almost as noticable with the Beam Sword, but the
Home Run Bat stands alone in speed. Practice the timing a bit, but it's still probably the fastest next to Sheik
(who can't use the bat to send people off unless BOTH hits connect, and then it sends them UP... useless in
the Home Run Contest). BTW, "toward+A" means the power forward (what would be a roundhouse), and my
record is 1022.3 ft.

BREAK THE TARGETS: Target Test times and In-Game times count toward your record. Samus'
isn't tough; the hardest part about it is doing it quickly. Compare this to Ganondorf or Game and Watch,
which rely on luck, or Falco or Pichu, which are just plain mean. Even before the GO disappears, sweep
the ground to hit the first one. Good timing and a Chozo Kick takes out the second one to the upper left.
The third, in the top, is a Corkscrew moment. Fall to the right and launch a smash missle to nail the floating
one. Land and do a curved jump and Corkscrew the one on the ledge. On your way down, the one below you
is crying for either a bomb or a gun sweep (recommend the bomb, as you can steer off to the left after dropping it).
Ignore the one in the pit unless you can hit it with a bomb, and shoot a missle off to the one to your left.
The last one comes easy.
My best Samus time: 18.33s

SNAG TROPHIES: Cover Fire does the trick, but it's deceptive. It LOOKS like it should send them backward,
but it doesn't. Instead, it does it FORWARD. Anything out of range can be hit into the bucket with Kickback, or,
a well-timed Ground Blast facing the pot. Not too hard, practice on Very Easy to get here quickly. Still, though,
it's not as easy as Pikachu... Thunder will ALWAYS shoot the trophy in the pot provided it didn't touch the
charge around Pikachu himself.

RACE TO THE FINISH: A cinch with any character with 2.5 jumps and a decent turn of speed (Samus included).
Whenever you fall, tap and hold DOWN to cover the fall faster. For jumping, only use the Screw Attack if you will
land IMMEDIATELY after using it -- you fall SO slowly otherwise. Avoid all doors. When presented with the 3 way
fork, take the center one. The first two magma pits are easy to dodge. The third one requires conservative double
jumping and bomb-jumping -- aim for the hovering platform. Keep going to the right -- when you see the red zone,
you're almost home free! Keep running. Don't jump when the ground slopes in here, as you'll instead hit the spikes.
If you can hit the last door here, that's 5 coins and 80000 points in the bag. The second-last one (the one at the
entrance to the red zone) should be used if you have less than 5 seconds left upon entering the red zone.
It's worth 50000 points and 4 coins.

MASTER HAND: The boss of Classic. Beat down his 300 HP in 5 minutes. He's a LOT like his N64 counterpart,
but he's got a few new tricks: His Power Poke hits 3 times instead of 2 (fake him out to avoid it), his Laser Fingers
will probably catch you off guard the first time you see it (Look! He's standing still, helpless! I smell some combo
action!), and his grab, which I call Turbo Grope since it's very mean, and is hard to dodge without practice (shake
the stick to get out). Cover Fire, Fire Rain, the Gun Sweep, and Corkscrew are your best friends here, since he
flies and the projectiles just don't do enough damage fast enough. Not too tough, unless...

CRAZY HAND: ..you get to Master Hand without continuing. Beat him down to half of his health in 1:30 and this
bane of existence will appear. While in essence it's very much like Master Hand, it's stronger. It's grab does more
damage and plants a Lip's Stick Flower on your head, it drops shadow bombs, it flails maniacally, and to top it all off
works together with Master Hand. They have 3 DIRECT combo attacks (Mad Clap, Wild Applause and Palm Pound),
and their regular attacks work in tandem (both grabbing at nearly the same time, Master Hand doing the walk forcing
you to run into Crazy Hand's flail, and so on). Mad Clap is easy to dodge: When the hands make it to the side, jump
over one. Wild Applause hits many times, and opens with BOTH hands emitting sleep gas. Stay in the center to avoid
the gas, then jump over them (Since Samus has extended jumps, you can actually just stay over them rather than running.).
Finally, Palm Pound is noted by Master Hand signalling to Crazy Hand. The Morphing Ball gets you out of this in a hurry.
My best advice: Finish the damaged Master Hand (to avoid tandems and combos), and snipe at Crazy Hand with missiles
until he does something like the Laser Fingers, then wail on him like Master Hand. Since few of Crazy Hand's attacks
carry him over a distance, like Master Hand's do, he's beaten this way easily. Notice: If you have to continue in this
battle, even if you've already seen Crazy Hand this time through, he won't show up in the rematch. By the way,
Event Match 50 is a LOT like this one, except Crazy Hand starts off with Master Hand, and they're on the Hard
or Very Hard AI setting. Read below on that one.

A LINKLESS PAST: On the Underground Maze level, it's so easy to get through with the Switzerland award
(Didn't attack or get attacked) in record time. It involves cautious motion, since you never know which of the
6 rooms the Triforce is in. Samus can usually jump right over most rooms with the Master Sword in them,
but there is one route that makes it rather easy.Start off by falling to the left afer leaving the entrance. Approach
the first Link room, and peer in. If it's the Triforce, you're done. If not, try to jump over it without touching any
platforms. If you aren't comfortable air dodging, sacrifice the Switzerland to use the Bomb Jumps. Clear the
magma and climb the shaft. Wall jumping is a little helpful here to avoid using the screw attack. Check the next
room cautiously. If it's not the Triforce, skip it again and proceed to the LOWER RIGHT. After entering the shaft
to the right, HOLD RIGHT when you fall, and use a double jump if needed. You'll skip that room automatically.
Peer in and see if it's the Triforce. If not, keep moving. The upper right has one more room to check in, and if
it's not the Triforce, you'll need to precision jump your way over it. Bombs can help you do this. Move upward to
check the fifth room, which you can avoid with the same precision jumping. Finally, across to the left is the final
room, above the magma pit. I personally find an average of 2 Master Swords before the Triforce.

DARK BOWSER: The boss of Adventure, who appears slightly larger with each difficulty level. And he's a joke to
Samus. Missle his reptillian hulk to about 150% (he's heavy), then fire a consectutive Smash Missle and
Charged Shot. He's down in record time. Note: If you got here and beat him without using a continue in 18 minutes
or less (A LOT of that can be saved by following the "Linkless past" trick above, and by taking just over 30 seconds
on the Kirby team. If you get Half-Minute Man there, you have to fight an extra match with Giant Kirby), it will say
"Stage Clear" instead of "Game Clear" and you won't get the Adventure Clear bonus. Instead, his trophy will return
from the depths, be struck by lightning, and present to you...

GIGA BOWSER: The ultimate behemoth. He's, in essence, Bowser, but about twice as fast, 5 times the
size and mass, and all of his smash moves (and the Bowser Bomb) are nearly instant death, and carry with
them an elemental property (they set you on fire, awash in shadows, spark you with lightning, freeze you, or
embed you in the ground). Hope for good items on high difficulties, since Samus isn't exactly perfect for this fight.
The trick shown for Dark Bowser works, on the whole, but even Smash Missiles won't faze this guy like they did his
smaller iteration. Try to avoid jumping over him, and instead dodge through him while charging and shooting missles.
He tends to hold his flame breath for a while, so unload on him then. If you're really good, then use Cover Fire and
Fire Rain to rack up damage. Theres only one move that'll faze this freak: the Gun Sweep. It's VERY hard to pull off
since he'll probably hit you before you land it. Stick to projectiles on this one. If it helps, evision him as
Mother Brain Mk. 2. Even if you have to continue on him, you'll just have to fight Dark Bowser (Yawn!) again, and
you'll automatically advance to Giga Bowser.

EVENT MATCH 50: One of the hardest. All of the ones up to now it's up to you to do (only a few of them are
frustrating, notably Trophy Tussle 3 and Lethal Marathon, but some are fun, like Legendary Pokemon and
En Garde!). Master Hand (300 HP) and Crazy Hand (300 HP) start out against you, with the AI from HARD difficulty.
I actually recommend clearing this one first with Ganondorf (he's the easiest to do it with), then trying again with
Samus for a challenge, since it's nearly impossible to do with several characters (we've only done it with Ganondorf,
Link, Young Link, Capt.Falcon, Marth, Ness and ONCE, by luck, with Samus). Reset the match until Crazy Hand just
sits there (meaning he's waiting for Master hand to finish what he's doing so he can start a tandem attack). This is
PERFECT if Master Hand uses the Laser Fingers, since that's so slow Crazy Hand will sit there for a while. If you're
using Ganondorf, unload with half-second-charged Up-smashes (the Hurricane Kick), each one will hit for about 60%
damage (MINIMUM!!! Now you see why he's easiest to do this with). Keep it up, using his airial-down foot stomp if
needed. Dodge any attacks from Master Hand, and wail on Crazy Hand until he falls. If either hand enters the
Laser Fingers, use the Forward-air attack to rack up damage. Master Hand is much easier on his own, even with
the percentage you get from missing with a dodge.

Samus has a harder time with this, since projectiles won't save you. The same tricks for fighting Master/Crazy
hand above (the fire moves, corkscrew, and even a few projectiles here and there, especially if they're holding position)
work here, but it's HARD. Most of Crazy Hand's moves involve him holding still; use missles and the Charge Cannon on
him for best results, unless it's the Laser Finger, in which case you use the Fire Rain or Corkscrew (or better yet, combo
them!). Good luck, and don't tire of the resets! Remember, the L/R-DOWN dodge lasts a while and keeps you in the
same spot -- using it during one of their Pound moves give you a chance to hit with ALL hits of a charged Cover Fire.

EVENT MATCH 51: If you can do this with Samus, you're better than I am. Giga Bowser, Ganondorf (Lvl 7+)
and Mewtwo (Lvl 7+), on the same team, against you, all stock 3. I've only been able to beat Giga Bowser 3
times, and the other two at least once, before losing as Samus. It doesn't help that Final Destination is one
"Not air-grapple friendly" stage. I racked up their damage with the Stairway To Heaven combo mentioned above,
and finished them off with the Death From Above combo or a charge shot. Regrettably, Ganondorf is completely
obsessed with his Dark Dive, and thus edge guards you as if it was a way of life. You can avoid this by being lucky
and Air Dodging through him. Your only saving grace on that one is it counts as a throw, so you get your double-jump
back. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been able to finish this one with Samus. I did it ONCE with Ness (PK Thunder
in the butt as a missle), and I've done it _easily_ with Jigglypuff (YES! You didn't misread! Screech (Down-B, I know
it's called Rest) KOs Giga Bowser in 2-3 hits, max. If you're lucky, you'll take out one or two of the other's lives with it.
Jigglypuff can stay far enough above them consistently to avoid retribution, and far enough away to avoid team offensives.
The other two were finished with a combination of Rollout and lots of luck with items like the Bob-ombs, mines, and
Super Scope.). I wish you luck doing this one! Your reward is Final Destination as a selectable Vs. map. Email me
if you've managed to pull it off with Samus: I'll include your name and how you did it in a later update.

Samus vs. Type battles

Coming in next update. This will discuss how to use Samus effectively against certain types of opponents or
battles (Vs. lightweights, vs. swordsmen, 4-player games, 2 player games, etc.). I may go as far as a 1v1 guide
for each character (based on level 9), but that won't be for a while.

General training (or "Quick-Start Samus")

Coming soon. Tips on how to go from either a 'Cube Newbie or 64 veteran to a master of Samus. Most of the
stuff that's due for here is already above (timing notes, for one) that I may move down here rather than clutter
the rest of it up.

Ruminations:
As always, Samus carries with her an air of mystery. The following information was included in SSBM for
what is to my knowledge the first time:
SAMUS' ORIGIN: I assume that the Classic trophy is referring to some untold story element.
I wouldn't be surprised if something of this actually shows up in a game (see canonical material, below).
I'm hoping Prime, being a prequel, will have some clue on this. I really hope for a flashback myself...
THE CHOZO: Finally, we learn what happened to these guys! As the Chozo Statue trophy tells us,
they were once the head of Galactic Civilization, but pulled back to watch the rest of us work our way up.
Look for a walking one of these in the Brinstar level.
CANONICAL MATERIAL: The MDb has scans of an old Nintendo Power comic (look under Super
Metroid, it's the color one in English). This was never considered actually "true" to the storyline (canonical)
by fans, despite that it came from Nintendo, because it wasn't in a game. Go and read it. Now reread Samus'
classic tropy (up top). The similarities are eerie... I hold that the games are definitive, but the comic is not. For
one thing, the comic contradicts the Chozo Statue trophy quote. Of course, Fusion or Prime could change this.
I hope that the comic isn't canonical, for a good reason: Armstrong Houston is lame.

LEGALESE:
This is the original work of me, Brian Dupuis, known here as Tempest Stormwind. Feel free to cite my stuff,
but give some reference at least (I did to Big Joe up in the HomeRun section). That's all I ask. The earlier
said stuff also applies: I'm not officially affiliated with the site, so TJ is not responsible for anything I said.
So don't flame him, or anyone else on the staff.

CONTACT:
I'm reachable at ambergris@hotmail.com, but I don't check too regularily. If you put "MDb" in the subject,
I won't treat it as one of the thousands of spam messages I get already (and would kindly ask that you don't
sign me up for any such things, please!). I'll reply if I can. I have other half-finished guides in the SkillMASTER
series here (Zelda, Link, Ness, Marth, and the beginnings of Roy, Peach, Young Link and Capt. Falcon). The
characters I prefer to use are mentioned first (Zelda, Link, Samus and Ness are my favorites, really, followed
by the others). If you're interested, want to make a submission for one or more of these, or just willing to give
feedback, drop me a line.

Update history:
2002/11/6 -- Finally, after several losses of the file and one lost memory card, the file is complete and sent to MDb.
Plan on submitting my next update after the 18th, so my ruminations aren't based on only 3 games...

Metroid Database.com

The #1 source for Metroid since 1996.