So if Samus' melee attacks suck...

[Quillion]

...how are you supposed to rack up damage?

Samus' poor melee is intentional. From one of the Smash U loading tips:

Standard Attack: Foes can often put up their shields in between the first and second hits of this combo. It's safer to just hit with the first attack and then flee.

So how can you get the opponent to launch percent?

 

[Flaze35]

I'm no expert, nor is Samus my main, but I do play her a lot. Typically, you want to play defensively, and keep the opponent away from you. Use her missiles and charge shot for zoning and damage. Charge the shot whenever possible. If they roll into you (and you read it), hit them with a side or down smash. If you didn't read it, jab or forward tilt works pretty well. Either way, you typically won't be following up with more physical attacks. Take this time to charge a shot. If it is charged, I tend to use homing missiles if they get launched high. If they stay lower to the ground, I may try to land a power missile or charge shot.

For characters with a reflect, you will have to be more careful. One thing I tend to do in casual games is fire the charge shot from the edge, since the recoil pushes you back and makes you fall off (and from there you can ledge grab). For more serious games, I'm not sure if this is the correct way to play, but use more homing missiles than power missiles, since they will slow down and run out of fuel if they are reflected. You may have to focus a little more on physical attacks. I like to use grabs. I tend to use charge shots at close range in these matchups, like when they go in for a dash attack.

tl;dr Let them come to you (if they can) and punish them for it.

 

[Rohins]

Her dtilt doesn't suck. It hits on frame 6, ends on 9 and has a large disjointed hitbox. Dtilts and grabs at low percent are how I get most of my damage at low % if I'm not hitting them with missiles, zairs and uncharged blasts.

Jab becomes useful around 50 or 60. Just the first hit. It has a poor hitbox and lasts one frame less than dtilt but against most of the cast it will connect. Kirby and Pika (and I'm sure others) have some frames in a lot of their animations where their hitbox height is really short. Jab isn't smart to use in those situations (neither is straight fsmash).

Low % dash attack can lead to combos but you have to commit pretty hard to it. The hitbox isn't active early in the animation (starts on frame 10) so it can be hard to cross someone up with a dash attack.

Oh yeah, upb out of shield is good stuff too.

 

[Flaze35]

Rohins' post reminded me of one more thing. Don't be afraid to fire a shot you're charging before it's complete if they approach you in an unsafe manner. For some reason, a lot of casual players like to forget the fact that you can fire it without being at full charge.

And I guess I'll have to try out that down tilt and upb OoS.

 

[TeaTwoTime]

To add to the above post, using grab out of charging B is a mix-up that a lot of people fail to anticipate. I also haven't seen Zair mentioned in this thread so far; properly spaced Zairs that land both hits of it are great for racking up damage over time.

 

[KenMeister]

Wait, what?! Sakurai actually DID INTEND for jab to be poor? How the hell does he expect a Samus to just run and hit, especially since:
A) Samus is a slow character
B) Possibility of getting cornered at an edge
C) They could just jab or ftilt you back if theirs is fast enough.

Holy flid Sakurai, you have no f**king perspective at all. lol

 

[Road Death Wheel]

Wait, what?! Sakurai actually DID INTEND for jab to be poor? How the hell does he expect a Samus to just run and hit, especially since:
A) Samus is a slow character
B) Possibility of getting cornered at an edge
C) They could just jab or ftilt you back if theirs is fast enough.

Holy flid Sakurai, you have no f**king perspective at all. lol

jab around the 30 percent range knocks then too far from you. thats what he means. you get the second jab to fake out shields

 

[BlackCephie]

Most of Samus' melee attacks are fine. Ftilt, dtilt, fsmash are all solid. Dsmash is not as good as it used to be, but still a solid gtfo move to punish rolls or after a spot dodge. The thing is that you need to use all her tools. Good thing is that she has a lot of tools.

 

[DungeonMaster]

Regarding the OP, I'm finding Samus' melee to be really not-that bad in fact. Her f-tilt is a particularly good, safe move, I find myself just kicking people in the face all of the time. At worst I'm clanking, often out-ranging (even swords). I'm tending to simply beat up the small-short things like pickachu, villager (I particularly like to kick villager). What IS irritating me right now is the need to angle the f-smash in a clutch, specifically against short characters or even characters that fall on their asses. Zelda fell on her ass the other day, and my f-smash went straight through her apparent body animation, to no effect. Likewise the irritating Ness, looks like a clean hit but whiffs.

Also 2nd hit to the jab combo is great right at the ledge in mid-percents. Run-off and d-air, it's so fast it's almost a combo. It makes much of the cast fall into just the right arc.

 

[BlackCephie]

Keep in mind patience. You can rack up a lot of damage with well timed missiles and friends. One thing ive found is that samus is very reactionary in this smash. Its better to bait and punish than it is to overcommit and be aggresive. A good time to switch to offense is in the drop zone were samus' floatiness and aerials can net early kills or easy damage.