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Why is samus so under-used?

Crystanium

Smash Hero
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
5,921
Location
California
have you played as Samus alot in brawl, or just glanced at her surface?

comparing melee Samus to brawl Samus, yes she got nerfed. lots of people left b/c of the bomb and missles changes, her old playstyle doesn't work anymore, and only some stayed to learn the new playstyle. its like Peach, some people just left her on account of the Dsmash nerf. Samus is still usable just not what she used to be.
Guess what? That's my twin brother right there, and he gets more than just glancing at the shiny surface of Samus. He brawls with my Samus and knows what it's like to fight a good Samus main. When I brawled with him not long ago, he said, "Yeah right Samus is low-tier. She's secretly top-tier." Another thing that should be pointed out is that my brother didn't play as Samus in Melee, so I don't think he would have a problem playing as Samus in Brawl. The funny thing was, was that people complained about how Samus was floaty, but when my brother tried her out, he said to me, "She's not even floaty." Yes, there are people who exaggerate the "floatiness" of Samus.
 

Ray/Boshi

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
363
Location
Louisiana
The thing about Samus that most people fail to understand is that she is heavy and has a fantastic recovery. This means that she lives a lot longer than most characters even for Brawl standards. Living to more than 200% isn't unheard of. Also she racks up damage deceptively quick so even though her kill moves don't start killing until higher percents, they still kill fairly quickly. Also Samus doesn't need to flat out kill off the sides or the tops because she has one of the best off stage games. She has a magnificent spike and can gimp fantastically with her projectiles, zair, bair, and nair. The key to playing a good Samus, as I have learned from watching Tudors videos, is to play on the edge. This is where Samus shines. She has so many options off the side that most people just don't think about. She is floaty, so she can stay in the air a very long time, combine this with bomb jumping and she can play for a long time away from the stage; something not many characters can easily do. She has 2 very quick recoveries to make edgehogging easier. Her zair can be used to gain invincibilty on the corner when it is crucial, not something many characters are able to do. The key to Samus is to get the opponent off the side, I've found that once this is accomplished and you understand how to use Samus they should almost always die.

Also, I Feel Asleep, do you have any videos I could watch? I'd love to see more good Samus players.

Most interstingly correct thing i've read out of these 6 pages about Samus. :laugh:

Samus shines period. Only if you play her pateintly and accuratly.

Reason Samus is so underused is simply because the mass majority isnt interested in playing high risk characters over the if you mess up you arent left that open for a KO or gimp characters. We all mess up, and we all make mistakes. Hence, Most people (especially tournament wise) are interested in one thing, winning. Reason why most people play as snake, mk, ect ect. If you perfect them fast, lagless, early KO move characters the best you can, you will most probably win over 80% of every match you play. You'd especially win over the poor guy using Samus.

Only advantage the Samus would have over you is if he played a flwaless game never leaving himself open. Which isnt possible. Samus has to work alot harder for the win unfortunatly.

Lol, I agree Orly, to all the dedicated Samus players, keep perfecting her the best you can. Tudor especially. No disrespect to the other good Samus players , not trying to put him above ya'll (He's just the main one i've been watching on youtube) He's brings Samus' A game on each of the vids. :p
 

0RLY

A great conversation filler at bars and parties
Joined
Nov 18, 2007
Messages
2,681
Location
Temple University, Philadelphia
How many times must I say this. SAMUS IS THE SECOND SLOWEST FALLING CHARACTER IN THE GAME! Unless your brother mains Jigglypuff, Samus falls way too freaking slow. Samus could pseudo-shffl if she had a faster falling speed. Who wouldn't want to missile cancel ridiculously fast? Who wouldn't want to create a wall of zairs? Samus is nerfed, so don't deny that fact. Admit that she is bad, but we can still play to make her seem good.
 

Crystanium

Smash Hero
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
5,921
Location
California
How many times must I say this. SAMUS IS THE SECOND SLOWEST FALLING CHARACTER IN THE GAME! Unless your brother mains Jigglypuff, Samus falls way too freaking slow. Samus could pseudo-shffl if she had a faster falling speed. Who wouldn't want to missile cancel ridiculously fast? Who wouldn't want to create a wall of zairs? Samus is nerfed, so don't deny that fact. Admit that she is bad, but we can still play to make her seem good.
:confused: Who said I was denying? My brother thinks I am quite good as Samus, and my friend has a hard time when I play against him online, since, according to him, I do "hit and run" tactics. I don't mind that she falls slow, or if she is the second slowest falling character in the game. Personally, I like the way she is. Like I said before, my brother probably didn't feel any slowness in falling, either, because he didn't play as Samus in Melee. I'm not saying that Samus isn't a bad character, either. I get satisfaction in knowing that my opponents know that Samus is low-tier, and yet lose.
 

JigglyZelda003

Smash Hero
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
6,792
Location
Cleveland, OH
:confused: Who said I was denying? My brother thinks I am quite good as Samus, and my friend has a hard time when I play against him online, since, according to him, I do "hit and run" tactics. I don't mind that she falls slow, or if she is the second slowest falling character in the game. Personally, I like the way she is. Like I said before, my brother probably didn't feel any slowness in falling, either, because he didn't play as Samus in Melee. I'm not saying that Samus isn't a bad character, either. I get satisfaction in knowing that my opponents know that Samus is low-tier, and yet lose.
key words. online is hard to guage with skill b/c of the lag alot of fast characters, and even some slower ones, suck even with slight lag. my sister and other people i commonly play with think my Peach, Olimar, and Zelda are all broken too b/c im just that much better than they are. besides since your brother didn't play Samus in melee he can't understand her losses from the former to the current game. you may not mind her slower falling speed but thats not really helping Samus in the long run.
 

Crystanium

Smash Hero
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
5,921
Location
California
key words. online is hard to guage with skill b/c of the lag alot of fast characters, and even some slower ones, suck even with slight lag.
Which is why I don't take online matches seriously. Head over to All is Brawl and check my blog.

my sister and other people i commonly play with think my Peach, Olimar, and Zelda are all broken too b/c im just that much better than they are.
I'd think Olimar is broken, considering he has that much power in the game.

besides since your brother didn't play Samus in melee he can't understand her losses from the former to the current game. you may not mind her slower falling speed but thats not really helping Samus in the long run.
You're making a special pleading under the fourth form, my friend. Watch the logical fallacies next time. Even if my friend has a hard time online, that makes little difference, because I can just use hit and run tactics offline. And don't assume that me not minding the exaggerated slowness of Samus isn't helping Samus. You can either complain, moan and groan about your character, or you can do something about it. I prefer the latter.
 

JigglyZelda003

Smash Hero
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
6,792
Location
Cleveland, OH
You're making a special pleading under the fourth form, my friend. Watch the logical fallacies next time. Even if my friend has a hard time online, that makes little difference, because I can just use hit and run tactics offline. And don't assume that me not minding the exaggerated slowness of Samus isn't helping Samus. You can either complain, moan and groan about your character, or you can do something about it. I prefer the latter.
maybe i was wrong in my wording. i am sorry, since i was kind of frustrated at the time and let my emotions come out in words. i realize you can use similar tactics offline and they can work. im not saying you not minding her slowness isn't helpful at all, since on the recovery end it is very helpful, but just imagine what she could do if she fell a bit faster.........
Anyway i agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence.
 

Quez256

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 24, 2007
Messages
333
Location
Zacoalco, Mexico
I think maybe because HugS left her, people started going with what he thought and not what they thought. Giving up on a character like Captain Falcon, totally understandable. He got hella butchered. Samus? I don't understand why anyone would give up on her. There really is no good reason for that. What's that? Nerfed? I hardly see a difference. If anything she was improved.
← Guilty as charged, HugS wasn't the only one. She's still a secondary, still might switch back, getting somewhat sick of MK >.>

Sad that I dropped her partly due to lack of information as well (z-air, SHSMC, DMC, etc.)
 

goodkid

Smash Lord
Joined
May 28, 2007
Messages
1,066
Location
Homewood, IL
People stopped playing her, because her playstyle has changed so much, and many people are unwilling to master her new strategies. Samus has one of the best brick wall defensive playstyle, she'll get more play later in the game. Her spike is soo good now, and her recovery is fantastic. I don't play her, because I wasn't ever interested in Samus, she does fit my playstyle, but I'm more for a medium-fast, medium powered char, like Zelda, Ness, & Peach that I main.
 

ph00tbag

C(ϾᶘϿ)Ͻ
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Messages
7,245
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NC
I stopped playing regularly as Samus because the playstyle dropped considerably in terms of how aggressive you could be, and I like to play aggressively. Yes, you can chain zairs together, but that's the most you can really do safely and reliably. Instead of having to rely on zair and missile spam, as well as a few combos that degenerate in terms the efficacy of the next move, and one or two effective but short combos, I wanted to be able to play a character that could pressure aggressively and be rewarded for it. Samus was able to do that in Melee, but not so much in Brawl, IMO.
 

GotACoolName

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
365
Location
Milwaukee, WI
I have no idea where all this she plays completely differently from Melee comes from. When Brawl came out, I played Samus and thought, wow, she bears more similarity to her Melee self in the way she plays than almost any other character. She felt exactly like she did when I first started using her seriously.

I think it's cause so many players known for their Samus's quit her so early on that it left a bad stigma.
This is what I think.
 

Julz

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
187
Location
Melbourne, Australia
You have to use moves that you didn't use in melee so as to have a better chance of landing hits. There has been change in the proportions of the moves used and so samus players play differently in that sense.

People who first play Samus will be horrified with how hard it is to land a hit.
 

Lv.99

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
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Pondering questions
Well, I don't know how good Samus was in melee since I mained fox. But, I've decided to start looking into Samus all because of Tudor's recent combo video. I saw it and went, "......I didn't know samus could combo like that." That convinced me to play the fierce bounty hunter
 

Serris

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MookieRah pretty much hit the nail on the head here. All the leftover Samii from Melee ditched us early on, so now we're stuck picking up the pieces and forming the metagame by ourselves. Of course, we're still doing an excellent job, but that sort of thing really does leave a bad taste in your mouth.
 
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