xbombr
Smash Ace
Samus isn't higher on the tier list because her close range options are fairly limited. Basically your only good OOS option is Up+B (maybe nair too) and once you do that a couple of times against a decent player, they're going to try to bait it and punish you accordingly. The rest of her game is centered around keeping opponents away from her with Nair/Bair, good tilts/smashes, and easily counterable projectiles that only apply real pressure to the opponent when she has a lead. Her combo game in comparison to spacies, sheik, and falcon (everyone above her really) is awful.
Other characters can play the spacing and zoning game with better OoS options (like an actual shield grab) and have actual combo options when they get in close. Samus works well as a defensive character that outspaces and outzones other characters, but she lacks true offensive pressure in the sense that a combo character does. She can't mix up her game between spacing and zoning with threatening offense.
Additionally, from the defensive perspective, when someone does get in on her, she's absolute combo fodder. She's the perfect weight for juggling and her options for defending herself when someone is underneath her are absolutely abysmal. As Samus, you're in a perpetual struggle to stay on the ground and away from opponents, which is the opposite of what I would consider a good match up. People who know how to play around your missiles, bait your OOS options, and can space at least as well as you can make doing this an absolute nightmare.
For the reasons stated above, she has awful match ups against some of the characters above her and does just alright against others, justifying her current position. I've played enough Samus to know that being successful as her depends upon you playing really well in comparison to your opponent, having an a couple of good secondaries for specific match ups that are particularly bad, or your opponent having little experience against your character. I seriously had to learn Sheik and bit of Falco to be able to win some match ups without giving myself an aneurism.
Other characters can play the spacing and zoning game with better OoS options (like an actual shield grab) and have actual combo options when they get in close. Samus works well as a defensive character that outspaces and outzones other characters, but she lacks true offensive pressure in the sense that a combo character does. She can't mix up her game between spacing and zoning with threatening offense.
Additionally, from the defensive perspective, when someone does get in on her, she's absolute combo fodder. She's the perfect weight for juggling and her options for defending herself when someone is underneath her are absolutely abysmal. As Samus, you're in a perpetual struggle to stay on the ground and away from opponents, which is the opposite of what I would consider a good match up. People who know how to play around your missiles, bait your OOS options, and can space at least as well as you can make doing this an absolute nightmare.
For the reasons stated above, she has awful match ups against some of the characters above her and does just alright against others, justifying her current position. I've played enough Samus to know that being successful as her depends upon you playing really well in comparison to your opponent, having an a couple of good secondaries for specific match ups that are particularly bad, or your opponent having little experience against your character. I seriously had to learn Sheik and bit of Falco to be able to win some match ups without giving myself an aneurism.