Zero Suit Samus Questions & Answers

[phanna]

I'll update this first post to serve as a FAQ, and if you have any other questions about Samus, please feel free to ask here and myself or someone else will do our best to help you out!

Q: How do I unlock Zero-Suit Samus (aka ZSS, Zamus)?

A: ZSS is just an alternate form of Samus, similar to how Sheik is an alternate form of Zelda. Since Samus is part of the initially available cast of characters, you don't need to unlock anything in order to play as Samus in her zero-suit.

Q: How do I play as Zero-Suit Samus?

A: Besides Samus' Final Smash which will switch her in her suit of armor to zero-suit (and vice-versa), you can start a match as ZSS by holding down a shield button between the character select screen and the stage selection menu. This can also be done for controllers in the slot of a CPU opponent to have them start as ZSS.

Additionally, you can also shed your armor at any time by hitting up-down-up on the d-pad (very quickly). If you have a FS charged, you can do this transformation and still have it to use as ZSS. The only way to transform from ZSS back to Samus is through her Final Smash. See this Dojo update for more.

Q: What about in tournament mode, can I still play as Zamus?

A: As explained in ZSSamus selectable in Tournament mode with C-stick: "You have to go over Samus' space and push the C-stick in any direction to change Samus' space into Zamus'. Then you can pick colors normally with X and Y." For wiimote only, the button is - (minus). For wiimote and nunchuk, the button is C (above Z on the nunchuk).

Q: How does her down-B work?

A: Right after you start her down-special, Zamus will perform her special jump. You can choose which direction she jumps in with the control stick (left versus right). Similarly, you can choose the direction of her attack as well, by holding left or right when you hit A. Zamus can walljump from this down-special jump, which results in continuing / restarting the move from the wall, and away from the wall.

Q: Where do I talk about Armored Samus?

A: For conversation specific to armored Samus, that should be separated from Zero-Suit Samus conversations, use the Samus character specific forum

Q: What about _______?

A: Ask here, and someone will help you out!

 

[GuMz]

Thanks for this muchly apprciated

 

[ShardZ]

so just how freaking fast do you have to hit up-down-up to shed the armor? I've only been able to pull it off once, and aside from that it's just been a lot of samus spazzing out with taunts until we just go back to char select 'cause I forgot to hold R again

As a side note, when you go to the stage select you can see the chars selected in the upper-left - ZSS will have a different portrait from normal Samus, so you can double check that before entering the match. unless someone's mashing start to get to the match asap. -_-

 

[W.Jr]

my question is why is zss so sick.

 

[Paradigm]

I've heard that ZSS cannot repeatedly dsmash (or shooting) an opponent to hold them in place.

1 Can two ZSS's switch off dsmashing (or shooting) someone to hold stunned in place?

2 Can ZSS switch off her dsmash (or shot) with another character's move, like a jab, to hold the opponent in place?

 

[Naybewon]

In my experience with Brawl, you can't start the match as ZSS by holding down the R-shield, and instead have to use the L-shield.

This might be fixed/switched for the U.S.A. version.

 

[ShardZ]

Paradigm - hmm, not sure, but I imagine it'd be possible to combo into another d.smash during a team match.
Naybewon - wrong. I almost always select with the R-trigger, but either one works.

 

[dorky24]

um, when you are in air, but off the stage and trying to recover, can you use ZSS up B to pull down an opponent above you? would it be consider a spike? or does the tether recovery supercede the order? this situation is when you are recovering back to the stage, but still above the ledge. in addition, do the suit part still appear when you do the R shield trick in the beginning when items are off?

 

[ClobberinTime]

Is trhe switch from Samus to Zamus quick enough to be viable competitively? And can you switch back and forth during battles?

Those might be stupid questions, but I'd really like to know.

 

[Red Mage16]

As he said in the first post, you can become ZSS at any time but you cannot switch back without using her Final Smash. So to answer your second question, no you cannot switch back and forth at will.

 

[Kraven Ergeist]

in addition, do the suit part still appear when you do the R shield trick in the beginning when items are off?

In regard to this second question, it is answered in the ZSS video thread here, in which the player starts the game as ZSS and immediate proceeds to hurl parts of her suit at her opponent. In almost all of these matches, there are no items.

 

[SuperSmashSisters]

what happens when you're hit by the stun gun in the air?

 

[Takumaru]

This is more of an opinion question: what do some of you other people who have played Zamus think about her grab game?

 

[gdtyrael]

Its pretty bad if you miss, I think its the laggest one, but if u connect its the few ones that setups for another moves like Uair, Fair, cause of ZSS speed

 

[MzNetta]

Can ZSS grapple on to the ledge with:

Her >B?
Her Grab?

If yes, does it home in on the edge like the ^B does?
Is there any difference in range?

 

[Ken34]

This is more of an opinion question: what do some of you other people who have played Zamus think about her grab game?

its kind of like link's from melee, it comes out real fast, and good range, so good for shield grabbing, problem is, if you facing someone who knows what they are doing, you can follow up off of any of the throws, cause the throws have no hit stun, so they can air dodge right away.
but your best bet is to mostly use down throw and mindgame them.

 

[Takumaru]

Can ZSS grapple on to the ledge with:

Her >B?
Her Grab?

If yes, does it home in on the edge like the ^B does?
Is there any difference in range?

I know her >b can grab the ledge and it works when your above-ish or parallel to the ledge. I didn't notice a range difference between than and her ^b and I don't know if her grab works or not.

 

[Mzero]

how does her down B work?

 

[Ken34]

how does her down B work?

she does a flip that has invicnibility frames during it, and you can hit A to do a kick out of it, nice for a mixup, and it also acts like a third jump for recovering. if you time the kick right on an opponent off the stage, it can spike them.

 

[Takumaru]

The tip of her toe on the kick is a spike.

 

[ShardZ]

Can ZSS grapple on to the ledge with:

Her >B?
Her Grab?

If yes, does it home in on the edge like the ^B does?
Is there any difference in range?

u.B & f.B both grapple. I don't *think* there's a difference in ranges, but I could be wrong.
grab DOES NOT grapple. I found this out the hard way.

 

[Yeroc]

My impressions on ZSS's recovery mechanics:

f-B and u-B grapple from different positions relative to the edge. If you're way far down, you won't grapple with f-B; likewise if you're off to the side and/or above the lip of the stage, u-B won't connect either. Fun fact: f-B will grab the edge in reverse if you're close enough. No run off f-B's for the KO .

Using u-B during the start of either of your jumps makes them go like twice as high. It's crazy. I wouldn't know what's the best order to use your recovery options yet, but I think d-B might not be a bad choice for first. It seems to stop your horizontal movement, and then you're always free to double jump + u-B later, which you could also use to stall/remove edgehoggers, then grapple the edge.

 

[.kR0]

I'll just post a general moveset input so people can get a general idea when to use what moves

K.O. moves
-Forward Smash (around 130-140%)
-Forward B (around 110-120%)
-Down B (around 110%)
-Upair (around 90% or even less since opponent is probably decently high up in the air to begin with)
-Fair (second hit) (around 120%)
-Bair (around 100%)

Moves that can be connected to other moves easily (moves with the most combo potential)
-upsmash
-upB
-Dtilt
-uptilt
-upair
-Charged Blaster

Just plain good moves
-Forward B = Jesus Christ this **** is good. Amazing range, can kill, auto-sweetspot function, can be used as tether recovery, no lag when the whip comes back in, can be used in the air with DI for more range
-Her first jab = Really good at disrupting anything, and ties into her tilts easily and fast.
-Dtilt/uptilt = nice range on dtilt, both launch them into the air, uptilt is a multi hit and both comes out really fast
-ftilt = good range, nice space tool, forces trips sometimes (slanted down I think)
-upair = combos at low percentage, K.O's at high. Really good horizontal/vertical range. Comes out fast
-Down B = spikes, can kill horizontally, helps Zamus's ****ty recovery, nice mindgame tool (but often punishable and easy to see it coming if you spam it. Just don't spam it)
-upB = ***** **** in platform stages. Only downside is the ****ty horizontal range and the godawful priority.

Downsmash and Upsmash is also really good, when the situation comes and should be used a lot. Just never use it if you know its not going to hit. Its a ****ty baiting move. Use blasters, forward B to bait opponents to jump and punish with upsmash.

 

[i8waffles612]

How can you make a CPU start as ZSS?

Like, how would you make it a Battle Royal all 4 people ZSS..?

 

[looduhcriss]

umm i was just curious...if u hit Peach with lets say...>B and Peach uses Toad on u. Since it has 2 hit boxes and all...would the spores or the toad itself come into contact with, be in range of or damage ZSS?

Im asking about hitting with the end Hitbox.

 

[Shuyin]

Has anyone found a consistent way to kill with her FS? It seems to kill people sometimes and other times it barely does any damage. Is there a trick? Something to hold?

And is it impossible to transform to ZSS via taunt with the wiimote? It doesn't seem possible to press the directions fast enough on the wiimote.

 

[ph00tbag]

K.O. moves
-Forward Smash (around 130-140%)

If you're killing with Fsmash, it's generally an indication that someone is doing it wrong. Generally, it's better to pull this one out very rarely, and only above 130%, because it's use is limited to roll punishing on large characters other wise.

 

[.kR0]

Obviously.

It's just an "option" thats out there to mix up with Forward B. Its hardly a good killing move.

 

[Shuyin]

I was playing around with D-air today and found that sometimes I can get her to fall slower. I didn't mess around with it too much, but it might make a better spiking tool if someone figures out how to use it consistantly.

 

[.kR0]

You can't.
The only time the dair has the slow fall is when you have a really strong upward momentum like when you get hit up high.

 

[BlackWhiteOrange]

I read in the first post that you can't transform from ZSS to normal Samus. Could someone please try using the up-down-up taunt out really extensively to make sure? I would really like to be able to switch between the two.

 

[Metzger]

I read in the first post that you can't transform from ZSS to normal Samus. Could someone please try using the up-down-up taunt out really extensively to make sure? I would really like to be able to switch between the two.

I just checked... there doesn't seem to be any way to go from ZSS to Power Suit except via Final Smash.

 

[Shuyin]

You can't.
The only time the dair has the slow fall is when you have a really strong upward momentum like when you get hit up high.

So then will using her down A help her recover from Vertical ko's?

 

[Jellybelly]

Can you fight a CPU Zamus in multiplayer?

In Melee you couldn't make a CPU start as Shiek. In brawl is that the case for samus/zss?

 

[regorris]

Why does ZSS have no hips?

As for her (ZSS's) Final Smash I was able to kill with it, but only because my opponent didn't realize what was going on... I believe that our polygons were overlaping. So it looks like the kill range is somewhere between rest and shine.

 

[SCOTU]

How does ZSS make any use of her neutral B?

 

[mista-sprinkles]

her grabs are pretty awesome, if you get any stun off you can usually follow up with a grab. even when you do the stun gun half charged.

 

[RealFolkBlues]

Tourny Mode Switch?

Sort of a n00b question, but so far my group of friends and I have noticed that holding down the block trigger(s) does not change Samus into Zamus in tourney mode (like it does in brawl mode.) Is there any way to do this besides up down up taunt? (This makes her far less competitive.)

 

[The Epic Master]

Dammit, Ive tried as fast as it could go but I can't shed her armour.

 

[Cape]

Yeah, it's rather inconsistent from my experiences. It's taken me a few minutes sometimes and only a few seconds others. Does anyone get it right away consistently? If so, any advice?