Latex Suit Samus

Game Versions: Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U

Latex Suit Samus
A Complete* Comprehensive Guide to Zero Suit Samus
*not complete yet
I AM OFFICIALLY BACK TO WORK ON THIS!
Table of Contents:

Why Play Zero Suit Samus?
Costumes
Matchups
Ground Moves
Specials
Aerials
Grabs
Combos/Techniques
Additional Information/Videos of Gameplay

Why Play Zero Suit Samus?

Zero Suit Samus is a very fast and mobile character. She has a very strong all around game, and has been placed high on almost all of the tier lists.
Pros of playing Zero Suit Samus

Look like a badass
Strong air game
Low skill cap, easy to play
completely DUMB kit, strong everything
Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong grab range.
LIGHT Weight (11th lightest) (can be a pro, or con)
Good/Great matchups

Cons of playing Zero Suit Samus

Moves can be punished fairly easily
A lot of people will hate you if you play gimmicky
Sort of high-risk high-reward, might not fit some peoples' playstyle.
Unsafe. You have to think when playing her, because many if her moves are hit or get hit.

Why don't you play ZSS very much?
I think she's honestly pretty boring, but she's one of my best characters. I play her if I want a win and nothing else.
Although ZSS mirrors are pretty fun.

Costumes

Blue: The first costume is her original Jump Suit from Metroid Zero Mission where we get to see it in action. Some call it Zero Suit, which is fine, but the real name is Jump Suit.

Blue/Black: thought to fit the Metroid Prime 2 Echoes Jump Suit since it's the darkest blue latex in which we've ever seen Samus. Although in Metroid Prime Hunters we get to see a very similar suit. It could be the same considering one goes after the other.

Pink: is considered Justin Bailey's pink suit you unlock at the end of the original Metroid. You know, the running around through an alien planet with a bikini after passing the game under three hours? Yeah, that ugly pink bikini.

Black: would have to be from Super Metroid. After passing the game under three hours you can unlock the ending of Samus with a black jump suit. It's the only Metroid game where we get to see a black latex, so we can assume this is from Super Metroid. Although the designs are different.

zero suit samus found in public, wearing her black suit
Yellow/Green: Sakurai mentioned that the Green suit for Samus (with armor) was a custom color for her which has only been seen in Smash Bros. So I'm guessing the green suit was made to fit the team colors from previous smash games.
White: The white suit could be said to go with the light suit, but as a Jump Suit is has never been seen in the games. Maybe it's her latex suit from Metroid 2. You know, because the game was in black and white.
Orange Shorts: Her outfit from the end of Metroid: Zero Mission.

Blue Short: Her other outfit from the end of Metroid: Fusion.

use the black or white one if ur mlg pro and wanna be in optic illuminati clan
any other color is for dumb nerds
Thank you so much to Los4Muros for providing just about all the information in this section!

Matchups

Easy Matchup
Skill Matchup
Bad Matchup

Mario

You outrange Mario. Try to take advantage of that. Mario's a pretty decent character. Don't fire too many neutral b's or you can get punished pretty badly.
This is an easy/skill matchup. I have been playing Mario frequently lately, and playing against a Zero Suit Samus isn't actually that hard for me. Just try not to let Mario jump all over you, as he can and most likely will do that. Watch out for a lot of his aerials and especially when recovering watch out for his nasty Kobe Bryant dunk (forward air).
Things to watch out for: cape, dunk, down air (it's actually pretty good), and smashes.
tl;dr outrange him don't let him combo you and always expect his f-air, his back air is good too

Luigi

Luigi isn't too bad in this game. He's got some dumb combos from his down throw and has some good priority. You can down b/jump out of his combos if you're lucky and DI correctly.

Peach

Peach isn't the beast she was in melee, but a good peach can bring back some memories of that. Watch out for the stitch face turnip (rare!), smashes, and her air game is pretty good with her floating. Watch out for her FAIR because that will bitchslap you to death.
tl;dr dont get bitchslapped

Bowser

Fast heavy, he's hella strong in this game. Watch out for smashes, his side B still can kill you,
so don't that some bowsers won't use it still.
tl;dr take advantage of how hes heavy

Yoshi

Yoshi is good man, he's a pain sometimes, but your grab outranges his, and you're faster. Watch out for his D-Air, which does like 40% if all hits land. Just play smart, keep him from getting into your head. Easy/Skill matchup.
tl;dr dont get fukt by stupid stuff so dont be dumb while you play against him

Rosalina & Luma

Try not to get zoned hardcore by Luma. Luma is fairly easy to kill when separated from Rosalina. She's still strong without Luma but having Luma makes it easier for her.
Watch out for the little star guy and don't let him touch you.
tl;dr dont get pooped on by luma

Bowser Jr.

annoying but not hard to play against. try to not let the little dino toy thing explode on you, and dodge projectiles as they have lag on them. Also dodge his little go-kart thing. Punish all those moves and you'll make him wish he actually was cut from the game (ohohoho)
tl;dr dodge and punish projectiles

Wario

Watch out for his gay bike and dont get gimped (continued)

Donkey Kong

You outspeed this guy pretty badly. He's slow and heavy. Although he's not very good of a character, he still can do major damage. Don't lower your defense on him, or you'll be finding yourself struggling to stay on the stage.
tl;dr slow, should be extremely easy

Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong is annoying, why is he even in this game?
Diddy can either be complete trash or will JV3 you easily. He's fast, he's got projectiles, he's got a dumb up air.
Just try to not get trapped in his combo. It's going to be a hard matchup for you if you get caught. More advice soon.
tl;dr real gay character

Mr. Game & Watch

I love playing G&W. Try not to let him grab you or get very close for periods of time. Watch out for his short hop nair and fair. Don't shoot your Neutral B unless you will land it without him pulling out his bucket. His oil panic move is extremely strong (it can kill Zelda at 0% after absorbing 3 Din's Fires and a down throw)
tl;dr very light char easily launched watch out for RNG swag combo and don't fill his bucket

Little Mac

Little Mac is annoying. His ground game is dumb, and most of his smashes give him super armor. Try to grab him and keep him in the air. He can easily take control of the match and beat you down. Play safely.
This being said, it's a skill matchup because it will challenge your ability to gimp. Try to bait counters and punish hard for them.
tl;dr keep him airborne and off stage

Link

I haven't quite played against enough links as ZSS to know how this matchup would be like, but from what I've seen from link is that he's so much better in this game than he was in previous games. He's not quite as projectile based as Toon Link, but he still can put pressure on you with his projectiles. His attacks are pretty strong, and his dash attack is a kill move. Easy/Skill MU.
tl;dr read the thing

Zelda

Watch out for her projectiles and such. She's better in this game and playing against her is different from everyone else because of how Zelda is played. Just play smart and don't let her land stuff if you can dodge it.
tl;dr still ol' zelda just don't be dumb and get hit by stuff

Sheik

Ganondorf

It's Ganondorf, he's slow but powerful.
Abuse your range, and don't let him land anything. He has great priority in his moves, and can easily kill you if you aren't careful. If you abuse your range and keep him off of you, this will be an easy matchup for you. Also, don't try to down-B spike him off the stage, as he will use his side-B suicide to kill you.
tl;dr don't get styled by him or we will all laugh at you

Toon Link

He's fast, he's annoying, he's Toon Link!
Toon Link is a god at spamming projectiles and making you angry. Watch out for his boomerang, and always remember that IT COMES BACK. He's alright in terms of attacks close range. Whenever I play TL, I always have trouble landing kill moves, but his kill moves include his f-smash, up-smash, forward air, up air (the dumb sword pointing up thing), and his back-air. His grab is laggy and leaves a perfect opportunity to punish.
Not a hard matchup if you understand Toon Link
tl;dr projectile spammer dont get hit and remember the boomerang comes back

Samus

Zero Suit Samus

self explanatory, mirror matches are tests of skill

Pit

You're faster than Pit but any good Pit is going to be an XX[FAZE]xSn1p3rX with their arrows and try to control the match. Just try not to let this guy be optic and you should be fine.

Palutena

watch out for up air up smash and some gay bs that palutena mains use to win.

Marth

Marth is still a pretty beast character in Smash 4. Watch out for tippers, as Marth mains will try to space their attacks to land on the tips because it does WAY more damage on the tip. Try to bait counters and punish hard for them.
tl;dr less range and laggier than melee marth take advantage of your range and try to not let him land tippers

Ike

Slow character, capable of heavy damage. Avoid his laggy attacks, and this matchup is a breeze. Try to bait counters and punish hard for them.
tl;dr hes too slow so take advantage of that

Robin

Duck Hunt

Kirby

very light, he's a lot better than previous versions of kirby, but he's still kirby. his hammer is good now but it's not really used because it's slow. you can grab him out of his side b but dont anticipate it because it is a kill move.
tl;dr kirby 2light and easy to kill

King Dedede

Meta Knight

Fox

Falco

Falco is slow. You can run laps around this guy. He's slow. but his aerials are pretty good if they're landed. He can spike you really easily but that's more of a punishment than anything. You should be taking advantage of your speed and not letting him hit you.
Watch out for spikes.
tl;dr watch out for gimps

Pikachu

Charizard

Watch out for his rock smash move (gives lots of super armor), his flare blitz (it can catch you by surprise!), and his neutral air. Zero Suit does pretty well against heavy characters.

Lucario

Try to bait counters and punish hard for them. Kill him before he gets too high of a percent or he's going to poop on you whether he can tech or not.
tl;dr coming soon havent played too many lucarios somehow

Jigglypuff

forgive me hungrybox but jiggs aint a beast this game. her rest isnt that great (it's still rest). just avoid getting gimped and dont think sing is useless because at high percents if she lands sing it's a guaranteed rest and that's no fun
tl;dr dont let her control the game and take advantage of your speed and range

Greninja

Try to bait counters and punish hard for them.

R.O.B.

annoying air game and down throw to up air is annoying AF. punish on ground and dont try to kill with up-b or back air because he will destroy you
tl;dr stay on ground

Ness

I've gotten gimped enough times against Ness to know it's a skill matchup. It might be a little in your favor, but a good Ness can change that. Watch out for his grab, PK Fire, and fair. His bat also reflects projectiles, so don't shoot him too much.
tl;dr avoid attacks like aerials and pk fire and punish every time he uses PK Pulse (pk flash?)

Captain Falcon

Easy Matchup/Skill Matchup-
Captain Falcon is a great character. He's fast and strong. He has zero projectiles, so you should take advantage of this, and keep your distance until you have a time to strike. Be careful though, his punish is pretty strong. You can either not let him touch you or you can get destroyed. Play smart.
tl;dr take advantage of your range advantage and dont let him get in your face

Villager

Villager mains will try to trick you. Luckily for you, I play a lot of Villager. Villagers spam their F-air and rocket. If you can dodge these, you can get in and attack him before he can do something.
tl;dr dodge projectiles keep your eyes open on the tree and don't go in if he's got it up and is standing by it.

Olimar/Alph

Olimar sucks this game. He's still got some potential, but he's rarely played. However, Olimar mains probably use his unpopularity to their advantage. Just don't let his pikmin touch you, and if he has no pikmin on him, HIT HIM! Most of his moves use them, and he won't really be able to kill you without them.
tl;dr kill pikmin

Wii Fit Trainer

watch out for double sided smashes

Shulk

Red (smash)=Pros: Knockback Cons: Damage, Defense. Used to kill
Purple(buster)=Pros:Damage dealt Cons: Knockback dealt, Defense. Used to deal damage early
Yellow(shield)=Pros :Weight, Defense, Shield strength Cons: Jump height, Movement speed, Damage dealt. Used when Shulk is at high percents so he doesn't die
Blue(speed)=Pros:Movement speed Cons:Jump height, Damage dealt. Used to go sanic speed
Green(jump)=Pros: Jump height, Air Slash height Cons: Weight, Defense. Used for recovery
Try to bait counters and punish hard for them.

Dr. Mario

See

.
Doc has a crap recovery but he does more damage and his knockbacks are different. For the most part it's a similar matchup to Mario.
tl;dr dont trust ghetto doctors

Dark Pit

See

, DP is slower but has better attacks. Personally I think Dark Pit is better than Pit, but either way they're not too different.
tl;dr edgy pit deals more damage but is slower

Lucina

See

minus the tips. I call Lucina easy mode Marth. She's basically a clone of Marth that doesn't have tippers. Some of their attacks come out at different speeds, so you may want to look to see which moves are different.
Lucina rides the whole length but Marth just the tip. Try to bait counters and punish hard for them.

Pac-Man

Good Pac-Mans (pac-men?) are masters of reading. He's actually pretty hard if you can't read your opponent well. Watch out for the key, and his hydrant can launch you off the stage easily.

Mega Man

I personally always have a hard time with this matchup. He has projectiles that take priority over yours and are quit annoying if you ask me. Learn to dodge projectiles, and when he charges his f-smash that's 100% guaranteed down-b punish. smart mega men will pressure you pretty hard with their projectiles.
tl;dr dodge projectiles

Sonic

sanic hegeog is fast and will hit you with his side b into aerial. luckily for you, you can grab him out of that. he's got his perks and all but really I don't think he's much to worry about.
tl;dr fast but manageable

Ground Moves

Jab- Zero suit samus has one of the fastest, if not THE fastest jab in the game. Zero Suit's Jab Combo strikes three times, 1%, 2%, 3%, dealing in total 6%.
Her initial jab is extremely fast, and her jab-jab-jab combo isn't that bad. It's not something you'd risk to do, but if you can do it safely, by all means, go ahead. Just don't expect anything major.
F-tilt- Zero Suit Samus does a spin kick with a boost from her jet boots. Can be tilted. Deals 7-8%, 8% if close or far, 7% if medium distance.
Up-Tilt- Samus stands on her hands and does a scissor-kick-thing. This hits twice, dealing 5% then 7%, for a total of 12%. Faster than up smash, use it instead if you feel like it but landing up smash is way better.
D-Tilt- ZSS kicks foreward, low to the ground, dealing 8% damage and moving forward slightly.
SMASHES
Zero Suit Samus has similar smashes as she did in brawl, but better.
Up Smash- Flails her plasma whip above her head. Damage is somewhat unpredictable, as it hits multiple times. Uncharged: 7%-11%. Fully Charged: 9%-15%.
I really like this move. Its hitbox is huge, it's damage is eh, but it's knockback is great for comboing, and it also hits in front of you, and it's great. [continued]
Down Smash- Fires a paralyzing shot right next to her feet. Not good for launching (can only KO at about 220% damage), but an opponent struck by it will be paralyzed for a shot duration, so its good for setting up combos.
It's just like hitting your neutral b. It buys you a few seconds to land a down-b attack, or an up-b, or f-smash. [continued]
Uncharged: 8%
Fully Charged: 11%
Forward Smash- Does a spin kick, then follows with a second kick with the sole of her boots, which explode in flames. Uncharged: 5% then 11%, total of 16%. Fully Charged: 7% and 15%, total of 22%.

Special Moves

Neutral B- Similar to her Down Smash, this uses her paralyzer gun. Hold B down for about a second or two and it will fully charge and shoot full distance. This is a sorta slowish projectile, but makes your opponent immobilized (for the most part, they shake in place), and they cannot attack. Landing this gives you a free dash-grab/grab. This can be used if you don't want to use D-Smash, but either one is viable. [continued]
Side-B- It shoots the Plasma Whip forward a long distance, with small knockback and damage throughout its length, except for a fairly large sweetspot at the tip.
This is good for spacing, and can be used with little lag if used in the air. (hop-side b). Unlike in Brawl, this is not a kill move. It's still good as an attack, and I'd recommend to use it. [continued]
Up-B- Zero Suit Samus uses her jet boots and does an kick that propel herself upward, if it hits a character, she will do another kick forward.
This move is a great kill move, if you land it. If you miss/don't land the last hit, you can expect to be punished. This move is OKAY for recovery, it's definitely not the best. A good combo I like to use is down-throw into up-b (can use up air too before you up-b). [continued] ****OPPONENTS CAN DI OUT OF THIS****
Down-B- I love this move. Zero Suit Samus flashes as she does a flip and an arching jump through the air.
One thing I see a lot of ZSS do is always use the attack with this move. This is baaaaaaaaaaaad. Missing this attack has awful lag. Use the attack ONLY when you can land it. You can use this move to quickly jump behind your opponent, you can use this to recover, you can use this to kill. You can even bury your opponent in the ground with this. This gives you a lot of mobility, and the attack with it hits HARD. High knockback, good damage, bad lag if you miss, so use it wisely. [cont'd]

Aerials

Neutral Air- Swings her plasma whip horizontally around her. 10%.
Hits in front and behind her.
This is a pretty fast move, can be used instead of other aerials.
Forward Air- Kicks twice in front of her with a boost of her jet boots. 5% and 7%, total 12%.
This is a great forward air. It can kill, but it's not really used for a kill move. It's great to use after a down throw. It's easy to hit both hits, but sometimes at high percent you might not land the 2nd hit.
Up Air- Kicks in a loop with a boost of her jet boots. 8%.
Great hitstun and combos into itself and Up-B. Use this a lot. It's a great aerial move. [cont]
Back Air- Kicks backwards with a boost of her jet boots. 12%.
Good back air. It's not my first choice to use, but land it instead of N-Air if you want to do more damage. The knockback isn't that great but it's still really good. This can kill around 105%-ish with rage, and is a pretty safe kill move.
Use it!
Down Air- Gets boosted downwards with her leg outstretched. Also does damage when she lands. 5% in the air, 6% landing impact. 11% total.
Honestly I don't like using this move. It's like Toon Link's sword plant. It's easy to just roll dodge it then grab/smash. Its lag is bad, and leaves you punishable if you miss. If you're certain you will land it, then go ahead and do it. You can do some combos from this, but it's risky.

Grabs

Zero Suit Samus's grab range is pretty dumb. It's a little shorter than her Side-B range, which is pretty far for a grab.
HOWEVER if you miss this, you're almost guaranteed to be punished.
Pummel- 2% Damage. Kinda standard for pummels, do it 2-3 times before throwing.
Up Throw- ZSS jumps into the air and kicks the opponent back. Deals 2% then 8% damage, total of 10% worth damage. Small knockback, very high landing lag.
Forward Throw- Hits opponent forward with gun. Deals 2% then 7% damage, total of 9%. Good knockback.
This is a decent throw. I personally don't use it very often, but it's definitely not a bad throw.
Back Throw- Kicks opponent back. Deals 2% damage then 4%. Low knockback.
Sometimes I use this, definitely not that great, but it can work.
Down Throw- Easily Zero Suit's best throw. It links into many options including aerials and sometimes smashes. You can do almost any aerials out of this move, and it true combos into lots of things at low percents. I mainly use this throw over everything else.

Combos/Techniques

*true combo
**true combo at low percents
Easy Combos
**1. D-Throw -> Fair, Fair
**2. D-Throw -> Up Air juggle
**3. Up Smash -> Up-B
4. Up Smash -> Up Air
(can be true if timed well due to the hitstun of her up air)5. Chain Up Air -> Up-B
Advanced Combos
1. When the opponent is off stage/recovering, land a paralyzing shot then immediately down-B spike them. Can get tricky if you're not experienced with her down-B. It's really good when you can land it though as there is almost a zero percent chance you can recover from that at like 40%+. (will upload a video of this as soon as i can get to recording it)
Difficult Combos
There aren't really any DIFFICULT Combos, but if you find one, by all means tell me so I can put it in!
**Be careful when using your up-b. It's a recovery move, so you're useless until you reach the ground. It's a great kill move, but if you miss, you're going to be punished.**

Additional Information/Videos of Gameplay

Personally when I play ZSS, I pick stages like Final Destination and Smashville. I don't think Zero Suit is very good on Battlefield. Here's a picture of stages that are good and bad.
For 3ds, any stage besides battlefield is pretty good. Personally I like arena ferox and yoshi's island(story). Those provide good platforms for anyone, and can be taken advantage of.
Red X=Banned stage in competitive
Black X=You should ban this stage if you have a stage ban. Ban Battlefield always or you'll have a rough time with those platforms
Yellow check, pick this stage!

More on its way!
If video is not playing, right click and click play or click here.

here's a sort of decent game, not anything great but you can see how some stuff works

Video of me playing the Smash pro ChuDat! Check out his twitter @MorChuDat and his Twitch at /chudatz
Chinaux (Zero Suit Samus) vs. ChuDat (Mewtwo)

Reactions: Mors_Manu, _gold_, AniMoons and 3 others

Latex Suit Samus

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