Charge Shot

Charge Shot (チャージショット) is a recurring projectile attack in the Metroid franchise also usable by Samus in the Super Smash Flash series.

Overview[]

The move consists of Samus firing a ball of plasma energy from her Arm Cannon, which travels straight forward and damages opponents it hits.

In Super Smash Flash[]

In the original Super Smash Flash, Charge Shot is Samus's neutral attack. The shot Samus fires is small and yellow, and contrary to the name, it cannot be charged at all. It moves forward relatively quickly, dealing 4% damage and weak knockback, and it travels through opponents, allowing it to hit multiple at once. Oddly, Samus visually curls and spins around once every time she fires.

In Super Smash Flash 2[]

In the reboot, Super Smash Flash 2, Charge Shot has turned into Samus's neutral special move and now it works more akin to its Super Smash Bros. counterparts: it is blue in color, and it can only hit one opponent at a time. More notably, it can now be charged up as long as Samus is on the ground, as attempting to do so in the air will simply fire. Pressing the special attack button once causes Samus to begin charging the attack, and pressing the button again will cause her to fire it. The projectile itself travels quickly and a far distance, dealing electric damage to opponents hit. The more Samus charges up the attack, the bigger and stronger it gets. When uncharged, the shot deals 5% damage and very little knockback to any opponent that gets hit by it. When fully charged, it deals 25% damage with strong knockback to opponents hit.

Origin[]

Samus using her Charge Shot from Super Metroid.

The Charge Shot is fired with the Charge Beam, an upgrade to the standard Power Beam that Samus acquires many times in the Metroid games. If she didn't start out with it, the Charge Beam was one of the first power-ups she would get, starting with Super Metroid. A fully charged Beam's shot would become Samus's only way of damaging certain bosses should she run out of missiles. In Metroid Prime, Charge Beams can be used to clear debris blocking Samus's path or to suck in nearby Energy Balls and Ammo Energy, as well as being the starting point for Charge Combos. In the Metroid series Samus cannot save a charge for later as she can in SSF2, though she can continue charging and just hold it for any length of time, as well as begin charging while in motion and in the air. In the Metroid games, the beam also charges noticeably faster.