oh nice. I didn’t think about that at all. I’ll try it out.
I think in comparison to other characters, you really have to work hard at ZSS to do well. I am not saying she sucks, but I don’t think she compares to Zelda or Toon Link.
I have more fun playing her than my old character. And yeah, her combo abilities are pretty amazing. Stun gun combos are cool, but I don’t find them that effective, its pretty obvious when someone is about to shoot it. It works well close range when someone rushes you I guess.
I still think her best combo starter is her dash attack.
…and I am also trying to downplay her potential. I played Sheik in melee. I am tired of people telling me I am cheap.
are you mainly playing offline or mainly online?
beacuse its true taht toon link is fast and he has powerful samshers
but you punish a lot of hist shit with a shieldgrab into a combo or a tilt into a combo
she just has to space him and properly punish when he the toon link does something punishable and remember she doest have to charge the shot to get something for cause
che can alwasy get a grab because of her excelent grab range.
Its just that lag even if its very little really changes the game. things that are not safe are suddenly safe online because you cant punish it
Asl for Zelda i coult tell you because we dont have a crew member taht play’s her so im not familiar with machtup
I just started playing seriously with ZSS and I’ve done lots better with her than Samus in online play. She KOs easier, her upB is a nice GTFO move and she’s pretty solid guarding the ledge. Her shakey recovery’s the only thing I’ve had problems with.
On a general note, is there a trick to pulling off tilt moves? I usually have to combo into them, otherwise I end up dashing or jumping.
Not really any tricks. you just got to get used to tilting the stick slightly. I am sure you’ll get it in no time. You are using the classic controller probably? I find it harder to tilt with classic too.
Her tether recovery can be a bit weird sometimes. It will tether when you are above the edge at times, and sometimes it won’t.
This might sound weird, but I think the problem is with the previous move that was done before you do up+b. If you tether immediately after a Fair or Bair, the tether will tend to go straight up and not snap to edge. If you wait and fall a bit after your Fair or Bair, your tether will snap. I havn’t tested it yet, but it seems like its an attacking issue. The game thinks your up+b is part of your attack, not recovery, so it doesn’t snap.
I just tried that wave bouncing thing with ZSS. It works. Its nothing revolutionary, but it will help in changing up the whip game. It will be harder for your opponent to anticipate where the whip will land.
Up B whip is semi abusable, especially from under platforms.
Anyone actually using down smash at all? The range doesn’t seem to be all that great, probably more trouble than it’s worth.
I play alot of ZSS, her forward B is probably her best move out of her move set, it out ranges marth which is good, cause a good marth can run all over ZSS. her downsmash has deceptive range, if you can get it off, go straight to forward B or up B, up B to downsmash only works if your opponent doesnt DI out of the up B or doesnt tech after down B brings them back down.
Down smash has decent range actually. its just it has a kinda long starting animation so you really have to plan for it.
And as Ken says, it is possible to up+b and then down smash. But I do find that most of the time human opponent can just roll out of it without teching. Maybe I am not doing it fast enough.
What is wave bouncing?
Also, sucks on opponents being able to tech after uB. I had assumed so, but I have been unable to really play any one else so far.
Go to controller configurations and map special attack to your c-stick. Go to training mode or something and run forward, jump forward and c-stick in the opposite direction. Your momentum in the air will change to the opposite direction instead of your original momentum.
It might be useful for air forward B attacks.
Here’s two good videos of ZSS. Both ZSS played by the same guy. Good short hop aerials in the video. He could probably abuse his dash combos more and maybe more forward b’s too. But overall this guy has good fundamentals IMO.
[media=youtube]QV5VNBhOPBQ[/media]
[media=youtube]1lW9qYou6QA&feature=related[/media]
Here’s the topic on SRK about it.
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=151834
A Youtube video describing it and how to perform it.
[media=youtube]53Wix_KsK5g&feature=related[/media]
OMG A ZSS THREAD!!!11one
I don’t have much to add to the discussion, unfortunately, and I main the girl. She’s upper-mid on the tier list at least if you’re playing without final smashes and becomes a worthless piece of shit if you are (since you have to let them have the smashball, not use your neutral+B, or turn into normal shit-tier Samus after a shitty final smash). So, for the time being, we’re assuming we’re playing without.
– That suit that hid all your girly features? Use it wisely. Get some percentage. Slide-cancel (right term?) with it (like roll cancelling in CVS2, only you roll and press A at nearly the same time, slides you across the stage like crazy while you throw the item). Use it to advance and use it to edgeguard if you end up knocking them off the stage. Also, use it quickly. It’ll be gone soon. 
– d-tilt is a godly combo starter. If you can launch them with this, do it, then go for u-air or go around 'em and go for a f-air or b-air. Make ‘em guess where the hell you’re comin’ from. Also, not bad for edgeguarding if they don’t have something like Marth’s up+B. It reaches out pretty far.
– forward+B is amazing. Good kill move and AWESOME spacing tool. I’ve got the whole scene here scared shitless of the move now, it’s that good. Use it. Nice thing about it, if you hit with the part close to ZSS, it has a good chance of knocking them into the sweet spot at the end of it. This game is ALL about spacing, and this is one of her best tools for it accompanied by neutral+B.
– dash attack. Against anyone with a grapple grab, it will make them hate you and remove you from the will. Do this and forward+B to Olimar all day. Also, it has the god-tech of going through the opponent at certain ranges, so it makes it more difficult to shield-grab her even if it is blocked. Oh, and it combos into the things stated before in this thread.
– Recovery. I try to down+B first when recovering unless I’m really close to the stage and roughly at the same height as the ledge. If you can throw out a forward+B on the way back and it’s safe to do so (and will be close to your opponent), do it. Get them off the edge, especially if you’re either not close enough to get onto the stage or fear getting knocked away.
– Edge tricks. Experiment with down+B on different stages. On Final Destination, you can drop off the edge and down+B instantly and you’ll hop back onto the stage. Do it a hair later and you’ll wall-jump off the side of the stage and back onto the edge (don’t push anything). On Battlefield, you can drop a bit and down+B back up to grab the edge again. If they’re hanging back a little bit to wait for you to roll back up, jump backward and forward+B right above the stage (do it too low and you’ll just tether the edge again). Get a little flashy, just make sure you don’t die doing it. Keep 'em guessing. When they start using their brain, that’s when they make mistakes.
Matchups (these are based on my experiences…critique as you see fit):
– Olimar. Just keep hitting him with dash attacks and forward+B. Get in close, kill some Pikmin, make him hate you. Be as annoying as shit. In a game where being a camping bitch is god, fight back.
– Pit. I have troubles with the Pit player in town a lot and only win 'cause I’m probably better at the game. Bulldog him as much as you can, 'cause you will lose to the arrows if you don’t. d-tilt to multiple u-air combos work well against him, it seems. He doesn’t have the most amazing time getting back down if you’re below him, so use that to your advantage. up+B if he’s on a platform above you, follow it by u-tilt if it hits. If you knock him away from the stage, pursue with neutral+B and forward+B. Don’t let him camp unless you like eating percent for no reason.
– Snake. If he’s keeping you away with grenades, grab one and slide-cancel your way in there. Keep him at the tip of your forward+B as much as possible. His Nikita (guided missile thingy) eats your neutral+B, so roll by it or jump over it and be careful on the way in. If he’s good, he knew you were gonna do that and has a f-tilt or jab combo waiting for ya. Spacing, as with any matchup, is the key again.
– Marth. Forward+B, neutral+B. See a pattern? Keep him at the tip of the forward+B or just beyond it and don’t let him f-air combo you all day.
Stages you should fear (that probably won’t be banned in most tourney play)
– Rainbow Cruise. VERY few ledges to tether onto, and her down+B will probably kill you before it saves you since it goes down through the same platforms it just went up through. Play safe and smart on this stage.
– Skyworld. If you go through the middle of the bottom part of the stage (after destroying it), you’re pretty much fucked. Pray you can get to one side or the other if it happens and tether back up, 'cause you’re dead if you don’t. Also, if either side of the bottom of the stage is destroyed, you better stay clear of it until it’s back, since you can’t tether onto it.
– Jungle Japes. The thing about this stage isn’t in its recovery. It’s in the fact that your forward+B will probably latch onto the edges of the side platforms when you REALLY don’t want it to. Use caution. Other than that, the ceiling is really high, so you might have some problems killing up. Try killing to the side as much as you can, it’ll be a lot easier.
– Norfair. Same as Jungle Japes in some respects, but there’s no water. The only plus this stage has for you is that it should be really easy to avoid the huge lava wave without having to make a mad dash for the capsule. Hell, if you’re cocky, hit 'em while they’re in and go find a ledge.
– Delfino. Don’t get left behind when the stage starts going upward from solid ground, 'cause you don’t have the most amazing ups. If you are getting left behind, get to one side or the other if you can and tether yourself up. Otherwise you’re gonna lose a stock for no reason.
– Frigate Orpheon. Careful when the spot on the right has no edge to tether onto.
– Pirate Ship. FUCK this stage. Fuck it in the ass. Your grapple becomes worse (due to the ship being curved), your neutral+B becomes worse (due to the ship being curved), your forward+B becomes worse (due to the…you got the idea), and since you’re a supermodel you die easily when you get hit by random shit from the background. The water’s nice for when you can’t recover properly, but it doesn’t matter 'cause THE STAGE IS RETARDED.
That’s all I got for now. Pretty tired.
Something I found out recently.
While I had some trouble spacing her f+air or f+b in the air to kill someone off the side off a stage I started jumping under them and going with u+B. The results are hilarious. If you’re spaced just right it’ll pull them down right past you and pretty much act as a make-shift spike (just nowhere near as fast). It’s not easy to do, but good lord it catches people off guard.
Yeah her fair and bair are really hard to connect with for some reason. I think the trick is to use it the same way you use the UpAir.
lol, I figured this out sooo quick, that stage is so bad for ZSS, and my friends always want to play on it, dumb…
Stuff like this is what I like to see. Get weird with the game. Do crazy shit. Game’s too camp-happy, we need some goofy strats like that. Keep the crowd happy. 
if you have someone high in the air while your in the air(like after a uair), just use up+b and combo into fair, works really well, especially on heavy characters, easier to time it. i once did uair, up+b, fair into dair, and some how it all connected, it looked so beautiful, and the dair spiked the opponent and i landed on the stage, everything was perfect.
You guys should know that ZSS’s ftilt can trip opponents pretty reliably. The downward angled ftilt trips about half the time (edit: make that almost all the time, wat wat), but not once your opponent has more than 30%. The regular ftilt trips less but up to ~ 50%.
Anyways this is a useful tool for her, she can punish a trip very well. A dsmash or grab is great. She can actually get fairly long natural combos using her ftilt, dsmash, and uB (possibly longer than anyone else in the game).
Also, if you pull of a successful footstool jump (the kind that puts your opponent in the “I just got jumped on” animation), you get a guarunteed dair.