Tabuu

Tabuu (タブー, Tabuu) is the leader of the Subspace Army and the final boss of Subspace Emissary. He is a powerful, supernatural entity who resides in Subspace. He uses the Subspace Bombs to send entire locations to his dimension, where he absorbs their power to increase his own. His name is likely a pun on the English word "taboo", which refers to something unacceptable or improper by society's terms. He is a cold hearted ruler and because of him, R.O.B. is the last of his kind.

Role in the Subspace Emissary
Tabuu is actually the embodiment of Subspace. His plan was to cut World of Trophies into pieces and take them to Subspace for his world. However, he himself can not leave Subspace, which is why he created the Subspace Army to act in his stead. According to the Ancient Minister trophy, Tabuu took over the Isle of the Ancients, the home of the R.O.B.s and forced them to serve him under the threat of annihilation. Tabuu first discovered that Mr. Game & Watch had Shadow Bugs in him and captured him to harness the power, and thus the Subspace Army was born. Tabuu studied and took control of the master of the Smash Bros. world, Master Hand, who enlisted the help of Ganondorf, Bowser and Wario. These three would hunt down any fighters that would stand in the way of Tabuu's plans.

Later in the story, after the heroes destroy the Subspace Gunship and enter Subspace, Ganondorf betrays Bowser by using a Dark Cannon. Ganondorf then goes to greet Master Hand. Ganondorf realizes that Tabuu was actually controlling Master Hand and that he was not actually following Master Hand's orders but was being tricked by Tabuu. Enraged, he charges a futile attack at Tabuu who quickly turns him into a trophy. Ganondorf's body hits the puppeteered Master Hand, thus breaking him free of his Chains of Light. Master Hand also charges at Tabuu, but to no avail. Tabuu uses his Off Waves to turn everyone into a trophy as soon as they approach. However, thanks to the Dedede Brooch, Luigi, Kirby, and Ness are later revived, and they then revive King Dedede himself after Ness realises that it was thanks to him that they were revived. King Dedede joins the team of Luigi and Ness, and they rescue everyone else by collecting their trophies in Subspace Part I and Subspace Part II. Tabuu then creates a maze out of the worlds that have been consumed by Subspace and brings back the old enemies. He also creates dark clones of all the heroes to slow them down. Once the player has reached Tabuu, he will attempt to turn everyone back into trophies again. Before Tabuu can unleash his attack however, he is ambushed by a Spin Dash, courtesy of Sonic the Hedgehog. This ambush by Sonic crippled Tabuu's off waves so that rather than immediately turning fighters into trophies it would be more a regular attack as seen in the final battle. Anyone can fight Tabuu, however the player must first pick up the trophies of the fallen comrades in order to do so. In the end, Tabuu is defeated. After his defeat, the Subspace Army is gone, lands are restored, and the Isle of the Ancients disappears afterward because of the effect of so many Subspace Bombs going off at once (commanded by Ganondorf so Tabuu could get a Subspace Gunship into the World) making it impossible for the Isle to escape Subspace.

Tabuu's true fate is unknown as all that is seen is him contorting in pain and then the Great Maze restoring to its original places, though it is likely he was destroyed.

Tabuu
''The ruler of Subspace and master of operations. Tabuu controls Master Hand with chains of light to excise this world and build up his great maze. He used Shadow Bugs to form Subspace and manipulates the servants of Master Hand to his heart's content. Born in a vastly foreign realm, he also possesses great leadership powers. Tabuu...No name is more suitable.''

Tabuu (Wings)
''Tabuu with wings extended. The dreadful energy surges cast from these wings instantly turn all fighters back into trophies. Knowing this, King Dedede assembles all able-bodied troops and sets a timed device on each of them. This device is a brooch that, after the designated time runs out, revives all fighters wiped out by Tabuu.''
 * Trophy obtained by beating Boss Battles mode with all characters.

Winged Tabuu
Tabuu's strongest attack, Off Waves, is released when Tabuu extends his wings. He charges energy, then sends off a powerful shock wave, anihilating all in its path.This attack is an instant KO and is presumably unavoidable until, right before the battle, Sonic shatters Tabuu's wings, severely weakening their power. When he uses the Off Waves in battle, he teleports into the background, extends his wings, and sends out three shock waves that cover the entire screen, one after another. Being hit with the first or second shock wave guarantees you a knock-out. However, it is possible to survive if hit with the third shock wave. With correct timing, they can be dodged by Sidestepping.

Playability
Tabuu is only playable by hacking the game in Boss Battles mode. They first must hack, and must be Player 3 and using a Gamecube Controller.

Attacks
As the last boss of Subspace Emissary, Tabuu possesses a wide variety of attacks available to him, which are dangerous and increase in speed at higher difficulties. Additionally, Tabuu's attacks are faster and stronger in The Subspace Emissary than in Boss Battles at comparable difficulty ratings. Note that the names are not official, except Off Waves which was announced on the DOJO!!.

First Set of Moves

 * Shark Blade - Tabuu transforms into a wide, vaguely shark-shaped blade, which flies horizontally across the stage. It is dodgeable by air-dodging or, if at ground-level, ducking (With the exception of Meta Knight).


 * Diving Slash (also called Energy Claw) - Tabuu appears mid-air on one side of the stage, and dives, turning his arm into a blade of energy. Because he will always go down on the ground it can be dodged by jumping over his attack.


 * Golden Bracket (Also known as Gold Trap) - Tabuu transforms into two brackets and flies across the stage, grabbing the character and slamming him/her/it onto the stage. If played on Intense difficulty, this becomes a One-hit KO. There is no predetermined way the brackets fly and when you are not able to make a jump, you should make an air-dodge. This is a very difficult attack to dodge.

Second Move

 * Chain of Light - Tabuu takes out a golden chain and swings it around in an attempt to catch the player. If he succeeds, he will swing the player around before smashing them into the ground. If played in 2-player mode, he will smash the player he caught into the other player.


 * Electrical Shield - Tabuu teleports to a random area. The object inside him splits into several balls, which fly in circles around him while emitting electricity. If the player manages to stay out of the attack, Tabuu is a sitting duck for projectiles.


 * Rapid Chop - Tabuu teleports behind the character rapidly and repeatedly karate chops the area near the character. This move is easy to get caught and juggled in. The attack has less range than the visible shockwaves would indicate.


 * Pinpoint Explosion - Tabuu points at five locations along a line leading to the player's current location which will blink. Those locations will explode after a second. Avoided by staying away from the red spots before they explode.


 * Tabuu-Projection - Tabuu shoots out lots of images of himself in all directions. Characters will take damage if they make contact with a projection. You can dodge the projections, but take note that the projections leave a purple cloud behind when they hit a surface, so you can still receive damage sidestepping the projection itself.

Third Move

 * Dragon Laser (A.K.A. Dragon Cannon) - Tabuu appears on the side of the stage and manifests a cannon shaped like a dragon's head, which fires a powerful laser horizontally across the stage.
 * Bullet Rain - Tabuu appears in a random area in the air and fires a barrage of small bullets. Tabuu fires a large energy ball after his Bullet Rain. Easily avoided by staying behind him, or (for some characters) by distancing yourself and using all three of your jumps. This seems to be the least frequently used attack on the Third Move, but punishes overzealous jumping that would be done to avoid the other two attacks. Still, pattern memorization will have his location give away if he's about to use Bullet Rain. (If he's floating above the platform when he's attacking, he will; he floats away from the platform for the other two attacks.)


 * Shuriken Boomerang - Tabuu appears on one side of the stage and throws a star-shaped blade which flies across the stage like a boomerang before he catches it. Avoided by jumping and using Up-special (depending on character) to avoid the second swing. The boomerang only has three blades, but the speed of its spin makes it look like it has more.

Fourth Move

 * Off Waves (Also known as Winged Tabuu, Rings of Death, or Shockwaves of Doom) - Tabuu appears in the background and unfolds his wings. He then proceeds to unleash three massive circular shockwaves that encompass the whole stage. If these hit, they will cause massive damage and knockback, enough to One-hit KO in Adventure Mode and on harder difficulties of Boss Battles. To avoid these shock waves, a character must either roll or sidestep with accurate timing. If playing as Pokémon Trainer or Zelda/Sheik, using Down B the instant Tabuu extends his wings also works. It can also be avoided by using Perfect Shielding or by using moves with Super Armor, but the timing is extremely difficult. You may also air-dodge if you jump high enough with characters like Kirby and Jigglypuff.Used as the first 4th move and every 8 moves after that.


 * Eye Lasers - Tabuu flies into the foreground and disappears. A massive version of his head appears on the side of the stage and he fires two continuous red lasers from his eyes. Used every 8 moves. Can be very easily avoided by hiding right at the end of the stage under Tabuu's chin, allowing you to easily damage him, mainly, by using up-tilts (some moves that push your fighter backwards may move you into the beams, though.)

Random

 * Teleport - Tabuu teleports around the stage and appears at a set spawn which is randomly decided from the large amount of spawns available. He also sometimes teleports behind the character and attacks with one of the available attacks. Tabuu makes a distinctive sound on his final teleport.


 * Explosive Teleport - Tabuu teleports around, leaving a red explosion everywhere he teleports. On higher difficulties this can 1-hit KO a player at low percentages.