Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary

Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary is a mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, similar to Melee's Adventure Mode. It is also called Story Mode. It was hinted at with the This world... Dojo update on July 20th, and fully unveiled on August 3rd.

Overview
On July 20th, Smash Bros. Dojo!! was updated with a collection of enigmatic images that depicted Mario and Kirby transforming from trophies into fighters (akin to the introduction of Melee). After Kirby’s apparent defeat at the hands of Mario, he is changed back into a trophy, but Mario reverses the transformation and Mario and Kirby shake hands. However, the sky darkens soon after, and Meta Knight’s ship, the Halberd, flies over the stadium, soon followed by the appearance of a mysterious character. The screen shots were accompanied with this description:

''In this world, trophies fight. They know nothing but fighting. Fighting is the sole reason for their existence. Being turned back into a trophy, being unable to fight, is much like death. Those are the rules of this world. But...When someone...or something...breaks those rules, the world will pay a terrible price...''

The post was placed under a mode referred to as “???” until August 3rd, when it was changed to "Adventure Mode." On August 3rd, Smash Bros. Dojo!! was updated again. This time, more information was given. The mode was dubbed “The Subspace Emissary,” and a multitude of screenshots were shown, as well as a cutscene related to the “This World…” update. In the cutscene, Mario and Kirby were seen shaking hands, as depicted in the screenshots, and after waving to the crowd, the Halberd appeared as it did in “This World…” The mysterious character from before was shown to be one of apparently many odd, robot-like creatures formed from some sort of shadowy matter. Princess Peach and Princess Zelda were seen watching from the sidelines, but rushed down to the middle of the stadium to assist Mario and Kirby in fighting the mysterious army. After Peach and Zelda reach the stage and help destroy the Primids, an entity from the sky called The Ancient Minister appears on the stage. The Ancient Minister drops a Subspace Bomb on the arena, then flies off. As Mario approaches the bomb, he is hit by a cannonball and is sent flying from the arena. Petey Piranha appears and captures Peach and Zelda in cages. Some fans believe that Mario "broke the rules" of the World by reviving Kirby, and this is what triggered the Halberd to arrive and deploy its drones. Interestingly enough, the use of bosses in this mode was very vaguely hinted already in the first update. When the Battleship Halberd is seen flying out of subspace, purple skies are covering the sky. In the skies, you can clearly see the faces of Bowser and Rayquaza, as well as blurred faces resembling Ganondorf and possibly Pokey Minch. Ridley is also reported to be seen.

The various screen shots in the update depicted a multitude of new enemies, as well as a few familiar ones, such as a Hammer Bro, who was previously confirmed as an Assist Trophy, and Bullet Bills. There were also a new series of enemies that were introduced that are part of the Subspace army. Some enemies of the Subspace army appear to be helpful while other ones are dangerous.

Stages
Multiple stages are in Subspace. If more than two are listed that means there are more parts of the story there. They are listed by order:
 * Midair Stadium
 * Skyworld
 * Sea of Clouds
 * The Jungle
 * The Plain
 * The Lake
 * The Ruined Zoo
 * Battlefield Fortress
 * The Forest
 * Research Facility
 * The Lake Shore
 * Path to the Ruins
 * The Cave
 * The Ruins
 * The Wilds
 * The Ruined Hall
 * The Wilds
 * The Swamp
 * Research Facility
 * Outside the Ancient Ruins
 * Glacial Peak
 * The Canyon
 * Battleship Halberd Interior
 * Battleship Halberd Exterior
 * Battleship Halberd Bridge
 * Subspace Bomb Factory
 * Subspace Bomb Factory
 * Entrance to Subspace
 * Subspace
 * Subspace
 * The Great Maze

Game play
The Subspace Emissary mode is a side-scrolling adventure in the style of a platformer, inspired by the Mario and Kirby games. However, it retains all basic mechanics of Super Smash Bros., such as a damage meter, stocks and Smash-style attacks.

The mode features a world map where stages are selected; once a stage is selected, the difficulty can be chosen, and the character(s) will enter the stage. The selectable characters will change depending on the plot. Also introduced on Oct. 5, 2007 you can play with two players but it is optional.

When playing a level for the first time, many cutscenes will pause just before gameplay begins, showing a view of all available characters. A message will tell how many characters can be chosen for the level, and a cursor will appear that will let you choose which characters to play. The order characters are chosen in is the order they will appear: they will cycle through in that order until all stock is depleted. Playing through a level again, there will be a screen before the level allowing you to choose between any available characters instead of cutscenes during the level. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage: you have a wider character variety to choose from, but you must choose the full number of characters. On a six-stock stage, you must select six different characters. You can't just select four characters and have extra stock that will cycle through them as you could in many levels the first time. Additionally, no mid-level cutscenes will play, including ones that would normally allow you to choose new characters and replenish stocks. While on many levels this makes little difference, it is very problematic on long stages like the second Subspace Bomb Factory, where you have to beat the level with a fraction of the lives you would normally get playing through.

Also, some of the character's stats are changed in side-scrolling stages. The characters jumping height, running speed and falling speed are altered. The difference varies from character to character.(i.e.; Pokemon Trainer's Pokemon will not be affected by stamina)

Plot
Note: Because it is possible to take more than one path in Adventure Mode, there are sometimes two characters' names, divided by slashes when describing a scenario. (i.e.; Peach/Zelda) This means that if you take the first path, the scenario involves the first character, and vice versa.

Prologue
''This part is not seen in in-game videos. The prologue is from in-game trophies and the Dojo.''

Tabuu, the main villain of “The Subspace Emissary," wants to cut the world the main characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl live in to pieces and drag it into his world. He hides himself in Subspace, watching their world vigilantly. Tabuu himself cannot leave Subspace. That’s why he has to prepare an army and a leader for the offensive into the other world. Tabuu studied Master Hand and the fighters, and this knowledge leads him to use Master Hand for his plans here. Chains of light bend Master Hand to the will of Tabuu, who uses Master Hand to enlist the likes of Ganondorf, Bowser, and Wario. He gives each of these minions a Dark Cannon and tells them to hunt down any talented fighters that might stand in the way of the Subspace Army. Ganondorf pretended to swear allegiance to Master Hand, all the while planning to usurp power from within. Bowser is relatively loyal to Master Hand, but he does not care for Ganondorf. Wario cares very little for the actual objective he was given and wants to continue just doing whatever he likes.

Tabuu has had his eye on the advanced technology developed on the Isle of Ancients. This mysterious island hangs suspended in the sky and gives home to a group of robots. No one knows how long they have been there, but they have existed for ages without interfering with other civilizations. Life on the Isle of Ancients revolved around a single leader, the Master Robot (also the Ancient Minister, as we later learn). The other robots gave their unwavering loyalty to the Master Robot and existed in peace. But now Tabuu has taken the entire island hostage. The Master Robot wants to avoid losing so many of his brethren to Tabuu, so he reluctantly agrees to be the main front of the Subspace offensive, and begins development work on the Subspace Bombs. The Master Robot decides to disguise himself as the Ancient Minister out of shame for his own decision to work with the Subspace Army. The Dark Cannons are also being developed and built on the Isle of Ancients.

Tabuu takes notice of the peculiar qualities of Mr. Game & Watch’s body mass. He uses these particularities to create a nearly infinite number of shadow bugs, which he then uses to create the Subspace Army. However, since Mr. Game & Watch does not have any concept of good and evil, he is unaware of the effects caused when he is used in this way.

Tabuu also has his eye on Meta Knight’s ship, the Halberd, as a means of transportation for the Subspace Army. Using the Subspace Army, he launches a violent attack on Meta Knight and takes the ship for his own. During the attack, King Dedede engages Meta Knight, unknowingly making it impossible for Meta Knight to repel the Subspace Army’s attack.

King Dedede learns of Tabuu’s true nature and the power of his Off Waves during the taking of the Halberd. He begins to worry what will happen once all of the fighters are turned into trophies. Once that happens, there will be no one left to restore the frozen heroes, and the world as they know it will end by Tabuu’s hand. So he develops a special brooch. The brooches are set to work on a timer; when the timer runs down, the brooch will restore a fighter from his or her trophy form back to the original form. All you need to do is set the brooch on a hero that had been turned into a trophy and leave it there.

Chapter One
The game begins at the stadium, where Peach and Zelda watch a friendly match between Mario and Kirby. The two fight with fierce intensity as Pit observes the battle as well from a mystical fountain in his home at Skyworld. Mario/Kirby wins, and Kirby/Mario turns into a trophy. Mario/Kirby returns Kirby/Mario back to normal, but when he does, the sky suddenly darkens and the Halberd appears out of nowhere. The sky turns dark and the clouds turn into the 4 evil ones, if you look hard enough. The Halberd shoots out little spores, which come together to make the Primid, the main force of the Subspace Army. Mario and Kirby, joined by Peach and Zelda, defeat the Primids. After they do, the leader of the Army, the Ancient Minister, appears and drops a Subspace Bomb, which is activated by two R.O.B.s, and is set to detonate in 3 minutes. Mario races to disarm the bomb, but is blasted out the stadium by a cannonball. Petey Piranha then captures the two princesses and attacks Kirby.

Chapter Two
After Kirby defeats Petey, he explodes, and the cages holding the princesses break. Kirby and Zelda/Peach land safely only to watch Wario appear with a huge gun. Wario turns to see a weakened Peach/Zelda, and aims the gun at her. A black arrow comes out of the gun and pierces her body, turning her into a trophy. Wario grabs the trophy and runs out of the stadium. Kirby and Zelda/Peach run after him, but Kirby sees the bomb at 5 seconds before detonation, and takes Zelda/Peach with him on the Warp Star. The two escape from the stadium as the bomb consumes the arena in Subspace. Back in Skyworld, Pit sees the bomb detonate from his fountain, and is ordered by Palutena to go and stop the Subspace Army. Pit takes his bow and descends into the clouds.

Pit flies down to a cloud, as the Underworld theme plays, but sees the Halberd approaching. The Halberd creates more Primids to attack Pit, who splits his bow into swords and fights off the Primids. After fighting through several different types of Primid, Pit looks out and sees Mario's trophy. He reawakens him, and the two team up to fight the Subspace Army. The two heroes travel through the clouds chasing the Halberd, but realize that they aren't fast enough. Then, they see an Arwing chase the Halberd.

At this time, over a vast sea of clouds, Kirby and Zelda/Peach are still flying on the Warp Star when the Halberd comes up behind them. The Star hits the ship and the two land on it. They go on to explore the ship, but they are interrupted by the ship battle between the Arwing and the Halberd. The Arwing is shot down and knocks over Zelda/Peach and Kirby as it falls out of the sky. The two manage to land safely on a cloud and are confronted by the Subspace Army. The two begin to descend to solid ground as they fight through the Primid. After defeating a larger member of the Subspace Army, a Greap, the two continue their journey.

The story turns its attention to a jungle, where a car with a load of bananas piloted by Hammer Bros., Koopa Troopas and Goombas drives at insane speeds. Donkey Kong is seen beating up some Goombas and other Koopa Troopas. When he goes onto a ledge and sees the Koopas' car, a Goomba fires three Bullet Bills at him. Diddy Kong jumps out of nowhere and shoots down the Bullet Bills with his Peanut Popguns, and the two Kongs chase the car. After facing some giant Goombas and other Koopa Troopas, the two find the stash of bananas, but are confronted by Bowser. Bowser pulls out the gun that Wario used and points it at Diddy. Donkey Kong realizes what will happen and punches Diddy away, turning into a trophy by Bowser in the process. Bowser laughs wickedly and carries his prize with him.

Meanwhile, Mario and Pit continue their journey through a large plain. The two finally find the Ancient Minister, who is carrying a Subspace Bomb. They both try to hit him, but miss. The Ancient Minister continues flying as Mario and Pit continue the chase.

While navigating the jungle, Diddy finally exits to a nearby lake, where a Rayquaza (presumably one flying in the oxone layer, colliding with the Arwing, angering the beast) attacks the Arwing that crashed and grabs Diddy. Fox McCloud emerges from the burning Arwing and saves Diddy. The two then team up to face Rayquaza and defeat it. Fox prepares to head away when Diddy drags him with him back into the jungle, for he needs his help to find Bowser. After facing more of Bowser's troops and exploring more places in the jungle, the two confront a clone of Bowser made by Shadow Bugs. After defeating him, the real Bowser fires another shot from the Dark Cannon at them. Fox grabs Diddy and jumps off a cliff to save them both.

Chapter Three
The story then goes to an old, ruined zoo, where Lucas is attacked by the King P. Statue and a group of Primids. Lucas runs from the statue, but is eventually trapped by a root in the ground. Fortunately, Lucas is saved by Ness, who destroys the statue with PK Flash, revealing Porky Minch in a giant spider mech. After defeating Porky, the two are attacked by Wario. Wario fires the Dark Cannon at Ness, who dodges every shot. Wario finally aims the gun at Lucas, but Ness sacrifices himself to save Lucas by shoving him out of the way. Lucas, frightened, runs away from Wario, who now has the Ness trophy, and laughs evily while Lucas runs. Lucas runs into the Pokémon Trainer and his Pokémon Squirtle, who takes him with him to find two other Pokémon.

Elsewhere, in the middle of a vast battlefield, Marth is seen watching some R.O.B.s detonate another Subspace Bomb and races to find out how to stop it, but his fortress is besieged by the Subspace Army. Marth fights his way through swarm after swarm of the Army until he finally gets to the grounds outside of the fortress, where he watches the area of Subspace slowly expand. Meta Knight flies in and attacks Marth, and the two duel briefly, but they are interupted by Primids and team up to stop them. After stopping the wave of Primids, they see the Ancient Minister. The two desperately attempt to stop him, but fail. Finally, Ike attacks with Great Aether and cuts the bomb from under the Minister and severs his floating chair, sending him whirling off into the sky. The three then team up to chase down the Ancient Minister and stop the Subspace Army.

When King Dedede learns that Bowser and Wario have joined the Subspace Army and are turning fighters into a collection of trophies, he decides to start his own collection. On a remote road, Luigi is passed by a Waddle Dee and then another. Thinking they are enemies, he gets into a cowardly fighting stance. He is attacked from behind by King Dedede and turned into a trophy. Wario passes by and sees the Luigi trophy. He tries to grab it, but the Waddle Dees ambush him while Dedede steals his trophy car and his trophies of Luigi, Ness and Peach/Zelda.

Meanwhile, in a thick forest, Link pulls out the Master Sword from its podium. He leaves, passing by a sleeping Yoshi. The Halberd passes over the two and immediately drops Primids, awakening Yoshi and putting the two into a team. The two heroes beat back the Subspace Army as they try to escape from the forest and chase down the Halberd.

Chapter Four
On a floating island, Samus Aran is shown sneaking into a research facility of sorts in her Zero Suit. After getting by some R.O.B.s, she enters a room where she sees a Pikachu in some kind of generator, sapping it's energy in a painful way. Samus breaks the device with her Plasma Whip, which sets off an alarm. Many R.O.B.s enter the room and attack the two. The two travel through the facility, fighting their way past the guards. They soon enter a control room, where Samus sees her Power Suit.

In a pass near the shore of another lake, Kirby sees King Dedede go by in the trophy car and chases after it, leaving Zelda/Peach behind. Zelda/Peach turns, but is transformed into a trophy by a surprise attack from Bowser. The clone of Bowser comes up to the trophy and consumes it, creating a clone of her. The clone tries to shoot Link/Mario and Yoshi/Pit, who are running by, with the Dark Cannon, but it is destroyed when Pit/Link slices it in half. The Zelda/Peach clone then faces Pit/Link and Mario/Yoshi and is defeated.

Link/Mario looks up and sees Mario/Link and Pit/Yoshi standing by the clone's (fake) trophy, which disintegrates. Enraged because he thought it was his real lover, Link/Mario attacks Mario/Link by means of a stab/punch (similar to the Ending Blow in Twilight Princess/Super Jump Punch) but Mario/Link dodges it. Mario/Link and Pit/Yoshi then face Link/Mario and Yoshi/Pit, defeating them. King Dedede then grabs Link/Mario and Yoshi/Pit's trophies with an arm from the car, but the arm is cut in half by Kirby, who revives Link/Maro and Yoshi/Pit as well. Link/Pit then slows the car by shooting an arrow at it, and King Dedede takes the remaining trophies and runs. The five heroes team up and chase King Dedede down.

Meanwhile, in a control room, Ganondorf orders Bowser to track down Dedede and gives him the coordinates to his location.

At a remote mountain, Lucas and the Trainer see a Charizard fly into a cave and follow it down a path to some ruins. The two journey through the ruins and an active lava pit until they confront Wario by the cave's entrance. Seeing Wario, Lucas grows bolder and joins the Pokémon Trainer's Squirtle to fight Wario and defeat him, which turns him into a trophy. Remembering Ness, Lucas looks for him, but doesn't see him. Pokemon Trainer cheers him up by suggesting that Ness might be in the ruins.

In his hidden lair, King Dedede decorates his three trophies with small brooches modeled after himself, thinking the brooches will bring them back eventually if something goes wrong, but he ends up using the brooch he had made for himself on Peach/Zelda and intends to make another one for himself later.

At that moment Bowser and his men attack King Dedede, knocking the King unconscious and trashing his lair. Bowser then sees the trophy of Peach/Zelda and grabs it. Mario, Link, Pit, Yoshi and Kirby enter the ruined lair and see a hole in the wall leading to a cave. When they go through the cave and get out of the building, Mario sees Bowser and attempts to punch him. Bowser holds up Peach/Zelda's trophy and Mario moves his fist to slam it beside Bowser. Pit fires an arrow that Bowser barely dodges, and the Dedede cap comes off of Peach/Zelda's trophy. Bowser then gets in his Koopa Clown Car and heads back to the Halberd. Meanwhile, the Ancient Minister sets up a bomb outside of the lair, and Ganondorf is shown receiving orders from the Master Hand via TV screen.

Pokémon Trainer and Lucas continue their trek into the ruins, fighting off the Subspace Army as they go. After descending through floor after floor of enemies, the Trainer sees an Ivysaur trophy and captures it. The two then continue to proceed deeper into the cave, where they come face-to-face with Charizard. Lucas, Squirtle, and Ivysaur defeat Charizard, and the Trainer captures him.

Marth, Ike, and Meta Knight fight Galleom who they had apparently been tracking in the wilds. They defeat it, but it instead falls into a giant hall, which is part of the ruins where Lucas and the Trainer are in. They defeat the robot, but it turns out that the robot had a Subspace Bomb used as a self-destruct and takes both of the characters to the skies. The Pokémon Trainer has fainted, much to Lucas' despair. Lucas, now gaining his courage, uses PK Thunder to detach the robot's arm that was holding them and they both start falling presumably to their doom until Meta Knight catches them. Behind them the Subspace Bomb detonates, sucking up the Wario trophy that was left behind into Subspace.

Chapter Five
The Ancient Minister shows up in the same desert, but in a different region, where he is confronted by Mario's group. After fleeing from them, the group gives chase. After going through a wide area of the desert, the group catches up to the Minister, who starts firing shots at the group. A R.O.B. grabs the bomb underneath the Minister and gets some others to activate it. Despite the group's best efforts, the bomb is still activated. As the Minister flies away, appearing strangely depressed, a R.O.B. looks up at him and waves. The bomb detonates, but the group just barely manages to escape as they run as quickly as they can away from it.

Meanwhile, exiting the jungle, Fox and Diddy have recovered from their jump and start fleeing from Bowser. Along the way out they face the Subspace Army as well as Bowser's troops. The two finally get on a path that leads out of the jungle, but Diddy is shot by Bowser's Dark Cannon and has his trophy consumed by shadow bugs, which creates a clone of him. Fox appears to be outnumbered when Falco Lombardi flies in in his Arwing and jumps out. He kicks the gun out of Bowser's hands and destroys it with his two blasters. Bowser then hops in his Koopa Clown Car and flees, but the clone of Diddy grows larger. Fox revives Diddy, and the three face the evil clone. After defeating the clone, Diddy drags Falco back onto the path with him and Fox. The three start treading through a swamp as they face more troops. On the lake, they see a transport with DK's trophy on it. In order to get on the transport, Falco calls for support in the form of the Great Fox.

Samus and Pikachu continue their run through the research facility to retrieve Samus's Power Suit, encountering more R.O.B.s and Subspace Army guards. They finally enter the room holding the suit, but are confronted by two Shadow Bug clones of the Suit. After defeating the clones, Samus puts her Suit back on, which alerts the guards. Samus uses her Suit's weapons to quickly blow through all the guards, and the two try to find the leader of the R.O.B.s so that they can shut down the base. The two go as far as a dead end, where they are attacked by Ridley, who grabs Samus and slams her into the wall, dragging her along it delivering major cracks in her armor. Pikachu blasts Ridley with a lightning bolt, causing him to drop Samus (despite what happened in the scene, Samus doesn't have any damage when the fight starts). Ridley then battles the duo. After defeating the monster, the two exit out of a secret door, but they see some R.O.B.s carrying Subspace Bombs out of a part of the base, so Pikachu and Samus decide to enter it.

Chapter Six
On another part of the island, outside another set of ancient ruins, a giant R.O.B. is being harassed by Captain Olimar and a group of Pikmin when it is destroyed by Captain Falcon. However, Captain Falcon accidentally wipes out most of the remaining Pikmin when he lands. The two captains decide to team up and escape the R.O.B.s, traveling through some old ruins of buildings, but are attacked by regular-sized R.O.B.s as they attempt to run. They make it to a ledge where they see the transport carrying Donkey Kong's trophy being attacked by Falco's Arwing, which drops off Diddy onto it, who in turn frees DK. Captain falcon grabs Olimar and jumps onto the transport, where they are attacked by more Primids. They finally defeat the Primids as the ship prepares to enter the base, giving them the perfect chance to slip in...

Back in the desert, Meta Knight sees the Halberd engaging in a battle with Great Fox near a mountain, and he takes off to get to the ship, and meets the Ice Climbers on his way up the mountain. The three continue the hike together, but are slowed down by hordes of Primids. Once they get to the top of the glacial peak, they encounter Lucario, who challenges Meta Knight to a fight. Meta Knight/Lucario wins and revives Lucario/Meta Knight (the two of them then shake hands in respect) just as the Halberd attempts to knock the heroes off the mountain by ramming the captured Great Fox into it. The Ice Climbers fall off, but Meta Knight and Lucario jump onto the ship.

At the base of the mountain canyon, the Ice Climbers meet up with Marth, Ike, Lucas, and the Pokémon Trainer. This group splits up when a large group of Primids attack, but luckily Mario's group jumps down to help out. After a long fight, the two teams defeat the Subspace Army group.

Meanwhile, Snake appears out of a cardboard box in the Halberd (his box was also seen in it briefly much earlier) and continues sneaking around in it as the Great Fox flees the area heavily damaged. After fighting off several Primids, Snake hears Meta Knight and Lucario coming and hides in a box. Lucario senses him and blows his cover, to Snake's surpise. Lucario then senses a group of Primids coming towards them, so the three team up to stop them. The three make their way into a room that has Zelda and Peach's trophies in cages. Shadow bugs then come from the ceiling and create clones of them to fight. After the clones are defeated, the princesses are freed, and Snake tells them to stay put while he keeps looking around.

The door opens, and Sheik and Peach race out onto the open side of the Halberd, having to fight a fierce wind to stay on. They also have to face a large number of guards as well. After a long journey, the two get onto the front deck of the ship. Fox then flies his Arwing in and engages the Halberd again. After Fox destroys the turret Peach is standing next to, Sheik teleports onto Fox's Arwing and punches a hole in it, thinking that he was shooting at Peach. After landing back on the deck, the two prepare to fight, but are stopped by Peach, who offers each of them a cup of tea. Fox is stunned, but realizes that Sheik and Peach aren't his enemies.

Meanwhile, Lucario, Snake, and Meta Knight fight several Mr. Game and Watches in the Halberd's main control room and send them onto the front deck, where they turn into Shadow Bugs, then into a giant monster. Snake and Lucario join Peach, Sheik, and Fox, and Falco jumps into the fight as well. The heroes fight hard against the monster and finally defeat it. The shadow bugs melt away to reveal a Mr. Game and Watch trophy. Peach awakens him, and Mr. Game and Watch joins the group, and is entranced by Peach's parasol. Meta Knight, who wasn't at the fight, regains control of the Halberd.

Chapter Seven
Back at the island base, Samus and Pikachu set off alarms as they race through the facility. They come across a huge amount of guards as they fight to find the source of the bombs. They reach the last room and confront the Ancient Minister and the entire R.O.B. Squad. The Ancient Minister hangs his head as if he is sad, and Samus and Pikachu slowly relent...

Captain Falcon, Captain Olimar, DK, and Diddy continue their infiltration of the base, blowing through R.O.B. guards. They get to a wall that DK easily busts through, where the group meets Samus and Pikachu. As they enter, they see the Ancient Minister, a legion of R.O.B.s, and a projection of Ganondorf. The room contains hundreds of Subspace Bombs. Ganondorf orders the R.O.B.s to grab all of the Subspace Bombs off of their assembly lines and activate them so that he can tear a hole in space large enough to fit a Subspace gunship through. The Ancient Minister defyingly gets in their way and orders them to stop, not wanting to lose more of his people. Ganondorf uses an over-ride signal to remove their free will, and tells them to ignore the Minister and keep going. The Minister desperately tries to stop the R.O.B.s, but Ganondorf orders them to attack the Minister. His robes ignite, and the R.O.B.s begin activating the bombs. Ganondorf summons a horde of Auroros to distract the heroes, and the projection disappears. Despite the attack, the heroes try to stop the R.O.B.s from detonating the bombs. Suddenly, the Ancient Minister destroys all the Auroros with laser beams from his eyes, and his clothes burn off to reveal that he, himself, is a R.O.B.! This R.O.B. was the leader of the island and reluctantly disguised himself as the Ancient Minister to hide his shame. Taken into control by Ganondorf, R.O.B rebels and breaks free of Ganondorf's control. The heroes, along with R.O.B. (or Robot), fight off the Subspace Army guards Ganondorf sends after them. They defeat the guards, and with a few minutes remaining on the bombs and the heroes failing to pry off the powering down R.O.B's and R.O.B having a sad moment, Captain Falcon calls his ship, the Falcon Flyer and has everyone pile into it, but not before blasting through reinforcements and R.O.B. bids farewell for his troops. However, as they try to leave, Meta Ridley attacks them again. Putting the ship on auto-pilot, the team gets on the top of the ship and faces him. Meta Ridley is soon destroyed when the Falcon Flyer's engines ignite him and the ship leaves the island and Subspace consumes the whole island. Captain Falcon's ship and the Halberd meet with the heroes that are still in the desert.

Chapter Eight
A giant cannon emerges from the Subspace area where the floating island once was. The cannon unleashes a powerful ray across the ocean. The ray contacts a place far off, and the place is instantly sucked into Subspace. At the helm of the cannon is Ganondorf and Bowser, who see the Halberd approaching. At Ganondorf's order, hundreds of turrets activate and start firing. The Halberd dodges several shots, but is eventually destroyed. However, Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Captain Olimar's Hocotate Ship, Samus's Hunter Gunship, and Falco's Arwing emerge from it. The turrets start firing again, but the smaller ships dodge them all. Kirby appears out of the sky on a Dragoon and flies it through the cannon, destroying it. Ganondorf and Bowser go back into Subspace, followed by the five ships. The combined group of heroes then travel through Subspace together, facing an army of Primids and the other Subspace Army types standing in their way.

Back with Bowser and Ganondorf, Ganondorf decides it is the time to usurp the Master Hand so he takes out the last remaining Dark Cannon and aims it at Bowser, his own right-hand and the most loyal of Master Hand's henchmen. After shooting Bowser, Ganondorf kicks the Bowser trophy out of the way and goes up to the edge of a ledge. He proceeds to spread his arms from his body. Master Hand appears from the darkness. But it turns out that he is controlled by yellow strings, which are being held by a being known as Tabuu. Ganondorf jumps up towards Tabuu to attack him but is smacked back by Tabuu's Off Waves. Ganondorf's trophy flies back and hits Master Hand, whose strings break. Master Hand hits the ground next to Ganondorf's trophy. He flies back up to attack Tabuu, but he unleashes a blue shield, which knocks out Master Hand. Everyone runs over to check on him. Tabuu then releases his Off Waves once again, which consumes everyone, turning them all into trophies. Tabuu then begins to reconstruct some of the pieces he tore out of our world into a nightmarish maze.

Meanwhile, back at King Dedede's destroyed lair, the Dedede Brooches on Luigi and Ness revive them. They then revive King Dedede and team up. Along the way into Subspace, they come across the trophies of the defeated heroes and grab them as they move along. Then the three approach the staircase leading to Tabuu, where they see the fallen Master Hand and Bowser's trophy. King Dedede awakens Bowser, who immediately attacks him. After a short fight, King Dedede awakes Bowser again, and when he tries to attack, King Dedede just flicks him in the nose. Bowser then turns and stares at the Master Hand.

Meanwhile, Kirby awakens. He spits out the Dedede Cap that came off of Peach/Zelda earlier and stares at it. He then travels through the Subspace area alone, facing a horde of Subspace guards appearing from the sky. Kirby later comes up to the same staircase and sees Ganondorf's trophy. Bowser races by and starts brutally beating up the trophy before throwing it aside. King Dedede then appears and gives Kirby a big hug. King Dedede then drags Kirby with him.

Link and Zelda then appear by Ganondorf's trophy and decide to reawaken him. Ganondorf wakes up and rubs his head as if he had a headache, and Link points to the staircase. He and Zelda then start walking up it. Ganondorf creates a dark sphere around his hand, wanting to destroy the two. But then walks up it as well, knowing there were more important things to deal with at the moment. King Dedede is shown being attacked by Wario, but King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness point to the staircase and begin climbing it. Wario drives up the staircase on his motorcycle.

The heroes then journey through the places which have been captured by Subspace trying to find Tabuu while battling dark versions of themselves. These dark versions of fighters and the reincarnated bosses from earlier encounters were created based on detailed analysis carried out by the Subspace Army. They were placed here to guard the labyrinth. Finally reaching him, Tabuu prepares to unleash an attack on the heroes, the same one he used to turn everyone into trophies, but Sonic races through the sky and shatters his wings, interrupting the attack and stopping him from turning anyone into trophies. This ambush weakened Tabuu to the point that they could challenge in head to head combat. The heroes then proceed to face Tabuu in a long battle that challenged all of them. After defeating him, Tabuu explodes, the orbs of Subspace recede and all of the worlds they have surrounded are freed. In the ending of the game, the spot marked by the shining "X" is where the Isle of Ancients was. When Tabuu and the Great Maze were destroyed, most parts of our world returned to normal, but the effect of so many Subspace Bombs going off at once made it impossible for the Isle of Ancients to return to normal, leaving R.O.B. as the last of his kind. The End

Bosses

 * Petey Piranha (fought by Kirby)
 * Rayquaza (fought by Fox and Diddy Kong)
 * Porky (fought by Ness and Lucas)
 * Galleom part 1 (fought by Marth, Ike, and Meta Knight)
 * Galleom part 2 (fought by Lucas and Pokémon Trainer)
 * Ridley (fought by Samus and Pikachu)
 * Duon (fought by Fox, Falco, Lucario, Snake, Peach, and Sheik in a party of 4)
 * Meta Ridley (fought by Samus, Pikachu, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, Olimar, and R.O.B. in a party of 4)
 * Tabuu (fought by any rescued characters and Sonic, in a party of 6)

Mini-Bosses

 * Kirby/Mario (fought by Mario/Kirby)
 * False Bowser (fought by Diddy Kong and Fox)
 * False Peach/False Zelda (fought by Link/Mario and Yoshi/Pit)
 * Mario/Link and Pit/Yoshi (fought by Link/Mario and Yoshi/Pit (1 is CPU controlled unless Co-op Mode))
 * Wario (fought by Lucas and Squirtle)
 * Charizard (fought by Ivysaur, Lucas, and Squirtle)
 * Giant False Diddy Kong (fought by Falco, Diddy Kong, and Fox)
 * 2 False Samuses (fought by Zero Suit Samus and Pikachu)
 * Lucario/Meta Knight (fought by Meta Knight/Lucario)
 * False Peach and False Zelda (fought by Meta Knight, Lucario, and Snake)
 * Bowser (fought by King Dedede)
 * All Bosses and Clones of all characters but Sonic and below characters (fought by any characters rescued in Subspace in a party of 4)
 * Toon Link (fought by 1 character that entered the Forest) (optional)
 * Wolf (fought by 1 character that entered the Ruins) (optional)
 * Jigglypuff (fought by 1 character that entered the Swamp) (optional)

Note: When only one character is available to fight a boss or mini-boss in Co-op mode, the second player plays as a color change of that character.

Other special enemy battles

 * The Pig King Statue (The Ruined Zoo)

Dialogue
The vast majority of character interaction in the Subspace Emissary takes place through gestures and expressions, augmented by short grunts or exclamations. The only spoken words besides a quick "Hey!" or "Yeah!" are those that are a distinctive part of a character's attacks, like PK Thunder or Falcon Punch, or taunt-like sounds that have been put in key places.

Differences and Similarities to Kirby Super Star

 * The Halberd plays a very strong role in both games
 * Chased down by the Pig King Statue is similar to being chased down by the Heavy Lobster (includes activating switches and the enemy destroying anything in its path).
 * Both games use cutscenes
 * Both feature cart rides and special devices that propel characters forwards.
 * Space jump is just like how P2 from Super Star comes back to P1. Also works in Co-op.

Trivia

 * In the Subspace Emissary, you cannot get Star K.O.ed - you crash into the top of the screen, unless you're fighting a Subspace Clone in the Great Maze.
 * Luigi cannot rise in the air above a pathetic bare minimum using his Luigi Cyclone, as opposed to the attack's large recovery when Brawling. It is believed this is because the gravity of the Adventure mode is higher than that of normal matches.
 * The Ruined Zoo is actually a reference to the first Mother game, most don't actually realise this and think the Halberd is the only location from a game.