Tabuu

Tabuu (タブー, Tabuu) is the leader of the Subspace Army in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the main antagonist and 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.

Role in the Subspace Emissary
Tabuu is 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 cannot 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, so he 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 effortlessly knocks him back. Ganondorf's body hits the puppet Master Hand, thus breaking him free of his Chains of Light and turning Ganondorf into a trophy in the process. 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 Broach, Luigi, Kirby, and Ness are later revived, and they then revive King Dedede himself after Ness notes the likeness of the badges' relief to Dedede, realizes 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 Tabuu is reached, 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 all fighters into trophies it ranges only as far as the small arena on which Tabuu is fought, as seen in the final battle. Anyone can fight Tabuu; however, the trophies of the fallen comrades must be picked up first 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.


 * Capture Tabuu with a Trophy Stand.

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.

See also: List of SSBB trophies (The Subspace Emissary)

Winged Tabuu
Tabuu reveals his wings, resembling a butterfly's in shape (but made of intricate curving symbols), only when he is about to unleash his strongest attack: the Off Waves. With his wings extended, he charges energy, then releases a powerful explosion of crimson shock waves that annihilate all in their path. This attack is possible to avoid by sidestepping 3 times perfectly. Right before the final battle, Sonic appears and shatters Tabuu's wings, severely weakening their power.

Moveset
Tabuu is playable by hacking the game in Boss Battles mode and in other modes where Tabuu is fought. 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 dangerous attacks, which increase in power and 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 for the Off Waves, whose name 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 (unless playing as Meta Knight). A perfectly timed sidestep dodge may also work.


 * Diving Slash - Tabuu appears high above one side of the stage and dives, turning his arm into a blade of energy. Because he will always go near the ground, it can be dodged by jumping over his attack in the middle of the stage or going on the edge of the stage.
 * Goldenbracket.jpgGolden Bracket - Tabuu transforms into an energy cage, resembling two glowing yellow brackets and flies across the stage, grabbing the character and slamming him/her/it into the floor. On the top, there is a Motion Sensor Bomb, making it explode. If played on Intense difficulty, this becomes a OHKO, and can also kill at Hard and Very Hard at 0% if badly Momentum Cancelled. There is no predetermined way the brackets fly. Air dodging can be used to avoid it.

Second Set of Moves

 *  Chain of Light - Tabuu creates a golden chain, similar to the one he used to bind Master Hand, and throws it in front of him 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 Co-op mode, he will smash the player he caught into the other player.


 * Electrical Shield - Tabuu teleports right next to the player. The purple sphere inside his torso splits into several fragments, which fly in circles around him for a short time while emitting electricity. This attack has a decent range, but leaves Tabuu wide open for projectile weapons. It somewhat resembles an atom, with Tabuu being the nucleus and his fragmented energy core being electrons.


 * Rapid Chop - Tabuu teleports behind the player and repeatedly slashes the area in front of him, creating visible purple slashes. This move can easily catch and juggle players, but it has less range than the visible slashes would indicate. Again, Tabuu leaves himself wide open to projectiles, and melee attacks are also viable behind him.


 * Pinpoint Explosion - From one side of the stage, Tabuu makes a pointing gesture. Five locations along a line leading to the player's current location will flash once and explode after about two seconds. Avoided by taking note of and staying away from the flashes before they explode.


 * Ghost Projection - Tabuu splits himself in half and shoots out many ghost images of himself in all directions, which explode after achieving a certain distance. The projections can be dodged, but take note that they explode when they make contact with the ground, so by sidestepping the projection itself, damage can still be received. They can also be destroyed, preferably by projectiles.

Third Set of Moves

 * Dragon Laser - Tabuu appears on the side of the stage and manifests a dragon head (also bearing similarities to the Dark Cannons), which floats beneath Tabuu as it fires a powerful laser horizontally across the stage. Jumping is advisable, although some characters may have a harder time of it.


 * Bullet Rain - Tabuu appears in a random area in the air and fires a barrage of small bullets, finishing with a huge energy sphere. Easily avoided by staying behind him, or, for some characters, by distancing and using all 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 give his location away if he's about to use this attack - namely, if Tabuu appears anywhere not off the edge of the stage, he's going to use Bullet Rain. This attack's projectiles cannot be reflected.


 * Shuriken Boomerang - Tabuu appears on one side of the stage and throws a huge, circular, three-bladed shuriken, which flies across the stage like a boomerang before he catches it. Avoided by jumping. Use the Up Special Move to avoid the second swing, but this depends on character. The boomerang only has three blades, but the speed of its spin makes it look like it has about nine. Note: At higher levels, the throw and the return must be evaded in one jump.

Fourth Set of Moves

 * Off Waves - 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 on Normal or higher difficulties in Adventure: The Subspace Emissary, and on Very Hard and Intense difficulty in 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 thier Down Special Move 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 almost impossible. Air dodging is possible if a high enough jump is used with characters like Kirby and Jigglypuff. Used as the first 4th move, and every eight moves after that.


 * Eye Lasers - Tabuu grows to an enormous size, so giant that only his head appears on the side of the screen. He then fires a red laser from each eye. This attack is used every 8 moves. Can be very easily avoided by hiding right at the end of the stage, literally under Tabuu's chin, allowing easy damage, mainly, by using Up Tilts. Be careful of not using moves that push characters backwards, since these may fall into the beams. Unlike Master Hand and Crazy Hand's lasers, Tabuu's lasers do not drift off the stage, so one will be hit as long as they are in front of him. Only the endpoints do damage.

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 KO a player at low percentages, meaning that one must not be too eager to attack Tabuu during his teleports.

Trivia

 * A glitch can occur when the character defeats Tabuu when he's using Eye Lasers. When the battle shows him flying off into the subspace background, his head will be covered in the same red colored light that shot out from his eyes.
 * Tabuu's wings are almost completely destroyed by Sonic in the pre-battle cutscene, but they are shown full in the battle, and afterwards, they're back to being shattered.
 * Tabuu is one of four bosses in the series who can grab characters. The others are Giga Bowser, Master Hand, and Crazy Hand.
 * Tabuu's moves are similar to Marx's moves from the Kirby series.
 * Tabuu's difficulty increases when played in Co-op mode, to the extent of being almost equivelent to Hard mode in Single Player Boss Battles Mode.
 * Tabuu's moveset has the widest diversity of attacks in the entire game.
 * Tabuu's dragon cannon attack roar is similar to Palkia's.
 * Likely Tabuu's name come from Taboo.
 * Tabuu's attacks are not only hard to dodge, but also have high knockback and damage. WHY NINTENDO WHY!