Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary

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An official Subspace Emissary logo.

The save selection of the Subspace Emissary

The world map of the Subspace Emissary.

Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary (亜空の使者) is a mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in a similar vein to Adventure Mode from Super Smash Bros. Melee. It was hinted at with the This world..., Dojo update on July 20th 2007, and fully unveiled on August 3rd of the same year.

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/Mario's apparent defeat at the hands of Mario/Kirby, he is changed back into a trophy, but Mario/Kirby 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. Peach and 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.

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, Goombas, Koopa Troopas 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

A map of the stages and which characters are available in each one, not counting Wolf, Toon Link, and Jigglypuff.

The Adventure Map, after completion of the Subspace Emissary.

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:

#	Stage	Playable characters	Characters who join
1	Midair Stadium	Mario, Kirby, Peach, Zelda	Kirby, Peach/Zelda
2	Skyworld	Mario, Pit	Mario, Pit
3	Sea of Clouds	Kirby, Peach/Zelda	N/A
4	The Jungle	Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong	Diddy Kong
5	The Plain	Mario, Pit	N/A
6	The Lake	Diddy Kong, Fox	Fox
7	The Ruined Zoo	Lucas, Ness, Pokémon Trainer	Lucas, Pokémon Trainer
8	The Battlefield Fortress	Marth, Meta Knight, Ike	Marth, Meta Knight, Ike
9	The Forest	Link, Yoshi	Link, Yoshi, Toon Link*
10	Research Facility I	Zero Suit Samus, Pikachu	Zero Suit Samus, Pikachu
11	The Lake Shore	Mario, Link, Yoshi, Kirby, Pit	N/A (Rescued Princess leaves)
12	The Path to the Ruins	Lucas, Pokémon Trainer	N/A
13	The Cave	Mario, Link, Yoshi, Kirby, Pit	N/A
14	The Ruins	Lucas, Pokémon Trainer	Wolf*
15	The Wilds I	Marth, Meta Knight, Ike	N/A
16	The Ruined Hall	Lucas, Pokémon Trainer	N/A
17	The Wilds II	Mario, Link, Yoshi, Kirby, Pit	N/A
18	The Swamp	Diddy Kong, Fox, Falco	Falco, Jigglypuff*
19	Research Facility II	Zero Suit Samus, Samus, Pikachu	Samus (Zero Suit Samus can still be selected by highlighting Samus & pressing form change button)
20	Outside the Ancient Ruins	Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, Olimar	Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Olimar (Fox and Falco leave)
21	The Glacial Peak	Meta Knight, Ice Climbers, Lucario	Ice Climbers, Lucario
22	The Canyon	Mario, Link, Yoshi, Kirby, Pit	N/A
23	Battleship Halberd Interior	Meta Knight, Lucario, Snake	Snake
24	Battleship Halberd Exterior	Peach, Zelda	Peach/Zelda
25	Battleship Halberd Bridge	Peach, Zelda, Fox, Falco, Lucario, Snake	Mr. Game & Watch
26	Subspace Bomb Factory I	Samus, Pikachu	N/A
27	Subspace Bomb Factory II	Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Samus, Pikachu, R.O.B.	R.O.B.
28	Entrance to Subspace	Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Zelda/Sheik, Ice Climbers, Marth, Mr. Game & Watch, Falco, Meta Knight, Pit, Olimar, Lucas, Diddy Kong, Pokémon Trainer, Ike, Lucario, R.O.B., Snake	N/A (All fighters leave)
29	Subspace I	Luigi, Ness, King Dedede	Whoever is saved in the Subspace Emissary, Luigi, Ness, King Dedede, Bowser
30	Subspace II	Kirby	Whoever is saved in the Subspace Emissary, Wario (if trophy is saved), Ganondorf (if Link and Zelda trophies are saved)
31	The Great Maze	Mario**, Donkey Kong**, Link**, Samus/Zero Suit Samus**, Yoshi**, Kirby, Fox**, Pikachu**, Luigi, Captain Falcon**, Ness, Bowser, Peach**, Zelda/Sheik**, Ice Climbers**, Marth**, Mr. Game & Watch**, Falco, Ganondorf**, Wario**, Meta Knight**, Pit**, Olimar**, Lucas**, Diddy Kong**, Pokémon Trainer**, King Dedede, Ike**, Lucario**, R.O.B.**, Snake**, Sonic	Sonic

(*) = Can only be unlocked after The Great Maze is cleared and Tabuu is defeated. (**) = Can only be used in The Great Maze if rescued in Subspace.

Gameplay

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 the Super Smash Bros. series, such as a damage meter, stocks, and Smash-style attacks. It can also be classified as a beat 'em up; often stages will pause at specific points and force the player to defeat all opposing enemies, which prevents one from simply running through everything. To incorporate the Smash Bros. mechanic of ring-outs with the scrolling-camera nature of platformers, the camera slows down in tracking tumbling players as damage increases.

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. There is also a two-player option.

In the two player option, the first player must be present or have stock left, otherwise the game will offer a continue, regardless of whether the second player still has a stock or is alive (though when the second player runs the stock out, the first player can continue without him/her). The second player also has the option to warp to the first player (except in boss battles) by pressing the button that would normally pause the game. In addition, the first player has priority over the screen (unless it is scrolling), making it possible that the second player gets run off the screen if the players are not coordinated. In addition only the first player can navigate through Doors (though the second player can still utilize Keys).

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 display how many stock the level allows, and a cursor will appear that allows choosing 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 choosing between any available characters instead of cutscenes during the level. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage: there is a wider character variety to choose from, but one cannot (for example) choose only three characters for a four-stock stage. Additionally, no mid-level cutscenes will play, including ones that would normally allow a re-pick of characters which replenishes stocks. While on many levels this makes little difference, it is very problematic on long stages like the second Subspace Bomb Factory, where a replay provides only a fraction of the stock originally given.

The physics of many (if not all) characters are also tweaked slightly. In general, characters run slower, fall faster, and jump better than in brawls. Move mechanics are not altered, although the differing jump heights, jump timing, and gravity will change how effective aerial attacks are. The most significant change is the removal of stamina from Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon, which allows one to use one Pokémon exclusively. Characters are also able to swim for significantly longer. Characters retain their standard physics in boss battles.

In addition, grabbing mechanics are altered. Normal enemies cannot be held onto for any length of time; they will be thrown immediately after being grabbed, making it impossible to pummel them. This means that choosing which throw to use must be done with the Control Stick during the grab animation; inputting no direction will result in a forward throw (with the exception of Donkey Kong, who cannot carry enemies, and instead will utilize his up-throw). Special moves that involve grabbing will fail to grab; such moves have extra Subspace Emissary-only hitboxes (for example, Egg Lay will deal 13% damage, while Pikmin will deal damage when thrown). Bosses and large enemies cannot be grabbed, however Big Primids can be grabbed effectively. None of these changes apply when facing an opposing Fighter, though Kirby will be unable to copy their abilities.

Difficulty Levels

Like other single-player modes, one can select different difficulty levels to play the Subspace Emissary. At the creation of a new game file a "default" difficulty is selected from Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Intense. Stages normally use this default difficulty (which cannot be changed), although the difficulty of a stage can be altered before it is begun. The game keeps track of the hardest difficulty level each stage has been cleared at, and when a stage is selected, it suggests a difficulty higher than the highest completion level.

As one selects higher difficulties, the game makes these adjustments:

• Enemy health goes up, sometimes considerably.
• Enemies move and attack faster; especially noticeable with the vulnerability period of large enemies and bosses.
• Some enemies use different attacks.
• Enemies and obstacles do more damage and have more KO power.
• Some enemy hitboxes are slightly bigger.
• Enemies are harder to flinch.
• Enemies generally get smarter (such as attacking more often, or Bytans duplicating nonstop).
• More (and sometimes more dangerous) enemies appear during locked battles.
• Trackballs lose energy faster.
• Auroros can't be thrown as far, making it more difficult to use them against other enemies.
• Less favourable items appear, although more plentiful and stronger healing items appear when enemies are defeated.
• Stock Balls may get rarer (or, in the case of Very Hard and Intense, not exist).
• Barrel Cannons, Slide Launchers, Minecarts, and other vehicles (such as the orange platforms in The Research Facility) move faster, therefore being harder to control.
• Auto-scrolling areas scroll faster.
• Moving walls, floors, and ceilings move faster, making characters more easily crushed.
• Platforms move or fall faster.
• Bomb block explosion chains move faster.
• The effects of temporary switches last shorter.
• Wind speeds increase (including the wind from a Borboras), sometimes to nonsensical levels.
• Keys break easier.
• More, better, and rarer stickers appear.
• More collectibles (CDs, trophies, stickers) appear.
• More trophy stands appear (they appear early in boss battles-including Petey Piranha, Rayquaza, Porky, Galleom, Ridley, Duon, Meta Ridley, and Tabuu even before they are on low stamina).
• More coins are given at the end of each level.

Plot

The story begins with Tabuu, the "embodiment of Subspace". Tabuu resides within Subspace, a realm of empty darkness, and wishes to destroy the World of Trophies by breaking it into pieces and dragging them into Subspace. Tabuu himself is incapable of leaving Subspace, but he can observe the world and manipulate its inhabitants (referred to as "fighters" from this point on), in an effort to create an army with which to carry out his plans.

Tabuu first turns his attention towards Master Hand, the master of the world. Tabuu captures Master Hand with Chains of Light and pulls him into Subspace, giving him an effective puppet to command his future army in the real world. Next, he comes upon Mr. Game & Watch, who, as a two-dimensional being in a three-dimensional world, has unusual properties that make it possible to create a limitless amount of Shadow Bugs. Tabuu captures Mr. Game & Watch in order to produce the Shadow Bugs, with which he creates the Subspace Army. Mr. Game & Watch is claimed to be unaware he is being used to create the army.

With the Army formed, Tabuu turns towards the Isle of the Ancients, a floating island of advanced technology. The isle is inhabited by a society of peaceful R.O.B.s led by a single Master Robot that have never before interacted with other races. Tabuu needs the island's technology to produce weapons capable of cutting the world apart, so he uses his new army to take the entire island hostage, and force research on such weapons. The Master Robot reluctantly surrenders and allows this to occur, in order to avoid the presumably threatened genocide should they refuse, though he disguises himself as the Ancient Minister out of shame for allowing it to happen. Tabuu then captures Pikachu, intending to use its powers of electricity as a power supply for the isle.

With the Isle of the Ancients under his command, Tabuu attacks the Halberd, seeking a transport ship for his army. Meta Knight attempts to stave off the attack on his ship, but he is preoccupied with King Dedede, who decided to attack at a similar time. Meta Knight loses the battle and vanishes; however, Dedede learns of Tabuu and his most devastating attack - the Off Waves, which can reduce many fighters to their trophy forms in a single long-range attack. Dedede realizes that Tabuu is capable of reducing all of the fighters to their trophy forms at once, rendering no one able to revive anyone, and leaving no one to stop Tabuu's plans. With this in mind, he begins work on an item that can revive a trophy on a timer, without needing a helper's contact, which should make it possible to resist the Army even if everyone is defeated.

Finally, Tabuu sets out to recruit specific fighters to his cause, using Master Hand as a cover. He focuses his efforts on those who naturally dislike the others, giving him three accomplices willing to help "Master Hand's plan": Bowser, Wario, and Ganondorf. Their objective is to locate and suppress any resistance to the detonation of Subspace Bombs, the weapon developed by the Isle of Ancients to send pieces of the world into Subspace. To help, the three of them are provided with Dark Cannons: a second newly created weapon, which allows the user to reduce any fighter to their trophy form in a single shot. The three accomplices split up to operate in their own ways. Ganondorf remains hidden in an undisclosed location, acting as a liaison with Master Hand, as well as his second-in-command for the army as a whole; while he claims to be loyal to Master Hand, he is simply waiting for the right time to overthrow him and take command of the army himself. Bowser assembles his Koopa Troop and begins to wander the world in search of opponents; he is relatively loyal to Master Hand, but does not care for Ganondorf asserting rank over him. Wario, on the other hand, sets off on his own and continues to do whatever he wants, treating his objective as a low priority and not caring at all about the plan or his role in it. However, Wario uses his Dark Cannon to turn others into trophies, but keeps them for himself.

The preparations of Tabuu's plan are complete - he has Subspace Bombs to cut the world apart, an army created from the Shadow Bugs to escort the bombs and clear out any opposition, the Halberd to transport said army, and fighter accomplices with Dark Cannons should more intelligent force be necessary. Finally, the Subspace Gunship is under construction within Subspace, which, once complete, will supersede Subspace Bombs and render the operation all but unstoppable. The real story begins in a stadium, where Peach and Zelda are watching a friendly match between Mario and Kirby. The two fight with fierce intensity, and during the battle, a cut scene shows Pit observing the battle as well from a mystical fountain. Mario/Kirby wins, and Kirby/Mario turns into a Trophy. Mario/Kirby returns Kirby/Mario back to normal; however, when he does, the sky suddenly darkens and the Halberd appears out of nowhere. 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 three minutes. Mario races to disarm the bomb; he is blasted out the stadium by a cannonball though. Petey Piranha then captures the two princesses and attacks Kirby.

After Kirby defeats Petey, he explodes, and the cages the princesses were in break. Kirby and Peach/Zelda land safely only to watch Wario appear with a huge gun. Wario turns to see a weakened Zelda/Peach, and aims the gun at her. A black arrow comes out of the gun and hits her, turning her into a trophy. Wario grabs the trophy and runs out of the stadium. Kirby and Peach/Zelda run after him, but Kirby sees the bomb at 5 seconds before detonation, and takes Peach/Zelda with him on the Warp Star escapes from the Stadium as the bomb consumes the arena in Subspace. Pit sees the bomb detonate, 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, 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 and reawakens him. The two team up and go 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.

Meanwhile, Kirby and Peach/Zelda 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 then 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 Peach/Zelda 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.

In a jungle, a car with a load of bananas piloted by a Koopa Troopa drives at insane speeds escaping the woods. Donkey Kong is then seen beating up some Goombas and other Koopa Troopas. When he goes onto a ledge and sees the Koopa's 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, only to be turned into a trophy by Bowser. Bowser laughs evilly and carries his prize with him.

Meanwhile, Mario and Pit continue their journey through a meadow-like area. 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.

Meanwhile Diddy is coming from the jungle into a lake, where a Rayquaza attacks an Arwing that crashed and grabs Diddy. Fox McCloud emerges from the Arwing and saves Diddy. The two then team up to face Rayquaza and defeat it. Diddy then drags Fox and tries to convince him to come along with Diddy. Fox refuses. Diddy drags him again back into the jungle. 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 trophy gun at them. Fox grabs Diddy and jumps off a cliff to save them both.

The story then goes to an abandoned town, 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; he is saved by Ness however, who destroys the statue with PK Flash, revealing Pokey Minch in a giant spider mech. After defeating Pokey, the two are attacked by Wario. Wario fires the trophy gun at Ness, who dodges every shot. Wario finally aims the gun at Lucas, but Ness gets in the way and gets hit. Lucas, frightened, runs away from Wario , who laughing horribly now has the Ness trophy. Lucas runs into the Pokémon Trainer and his Pokémon Squirtle, who takes him with him to find two other Pokémon.

Elsewhere, Marth is seen watching some R.O.B.s detonate another Subspace Bomb and races to find out how to stop it, but his castle 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 castle, where he watches the area of Subspace slowly expand. Meta Knight then flies in and attacks Marth, and the two duel briefly, but they are interrupted 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 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.

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 and tries to grab it, but the Waddle Dees ambush him while Dedede steals his trophy car and his trophies.

Meanwhile, in the Lost Woods, Link pulls out the Master Sword. He leaves, but passes 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 Lost Woods and chase down the Halberd.

On a secret island, Samus Aran is shown sneaking into a base in her Zero Suit. After getting by some R.O.B.s, she enters a room where she sees Pikachu in some kind of device that is being used to zap him of electricity to power the base and is causing him pain, so she breaks the glass case with her Paralyzer Gun. This sets off an alarm and many R.O.B.s start to attack. The two travel through the base searching for something. After fighting their way past the guards, they enter a control room, where Samus sees her Power Suit...

In a pass, Kirby sees King Dedede go by in the trophy car and chases after it, leaving Peach/Zelda behind. Peach/Zelda turns, but is transformed into a trophy by Bowser. The clone of Bowser comes up to the trophy and consumes it, creating a clone of her. The clone tries to shoot Mario/Link and Pit/Yoshi, who are running by, with the trophy gun, but it is destroyed when Link/Pit shoots an arrow at it. The Peach/Zelda clone then faces Link/Mario and Yoshi/Pit and is defeated.

Mario/Link looks up and sees Link/Mario and Yoshi/Pit standing by the clone's trophy and attacks Link/Mario. Link and Yoshi/Mario and Pit then face Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi, defeating them. King Dedede then grabs Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi's trophies with an arm from the car, but the arm is cut in half by Kirby, who revives Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi as well. Pit/Link then destroys 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. The two journey through some ruins and an active lava pit until they confront Wario by the cave's entrance. Lucas and Squirtle fight Wario and defeat him, which turns him into a trophy.

Mario, Pit, Link, Kirby, and Yoshi go into Dedede's hiding place, which was trashed when Bowser and his men attacked it. They see a hole in the wall and go inside of it. When they get out of the building, Mario sees Bowser and attempts to punch him. Bowser holds up Peach/Zelda's trophy and Mario stops. Pit fires an arrow that Bowser nearly dodges, and a Dedede cap comes off of Peach/Zelda's trophy. Bowser then gets in his floating bowl and heads back to the Halberd. Meanwhile, the Ancient Minister sets up a bomb outside of the building, and Ganondorf is shown receiving orders from the Master Hand via TV screen.

Pokemon Trainer and Lucas continue their trek into the cave, 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 a giant robot that they had apparently been tracking in a desert. They defeat it, but it instead falls into a cave, the one where Lucas and the Trainer are in. They defeat the robot, but it turns that the robot had a Subspace Bomb used as a self-destruct and takes both of the characters to the skies. 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.

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 span 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, a R.O.B. looks up at him and waves goodbye. The bomb detonates, but the group just barely manages to escape as they run as quickly as they can away from it.

Meanwhile back in the forest, 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 Trophy Gun and has his trophy consumed by Shadow bugs, which creates a clone of him. Fox appears to be outnumbered but gets rescued when Falco Lombardi flies in his Arwing and jumps out and kicks the gun out of Bowser's hands and destroys it with his two blasters to keep Fox safe. Bowser then hops in his flying bowl 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 waterfall 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 his Arwing

Samus and Pikachu continue their run through the base to retrieve Samus's Power Suit, encountering more R.O.B.s and Subspace Army guards. They finally enter the room holding the suit, only to be 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 Ridley who grabs Samus and drags her along the walls and slams her into them, attacks. Pikachu blasts Ridley with a lightning bolt, causing him to drop Samus. 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.

On another part of the island, a giant R.O.B. is harassing Captain Olimar and a group of Pikmin when it is knocked down by Captain Falcon, taking several Pikmin with him. 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 DK's trophy being attacked by Falco's Arwing, which drops off Diddy onto it, who inturn 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 ship battle with another ship, and he takes off to get on 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, they encounter Lucario, who challenges Meta Knight to a fight. Whoever wins revives the loser just as the Halberd attempts to knock the heroes off the mountain by ramming into it. The Ice Climbers fall off, but Meta Knight and Lucario jump onto the ship.

Back at the base of the mountain, the Ice Climbers meet up with Marth, Ike, Lucas, and Pokemon 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, Solid Snake appears out of a cardboard box in the Halberd and continues sneaking around in it. After fighting off several Primids, Snake hears Meta Knight and Lucario coming and hides in a box. Lucario senses him and blows his cover. He 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 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 aims his guns towards Peach, Sheik teleports onto Fox's Arwing and punches a hole in it. After landing back on the deck, the two prepare to fight, but are stopped by Peach, who gives each of them a cup of tea. Fox is stunned, but takes the tea and starts drinking it.

Meanwhile, Lucario, Snake, and Meta Knight fight the Mr. Game and Watches 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.

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 got to a door that DK easily busted through, where the group met Samus and Pikachu. As they enter, a projection of Ganondorf appears. He orders the R.O.B.s to grab all of the Subspace Bombs off of their assembly lines and activate them. The Ancient Minister defiantly gets in their way and orders them to stop, not wanting to lose more of his men. Ganondorf tells them to ignore the Minister and keep going. He desperately tries to stop the R.O.B.s, though Ganondorf orders them to attack him. His robotic body ignites, and the R.O.B.s begin activating the bombs. Ganondorf orders some Auroros to distract the heroes. 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, and his clothes burn off to reveal that he, himself, is a R.O.B.! 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, Captain Falcon calls his ship, the Falcon Flyer and has everyone pile into it. 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. After defeating him, the ship leaves the island as the Subspace area consumes the whole island. Captain Falcon's ship and the Halberd meet with the heroes that are still in the desert.

Out of the giant sphere of Subspace, a giant cannon comes out. The cannon shoots a bomb out, that instantly covers an area in Subspace. At the helm of the cannon is Ganondorf and Bowser, who see the Halberd approaching. At Ganondorf's order, hundreds of turrets pop out and start firing. The Halberd dodges several shots, though it is eventually destroyed. However, Captain Falcon's ship, Captain Olimar's ship, Samus's ship, and Fox's Arwing come out of it. The turrets start firing again, but the smaller ships dodge them all. Kirby appears out of the sky on the Dragoon and flies it through the cannon, destroying it. Ganondorf and Bowser go back into the Subspace, followed by the four ships. The combined group of heroes then travel through the Subspace area together, facing an army of Primids and the other Subspace Army types standing in their way.

Back with Bowser and Ganondorf, Ganondorf is ordered to shoot Bowser with a Trophy Gun. 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 a dark attack of his. Ganondorf's trophy flies back and hits Master Hand, who's 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 another dark attack, which consumes everyone, turning them all into trophies.

Meanwhile, back at Dedede's Castle, the Dedede Caps on Luigi and Ness revive them. They then notice the caps look like Dedede, and revive him and team up. They see an expanding Subspace sphere and jump into it. Along the way into the Subspace, they come across the trophies of the defeated heroes and grab them as they move along. When 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 reawakens 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 a Dedede Cap 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 toward the stairs.

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 and then walks up it as well. King Dedede is shown being attacked by Wario, but King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness point to the staircase and begin climbing it,inturn Wario drives up the staircase on his motorcycle.

The heroes then journey through the land that was stolen by Subspace, and made into a maze with Tabuu in the center. Finally reaching him, Tabuu prepares to unleash the giant attack on the heroes, though Sonic races through the sky and hits him, interrupting him. The heroes then proceed to face Tabuu in a long battle that challenged all of them. After defeating him, Tabuu explodes and the orbs of Subspace recede and all of the worlds they have captured are released (except for the Isle of Ancients). The credits start to roll.

Bosses

These battles are fought with the bosses having a specific amount of health; once their health runs out, they are defeated.

• 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/Zelda in a party of 4)
• Meta Ridley (fought by Samus/Zero Suit Samus, Pikachu, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, Olimar, and R.O.B. in a party of 4)
• Tabuu (fought by King Dedede, Luigi, Ness, Bowser, Kirby, Sonic and any rescued characters in a party of 6)

Mini-Bosses

Due to these battles being against Fighters or slightly modified versions of same, they are fought like regular brawls.

• Boss-(Player)
• Kirby/Mario-(fought by Mario/Kirby)
• False Bowser-(fought by Diddy Kong and Fox)
• False Zelda/False Peach-(fought by Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi)
• Link/Mario and Yoshi/Pit-(fought by Mario/Link and Pit/Yoshi (1 is CPU controlled unless Co-op Mode))
• Wario-(fought by Lucas and Pokémon Trainer)
• 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 battle

• Porky 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. The only character who speaks in more than one cut scene is Pikachu. In Jigglypuff's only scene the crowd chants, making them the only non-playable characters to say a line.

Only one character in all of the Subspace Emissary ever speaks in a full sentence; in 'Battleship Halberd Interior', Solid Snake, after revealing himself to the player, directly says to the player, "Kept you waiting, huh?"

Similarities to Kirby Super Star and other Kirby games

Because the Kirby and Smash Bros. games were both developed by Masahiro Sakurai, The Subspace Emissary contains gameplay elements similar to the sub-games of Kirby Super Star and other elements from Kirby games. One should keep in mind that the Kirby series and Smash Bros. franchise are two different things.

• The Halberd plays a very strong role in both games, and in both, it's destroyed and crashes in the ocean.
• Being chased down by the Pig King Statue is similar to being chased down by the Heavy Lobster (including the enemy, activating switches, the foe destroying anything in its path and a small delay from the foe).
• Both feature cart rides and special devices that propel characters forwards. The latter's design and function comes directly from KSS. Additionally the slide launchers puts characters in a shield position, just like in Kirby Super Star.
• The Space Jump is just like how P2 from Super Star comes back to P1.
• The final boss (Tabuu) teleports around the stage repeatedly (a common feature in most final bosses in Kirby games, such as Marx and Nightmare).
• Bosses from the Kirby games, such as Dyna Blade and Marx, have similar moves to bosses in Brawl, such as Ridley and Tabuu.
• The Subspace Emissary has a map that allows the player to re-enter a stage anytime they want, this was also in Milky Way Wishes.
• Golden boxes are inspired from the treasure chests from Great Cave Offensive; in both games, when the player takes the prizes, it will not appear again.
• Bosses do not flinch.
• Enemies cannot survive underwater; they will be KO'd immediately upon touching it.
• Jyks are similar to Kirby's Gordos, they sit and some move in a repeated pattern, invincible and have spikes.
• The planet Floria in Milky Way Wishes has a similar concept to the day-changing doors, except that it has four rooms and they are based on seasons instead of day and night.
• King Dedede first appears to be evil but later turns out to have good intentions in most Kirby games.
• All the Kirby characters play a significant role in the game.
  • Kirby:
    • Destroys the Subspace Gunship
    • Frees a good fraction of the Fighters turned into trophies by Tabuu
  • Meta Knight:
    • Retakes the Halberd
  • King Dedede:
    • His Dedede brooches
    • Stole Wario's cargo & trophies
    • Also frees a good fraction of the Fighters turned into trophies by Tabuu (helped by Luigi & Ness)
• Moreover, there are a few others who played big roles.
  • R.O.B.:
    • Was under the guise of the Ancient Minister and its kin lead the Subspace Bombs.
  • Mr. Game & Watch:
    • Shadow Bugs were extracted from him, creating the Subspace Army.
  • Bowser:
    • Lead his army, used a Dark Cannon, and worked under Ganondorf.
  • Ganondorf:
    • Lead the attack on the Subspace Bomb Factory and worked under Master Hand's orders.
  • Wario:
    • Went around attacking fighters using his Dark Cannon and collecting them as trophies with his Dark Cannon until King Dedede stole his cargo & trophies.

Gameplay differences from other modes

Despite characters using the same moves and using much of the same engine as in the other modes of Brawl, the overall feel of the Subspace Emissary differs from that of ordinary brawls. For instance:

• When charging Rocketbarrel Boost, Diddy Kong will continue to drop downwards, while in a normal brawl, he would be briefly suspended in the air.
• The running speed of most characters has been altered; slower characters now dash faster, and faster characters dash slower.
• The Stamina mechanic of the Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon does not exist.
• The jumping ability of some characters is altered, either buffing or nerfing a character's aerial prowess. This can easily be seen with Jigglypuff, who now has a very poor vertical recovery, while in ordinary games, it's very long and effective. Some Up B attacks have also had their recovery capabilities nerfed, such as Wings of Icarus.
• Everyone can swim considerably longer in any of the bodies of water the player can find.
• In the Subspace Emissary, the player cannot get Star KO'd - the player crashes past the top of the screen, leaving behind the colourful explosion. Players, however, are still Star KO'd or Screen KO'd in ambushes, boss battles and against Subspace clones.

Trivia

Mario's trophy coming to life in Melee's opening, compared to in the Midair Stadium of the Subspace Emissary.

• Mario and Kirby fighting might be a reference to the Super Smash Bros. intro, which Mario and Kirby are seen fighting in a field. Another similarity is to the opening of Super Smash Bros. Melee, which included a Mario trophy "coming to life" as it lands in a stadium; in the same opening sequence, one of the competitors in the stadium was Kirby.
• It is possible to complete the Subspace Emissary using as few as twelve characters: Kirby, Pit, Lucas, Marth, Zero Suit Samus, Snake, King Dedede, Diddy Kong, either Link or Yoshi, either Olimar or Captain Falcon, Meta Knight, and either Peach or Zelda.
• If the player chooses to play as Kirby in the Kirby vs. Mario match at the beginning of the Subspace Emissary, once the player defeats him, there will be an error in the cutscene which shows Mario turned into a trophy: While the left eye of Mario's trophy is present, the right eye is missing. In all other cutscenes which show Mario's trophy, though, the right eye is present.
• If no trophies are rescued in Subspace, the player will still have six characters to choose from in The Great Maze: Ness, Luigi, and Kirby are revived by the Brooches, King Dedede is revived by Luigi and Ness, Bowser is revived by King Dedede, and Sonic appears at the very end of the Great Maze.
• Palutena is the only character in The Subspace Emissary who is neither a villain/enemy nor playable.
• As far as playable characters go, Wario, R.O.B., and Sonic are the only universes that do not have a song played at any time.
  • In addition, Star Fox (excluding the hidden room in The Ruins) and the universes mentioned above are the only universes that do not have a song played in normal gameplay.
• Mario and Kirby are playable in more levels than any other character, with a total of nine.
  • Pit is playable in eight levels; Link, Yoshi, and Diddy Kong are playable in seven; Peach or Zelda, Lucas, Pokémon Trainer, Meta Knight, and Samus and Pikachu are playable in six (if one count all Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon (Squirtle appears in all six levels, Ivysaur appears in four levels, and Charizard appears in three levels) and both of Samus' versions (Zero Suit Samus appears in the first two levels, and Samus in the last five levels)), Zelda or Peach, Donkey Kong, and Fox are playable in five; Lucario can be playable in four or five; Marth, Ike, Falco, Captain Falcon, Olimar, and Snake are playable in four; Ness, Ice Climbers, and R.O.B. are playable in three; Mr. Game & Watch, Luigi and King Dedede are playable in two; Bowser, Ganondorf, Wario, and Sonic are playable in one; and Jigglypuff, Toon Link, and Wolf are absent until after completing The Subspace Emissary.
• The opening battle between Mario and Kirby in The Subspace Emissary may be a reference to the opening movie of Super Smash Bros., where the two face each other near the end of the movie.
  • In addition, Mario's trophy coming to life in the first cutscene could be a reference to the beginning of Melee's opening movie.
• The Subspace Emissary is the only mode in the Smash Bros. series thus far that allows players to unlock characters without fighting and defeating them. Ultimate's World of Light bypasses the usual "Challenger Approaching" battle, but it still requires the player to fight the character that will be unlocked.
• The Subspace Emissary is mentioned several times in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U in Palutena's Guidance during the conversation of Mario and Mr. Game & Watch and the North American English boxing alias for R.O.B. Also, some enemies from The Subspace Emissary return in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS's Smash Run mode. The Subspace Emissary is also referenced in one of the riddles regarding Tabuu, located in the Mysterious Dimension sub-world of World of Light.
• The health bars for enemies (not including bosses) are compressed at the left hand side, so a length of health bar represents more health at the left of the bar than the right. This makes attacks appear to deal less damage the closer an enemy is to dying.
• While all characters use their in-game models during cutscenes, certain parts of characters such as loose clothing and hair have increased polygon counts in order for them to deform smoother. Examples of this are Marth's cape, Link's hair, and Lucas's shirt.

External links

• Adventure Mode index
• Video of the Tabuu fight after reviving no trophies.