The Research Facility (Part I)

Isle of the Ancients The Research Facility
A machine draining Pikachu's electric power.
Universe	Super Smash Bros. Metroid
Appears in	Brawl
Availability	Subspace Emissary only
Preceding SSE stage	The Forest
Following SSE stage	The Lake Shore

The Research Facility (研究施設, Research Facility) is the tenth stage of the Subspace Emissary of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Overview

At the beginning of the level, Zero Suit Samus is shown breaking into the Research Facility though a ventilation duct. The first area of the level is very straightforward and short. The player goes right and finds an elevator. After destroying a few R.O.B.s (mostly Sentries) she encounters Pikachu, who is being harnessed for its electrical power. She breaks Pikachu out, which sets off many of the numerous alarms on the Isle of the Ancients. R.O.B.s come swarming in and Zero Suit Samus and Pikachu destroy them.

After the player gains Pikachu, however, the level takes a far more confusing design. The level branches into three paths from a single large room (containing a rotating platform wheel such as those found in the Stage Builder, but two of the paths cannot be traversed until the player traverses another specific path.) In the first path, started from the bottom-right corner of the fork-room, the player commands a large platform-like vehicle to move to an area in the next path. In this path, accessed from the far right of the fork-room, the player rides the vehicle from before across a large gap to a switch, which causes large, jagged blocks to fall from the path above. In the final path, accessed from above the rotating wheel in the fork-room (and also featuring an indoor waterfall), the fallen blocks, previously acting as a wall, can now be used as platforms to reach the end of the level, but are strewn with dangerous Quark Mines.

After a rather confusing journey through the facility, the stage is finished. Before the player clears the stage, they will see a cutscene of Samus staring at a monitor which displays her Power Suit. Zero Suit Samus and Pikachu will then join the team.

Playable Characters

Playable after first section:

• Pikachu (Joins team after level)

Playable for the whole level:

• Zero Suit Samus (Joins team after level)

Returning enemies

• Buckot
• Roturret
• Zap Jyk
• Glunder
• Bytan

Enemies introduced

• R.O.B. Sentry
• R.O.B. Blaster
• R.O.B. Launcher
• Giant Bytan
• Quark Mine
• Metal Primid

Music

• During the first part of the level, a version of Opening/Menu (Metroid Prime) without the opening speech plays.
• After the 4 door hallway, Multiplayer (Metroid Prime 2) plays.

Trivia

• Samus breaking into the facility on her Zero Suit is quite similar to the last part of Metroid: Zero Mission, where she snuck into Ridley's mothership after losing her Power Suit. However, Samus in that game lost her original, weaker suit in a crash, then received the iconic, bulky-shouldered Varia Suit after completing an ancient Chozo test.
• Pikachu's cry in its introductory cutscene where Samus saves it is lifted directly from its yawning from the Pokémon anime's first episode, Pokémon, I Choose You!.
  • Funnily enough, the cry was used in another game prior to Brawl, and by extension, the entire Super Smash Bros. series: Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo 64.