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 was hinted at with the This world... 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 screenshots 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.

The various screenshots 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.

The updates “This World…” and “What is the Subspace Emissary?” have definitely had an impact on the Super Smash Bros. community. Many have wondered whether a fully-fledged story would fit into the Super Smash Bros. universe or not. Others believe that it will change Super Smash Bros. for the better.

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 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; a character selection screen has been shown, but it is not clear whether the characters are chosen before selecting a stage or after. According to various movies shown at E for All, if you follow the plot without exiting the adventure mode, the screen will sometimes freeze and you'll be able to select a character depending on who's on the screen. For example, when Mario, Peach, Zelda and Kirby prepare to battle the subspace invaders back in the stadium, the cinematic will freeze and you'll get to choose between any of these 4 characters with a simple cursor.

Plot

    The 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 cutscene shows Pit observing the battle as well from a mystical fountain. Mario wins, and Kirby turns into a trophy. Mario returns Kirby back to normal, but 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 2 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. 
    After Kirby defeats Petey, he explodes, and the cages the princesses were in break. Kirby and Peach land safely only to watch Wario appear with a huge gun. Wario turns to see a weakened Zelda, 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 run after him, but Kirby sees the bomb at 5 seconds before detonation, and takes Peach with him on a Warp Star and flies away from the Stadium as the bomb consumes the arena in Subspace. Pit sees the bomb detonate, and is ordered by Pauletena to go and stop the Subspace Army. Pit takes his bow and descends into the clouds.
    Pit fies 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 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 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. 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 Popgun, 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 evily 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 with him 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 Shadowbugs. 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 King P. Statue and a group of Primids. Lucas runs from the statue, but is eventually trapped by a root in the ground, but is saved by Ness, who destroys the statue with PK Flash, revealing Pokey Minch in a giant spider mecha. 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 now has the Ness trophy. Lucas runs into the Pokemon Trainer and his Pokemon Squirtle, who takes him with him to find two Pokemon.
   Marth is seen watching some R.O.B.S detonate a 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 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 Aether and cuts the bomb from under the Minister and severs his floating chair, sending him whirling off into the sky. The three then tem 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.
   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 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 torture device that is being used to clone him and breaks it 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 Dedede go by in the trophy car and chases after it, leaving Peach behind. Peach 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 and Pit, who are running by, with the trophy gun, but it is destroyed when Link shoots an arrow at it. The Peach clone then faces Link and Yoshi and is defeated.
   Mario looks up and sees Link and Yosi standing by the clone's trophy and attacks Link. Link and Yoshi then face Mario and Pit, defeating them. Dedede then grabs Mario and Pit's trophies with an arm from the car, but the arm is cut in half by Kirby, who revives Mario and Pit as well. Pit then destroys the car by shooting an arrow at it, and Dedede takes the trophies and runs. The five heroes team up and chase 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.

Features

As previously stated, the mode features an original storyline with several all-new enemies designed specifically for Brawl. It is also assumed that several new stages, such as Terra Firma, will appear.
The Team update revealed several new details about the gameplay. The mode features co-op; a second player can play at the same time as the first, though the camera still focuses on Player 1. If player 2 gets too far behind, then they will get boosted up to where player 1 is. Also if player 1 loses all of their stocks, player 2 loses as well. In addition, players will be able to "power up" their characters with Stickers that you obtain in the differents game modes.

Confirmed Playable Characters

• Mario
• Kirby
• Peach
• Zelda
• Pit
• Donkey Kong
• Diddy Kong
• Fox
• Meta Knight*
• Yoshi
• Link
• Ike*
• Pikachu*
• Samus/Zero Suit Samus*
• Lucas*
• King Dedede***
• Ice Climbers*
• Pokemon Trainer***
• Sonic the Hedgehog**
• Ness****
• Jigglypuff****
• Lucario****

*Confirmed at the Adventure Mode:Subspace Emissary preview trailer.
**Confirmed at "Sonic the Hedgehog Joins the Brawl!" trailer
*** through a SSE Trailer
**** through a sticker on a video shown on the Japanese Nintendo site

Teams

Mario*---Kirby*
 | \ / | 
Peach* Zelda*

• Mario or Kirby get one princess while Wario takes one away depending on how game is played.

    Pit*
   /   \
Mario*  Kirby*

• Pit either gets Mario or Kirby depending on how the game is played

Donkey Kong*--Diddy Kong
  |               |
  ?              Fox

• DK turns into a trophy by Bowser [1].

According to videos the following also team up:

• Samus/Zero Suit Samus & Pikachu
• Meta Knight & Ice Climbers
• Link & Yoshi
• Ness & Lucas, then Lucas & Pokémon Trainer

Also, at one point, it seems Mario teams up with Sonic. At further points that are probably nearer to the climax, the following groups team up:

• Mario, Link, Yoshi, Kirby & Pit
• Ness, Luigi and King Dedede
• Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Pikmin & Olimar, Capt. Falcon
• Meta Knight, Marth and Ike

Bosses

• Petey Piranha
• Rayquaza
• Pokey Minch
• Ridley
• Taboo

• Mario or Kirby VS. Petey Piranha
• Fox and Diddy Kong VS. Rayquaza
• Lucas VS. King P. Statue
• Ness and Lucas VS. Pokey Minch

Updates

This details the various updates in regards to Subspace Emissary.

• This world... Though vague, it hints at the Subspace Emissary mode. It describes a world where trophies fight (the Smash world), and where being returned to trophy form is akin to death. It also states that breaking "the rules" will have dire consequences, and ends the update with a mysterious shadowy creature (now known to be a Primid). The update features a black background, opposed to the white background normally used for updates.
• What is the Subspace Emissary? The first "official" update on the mode. Over a dozen screenshots are shown, as well as a video clip that shows an animated version of the screenshots in This World. The update lays out the basics of SE, with the plot focusing on character development and moved along by quick cutscenes.
• The Subspace Army. Properly introduces the Subspace Army, including the Primids, the grunts of the Army, and the Ancient Minister, its leader. A video clip included with the update shows a Subspace Bomb, Mario being knocked away by a cannonball, and Petey Piranha trapping the two princesses in cages, leaving Kirby to fight by himself.
• Petey Piranha A character description of Petey Piranha, who appears to be a boss character. Petey cannot be directly defeated; instead, Kirby must damage the cages trapping the princesses. Only one of the princess can be rescued, as the Subspace Bomb's timer apparently forces Kirby and the rescued princess to escape.
• Pit's Descent A video clip showcasing Pit's entry into SE. From a temple in Skyworld, he is called by Palutena, the Goddess of Light, to help combat the Subspace Army; to help him, he is given a magical bow that can split into two swords. He meets up with a trophy Mario in the clouds (Mario was blasted there by Petery Piranha). Pit revives Mario and goes on to fight alongside him.
• The Enemies from Subspace Shows several of the stronger members of the Subspace Army.
• Team unveils several new elements in SE, including a world map, co-op play, teams of characters that join together and a vague comment about "powering up" characters to combat the Army.
• Donkey Kong makes his stand Donkey Kong's bananas have been stolen by a hoard of Bowser's minions. Now it's up to the ape and his sharp-shooter nephew, Diddy, to reclaim the thieved fruits.
• Fox's Misfortune Diddy Kong comes upon an crashed Arwing near the jungle's lake. However, Rayquaza emerges from the lake and snares Diddy. Rayquaza is then thwarted by Fox as he rescues Diddy and reflects Rayquaza's attack back at it.
• Subspace Emissary Movie A Short trailer for the Subspace Emissary. While containing most of the footage already seen, some new things are shown, like Bowser attacking Fox and Diddy with the Trophy Gun, and an interesting team up of Meta-Knight and the Ice Climbers.
• Sticker Power-Ups Showing that some Stickers can be used as power-ups.

External Links

• Adventure Mode index