Subspace Gunship

The Subspace Gunship coming out of Subspace

The Subspace Gunship (亜空砲戦艦, Subspace Cannon Battleship) is described as the ultimate weapon of the Subspace Army. Its cannon can fire a blast which "infinitely rends space", which creates the effects of the detonation of a Subspace Bomb at a great distance. The Gunship is the largest ship in the game by far and was commanded by Ganondorf and Bowser before its destruction at the hands of the other characters.

Appearance

The Subspace Gunship is an incredibly large ship, approximately as long as the entire Isle of Ancients. It consists of a slender, mostly cylindrical forward half and a thicker back half, the entirety of which is coloured a dull, steely gray. Two pointed ends come out of the bottom of the Gunship reminiscent of a shark's fins. The sides of the back end are circular domes. A large number of vertical segments stretch out of the Gunship's core both upwards and downwards, resembling skyscrapers; their purpose is unknown. The front half of the Subspace Gunship is its main cannon, and is fairly simple in design. A thicker, horizontal segment houses five batteries of weapons.

The Gunship is captained from a small elevated platform in the center of its back half. Ganondorf and Bowser command it from this platform. It is unknown how their commands are issued, as there is no apparent means of interface with the Gunship itself on this platform; it does however seem to respond to Ganondorf's gestures.

Armaments

The Subspace Gunship fires its space-severing cannon.

The Subspace Gunship has a battery of five turrets stationed on the main cannon, on top of the Gunship. They are the battleship's main armament for engaging other ships. These turrets fire thick, orange blasts of energy. The circular sides of the Gunship house five turrets each that fire smaller green blasts. They are for blasting small ships out of the sky. The green weapon's fire appears to have a weak homing ability, judging by how the shots curve; the orange shots only fire straight, but when all turrets are firing it can literally fill the sky with projectiles. These weapons managed to destroy the Halberd but failed to destroy or even hit the four smaller ships piloted by Captain Falcon, Samus, Fox (or Falco), and Olimar; whether this is fault of its weaponry, the skill of the pilots, or both is unknown.

The main cannon of the Gunship comprises the entire front half of the vessel. It fires a chaotic, lightning-esque purple beam with a ground-shaking blast that replicates the effects of a Subspace Bomb upon impact. Prior to firing, conduits around the barrel glow with purple light while the cannon's four prongs focus white energy in front of the barrel. The blasts are said to be capable of "infinitely rending space", but it's unknown how long the Gunship must recharge between said blasts, because it only uses this cannon a single time in the only cutscene in which it appeared.

Role In The Subspace Emissary

The Gunship's command area, with Ganondorf and Bowser

In the cutscene The Great Invasion in the Subspace Emissary, the Gunship emerges from Subspace where the Isle of Ancients originally was. Ganondorf and Bowser test its power on an arbitrary area of water by firing the main cannon, causing a large bubble of Subspace to appear in the distance. Ganondorf notices a gleam of light on the horizon; the camera zooms to reveal that the Halberd is heading for the Gunship. Ganondorf waves his arm and five cannons rise from the Gunship's front end and begin firing orange blasts at the battleship. The Halberd activates its auxiliary engines and scoots under the hail of fire. Ultimately, a blast hits true and penetrates the Halberd from bow to aft. Another shot hits the port side by the center of the ship, causing it to split in half. The Halberd begins to fragment into pieces and begins falling towards the ocean before exploding violently. Heralded by the Super Smash Bros. Brawl Main Theme, four smaller ships (the Falcon Flyer, one Arwing, Samus' Gunship, and Olimar's Hocotate Ship) emerge from the Halberd's explosion and press onward. The Subspace Gunship's smaller cannons are activated as the villains fume, and the small crafts skillfully weave and evade heavy fire amidst a storm of lasers. A gleam becomes visible in the distance; the camera zooms to reveal it is Kirby on the Dragoon. Kirby speeds up the Dragoon and flies directly through a weak, skinnier portion of the Subspace Gunship's cannon, suggesting that the other ships were a distraction so Kirby could launch a surprise attack. The Gunship starts exploding. Realizing the battle is lost, Ganondorf and Bowser scowl and step back into Subspace as the Theme begins receding. The four smaller ships and the Dragoon pursue them into the darkness (with the Hocotate Ship sputtering a bit, possibly overworked by evading the Gunship's fire or simply referencing its battered nature). A last shot of the fragmented, falling craft is shown.

Trophy Description

The Subspace Gunship trophy in Brawl

Ganondorf made the Subspace Bomb factory self-destruct in order to draw this ultimate weapon out from Subspace. It's capable of infinitely rending space, and its firepower is greater than that of any weapon. It exists to draw all of this world into Subspace, but the last-ditch efforts of the fighters might prevent this.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, 2008

The trophy for the Subspace Gunship is obtained by completing Boss Battles mode with 10 different characters. The challenge for this cannot be broken by a Golden Hammer. The trophy is so detailed that the game may lag if zoomed in too far, and in fact has more polygons than any other known model in the game. Despite this, it still lacks many details and features that are seen in the cutscene, and is even missing the platform Bowser and Ganondorf were standing on.

Trivia

• According to the Dojo!!, Tabuu intended to mass-produce Subspace Gunships and use the Isle of Ancients' hole in space to launch them from. It is unknown how far along this plan got before the events of the Subspace Emissary, though presumably the destroyed Gunship was the only one operational during the time when the Isle of Ancients' hole in space existed, as there is no evidence of others escaping through the hole and wreaking havoc while the Smashers are in Subspace.
• By comparing the in-game sizes of Ganondorf and Bowser to the size of the trophy, the Subspace Gunship is estimated to be about 12 Temples long, from blastline to blastline.