Smash Bros Brawl: The Subspace Emissary

by Nintendo / Masahiro Sakurai

The Subspace Emissary is the story mode of Super Smash Bros. Brawl — an ambitious crossover adventure where Nintendo's greatest icons unite against the Subspace Army. Told entirely through wordless cutscenes, the mode pairs unlikely heroes together (Fox and Diddy Kong, Meta Knight and Marth and Ike, Lucas and Pokémon Trainer) as they fight to stop Tabuu from pulling the entire world into a dark dimension. Features 35 playable characters, cinematic storytelling, and one of gaming's most nostalgic narratives.

80 characters, locations, and items in this world codex.

Characters

• Ancient Minister — A robed figure who deploys Subspace Bombs with visible anguish — concealing the fact that he is R.O.B., the last survivor of a species being sacrifice
• Bowser — The Koopa King reduced to a henchman — kidnaps Donkey Kong and Princess Peach on Ganondorf's orders, rages when he discovers he was used, and joins th
• Captain Falcon — A racing legend who arrives in a burning Blue Falcon, delivers the most dramatic Falcon Punch in history, and makes saving the world look like a victo
• Captain Olimar — A tiny astronaut who commands an army of even tinier plant creatures — overwhelmed by the Subspace invasion until a racing legend punches his way into
• Charizard — The Pokémon Trainer's final and most powerful capture — a fire-breathing dragon that turns the tide of every battle it enters.
• Diddy Kong — DK's little buddy — panicked when Bowser kidnaps his partner, but brave enough to drag Fox McCloud into a rescue mission across half the world.
• Donkey Kong — The jungle's mighty ape — kidnapped by Bowser and turned into a trophy, but his sacrifice to launch Diddy to safety sets the entire rescue arc in moti
• Duon — A two-faced mechanical monstrosity assembled from Shadow Bugs on the Halberd's bridge — one side fires cannons, the other swings blades.
• Falco Lombardi — Star Fox's cocky wingman — arrives in an Arwing at exactly the right moment, provides devastating air support, and acts like it was no big deal.
• Fox McCloud — Star Fox's ace pilot — grounds his Arwing to fight beside a panicked chimpanzee and ends up leading one of the war's most unlikely rescue missions.
• Galleom — An ancient Subspace robot that transforms from tank to humanoid — defeated by Lucas and Pokémon Trainer, it attempts to self-destruct and take them wi
• Ganondorf — The Subspace Army's field general — a dark king who schemes to seize control from Tabuu, only to discover he was never more than a puppet of a puppet.
• Ice Climbers — A pair of parka-wearing mountaineers who scale the Glacial Peak alongside Meta Knight — inseparable, synchronized, and tougher than they look.
• Ike — A mercenary swordsman who crashes into the story with a flaming overhead strike — all power, no subtlety, and exactly what the swordsman trio needed.
• Ivysaur — The mid-evolution grass Pokémon — versatile, vine-whipping, and the balanced center of the Trainer's team.
• Jigglypuff — A balloon Pokémon found in the Swamp — small, round, and deceptively dangerous when it starts singing.
• King Dedede — A scheming penguin king who appears to be stealing trophied fighters — until it becomes clear he was the only one with a plan to survive Tabuu's apoca
• Kirby — A small pink puffball with the power to inhale anything — the only fighter to survive Tabuu's Off Waves, making him the unlikely savior of the entire
• Link — Hyrule's silent swordsman — discovers the Subspace Army's deception through false princesses and fights his way to the truth with nothing but steel an
• Lucario — An aura-sensing Pokémon who meditates atop a frozen peak — then challenges Meta Knight to a duel to determine whether the masked swordsman is worthy o
• Lucas — A terrified psychic boy who runs from every fight until he can't anymore — then discovers that the power he has been hiding from is the only thing tha
• Luigi — Mario's brother — ambushed by Waddle Dees, trophied, and pinned with a brooch he did not understand, only to wake up in Subspace as one of the first h
• Mario — The red-capped plumber who opens the tournament with a friendly bout — and spends the rest of the Subspace crisis proving that the simplest hero in th
• Marth — Altea's exiled prince — who finds himself defending a fortress alongside two swordsmen he has never met, forming the Subspace Emissary's most iconic c
• Master Hand — The supposed god of the World of Trophies — revealed to be Tabuu's puppet, bound by Chains of Light and forced to orchestrate a war against his own cr
• Meta Knight — A masked swordsman whose stolen battleship becomes the war's most contested prize — silent, calculating, and perpetually watching from high ground bef
• Meta Ridley — Ridley reborn in cybernetic armor — pursuing the heroes through the Subspace Bomb Factory in a desperate chase sequence.
• Mr. Game & Watch — A flat, two-dimensional figure from the oldest era of gaming — unwittingly used as the source material for the entire Subspace Army, his Shadow Bugs e
• Ness — A psychic boy from Onett who is trophied by Wario before the real fight even begins — then revived by Dedede's brooch to become one of the first heroe
• Palutena — The Goddess of Light who watches the Subspace invasion from Skyworld — she cannot fight directly, but she sends Pit and grants him the power of flight
• Petey Piranha — The Subspace Emissary's first boss — a monstrous plant that descends on the Midair Stadium and traps both princesses in cages.
• Pikachu — An electric mouse freed from a generator by Samus — repays the rescue by shocking everything in the Research Facility into submission.
• Pit — An angel captain sent from Skyworld by the goddess Palutena — earnest, loyal, and the first to answer Mario's fall with outstretched wings.
• Pokémon Trainer — A young trainer on a collection quest — gathering Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard across the Subspace wasteland while mentoring a frightened psychic
• Porky Minch — A megalomaniac child-king piloting a massive spider mech — an Earthbound villain who terrorizes Lucas at the Ruined Zoo.
• Princess Peach — The Mushroom Kingdom's gentle sovereign — captured at the tournament's opening and turned into a trophy, but her kindness endures even in crisis.
• Princess Zelda — Hyrule's princess, captured at the Midair Stadium and imprisoned as a trophy — but when freed, she transforms into Sheik and proves she was never trul
• R.O.B. Sentry — Rank-and-file R.O.B. soldiers — mass-produced robots forced to serve as both the Subspace Army's infantry and the living triggers for its bombs.
• Rayquaza — A legendary sky dragon that erupts from a lake to attack Fox's Arwing — territorial, ancient, and indiscriminate in its fury.
• Ridley — A Space Pirate dragon and Samus's eternal nemesis — the creature that killed her parents, now serving the Subspace Army inside the Research Facility.
• Samus Aran — A bounty hunter stripped of her armor and imprisoned — who fights her way back to full power and confronts her oldest enemy inside the Subspace Army's
• Sheik — Zelda's combat alter ego — a disguised Sheikah warrior who trades magic and ceremony for speed, needles, and vanishing acts.
• Solid Snake — A special ops legend who infiltrates the stolen Halberd in a cardboard box — the only character in the entire story mode who actually speaks a complet
• Sonic the Hedgehog — The fastest thing alive — arrives at the last possible second, shatters Tabuu's wings with a spinning attack, and saves every single hero in the coali
• Squirtle — The Pokémon Trainer's first capture — a tiny water turtle who compensates for small size with speed and a surprisingly powerful water gun.
• Tabuu — The embodiment of Subspace itself — a godlike entity who puppets Master Hand, commands the entire Subspace Army, and nearly wins by turning every hero
• Toon Link — A cartoonish version of the Hero of Winds — hidden in the Forest as a post-game secret, fighting Subspace remnants with wide eyes and a cel-shaded swo
• Wario — A greedy treasure hunter who joins the Subspace Army for the Dark Cannon — captures Ness and Luigi as trophies, then discovers that stealing people is
• Wolf O'Donnell — Star Fox's rival — hidden in the Ruins as a post-game character, fighting alone with the feral aggression of a mercenary who answers to no one.
• Yoshi — A dinosaur napping on an island who wakes up to find the world ending — shrugs, joins Link, and flutter-kicks his way through the apocalypse.
• Zero Suit Samus — Samus without her armor — faster, more vulnerable, and fighting her way through a research facility with nothing but a stun pistol and combat training

Locations

• Battleship Halberd — Meta Knight's stolen warship — commandeered by the Subspace Army as their mobile headquarters and the war's most fought-over prize.
• Isle of the Ancients — The R.O.B. homeland — an island of advanced technology, consumed by its own weapons when Ganondorf triggered the mass detonation.
• Midair Stadium — A floating coliseum where trophies come to life and fight — the opening stage of the Subspace invasion and the last moment of peace the World of Troph
• Skyworld — Palutena's heavenly realm above the clouds — where Pit watches the invasion begin and leaps into the fight below.
• Subspace — The dark dimension that Tabuu embodies — a void where light dies and trophied fighters float in stasis, waiting for someone brave enough to enter and
• Subspace Bomb Factory — The factory where Subspace Bombs are assembled — and where the Ancient Minister burns away his disguise to reveal the truth about R.O.B.
• The Battlefield Fortress — An ancient stronghold where three swordsmen converge — Marth's defensive stand becomes the birthplace of the Subspace Emissary's most iconic team.
• The Canyon — A desert gorge where Captain Falcon makes his explosive entrance — driving the Blue Falcon directly into combat to rescue Olimar.
• The Cave — An underground passage where the Pokémon Trainer searches for his team — dark, winding, and full of Subspace enemies.
• The Forest — A dense woodland hiding Subspace remnants — and Toon Link, a secret character discovered in the post-game.
• The Glacial Peak — A frozen mountain summit where Meta Knight and the Ice Climbers climb through blizzards to find Lucario meditating at the top.
• The Great Maze — The final dungeon — a nightmarish mashup of every location consumed by Subspace, where fighters face dark copies of themselves before reaching Tabuu.
• The Jungle — Donkey Kong's tropical territory — where Bowser's attack scatters the Kongs and sets the rescue mission in motion.
• The Lake — A serene body of water hiding a legendary Pokémon beneath its surface — where Fox's Arwing crashes and his partnership with Diddy Kong begins.
• The Research Facility — The Subspace Army's technological heart — where Samus was stripped of her suit, Pikachu was drained for power, and Ridley lurks in the corridors.
• The Ruined Zoo — An abandoned zoo where Lucas's fear and courage collide — Porky attacks, Ness is captured, and a terrified boy begins to fight back.
• The Ruins — Ancient crumbling structures deep in the wilderness — where Pokémon Trainer and Lucas face Galleom and Lucas finds his courage.
• The Swamp — A dark, foggy wetland at the edges of the world — where Jigglypuff waits as a post-game secret amid the murk.
• The Wilds — Open plains where multiple hero groups converge — the crossroads of the Subspace conflict, traveled by the swordsman trio and Mario's coalition alike.

Items

• Arwing — Star Fox's signature fighter craft — Fox's is destroyed by Rayquaza, Falco's arrives just in time to save the day.
• Blue Falcon — Captain Falcon's signature F-Zero racing machine — driven directly into a canyon at impossible speed for the most dramatic rescue entrance in the Subs
• Chains of Light — Golden energy tethers that bind Master Hand to Tabuu's will — the visible proof that the World of Trophies' creator is a prisoner in his own realm.
• Dark Cannon — A weapon that turns living fighters into frozen trophies — the Subspace Army's tool for collecting heroes and removing them from the battlefield.
• Dedede Brooch — King Dedede's secret weapon against the apocalypse — timer badges that automatically revive trophied fighters, hidden in plain sight as tacky accessor
• Off Waves — Tabuu's ultimate attack — three crimson shockwaves that expand from his wings and turn every fighter they touch into a frozen trophy.
• Power Suit — Samus's Chozo-built armor — stripped from her by the Subspace Army, recovered in the depths of the Research Facility, and the reason Ridley is in trou
• Shadow Bugs — Dark particles extracted from Mr. Game & Watch — the raw material for the entire Primid army and every False Fighter the Subspace Army creates.
• Subspace Bomb — A dimensional weapon that tears holes in reality — each detonation pulls an area into Subspace and costs two R.O.B. units their lives.
• Warp Star — Kirby's golden escape vehicle — the only thing fast enough to outrun Tabuu's Off Waves and carry the puffball to safety.

View full codex at Simulacra.Ink