The Subspace Emissary is a story-driven game within Super Smash Bros Brawl (2008). A mysterious figure identified as “The Prime Minister” is using an army of R.O.B.’s to consume the world with black holes at the will of an entity named Tabuu, and it’s up to the rest of the cast to save the world. The concept is fun, all of these iconic characters in a huge crossover platforming their way from level to level. It should be so perfect, many of these characters are directly from platforming games! Unfortunately, while they may be from platformers, or side scrollers, or other genres, they are currently in a fighting game with calculated mobility, speed, and dexterity. The characters can walk, run, and jump and emote, but the design of the levels just doesn’t complement the movement of any character. Gaps are just a bit too long for characters to jump across, which is devastating for characters with weak recoveries. You can’t move across the screen easily as characters will only walk for a short time before dashing, and after they dash, they stop completely. It’s frustrating, and although the concept is interesting and fun, the execution is lacking in harmony between the characters’ abilities and their environment.
This is only heightened in the 2-player mode, as the camera is locked on to player 1, making it difficult for player 2 to navigate on their own. In the worst case scenario, player 2 is constantly off-screen, just out of view, and taking damage until the game decides to teleport them to player 1. The combinations of playable characters in each scene seems to be purposeful, but more so for the aesthetics of the characters rather than their synergy in gameplay, but it gives each scene a bit of familiarity. When I first played I had no idea who Fox McCloud was, but seeing him interact with Diddy Kong helped me figure out his character and attitude. Samus and Pikachu could very well be good partners with their electric moves and weapons, but I have no idea how to explain Lucas and Pokemon Trainer.
There are some very interesting and unique enemies in the game mode that seem to have been created for the purpose of the Subspace Emissary, but there is so little story or background information on them that they just seem to exist to deal damage to the player. The final bosses of the game have very unique designs, but we know so little about them or their stories, which isn’t helped by the fact that there is no dialogue in the game to give extra context.
All in all, The Subspace Emissary is a fun game. Seeing characters from different franchises crossover and interact is always going to be a hit, but asking these fighters to platform is just too tall an order. At 10 years old I thought the graphics were amazing, specifically the detail on Princess Peach’s dress, and I would agree even now. Plays bad, looks good, iconic nonetheless.
