The Subspace Emissary |
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Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary was a primary game mode in Smash Bros. Lawl. As of December 2023, it has been officially discontinued.
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 the Super Smash Bros. series, such as a damage meter, stocks, and Smash-style attacks. It can also be classified as a beat 'em up; often stages will pause at specific points and force the player to defeat all opposing enemies, which prevents one from simply running through everything. 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. There is also a two-player option.
When playing a level for the first time, many cutscenes will pause just before gameplay begins, showing a view of all available characters. A message will display how many stock the level allows, and a cursor will appear that allows choosing which characters to play. The order characters are chosen in is the order they will appear: they will cycle through in that order until all stock is depleted. Playing through a level again, there will be a screen before the level allowing choosing between any available characters instead of cutscenes during the level. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage: there is a wider character variety to choose from, but one cannot (for example) choose only three characters for a four-stock stage. Additionally, no mid-level cutscenes will play, including ones that would normally allow a re-pick of characters which replenishes stocks. While on many levels this makes little difference, it is very problematic on long stages like the second Subspace Bomb Factory, where a replay provides only a fraction of the stock originally given.
Hiatus[]
Throughout Mid-late 2011 and Early 2012, Chincherrinas noticed how the Subspace videos get significantly less views than the short, random fillers he makes. He soon began debating on canceling Lawl, due to a lack of interest of the series in general (and more favor to The Frollo Show). However, after playing Dream Graffiti, and with the idea of a Yomika moveset, new ideas came to mind. New, fresh ideas to differentiate Lawl from Brawl and to add new and fresh ideas, like the Narrators. Soon, Smash Bros Lawl A.M. (After Morgan Era) was announced, firing the Brawl narrator and pulling the plug on Subspace Emissary in favor for Classic Mode.
In Early 2013, Subspace Emissary saw an unexpected return. Turns on Chincherrinas had some new ideas for Subspace, mainly by introducing a second map screen and showing more attention towards the story (which is now getting unique). The video for the level "Guertana Gallery" was originally called "The SSEries Must Go On..."
Return and "The Ronald Monks(/Senate)" Arc[]
After the near-decade long hiatus, the 11th episode "Villain's Valley" was teased and released in mid 2022, continuing the Subspace Emissary after nearly a decade. However, Villain's Valley marked a drastic turn in the SSE's story and became the first of the "Ronald Monks" arc of the story mode. Some fans favored it for it's changes to the already well known story/tone of Subspace Emissary, while others criticized it for this reason as well as the continued minimal presence of gameplay moments. While it appeared to many that the Ronald Monks would be the main conflict of the rest of the story mode, this turned out to not exactly be true when the next level "Midnight Forest" was later teased here, and none other than Sheev Palpatine was confirmed to be another main overarching villain of the Subspace Emissary.
Cancellation[]
Finally, on November 30th 2023, the story mode was announced to be discontinued through a title change of Villain's Valley. Chincherinnas explained that due to the "chimpouts" received in response to Villain's Valley, he had come to lose motivation to continue the story mode entirely, aside from mentioning the possibility of Drevis Mansion's eventual completion due to the gameplay mechanics he has in mind for it.
Plot[]
- Main article: Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary/Plot
Bosses[]
This is a list of bosses that appear in the mode; once a boss' HP is completely depleted, it is defeated.
Boss | Player character(s) | Stage |
---|---|---|
Glutko | King Harkinian and I.M. Meen | Hyrule |
Game Genie | Nostalgia Critic | Real City |
Scratch & Grounder | Leonidas | Sparta |
Big Red | Madotsuki | ??? (Madotsuki's world) |
Persian Messenger | Leonidas | Persian Forest |
Scratch | I.M. Meen | Final Forest |
Sagat | Ib and Guile | Guertana Gallery |
Egg Walker | Nostalgia Critic, Tommy Wiseau, Madotsuki and AVGN | Villain's Valley |
Doug (on Egg) Walker | Tommy Wiseau, Madotsuki and AVGN | Villain's Valley |
Mini-bosses[]
A list of bosses that don't have their own introductory cutscene or any real importance.
Mini-Boss | Player Character(s) | Stage |
---|---|---|
Skull Kid | King Harkinian and I.M. Meen | Lost Woods |
Dragon Breath | I.M. Meen | Final Forest |
Character Battle[]
Due to these battles being against regular smashers or modified versions of them, they are fought like normal battles (or in the case of some of the battles, stamina matches).
Opposing character | Player character(s) | Stage |
---|---|---|
King Harkinian or I.M. Meen | King Harkinian or I.M. Meen; player fights the one they did not choose | Hyrule |
False King Statue | King Harkinian and I.M. Meen | Hyrule |
Nostalgia Critic | Angry Video Game Nerd (stamina match) | Real City |
Tommy Wiseau | Nostalgia Critic | Real City |
Masada Wiseau | Madotsuki | ??? (Madotsuki's world) |
Dr. Robotnik | I.M. Meen (stamina match) | Lost Woods |
False Nostalgia Critic and Madotsuki | Tommy Wiseau | Bicycle Tracks |
Giant False Irate Gamer | Nostalgia Critic, Madotsuki, and Tommy Wiseau | Bicycle Tracks |
Gaston and Frollo | King Harkinian and Leonidas; ally is CPU-controlled unless playing in co-op | Final Forest |
Pyron | Haruhi and Jaime Maussan | Camp of Stars |