Smash Brawl’s Subspace Emissary is a mode that I’m torn on but still turned out pretty fun. The collection of all the characters mixed with reveals that despite knowing who all was in the game, still had me excited when some characters showed up.

The general idea of subspace is done somewhat well, if a bit too lengthy. Generally, you’re a character or small group of characters and you have to complete a platforming segment with those characters. You get a few lives, and you either make it to the end and finish or fight a boss. It’s fine but for someone who isn’t entirely obsessed with fighting games it doesn’t appeal to me as much as something like a potential Mario Kart with a story mode might. It isn’t helped by Smash Brawl’s generally slow speed, making some areas feel too slow to control.

The fact that you switch characters constantly is super exciting because generally when I play Smash Bros, I stick to one or a few characters and call it a day. Here, you’re forced to use different characters and you have to be creative when you can choose who you take, which I enjoyed a lot. I felt some characters didn’t get the full utilization, however, since they were introduced too late for me to ever get to try them out.

The story is something that was cool to see, but it was a part of that “we can be dark too!” vibe that I felt Nintendo did in the Wii era. It reminded me of Super Paper Mario in that way. Not bad, just feels a bit off.

Overall, despite some issues, Subspace Emissary was still an incredibly fun mode with some pretty well done CG for the time. It’s fun and I think I would suggest it to those who enjoy Smash Bros. I don’t know how well the difficulty scales, but try it out and see how you like it!

(Copied from GG)