Ranking How USELESS Subspace Emissary Characters Are

The Subspace Emissary is the best story mode in the Smash Bros. series, and it features every character in the game... to some extent.

Today, we're ranking every character in Smash Brothers Brawl based on their importance to the plot of the Subspace Emissary.

[floricel_]

10:40 I'll have to defend my boy Marth. He's not "not as brave" as Ike, he just isn't as reckless as him to jump off a cliff with no landing plan

[finalmix]

Mr Game & Watch is the reason why the bad guys can make all the enemies in the Subspace Emissary

[baalfgames]

Thumbnail: Sonic is useless.

Video: Sonic was an important clutch character.

[florinpricop]

Bro I loved how they portrayed Dedede here, fucking love how baddass and slightly of a goof he is here.

[ConnorTheUndying]

A detail I love about Dedede here is that he's portrayed as surprisingly selfless. At first, him misplacing the third badge and finding it on himself seems like a simple gag, but with later context... Dedede removing that badge and putting it on the princess was actually him giving up his own assured safety for the sake of saving someone else.

That's... Heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time.

[dey]

Imma just disagree with that low Lucas placement. Lucas’ arc carries themes of companionship but I feel the crux of it is believing in one’s own power. When we first see Lucas he’s just walking around the Ruined Zoo until he’s ambushed by a bunch of primids and Porky Statue, he says fuck that and starts running as any sane person would. Ness then appears and saves Lucas from the statue giving Lucas a glimpse of what he could be capable of if he just believed in his own power. Ness gets captured due to Lucas’ fear and Lucas is left to wander alone until he runs into Red who demonstrates power through his bond with Squirtle. Lucas then joins Red on his journey to complete his Pokédex in the hopes that he can become strong like both Red and Ness (and save Ness btw). We are shown Red visibly getting stronger by gaining stronger Pokémon but Lucas is right there with him slowly gaining a new confidence. Lucas gets his revenge on Wario but unfortunately Ness is nowhere to be found so he continues his journey with Red until the Swordsmen fuck up by not finishing Galleum and it’s left to Lucas and Red who have both hit the climax of their arcs. Mentioning Meta-Knight saving them is fine but also note how they got put in that position as well. From there, yeah he doesn’t do much else of note but I still feel he had one of the strongest arcs in Subspace.

[luischeco]

Ike deserved to be in Pretty Important because he is the ONLY ONE to actually hit the Aincent Minister and destory a bomb as well when no one else could.

[Spicypiscesss]

zelda and peach for sure deserve to be a tier higher. Zelda for punching through fox’s windshield and peach for ending a confrontation with a cup of tea and the cinematic masterpiece of her unfazed in the middle of a battlefield

[Superemie]

I think Fox is an Elite here. This guy…
1: … confronted the Hailberd THREE TIMES, including once with the Great Fox (his team’s mothership)…
2: … survived a fire when Rayquaza burned his Arwing (his ship) and each time it or the Great Fox crashed (ok, so don’t ask me how he did that)…
3: … rescued and protected Diddy from the aftermentioned Legendary Pokémon and defeated it with his help…
4: … teamed up with him to save Donkey…
5: … played a crucial role in the aftermentioned rescue mission…
6: … dodged a Dark Cannon shot, which eventually led to his attempted kidnapping failing thanks to his teammate…
7: … and helped Sheik/Zelda, Peach, Snake, Lucario and Falco defeat Duon (the giant robot).
And the cherry on top of that? Out of all the characters who knew about the Subspace Army, Fox is one of, if not the FIRST, one to have an ally by his side against them (thanks, Falc!). Credits to someone else for mentioning that.

[CaptHayfever]

Diddy is in the correct tier, but your description is off; he doesn't drag Fox & Falco along because he's too scared; he drags them along because he wants them to prioritize Donkey's rescue (& because they'd otherwise be going the wrong way to even accomplish _their own_ goals anyhow).
Game & Watch is way wrong, though; he's _at least_ Capable-tier.

[ScratchyMGRealname-chbg]

Ice climbers are actually worthless in this mode

[Baconator]

I'm going to argue Bowser being manipulated doesn't actually make him any less important in the story. The way I view the question is "how much would the story change if you removed them?" For example, if you removed Mario, then most of his role could easily be filled by whatever character(s) he's paired up with. Without Bowser and his army, a good amount of the scenes just don't happen.

[DaDMonDCB]

I hope multiple people get on with why he's completely wrong about Mr Game & Watch's importance. G&W was effectively an additional source of enemies for the SSE, since his body is made of the same material as Subspace. Half the mooks being fought were basically made from his essence. So his freedom (or lack there of) is VERY important to the early and midgame of the setting. All the minions controlling the stolen Halberd were basically made out of Game & Watch juice.

[internetguy]

Sonic coming in at the last second and saving literally everyone deserves elite

[fylvidz]

3:11, ah yes, Bowser’s famous minions, the badniks

[prowmar_hs]

Sonic is elite, he may be barely in it but without him there's no good ending, also the way he enters is just so sick that he deserves it

[pr_gamr]

I feel like donkey kong should get bonus points for sacrificing himself to save diddy

[BenjaminBroom-nr]

I think dedede should be in a teir of his own called elite+
1 was smart enough to develop machines that would revive fighters
2 he saved MORE than he thought he would so he was willing to sacrifice himself
3 if he failed he would have gone down a villain
4 he strait up tackled Kirby with a hug
5 an overlooked part he stole warios hovercraft and if he didn’t wario would have stolen many very important fighters
6 he was smart enough to hide the statues from the TRUE villains
7 he beat the crap out of bowser who was trying to stop them ALL BY HIMSELF

[AgentSapphire]

While it's not front and center I would say that Samus and Pikachu maybe deserve one rank up. They infiltrate both a resarch facility and a bomb factory implying that, while they're not front and center, they're doing some real damage behind the scenes. At least that's always the impression I've had. After all, why is Ridley there if there's nothing to guard?

Also the fact they work so damn well together is fantastic. They also did the Other M Ridely scene correctly way before Other M came out. So points for that too.

[memesmcgee]

Kid Icarus fan here, I appreciate the Pit kindness