Dragoon

Collect three parts to see what happens! The Dragoon (, Dragoon Parts) is an item in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. 4, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate hailing from the universe.

Origin
The Dragoon hails from , as one of two Legendary Air Ride machines in the game, along with Hydra. The Dragoon could only be attained in the City Trial mode of the game; additionally, before it could be used in the actual mode, the player had to collect three pieces of the machine. Like its appearance in Brawl, players could attack each other to steal pieces of the Dragoon from each other; furthermore, a probability built into the game chooses whether or not the pieces will spawn or not. In actual gameplay, true to being a legendary machine, Dragoon has the highest flight stat of all machines, as well as very high stats in all other areas.

Overview
In order to use the Dragoon, one must find all three pieces (Dragoon Part A, Dragoon Part B, and Dragoon Part C). Collecting one of the parts causes a unique soundbite to play and a small picture of that part to appear to the left of that character's icon at the bottom of the screen. Once the player has collected all three pieces, the Dragoon is assembled and the character flies off-screen, from where they can aim where they want to attack with the control stick. The item will automatically fire after ten beeps are heard; however, it can be fired at will before this point by pressing the attack button. If a character is hit, they will take 40% damage and will almost always be one-hit KO'd. Dodging the attack is difficult unless the defenders can predict when the attacker will charge, though possible. In Brawl and Smash 4, it is possible to survive the attack by using attacks that grant armor; in Ultimate, it ignores armor. The Dragoon can be aimed anywhere but off-screen which allows players to easily avoid the attack by simply moving off-screen on a stage such as Wii Fit Studio, though the body of the Dragoon can still manage to hit a player if they aren't careful.

While a character is holding a piece, they can be attacked which may force them to drop a piece they have; a character can also lose all pieces they have by being KO'd. If the character revives, the parts they were holding will fall back onto the stage. In a team Smash, multiple players on the same team can collect the Dragoon pieces. In Brawl, the Dragoon will not activate if multiple players on the same team each collect a piece, but this was changed in Smash 4 so that the player who collects the third and final piece will receive the assembled Dragoon.

The Dragoon can only be assembled once per match (except in Event 13: Dragoon Strike in Brawl), and the parts may not all necessarily appear during a match at all. It also never appears in the Subspace Emissary during play, but Kirby uses it in a cutscene to bring down the Subspace Gunship.

In, if any Daybreak parts have appeared, no Dragoon parts will appear until the Daybreak is assembled and used, or all Daybreak parts are sent off-screen. Similarly, if any Dragoon parts have appeared, no Daybreak parts will appear until the Dragoon is assembled, or all Dragoon parts are sent off-screen.

Spirit
The Dragoon also appears as a Legend-class support spirit.

The Dragoon's Spirit Battle uses a puppet fighter and is fought on the Pilotwings stage. During the battle, Kirby has increased move speed, referencing the Dragoon's high speed stats. Also, the Dragoon Parts appear and will be pulled toward Kirby, referencing how the Dragoon must be assembled by collecting its parts.

Role in the Subspace Emissary
Shortly after the destruction of the Halberd, Kirby uses the Dragoon to destroy the Subspace Gunship by flying at full speed through the massive weapon while the other smashers have it distracted. Kirby then uses the Dragoon to enter Subspace along with the rest of the characters.

Glitches

 * In the stage of Bridge of Eldin from Brawl, when firing the item when the bridge is forming, the player that is riding the Dragoon will get star KOed.
 * If used when Tingle zooms in on a character, the screen will freeze in the area Dragoon was launched in.

Trivia

 * Contrary to its trophy description, the Dragoon was not strictly the fastest machine in Kirby Air Ride. While its speed in the air was unsurpassed, multiple other stars in the game could travel faster than it on the ground; Hydra, the other Legendary Air Ride Machine of the game, was among those that could do so.
 * In Training mode, when any number of Dragoon Parts are on the field and the Smash Ball is spawned, all the parts on the field not being held by a character will disappear. This occurs vice versa as well.
 * Once all three Dragoon parts are in play, Smash Balls will not appear until the parts have been used or have fallen off the stage. Similarly, if the Smash Ball appears, the third Dragoon part will not appear. This prevents the Dragoon's targeting sight from clashing with any Final Smashes.
 * The Dragoon was accidentally revealed to return in Super Smash Bros. 4 in the April Super Smash Bros. 4 Direct, when the nosecone appeared for a split second behind on the Halberd.
 * It is possible for the Dragoon to be used by Ditto if it gets all the pieces. It will then target the reticle at an opponent, but will not manually use it and wait until it is fired automatically.
 * Dragoon parts can be knocked out during cinematic Final Smashes.