False character
False characters are enemies featured in the Subspace Emissary in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. They are the result of trophies of characters being duplicated by Shadow Bugs. False characters retain the look and abilities of the original with the addition of a shadowy aura and glowing yellow eyes. Like the original characters, they revert into trophy forms upon defeat, but these duplicate trophies quickly dissolve afterwards. Similar to metal characters, they are voiceless. All false characters are slightly larger than their normal counterparts (or much larger in the case of the giant false Diddy Kong), deal slightly more damage and appear to poses some degree of knockback resistance
In battle, false characters are simply rendered with a purple color and constantly glowing eyes, lacking the glowing aura.
Appearances
False Bowser
False Bowser makes his first appearance in The Lake, attacking Fox and Diddy Kong at the very end of the stage. After Fox and Diddy defeat him, he dissolves. It is believed that Bowser ordered a fleet of Shadow Bugs to copy him and serve as somewhat of a decoy.
Another Bowser copy later appears during the opening cutscene of The Lake Shore, after Bowser uses a Dark Cannon on the princess that was rescued by Kirby in the Midair Stadium. This false lookalike is ordered to revert into Shadow Bug form to swarm on and duplicate the trophified princess (as can be seen in the image at right).
False Diddy Kong (Giant)
When Fox and Diddy were walking by The Swamp, they were ambushed by Bowser. Diddy was then attacked by Bowser with the Dark Cannon, turning Diddy into a trophy. Bowser then orders waiting offscreen Shadow Bugs to swarm Diddy's trophy. Once this happened, False Diddy was made. Falco then flies down in an Arwing and destroys the Dark Cannon. As Bowser retreats by means of his Koopa Clown Car, the group looks back at the False Diddy, who they find is gathering more Shadow Bugs. False Diddy then grows to an enormous size, effectively making him a minor boss in this fight. Fox touches Diddy's trophy, thus restoring him back to life, and the three defeat False Diddy. Once defeated, False Diddy's trophy disintegrates into the original Shadow Bugs.
Because the player can control the actual Diddy in the fight, the false Diddy uses a pink palette swap for its icon on the bottom-of-the-screen HUD in the battle.
False Samus
When Pikachu and Zero Suit Samus were fighting their way through the Research Facility, Samus located her Power Suit. While retrieving it, two purple and red versions of Samus attacked the duo. After defeating them, Samus donned her Power Suit and continued, destroying the R.O.B.'s sent to attack her. The Samus suits are similar to the color scheme of the Metroid series's Gravity Suit.
How these false characters came to existence, however, is unknown, as Samus was never seen as a trophy before The Great Maze for any Shadow Bugs to duplicate; however, the in-game name of the cutscene in which they appear, "The Copied Power Suit," may imply that the Suit itself, rather than Samus, was duplicated.
False Mr. Game & Watch
When Snake, Meta Knight, and Lucario storm the bridge of the captured Halberd, they discover 5 Mr. Game & Watches. Snake proceeds to knock them out of the window, onto the deck, and into the midst of Peach, Fox, and Zelda (who was disguised as Sheik during that time)'s tea party. The duplicates then dissolve into Shadow Bugs, and assemble Duon. A boss fight follows. After Duon's defeat, a swarm of Shadow Bugs flies away, leaving behind Mr. Game & Watch's trophy.
It is unknown why the false Mr. Game and Watches were perfect clones of him, this may be due to the fact Mr. Game and Watch was the source of the shadow bugs.
False Princesses
False Peach
After the Shadow Bugs cover Peach's trophy, they turn Peach into False Peach, if the player saved Peach in the beginning of the game when fighting Petey Piranha. While Mario and Pit are running, False Peach attempts to shoot them with a Dark Cannon. However, right before she is able to, Link destroys the Dark Cannon. False Peach angrily looks at Link and his partner, Yoshi, and they fight. Link and Yoshi win the battle, and after that, the False Peach trophy turns back into the normal Peach trophy and the shadow bugs move away. Mario saw this and thought Link was the enemy, for he attacked Peach. Mario tries to attack Link, but Link quickly moves out of the way. Link and Yoshi then defeat Mario and Pit in a team battle. After Mario and Pit lose, they get hit by the Dark Cannon and are taken by King Dedede, however Kirby frees them. Peach's trophy is later taken away by Bowser.
False Zelda
False Zelda has the same role as False Peach does, if Kirby saved Zelda from Petey Piranha instead of Peach. She tries to hit Link and Yoshi, rather than Mario and Pit, as Peach had (in place of Link, Pit destroys the Dark Cannon). Also, Mario and Pit end up fighting False Zelda instead of Link and Yoshi fighting False Peach (after the two defeat False Zelda, the player may battle-and defeat- Link and Yoshi as Mario or Pit) After seeing False Zelda get defeated, Link thinks it was the real Zelda and attacks Mario. Link and Yoshi lose and are fired with the Dark Cannon. Just like Mario and Pit, they are taken away by King Dedede, and Kirby saves the two. Unlike most Shadow Bug duplicates, False Zelda's skin takes on a greyish tone. This may be based on Ganon's Puppet Zelda, the penultimate boss in Twilight Princess, who is possessed by Ganondorf. This tone lasts for the length of the battle.
Later on in the story, Peach and Zelda's trophies are taken aboard the Halberd, locked up in cages. When Snake, Meta Knight, and Lucario enter the room where their trophies are, Shadow Bugs come in and turn both Peach and Zelda into False Peach and False Zelda. The three battle the False Princesses, and soon, the two False Princesses are turned back.
In The Great Maze
Different versions of false characters appear in The Great Maze. These versions of false characters are slightly larger than the originals and sport a shining yellow-green look. No reason has been given for this change in color compared to those found outside of Subspace, though it is speculated that this is their "natural form" while inside Subspace.
One duplicate of every character that has been seen so far in the plotline (therefore excluding Jigglypuff, Toon Link, Wolf, and Sonic) appears in The Great Maze. Each duplicate is fought on a different stage, though all of them share a similar background and design on the various platforms. Along with all the bosses (except Master Hand and Crazy Hand), they all must be defeated in order to confront Tabuu in the final battle.
Images of each false character in The Great Maze can be found here.
Music
During a battle with a false character, a music track, usually dark-themed and derived from the character's game series, plays in the background.
Trivia
- If one attempts to use Inhale on a Subspace clone, the clone can be pulled in, but they are unable to be swallowed.
- If a false character is hacked in for battle outside of Subspace, they will have a grayish-purple tint instead of a yellowish-green one. Some of their specials, however (such as King Dedede's Jet Hammer) will retain their yellowish-green tint.
- The theme that plays when fighting False Olimar is the same as the Kirby series false character theme, Gourmet Race. Coincidentally they all occupy the same (fifth) column on the complete Brawl character selection screen.
- Pit, Fox, Falco, Captain Falcon, Snake, Olimar, and R.O.B. are the only characters whose battle themes in The Great Maze don't come from their own universe.
- This does not count Yoshi and Wario, who, despite using Mario songs instead of Yoshi and Wario songs respectively, are still considered Mario characters.
