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The Ruined Zoo

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Revision as of 14:31, June 28, 2016 by BaconMastre (talk | contribs) (Upon closer inspection, it is a a green planter, but it may be a nod to Warp Pipes.)
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The Ruined Zoo
NessBoss.jpg
EarthboundSymbol.svgSymbol of the Smash Bros. series.
Lucas faces Porky Minch.
Universe Super Smash Bros.
Earthbound
Appears in Brawl
Availability Subspace Emissary and
Boss Battles only
Preceding SSE stage The Lake
Following SSE stage The Battlefield Fortress

The Ruined Zoo (荒廃した動物園, Ruined Zoo) is the 7th stage in the Subspace Emissary of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Overview

Lucas is seen depressingly walking through an old and broken-down zoo. Before too long, Shadow Bugs fall from the sky, and form Primids. Lucas gets scared, when suddenly, a giant Porky statue crashes down and chases after Lucas.

The Ruined Zoo is a side scrolling area in which Lucas must run away from the Pig King Statue before he knocks him out. The camera scrolls forward (to the right) as the statue walks on. The higher the difficulty, the faster the statue will go. At one point, the statue will fall into the water; however, the statue re-spawns shortly thereafter by falling from the sky. When Lucas reaches the end, he trips and gets caught on a branch. Just when the Pig King Statue almost has him, Ness arrives and destroys the statue, revealing Porky Minch. The two fight and defeat Porky, but Wario appears and attempts to turn Ness into a trophy with his Dark Cannon. However, when Ness proves to be too difficult to hit, Wario sets his sights on Lucas instead. Noticing this, Ness sacrifices himself, pushing Lucas out of the way while he himself turns into a trophy. When Wario leaps from his perch to claim his prize, Lucas runs away in fear.

He eventually runs into the Pokémon Trainer, who uses his Squirtle to fight off oncoming Primids. Afterward, Lucas decides to stick with the Pokémon Trainer in order to save Ness and get revenge against Wario.

Origin

Podunk Zoo as it appears in EarthBound Beginnings. From the Starmen.Net guide.
Ninten in front of the Podunk Zoo in Mother.

The first part of the level has many parallels to the portion of the "Revenge of Meta Knight" section of Kirby Super Star in which the player must run from the Heavy Lobster. Similarities include breakable obstructions, the pursuer destroying anything in its path, hitting switches to open doors in the player's way, momentary delays of the pursuer, and a boss fight at the end of the pursuit. The only major difference is that the Kirby Super Star level didn't feature any enemies other than the Heavy Lobster, while The Ruined Zoo features many enemies, such as Primids and Buckots.

The concept of characters from the Mother/EarthBound series exploring a ruined zoo may be based on the Podunk Zoo thrown into chaos in Mother by the forces of a Starman Jr. until the game's protagonist, Ninten, stops the Starman Jr. and restores order to the zoo.

Playable Characters

Returning enemies

Enemies introduced

Bosses

Music

Trivia

  • This is the only level in the Subspace Emissary where the player can control a hidden character (in this case, Ness) during the level and not unlock them at the end.