The Research Facility

The Research Facility

The Research Facility is one of many levels in the Subspace Emissary mode of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The Research Facility is located on the Isle of the Ancients that floats high above the world. The facility is adjacent to the Subspace Bomb Factory. The Research Facility is where the R.O.B. Squad conducts scientific research on behalf of the Subspace Army, such as creating clone copies of Samus Aran's Power Suit. Besides researching new weapons, R.O.B.s also guard the facility from outside interference. The Research Facility serves as Ganondorf's base of operations during the Subspace Army's conquest of the world until the facility and the rest of the Isle of the Ancients is annihilated by the mass detonation of Subspace Bombs ordered by Ganondorf himself.

During the events of the Subspace Emissary, Samus Aran's Power Suit was somehow acquired by the Subspace Army and held in the Research Facility. Analysis of the Power Suit allowed the Subspace Army to create two sentient clone copies of the Power Suit to serve as additional weapons for the army's invasion. In order to retrieve her suit, Zero Suit Samus (the name Samus is known by without her Power Suit) secretly infiltrates the Research Facility. During her infiltration, Zero Suit Samus runs into Pikachu, who appears to have been captured by the Subspace Army as a source of electrical energy for the facility, torturing the Pokémon in the process. Samus frees Pikachu, which alerts the R.O.B. Squad to her presence. Ultimately, Samus and Pikachu manage to evade the R.O.B. guards, defeat the Power Suit clones, and reclaim the Power Suit. Eventually, Samus and Pikachu notice Ridley, who swoops down and grabs Samus. He then proceeds to scrape her against the wall. Pikachu, however, attacks Ridley with its Thunder attack, starting the boss fight. After defeating Ridley, Samus and Pikachu exit the Facility and enter the Subspace Bomb Factory, thus ending the level.