Has anyone talked about the cutscene in Subspace Emissary with Olimar and Falcon and the giant ROB? I’m gonna talk about that for a second. Hang on.
I’ve been thinking a LOT about SE lately and how Brawl was the introduction for a lot of new concepts and iconic characters, and I’m fascinated by how they handled Olimar’s introduction in SE, considering he wasn’t seen ANYWHERE else except for Smash Dojo I think before the game’s release (if it isn’t clear I’m talking out my ass here so please correct me if I’m wrong about anything).
To recap that cutscene, it opens on the Pikmin attacking a ROB. The ROB spins ‘em off, we see Olimar looking like he’s boutta run, then Captain Falcon comes in and punches the (now obviously giant) robot and kills a Lot of Pikmin in the process. And that’s one of the funniest animated scenes in the entire series.
Roll it back to the start, now! I find it interesting how they frame the Pikmin and the ROB. Anyone who’s played a Pikmin game before can tell you with certainty that Olimar and the Pikmin are REALLY SMALL, and anyone who’s actually seen a R.O.B in real life can tell you that they’re also small, but definitely larger than a colourful little plant freak. ROBs in Smash Brawl (and the other games going forward) are obviously therefore sized up like a few other Smash fighters. While it does stand to “obviously” reasoning that Olimar would therefore also be sized up for use in Smash, SE has that cutscene start as though Olimar and the Pikmin are their ACTUAL sizes.
Right until Captain Falcon enters the scene, it’s actually kind of hard to tell if the ROB is normal-sized or giant. Especially if you already know that Olimar and the Pikmin are tiny! But Captain Falcon makes it at least clearer what size the ROB is. The actual gameplay also does a good job at this.
It’s just really fascinating. And! It’s genuinely incredible camerawork and storytelling that tricks the audience like this. I honestly think that this cutscene is one of the most effective in general, for this exact reason. It’s funny, it introduces two characters (who were intentionally put together because they’re both Captains but with wildly different personalities and designs), and it helps build up Captain Falcon’s importance in SE in particular. In later cutscenes he follows that same pattern of providing a solution to the cast’s current predictament. He also consistently drags Olimar with him until Olimar feels confident enough to go along with things on his own.
I’m getting away from the original point of the post here, but there’s just so much I love about how the characters are portrayed in SE, and this cutscene does an amazing job at building up two characters. If they had equal importance, that would’ve been stellar, but I’m still happy that they both got the roles they did. The only thing that gripes me is that Captain Falcon is one of the very few characters with spoken dialogue, while Olimar makes not a single verbal sound. It’s a very noticeable difference. I get why for both cases, but still.
