For nearly 25 years, Super Smash Bros. has cemented itself as the undeniable leader of the platform fighter genre thanks to an increasingly deep roster of Nintendo IPs to choose from. Alongside a willingness to invite third-party fighters to the party starting with Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008, each entry has managed to surpass the previous one with a greater quantity of characters, stages, modes and other goodies to make it an easy go-to for casual and veteran fans alike. With the rise of Smash Bros. came its fair share of competitors, but none have managed to come close to stealing its crown. While Microsoft has (until recently) lacked a deep enough lineup of first-party franchises to pull characters from to create their own platform fighter, Sony did take a shot at it with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale for PS3 in 2012, which featured a sizable roster and its own unique finishing mechanics, but lacked enough content to keep players invested for long. Over the past decade, several indie developers have attempted to create their own cast of original characters alongside the platform fighter they were developing, such as Brawlhalla, Rivals of Aether and Slap City, but despite the occasional crossover announcement, each of them has struggled to find a mainstream audience. Last year, Warner Bros. held an extended open beta for MultiVersus, bringing in characters from across their own lineup of IP such as Looney Tunes, Game of Thrones and DC. Although the game was well-received by players at first, the steady introduction of new characters and features came to a sudden halt in November 2022, and it wasn’t until March of this year that the developer revealed that the early access version would be shutting down in June, leaving players no way to play online until the full release which is currently planned for early next year.
Back in 2021, Nickelodeonrevealedthat they were creating their own platform fighter, enlisting the help of Slap City developer Ludosity and building their roster from across their slate of television programs. Heralded by longtime fans as the spiritual successor to a number of browser games from Nickelodeon that shared similar gameplay and naming schemes, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl released with twenty characters and added five more through free and paid DLC that included fan favorites from SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more. Like many platform fighters before it, the mechanics operated similarly to Smash Bros., with multiple unique attacks per character that could be pulled off by pressing a button and direction, while successful hits would cause a greater amount of knockback based on the opponent’s damage received until they are eventually knocked off screen. The game also featured local and online multiplayer for up to four players alongside a traditional single player arcade mode. Upon its launch in October 2021, however, players quickly found that none of the playable fighters had alternate costumes or included voice acting, leading to awkwardly quiet matches save for the stage music playing in the background. It wasn’t until June of the following year that the characters finally spoke and reacted to being hit, but the lack of polish and deep content had already meant that most of its player base had moved on to other games by then.
In July, Ludosity and Fair Play Labs revealed that a sequel to the mascot fighter was in the works and is set for launch later this year. Of course, with a new fighting game comes brand new fighters, and in addition to fourteen returning characters from the original game, there have been eleven announced newcomers making their way to the roster. These include The Angry Beavers, Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Donatello and Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, El Tigre, Ember from Danny Phantom, Gerald and Grandma Gertie from Hey Arnold!, Jimmy Neutron and Plankton and Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants. Every character will be fully voiced at launch, and there are four additional DLC characters set to be released throughout 2024, but there’s no word yet if any free fighters will also be added post-launch. Fortunately, even the returning characters may not play exactly how you remember, as every character has been given updated movesets alongside new horizontal attacks and dodges. The sequel will also introduce a Slime Meter that can be raised by attacking other players and will grant the user access to more powerful special attacks or unique super abilities to deal out massive damage.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 has also expanded on its single player options, offering a more fleshed-out campaign compared to the more traditional arcade mode found in the original game. When Danny Phantom villain Vlad Plasmius threatens to overthrow the multiverse, SpongeBob must recruit allies to stop this deadly threat in a campaign that features roguelike mechanics and unique storylines for each character as you unlock them. Of course, players can expect fierce boss battles as well that can be challenged successively in the new boss rush mode. While not every new feature has been revealed yet, players can expect the return of the arcade mode along with more mini-games and other secrets still to be discovered. For those playing online, crossplay support will be available at launch along with rollback netcode on supported platforms. With so many promising new additions, an updated art style and plenty of learned lessons from the original game, there’s hope among fans that this sequel can not only outshine its predecessor, but find mainstream appeal among those who may not feel as strongly about the Nickelodeon roster. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is set to launch on November 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One.
