Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series has inspired a number of copycats over the years, but few have managed to make much of a splash. One surprising exception to the rule was 2021's Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. While the game released to mixed reviews, the concept of Nickelodeon characters battling it out in a Smash Bros.-style platform fighting game generated quite a bit of buzz. Many agreed that the game built a solid foundation that a sequel could improve upon, and that's exactly what Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 has set out to do.
Like its predecessor, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a platform fighting game that pits characters from Nickelodeon's most popular franchises against each other. The game is a love letter to Nickelodeon's greatest hits, with franchises like SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Danny Phantom, Hey Arnold, and more represented. The game even includes some nods to smaller Nickelodeon shows, like El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, so hardcore fans of the network's programming will especially get a kick out of the game.
It's clear from playing it that the developers at Fair Play Labs have a ton of love for Nickelodeon, its shows, and the channel's beloved characters. Many of the voice actors that portrayed the characters on TV have been brought back for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, from Tom Kenny once again voicing the iconic SpongeBob SquarePants to Debi Derryberry returning to the role of Jimmy Neutron. It's fun to see these characters interact with each other, trading clever banter that will entertain both kids that currently watch Nickelodeon shows and adults who grew up with the channel. Callbacks to classic episodes can be spotted everywhere, from the voice lines to the alternate costumes to each character's move set.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 features a solid roster of 25 characters at launch, comprised of a mix of returning fighters from the first game and brand-new combatants. These fighters have a nice selection of stages to battle it out on, many of which also pay homage to classic moments from the various TV shows that they represent. Some fans may complain about the over-representation of SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is a valid criticism. Four of the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 launch fighters are from SpongeBob, with Mr. Krabs coming as DLC, while three characters are from the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe with Zuko and Iroh slated for DLC. Some may argue that these slots could have been better used on characters from the first game that are missing in the sequel, like CatDog, or characters from the most egregious exclusion, The Fairly Oddparents, though the latter's absence is due to licensing issues.
While it is disappointing to see some characters from the first game have been abandoned, what's here should still please most Nickelodeon fans, even if the game is heavy on SpongeBob and The Last Airbender. As far as actually playing as these characters, the combat and movement are smooth, with easy to learn controls that should be instantly familiar to Smash fans. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 combat is certainly a marked improvement over the original game.
One interesting new wrinkle Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 brings to combat is its meter, which can be used strategically like in more traditional fighting games or saved to pull off a Final Smash-style super attack. The animations for these special attacks are generally janky and underwhelming compared to the otherwise fluid character animations, but the meter is an interesting idea for a platform fighting game.
The core gameplay in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is solid, but unfortunately, many of the modes that have been built around it leave a lot to be desired, particularly the campaign mode. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 introduces a campaign that surprisingly incorporates roguelike elements. Players set out on runs as one of the Nickelodeon characters that they've unlocked and complete various levels organized into themed sections. Things play out like an arcade ladder, but with branching paths and more varied encounters than simple 1v1 affairs.
Sometimes players face off against another member of the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 roster, in which case a victory will net a new playable character for the campaign. Other times they are tasked with completing barebones and stiff platforming challenges, playing mini-games, buying power-ups, resting to restore health, or fighting off a swarm of weaker enemies. These encounters all build up to a boss fight with a big bad that's not on the playable roster, like The Flying Dutchman from SpongeBob, with the goal of eventually making it to Danny Phantom villain Vlad Plasmius.
The catch is that players don't automatically heal from one level to the next, and at the start of the game, they only have a single life. Dying means starting the whole thing back at the beginning, which is where the roguelike elements come into play. Players are able to collect currency during each run that can be exchanged for permanent perks at the hub world to, in turn, make future runs easier.
This is a unique idea for a campaign mode in a platform fighting game and sounds good on paper, but its execution isn't great. Each encounter type plays out more or less the same, which makes having to repeat large chunks of the campaign more tedious than anything else. The game fails to deliver the feeling of overcoming great odds that other roguelikes provide because typically, dying in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 boils down to losing an endurance test. Players will likely be fine for the vast majority of levels they complete, only to take a bunch of damage during the boss fights, carry that damage over into the next stage against something that would normally be easy to survive, get hit, die, and have to repeat the process all over again.
This makes the early runs in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 a serious chore, an issue that's exacerbated by the way the levels are set up. Each stop on the branching path is considered a level in and of itself, meaning players have to sit through a loading screen for each area they visit, do whatever they need to do there, go to an exit, and sit through another loading screen. Having shops and healing rooms function like this slows things down and severely hurts the campaign's pacing. Most of the combat stages are super short, too, which doesn't help matters. The loading screens are fairly quick, but there are still times when players will spend about the same amount of time loading in as they will in the actual "level." The good news is that players are able to get enough currency in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 after about an hour or so of play to buy enough perks that effectively make them so overpowered they won't have to repeat stages for too long, though this in turn makes the roguelike framework almost pointless.
Spending one's cash on perks is necessary to complete Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2's campaign, but a more fun use of the money is decorating the hub world with Nickelodeon-themed items. Expanding the hub world and adding new items to it is honestly more rewarding than overcoming the bosses in the campaign, plus it gives players the chance to interact with characters that aren't on the playable roster, like Gary from SpongeBob and Master Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2's campaign is the primary single-player experience, but there are some other modes to check out as well. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 has a traditional Arcade mode, Boss Rush, a mini-game section, and a dojo to help players learn how to better play the game. None of this is particularly compelling, especially since some of it is recycled content from the lackluster campaign, and so Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2's single-player experience is ultimately a bust.
It would have been nice for the game to have worthwhile single-player modes, but the bright side is that Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is plenty entertaining when taking single-player out of the equation. Multiplayer is where Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 shines, especially with the right group of friends. Players can sink a ton of time battling it out on Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2's lovingly-designed stages, and the novelty of watching Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fight Grandma Gertie from Hey Arnold and Reptar from Rugrats never gets old.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 offers a genuinely fun multiplayer experience, so it's a shame that its single-player features are so weak. We were unable to test the game's online functionality, but if the online multiplayer is reliable and as fun as its local offerings, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 will be a solid option for Smash fans who are hungry for something fresh. The game isn't going to blow anyone away, but it mostly accomplishes what it has set out to do and delivers a platform fighting game experience that outdoes the original.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
Building on the ideas of its 2021 predecessor, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a 2D platform fighter featuring iconic characters from shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Danny Phantom, and Jimmy Neutron. Along with multiplayer support, the sequel also features a single-player campaign.
- Exciting roster of characters and stages
- Made with clear love for Nickelodeon's classic shows
- Multiplayer battles can be a lot of fun
- Roguelike elements in campaign make it tedious
- Single-player modes in general leave a lot to be desired
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 launches November 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Game ZXC was provided with a PS5 code for this review.
