In the last couple of years, both Nickelodeon and Warner Bros have attempted to capture the essence of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with crossover fighting games of their own. Last year, Nickelodeon released the flawed but fun Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl while Warner Bros. just recently launched the free-to-play MultiVersus. Both games provide a decent amount of fun, but the choices that Player First Games made for MultiVersus puts it leagues ahead of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
Both platform fighters bring together IPs from across the catalogs of each studio. MultiVersus pits characters like Arya Stark and Bugs Bunny against the likes of the Iron Giant and Batman, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl brings together characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and Aang to fight against Michelangelo and Hugh Neutron. Both games serve as love letters to the history of the companies, but MultiVersus has been able to pull in a larger audience and has seemingly left All-Star Brawl in the dust. This is due to many factors that include opting for the free-to-play model and including voice actors at launch, and it is something that All-Star Brawl could have prevented.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Was Lacking Features
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl released a year before MultiVersus entered open beta, and it gave players a Super Smash Bros. game outside the Nintendo Switch. It was published by GameMill Entertainment and brought together many iconic animated characters from across Nickelodeon's history. It served as the latest entry in the recent resurgence of Nick-based titles that has seen the release of two different Kart racers and a remake of SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom. Fan anticipation was high for the game, and it mostly delivered.
The gameplay of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was a lot of fun, and it gave players that Super Smash Bros fix that they wanted. However, there was a lot missing from the title which prevented it from being heralded as the next big fighting game. For starters, there was zero voice acting at launch which gave the game a lifeless feel. There were no quips, no antagonizing voice lines, and every character felt empty. They all looked and played like how the characters would probably feel, but their personalities were limited.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was criticized for lacking of content since it only offered local or online competitive play. This would not be as much of an issue if it was free, but the developers were asking for players to hand over $50. That is no small amount of money, and players want to receive a decent amount of content before they fork over that cash. Instead, they were greeted by very few modes and a small roster that didn't meet the asking price for some fans.
Since release, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl has added more characters to its roster, voice acting, and items that can be enabled during the fights. This has brought the game more in-line with Super Smash Bros., but the damage has already been done. Players have moved on to other platform fighters, or have just gone back to Ultimate. What could have been the next big fighting sensation has mostly fizzled out, passed by its competition.
MultiVersus Has Done Crossover Fighting Games Right
Anticipation was high for MultiVersus, and it has mostly delivered on what platform fighter fans want. The game has brought together all sorts of iconic characters from across Warner Bros' roster of IPs, and each one feels like they belong in the game. It has proven to be immensely popular with fans of the genre, and Player First Games seems committed to making it as good as it can be,
One of the big draws to MultiVersus is that it does away with the large asking price of its competitors and is instead a free-to-play game. It is far easier to convince someone to pick up a free game than fork over $50, and that has helped boost the player count significantly. Instead, MultiVersus features microtransactions and a battle pass that are pretty in-line with other multiplayer free-to-play games, and so far do not seem to be predatory.
MultiVersus also launched with voice acting which puts it significantly higher than Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. Each character feels like they stepped right out of whatever IP they came from, and some actors even came back to reprise their roles for brand-new voice lines. This gives the game life and boosts the enjoyment for many players as they hear characters from across IPs interact for the very first time.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Missed Out
MultiVersus has been able to pull in millions of players, and it is still only in season one. The roster and map count will only grow. It has been able to push past its competition due to many factors, and has delivered a strong Super Smash Bros. experience outside the Switch. Time will tell if this success will last, but for now it seems that MultiVersus has a pretty strong future ahead of it.
This could have been the fate of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl as well, but it fizzled out instead. If it had launched with voice acting and as a free-to-play game then it may have had more staying power. Platform fighter fans may have still been talking about it and anticipating the next addition to the roster, but that did not happen. While it was nice to see Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl's developers add features that were missing at launch, it happened too late.
If GameMill Entertainment has plans to keep Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl afloat, then it needs to follow the example of MultiVersus. The first game had a lot of promise but fell short on some vital features, and that allowed MultiVersus to fly past it. The game needs to feel alive from day one and do away with the asking price of $50, or include more modes to justify that price. Doing those small things could significantly improve the game's lifespan, and give players even more Smash clones to turn to.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
