Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is the game that finally lets Nickelodeon fans answer the burning question of whether Sandy from SpongeBob SquarePants could beat up Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender. A platform fighter akin to Super Smash Bros., it features 23 different characters between the base game and DLC. These come from 15 different franchises across more than 25 years of the network’s history.
The game received a mediocre reception so far, with Metacritic scores in the 60s and low 70s. However, its developers addressed some of the criticisms with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl’s latest patch. New features include items and voice acting, with the patch also introducing a variety of balance changes to both stages and characters.
Voice acting was a much-requested feature for All-Star Brawl that was absent at launch. It arguably robbed the characters of some of their recognizable charm, which arguably undermines the point of a nostalgia-driven fighting game like All-Star Brawl. Character designer Thaddeus Crews even acknowledged the omission during a Shacknews interview in April. Today’s update addresses this criticism, adding voiced quips and grunts that the cartoon characters will shout as they hurl each other across the arena.
The lack of items was a bit more divisive. Some liked that it forced players to rely on their skills rather than lucky drops. However, it’s still an expected part of many Smash Bros. clones like All-Star Brawl, which faced criticism for its lack of features and polish compared to other platform fighting games. The new patch finally adds Smash Bros.-style items that players can use to turn the tide of battle. In addition, players can customize item spawns from the Battle Options menu.
The rest of the update deals with balance changes to Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. General changes include changing the game’s default stock count from 3 to 4 and adding a two-frame warm-up for Airdashing. Additionally, All-Star Brawl now hides player indicators when their character turns invisible. Characters also no longer suffer stun frames when striking a blocking opponent. Most of the remaining balance changes affect individual stages and characters. All-Star Brawl fans can find the full patch notes on the game’s official Twitter account.
The new update saw a mostly positive reception from fans on Twitter, with the voice lines being a popular feature. The fact that the developers added new content with a free path instead of waiting for the sequel or DLC didn’t hurt either. Hopefully, this helps All-Star Brawl stand up to Warner Brothers’ MultiVersus, which some see as a potential rival for the Nickelodeon-licensed fighting game.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
