Image: GameMill/Nickelodeon via PolygonĪesthetically and emotionally, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is inert. Techniques tie nicely into the Brawlers canonical abilities and personalities, and there’s even deep cuts and meme references like Patrick’s ice cream cone attack or the Mocking Spongebob taunt. It seems like the developers do enjoy working with the Nickelodeon pantheon. So it’s even more of a pity that Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl completely fails to deliver any of the charm, silliness, and cleverness that makes crossover fighters broadly appealing. Which is all to say that the devs have done a phenomenal job building the bones of a phenomenal platform fighter that should satisfy the hardcore players Nintendo left behind. I’ve tuned into Twitch streams of competitive Smash players putting it through the paces, praising its speed and responsiveness. All-Star Brawl is mechanically solid, the characters all feel unique in their design and purpose, and the netplay is undeniably better than Nintendo’s offering. This was another shot across the bow of Smash Bros., in which online matches can feel like playing by correspondence.Īnd for the most part, Ludosity and Fair Play Labs have delivered on those promises. For those of you who don’t spend your evenings yelling at fighting game developers on Twitter, rollback refers to a set of ingenious techniques that can, under the right conditions, make online fighting game matches feel nearly as responsive as in-person sessions.

The devs sprinkled some more hardcore catnip when they confirmed All-Star Brawl would have rollback netcode on certain platforms. By showing Spongebob scooting around on invisible roller skates, Nickelodeon and Ludosity were signaling that this Smash-like would be the real deal for real fans. In later Smash games, Nintendo would nerf the heck out of it, and upset a lot of hardcore players in the process. It was an exploit that became a cornerstone of competitive play.

Melee, wavedashing was a high-execution technique that let characters glide around at impossible speeds. In an early gameplay trailer, the devs cheekily revealed that its game would have wavedashing. fanatics who had turned out Slap City, a solid platform fighter tuned for high-level play, in 2018.

When Nickelodeon teamed up with developers Ludosity and Fair Play Labs to handle the game, its Smash-contender cred skyrocketed. game starring beloved Nickelodeon characters?” The concept rests perfectly in the middle portion of the “corporate IP flex” and “stuff fans actually want” venn diagram. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl could have been a contender.

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