Platform fighting games are all the rage these days, with multiple entries in the genre landing to moderate success and inevitable comparisons to Super Smash Bros. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, from developers Ludosity and Fair Play Labs, is no different. While the game manages to create a structurally sound fighter using beloved Nickelodeon characters, despite that solid framework, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl lacks the necessary attention to detail to make best use of the nostalgic properties it houses.
At launch, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl‘s roster features 20 playable characters. The lineup includes everyone from Leonardo of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame to the obscure Powdered Toast Man from The Ren & Stimpy Show. In truth, the roster is a fun one that includes characters for a wide range of generational fans familiar with Nickelodeon. However, incorporating this broad selection of fighters is a big task and it’s one that’s done to various degrees of success.
Models for some characters like Lincoln Loud are detailed and expressive, while others like the duo Ren & Stimpy appear lifeless and bland. Admittedly, incorporating characters from various eras of television and art styles is a herculean task, but the end result is a bit jarring. This scattered attention to detail bleeds into other facets of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, making itself apparent when none of the characters featured have their trademark voices or music. Instead, players are forced to listen to elevator music soundalikes across every stage while the fighters remain silent.
This watering down of Nickelodeon properties might be enough to take the wind out of the sails of casual players – although it’s not an unexpected result given the lower price of the game. However, those interested in a competitive fighting game will find themselves salivating over the structure laid down by the aforementioned studios behind Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
Drawing inspiration from the Nintendo GameCube’s Super Smash Bros. Melee, the combat in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is incredibly fast and fluid. The incorporation of classic tactics from that title like wavedashing collides with modern adjustments like strafing to create a razor-sharp focus on competitive play. Other online adjustments like rollback netcode (allowing for near-seamless online play) makes this framework quickly become a dream to competitive-minded players. It’ll still be a while before the meta exposes any cracks in the overall balance, but currently, it’s a blast to hop into online matches.
Despite online operating well when getting into an online match, it needs to be pointed out that things aren’t always perfect when searching for one. Namely, server issues appear to be creating elongated wait times, but these concerns come and go at different points in the day. Once connected, there’s little issue in having a white-knuckle tussle with another similarly-minded player, but as of this writing sometimes the wait can last up to five minutes just to find a match.
Outside of online, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl offers up a few other options. Local play allows up to four players (or CPUs) to duke it out in Stock, Timed, and Sports modes. All are pretty straightforward, with Stock granting a certain number of lives to play with, Timed granting the individual with the most KOs relative to knockouts a win, and Nick All-Star‘s Sports offering up a unique soccer-inspired experience. They’re all fun thanks to Nick All-Star‘s rock-solid gameplay, despite being simple in design.
Arcade Mode is sure to be frequented by those looking to unlock a few pieces of content in the game’s vault. The option is more or less a standard series of battles that can be played through with all 20 playable characters. Completing a path will unlock a bland musical track and avatar, the latter of which can be used to customize an online profile, but there are no new characters to unlock or stages to earn. Everything is available right from the beginning, which does little to incentivize continued play for solo players seeking an offline experience.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl contains the beginnings of what may end up being the most unlikely competitive fighting franchise ever conceived. It knows its audience and it has been able to appease them, garnering a lot of excitement along the way. However, where Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl missteps is in the handling of its properties. It’s easy to get excited about the thought of Reptar dash-dancing across Jellyfish Fields, but it’s tough to buy into the idea when there’s a rogue ukulele serenading the mute dinosaur while it happens.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Screen Rant was provided with an Xbox Series X digital download code for the purpose of this review.
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