Super Smash Bros. clones have always been around, though it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that a few major competitors were released including Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. The initial release had an overall lack of personality even with all of the fun characters included, but the game’s fanbase was eventually rewarded with the much-needed voice acting that was missing. After the DLC wrapped up, the developers moved on to the sequel which is now here with a number of improvements in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2.
A Smashing Good Time
Nickelodeon has one of the most varied collections of franchises to pull from out there and it felt like it was about time they did a fighting game when the first entry came out. That game started with 20 base roster fighters and was increased to 25 through a mix of free and paid DLC, which included a nice mix of characters to choose from across multiple franchises. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 upped the ante from the start by offering 25 playable characters out of the gate, though only 14 from the original made the initial cut.
The new fighters were excellent additions though, including the Angry Beavers, Jimmy Neutron, El Tigre, Ember from Danny Phantom, Gerald and Grandma Gertie from Hey Arnold, Raphael and Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Squidward and Mecha Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants, and Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. There is no question that this series has some of the most out-of-left-field picks for their roster, but it’s actually a ton of fun to play with characters like Grandma Gertie. In fact, Angry Beavers were one of the most prominent omissions in the first game, so I was glad to see them be added as they turned into one of my favorites to use. Having voice acting in the game from the very start is also a big help, as it makes the characters feel much more like themselves.
Characters getting cut is not a big surprise with the number of new fighters being added to the game, but the loss of a couple of series entirely is disappointing. The removal of Oblina and Catdog from the roster takes away two classic Nintendo series out of the game entirely while plenty of other series get multiple inclusions like Spongebob and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles swap is kind of weird, as Leonardo and Michelangelo were outright replaced with Raphael and Donatello. Even so, the included roster is still quite versatile and will be getting a few other DLC characters in the future such as Zuko and Mr. Krabs, albeit all from series that we already have in the game.
As with any fighting game, the most important element is the gameplay and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 makes just the right improvements on what was already a very solid foundation from the first game. Each character has their own unique moves to use as before, and now they also have something known as the Slime Meter, which is based on the iconic Nickelodeon Slime that was everywhere on Nickelodeon in the ’90s. This meter fills up during battle and can be used in a number of different ways, such as powering up existing moves, extending aerial recoveries, and my personal favorite, all-new special moves.
Every single fight in the game has an exclusive super move that you can activate upon filling the Slime Meter and hitting the enemy, similar to how the Final Smashes are activated in Super Smash Bros. Some of these definitely have more thought put into them than others, with a few of my personal favorites being Gerald’s, Reptar’s, and Ren & Stimpy’s. Just seeing Reptar wreak havoc on a city and then breathe fire on the enemy is always a welcome sight. On the other end, I do feel like a few of them could have had a little more thought put into them, especially the Avatar trio’s supers, but this is the first time they have been introduced to the series and have room for growth in future entries.
Like its predecessor, the game also has a nice lineup of stages to choose from based on the various characters in the game. I do wish there were a few stages for characters not in the game as well to represent some other series, but the ones included are very well-designed like the Wild Thornberry’s Savannah stage. These are complemented by outstanding music tracks that really elevate the stages further, with there being numerous standouts that you can jam out to in the game’s Jukebox mode as well.
Save the Multiverse
A fantastic new feature added in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is an actual roguelike single-player campaign with a bit of a story mixed in as well. The mode starts with you in control of Spongebob as Danny Phantom villain Vlad Plasmius tries to take over the multiverse, starting with Patrick. From there, the goal is to complete randomized branching runs of multiple varying stages that end with a boss fight. This features pathways where you have to make choices that can determine which other options you have later in the run as well, so be mindful. You do not have your health healed fully after each stage either, so this can get pretty treacherous at times.
The majority of these stages will be fights against either a brainwashed main roster character or wave battles against hordes of enemies. These enemies are more henchman-style characters from series, such as the Foot Soldiers from TMNT. Defeating the brainwashed fighters will then unlock them for you to use within campaign mode as well, which adds a lot of replayability and reason to keep playing the mode. These are also very important for earning the game mode’s Blimp currency, which was a nice callback for Nickelodeon to include.
On top of those two types of stages, you will also come across ones where you have to make your way across platforms and collect options items along the way, ones where you have to pop balloons, and others where you get free items or the option to buy power-ups and perks. Meanwhile, the power-ups and perks you can get during this mode are also very helpful, even if they only last for the duration of the run. Considering you only have one stock to start, finding ones that give you extra stocks also are very important here until you can build your character up otherwise.
If you manage to make it to the end of each run in campaign mode, you will get to square off against one of the game’s bosses. These include the Flying Dutchman and even Shredder, with some of them being insanely difficult if you are not well equipped. This is what leads to a lot of the roguelike elements, and you will often have to go through the punishment of losing multiple times until you are able to prepare your fighter well enough to take down each boss.
Whether you win or lose each run, you will end up back in your main hub area known as the Timeless Stardial. This is where you can start to really build up your character by purchasing new perks that will stay on your character as long as they are equipped. The shops found here use the green Slimy and purple Splat currencies that you can earn in your playthroughs, so it’s always important to trade in Blimps for one of the two currencies if you have the option in certain shops within your run. You can even decorate your hub as well by buying decorations from Gary the Snail, which makes the hub a little more lively. Who doesn’t want Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Appa just hanging around in your hub with you? This hub also allows you to swap characters and change difficulties, with the harder difficulty levels providing you with higher-level rewards.
If you’re looking for a more standard fighter experience without all the pizzazz, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 still offers some more traditional game modes as well. You can battle friends or the CPU locally, as well as take things online against others around the world. For a more structured approach, there is the classic Arcade mode where you face enemies and minigames in a ladder format. You can also just take on the minigames if you want in its own mode. Those ready for a real challenge can even face Boss Rush against the main bosses from the campaign.
As for collectibles outside of campaign mode, the game features a gallery with unlockable character renders and images that you can unlock along with trophies. There are quite a number of these, so playing as each character in the game can really help with unlocking these along the way.
While pretty much everything is better in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 all around, the performance on the Nintendo Switch version is still pretty awful at times. The load times are abysmal, oftentimes having to wait upwards of 30 seconds or more just to switch menus in campaign mode or wait for a match to start. I even had times where this froze up on me and I had to hard reset the game. The actual matches themselves are better but still have a number of framerate drops, and the visual fidelity is much less than that of the other platforms. Even though this is pretty much to be expected on the Nintendo Switch, the load times are pretty inexcusable and they should have found a way to improve on them considering many other games have managed to avoid load times as bad as these on the platform.
Verdict
If you are patient enough to make it through the horrendous load times throughout the game, you will more than likely find yourself having a great time with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2. The gameplay improvements, including the super moves, were just what the game needed, and the addition of the campaign mode adds a lot more longevity to the overall experience that will keep players coming back for more. Even with some of the fan-favorite characters being cut from the roster, the game still boasts a very healthy and wide-ranging roster that makes Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 well worth picking up, though you may want to get it on a platform besides the Nintendo Switch.
Score: 8/10
Pros:
- Unique roster of characters
- New Slime Meter and super moves
- Campaign mode adds more replayability
Cons:
- Abysmal load times and occasional frame rate drops on Nintendo Switch version
- No Aaahh!!! Real Monsters or Catdog representatives anymore
- Some super moves feel lacking
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.