Platform fighter Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl launches on PC
Smash-ing, as Nigel Thornberry would say
Everyone is aflutter from the Disney boy joining Smash Bros, but I've never played a Kingdom Hearts. I did, however, spend many hours as an early teen watching Hey Arnold! and CatDog. I am therefore more excited about today's release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, a Smash-like platform brawler starring Nickelodeon characters including Spongebob and Invader Zim.
There aren't many things I feel genuine nostalgia for, but the late-'90s/early-'00s era of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network is up there. All-Star Brawl features characters and stages from Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, The Wild Thornberrys, Rugrats, Korra and many more. Each character has their own particular fighting style.
There are singleplayer and multiplayer modes, with the latter supporting local and online play for up to 4 players. I couldn't tell you if it has real competitive legs, but I would like to crowd round a screen and play it with an N64 controller and three friends, please.
Nick All-Star Brawl is developed by Ludosity, who previously created well-received platform brawler Slap City. I like these instances where an indie dev creates a minor indie game that feels great and then is given a license with which to make a game in the same genre for a larger audience. The last example I can think of is Streets Of Rage 4, which made by Guard Crush, developers of the extremely-budget Streets Of Fury.
Hopefully it's successful enough that it gets new characters added in the future. I want Pustulio DLC.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is available from Steam with a 20% launch discount at £32/€40.