Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl: everything we know about the game with SpongeBob and the Ninja Turtles
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
There is a particular genre of video games that still does not have a well-defined, clear placement of genre. At first glance they all seem to belong to a common trend, that of the "like" Smash Bros. The popular Japanese title, released for the first time back in 1999 on the Nintendo 64 bit, was the forerunner to a series of titles that more or less winked at him: never as in this case a game represented an entire genre.Actually the basic idea was created for the anonymous Dragon King: The Fighting Game, but it was later transformed into the official Nintendo fighting game and its success was global.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, the game we are going to discover today, also belongs to this trend.
Poised between technicality and accessibility
Some of the many characters of Nickelodeon All -Star Brawl fight each other. Although the gameplay may appear rather simplified, the videos shown by Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl also reveal its incredible complexity, probably unprecedented for this genre of games. Seeing Spongebob wavedash was unexpectedly fun. The amount of moves, counter moves, moves, holds and counter-hits is in fact enormous and the game will have to be played very carefully to be enjoyed to the full. Where a game like Smash Bros has always favored accessibility (albeit with many technicalities, of course), Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, despite the even more colorful and fun style, immediately appears more complex to master.Thaddeus Crews, character designer and programmer of Ludosity (the software house at the head of the project) showed online the playability and all the possible moves of the protagonists of his title. He starts from the classic shots of medium intensity, low, medium and high, moving on to the more powerful ones. He took them, both land and air. Finally, the combos, dodges, the ability to deflect, repel and cancel ranged attacks by increasing their intensity. The penalty system in the event of a parry and the possibility of falling out of the ring due to the blows suffered. In short, there is a lot of "meat" and it must be discovered.
A potential to be exploited
Even Leonardo of the Ninja Tatarughe is present in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. The Nickelodeon license is definitely strong. Do you think that, in addition to the characters of SpongeBob, the game will feature the Ninja Turtles, Avatar, Ren & Stimpy, the Rugrats and many other protagonists of the famous cartoons of the American Network. According to initial information, the roster available at the exit will count about 20 characters. Definitely less than the quantity of fighters present in Smash Bros, but we trust in the quality of the realization of each of them rather than in the cold number.The primary importance of this genre of video games is in fact the balance in the playability and in the moves of each fighter present: no one must have super, combos or attacks more effective than the others to facilitate balancing as much as possible, especially during online battles. Yep, the competitive component is predominant in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. The community of online players, after the disappointment in recent times due to the "problems" with the Smash Bros netcode and the shaky relationship with the eSports scene, seems to have high expectations in this title.
After the announcement that Ludosity will take advantage of a particular programming feature called rollback netcode, many have declared themselves excited to finally be able to try a melee fighting game with a well-functioning online component, even if this will be all to be verified pad in hand once the game is out. By netcode rollback we mean a particular programming procedure that foresees the player's inputs and, if correctly understood, cancels the lag given by the internet connection exactly as if the game were online. If, on the other hand, the player gives the game an input other than that imagined by the netcode, the frames of the animation jump directly to the point considered more correct. This should ensure a much more precise, stable and faster experience, even online.
Ludosity is a talented team that can certainly do well with a major license like this. The "smash-like" genre is still to be explored and the very technical direction taken by the team pleases many, especially in the online competition environment. If the characters are well balanced and the netcode (as it seems) will work without particular hitches, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl has all the credentials to become a video game to be seriously watched.
