Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl gameplay trailer drops essential tidbits

By Eric Abent/Sept. 8, 2021 4:11 pm EST

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is already shaping up to be one of the most surprising games of the year. While many of us probably assumed All-Star Brawl was just going to be some Nickelodeon-themed Smash Bros. cash grab, we quickly realized that the developers behind the game seem to be taking it very seriously. If you need more convincing, then Ludosity's new gameplay breakdown might be worth a watch.

Published by IGN on YouTube today, this gameplay breakdown shows us what will and won't be possible during battles. The basics seem to more or less mimic the Super Smash Bros. series, which comes as little surprise. After all, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is designated as a platform fighter, and Super Smash Bros. defined the platform fighter genre.

In any case, the goal of the game is to knock your opponent out of the arena, and you'll do that by attacking them and building up percent damage. Anyone who has played Super Smash Bros. before knows that the higher your percentage is, the further you'll fly when you're hit. Each character will have three light attacks, three heavy attacks, and three special attacks: up, side, and down.

So far, that's a lot like Super Smash Bros., but there are some key differences between the two. For instance, there's something of a rock-paper-scissors match up for heavy attacks where, assuming you can read your opponent's attacks, you can counter them by performing a heavy attack of your own. Characters also have guards in this game instead of shields, and while guards are infinite, you can still be moved around the battlefield and potentially staggered if pushed to an edge of the battlefield.

Fans of platform fighters will have to watch the entire video to see all of the ins and outs of combat in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, but for all of the Smash Bros. die-hards out there, we did get confirmation that the game will feature wavedashing. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is out later this year for Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC.