In this Source Gaming Roundtable we were asked by our Ultimate Patron, Mr. JBRPG, about our thoughts on other platform fighting games that are not Super Smash Bros. Because there are a lot of them, especially in recent years, and we spend so much time on the site talking about Super Smash Bros. that it would be interesting to learn our experience with the genre as a whole. So that’s what we are going to share with you all today!
I’ve played lots of platform fighters over the years but I wonder how many of them are the usual suspects that most Super Smash Bros. fans will have played? When it came out I played Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale and enjoyed it, and I played the closed beta for Multiverses and thought it was pretty good. But I haven’t continued it and I haven’t played games like Rivals of Aether, Brawlout or Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (although I did play Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL for about 30 mins on the Wii). These are probably all the big ones players think of and I have barely played any of them, but I said I played a lot, right? Well, that’s because my experience comes from a sub-genre of platform fighters that we don’t see much of anymore – Anime Platform Fighters.
Specifically, these are the Jump Stars series and the One Piece Gigant Battle series, both by Ganbarion and on the Nintendo DS. Jump Super and Ultimate Stars are crossover games like Smash Bros. but for Shonen Jump series. They came out in 2005 and 2006 respectively and feature characters from Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, Jojo, Death Note and more. It’s possibly the biggest crossover game just behind Super Smash Bros itself. The second game, Jump Ultimate Stars, has around 52 playable characters across 41 series, and even more assists and support characters. It was huge and it has a big presence in my heart as, much like Super Smash Bros. introduced me to many Nintendo series, Jump Ultimate Stars introduced me to the wide world of anime and manga! Prior to playing it my experience was Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach and Yu-Gi-Oh! And that was it. Now it’s so much more.
Speaking of series I fell in love with through Jump Ultimate Stars: One Piece Gigant Battle. There are two of these as well and the first one even has an incredibly rare English version (it was canceled literally a week before it was meant to launch in the UK, but it did release in the rest of Europe). The game is a successor to the Playstation series One Piece Grand Battle but takes a lot from Jump Stars by having both Assist characters and fighters, as well as a mission based story mode with branching paths and unlocks. The first Gigant Battle was alright but it’s the second game where the series truly excels. The first game chose to focus mainly on a single saga (the Paramount War) but the sequel extends its reach to the whole series, including everything from the first game and doubling the roster of fighters and summons (for 45 fighters and 97 summons). I loved this game and unfortunately never played its successor on the 3DS, Super Grand Battle X, due to region locking (but I know it had amiibo)!
All of this is to say that for me the most important part of a platformer fighter is the content. I love the Nintendo and Shonen Jump platform fighters not just because they are well made and fun, but because its roster appeals to me. It’s why games like Rivals of Aether, with an all original roster, just didn’t. Is that the effect of Super Smash Bros. being a crossover? Absolutely. But as a casual fighting game fans, this means a lot to me and will influence any future platform fighters I play in the future.
As someone who works for a site that covers Smash a lot, and browses Smash fansites a lot, I have to say that I’m just not interested in other platform fighters. I have played Rivals of Aether and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and that’s about the extent of it. I didn’t care much for them, and really don’t have much incentive to return. To me the exciting thing about Smash is the huge video game crossover aspect of it, and while I enjoy the gameplay of it quite a lot, without a hook like Zelda or Fire Emblem there for me to latch onto, even if it manages to match the quality of Smash –which is something that not a single other platform fighter I’ve seen has done– I don’t really care. Maybe if PASBR had actual Devil May Cry in it I’d care, though.
I don’t love Multiversus. The monetization is out of control, and I find it clunky and unbalanced. In my short time playing I was a Superman main, and if you think it’s tough being a heavyweight in Smash… But it’s the first platform fighter since Smash that I find compelling, and not just because it has a bunch of characters I love. The movesets are both true to the fighters and surprising in a way that’s fun, the gimmicks are imaginative, and the crossover element itself is great. Having so much character-specific interactions are great; it’s also something Multiversus has that the platform fighter king doesn’t. To put it another way, it has personality, and personality is something that so many Smash clones just don’t seem able to have. It also doesn’t really have clear analogues in its cast to the one in Sakurai’s, which I find commendable (beyond Shaggy as the requisite Shotoclone, but that hardly counts).
I’ve not actually played Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, so I’m only going by the accounts of trusted friends and journalists, but it’s a useful counterpart. As a game, it’s apparently very well balanced and great for that competitive Melee feel (right down to apparently not really having heavyweights, since when do Melee players care about those?). But it’s lifeless. The roster leans way too heavily on Nick’s Nineties years, movesets are generic, and the stages and music are bland. Even the dialogue is bad; the game finally has voice acting, but every quip is just a line lifted from one episode or another without context. It’s not interested in either feeling true to the characters or taking them in new directions, and that is the death of personality in a crossover. Which most platform fighters are. For all of Multiversus’ problems—the monetization, the leaks, the way it aggressively obfuscates its own local play—it genuinely loves playing with its characters. That’s what makes Smash amazing, and it’s odd how rare that is amongst its own followers.
I got Brawlout a couple of months ago, and there is one detail that deserves some praise, their “Clone characters”. So, when you take a look at the roster of the game, you can come to the realization that it has only 6 original fighters and 4 guests, yet it can get to a whopping 25 playable fighters! Having at least 2 extra forms for the original ones, and contrary to what it looks like, they are not just simple skin swaps, but each one of these forms has a unique attack variation and a couple of different statistical characteristics. Not to mention that some of the variations look more interesting than the base character, so one can wish that if there is a sequel in the future, some of them would get upgraded to a distinct character.
On other hand, the Guest characters feel at home on the crossover, especially the ones that made the jump from 2D to 3D, giving a special mention to the Drifter, that feels like it’s just a couple steps away from what one could have imagined it could have done as a real Smash character, and makes you wish they had got other guests.
I’m not bringing any new games to the discussion, I’ve got nothing under my belt but Rivals of Aether, Nick All-Star Brawl, and MultiVersus, but we can work with that. While I didn’t devote much time to Rivals, I more than got my money’s worth and really like the characters it comes up with. Though, I quickly defaulted to Shovel Knight as my main, so the crossover aspect’s still what got me interested in this one. Regardless, I respect the game and am definitely interested in what they’ll bring to the upcoming sequel.
Next up is Nick All-Stars, a game I wish I liked more than I do. I think it says a lot that my main was Reptar. I really love classic SpongeBob, some Ninja Turtles, and Avater’s an all-time favorite, but I have no attachment to Rugrats. The characters’ histories meant so little in this game that I ignored this otherwise integral aspect entirely. The developers deserved better than the resources they were given. And now you’re telling me that Nick’s newest kart racer gets Zuko, but not the fighting game?!
Moving on, I’m glad to say that MultiVersus has been a lot of fun. We haven’t featured a concept or two based on the game for nothing, as its characters and ideas are plenty of fun. Sure, the free-to-play aspect’s made monetization a bit heavy-handed, but we’re seeing new characters all the time. Getting a game that honors its fighters as well as Smash does, while prioritizing modes and gameplay styles that you’d never see in the gold standard is fantastic. Finally, a game that can reasonably thrive alongside its inspiration and innovate in its own ways.
Lastly, I’ve gotta mention the first game I’ve ever backed: Fraymakers! It’s looking to give indie games the spotlight in a crossover of their own, with Rivals being just one of its recognizable properties. Overall, despite a few missteps or less-than-approachable projects, I’d say the future of platform fighters is looking brighter and brighter.
Outside of Smash Bros., the only platform fighters I like are Multiversus and Rivals of Aether. Thanks to being free to play, I already unlocked the two characters I have any interest in playing: Finn & Jake. They both have very fun movesets and, in general, Multiversus is the first platform fighter to feel close to Smash while still having its own pacing and gameplay style. Rivals is very fun as well, but I only look to play with friends. Rather than trying to be like Smash, it feels more like a critique of it and thus leans towards being more competitive. I love playing Absa but the game has become a lot more about having fun and messing around thanks to the Steam Workshop. However, while I do enjoy both games, I never stick to them for too long. Although I don’t stick to Smash much either, I’ve been playing Rivals years before Smash Ultimate released and despite that: I have 600+ hours in Ultimate. No other platform game has truly been able to completely win me over.
I love the Super Smash Bros. series. I have no strong opinions about platform fighters as a whole, though. Unfortunately, I’ve only played two other entries in the genre, both of which were impulse purchases I made when buying a new system. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was the first PlayStation 3 game I bought, and remembering how the original Smash and Melee helped introduce me to several of Nintendo’s other properties, I was hoping Battle Royale would inspire me to sample more of Sony’s. It didn’t. Battle Royale has a few neat details, but overall? It’s abysmal, a sterile, cumbersome, unengaging mess.
Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion, which was my first Nintendo 3DS game, might even be worse! Honestly, all I can readily remember about it are the strong feelings of boredom and frustration I felt while playing it. I was going to dust off my copy for the sake of this writing prompt, but… nah. I may not remember the exact reasons why it’s awful, but I’m confident in my memory of it being awful.
In conclusion, I should try Rivals of Aether or MultiVersus sometime.
Admittedly I haven’t dived that deep into other platform fighters over the years. I’m no pro, so I’m not picky about mechanical depth (cancels, wavedashing, etc.), but even on a casual level the ones I have played haven’t really held my attention. I’ve only so much as dabbled in a handful of them. Digimon Rumble Arena 2 probably has the most time, and that was mostly due to outside circumstances (released when I was a teen, where meeting with friends locally was common). Not because it particularlily excels overall, even if digivolution is cool. Jump Ultimate Stars is also worth mentioning.
I see three factors that any platform fighter has to overcome if they want to stand out: characters, responsiveness, and originality. Usually it’s missing one or two of these. It might be responsive, and have a unique take on the genre, but the character designs are new to the game and just not that interesting to draw people in. Icons: Combat Arena seems to have that issue. It at least looks responsive, but the character designs don’t stand out enough to grab people’s attention. Or it uses established characters, and might have a unique take, but it’s not very responsive. And by “responsive” I mean it could be that there’s too much delay between pressing the button and when the move starts/connects. It can also be that the animations are lacking anticipation and follow through/overlap which make fighters feel rigid. I tend to notice this in indie fighting games, likely because of a small budget/experience. Originality would be how much variety you can add to feel new, without disrupting the core experience too much or be less fun than others. The lack of ring-outs in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Digimon Rumble Arena 2 for example is unique, but it also changes how you play so much and the trade-off just isn’t as fun. Perhaps there’s other factors, but these stick out the most to me when I analyze why a given platform fighter “doesn’t feel right”. Characters are more about aesthetics, but if a game is visually boring you’re likely not going to play it anyway.
As I said, I don’t play many of them (they usually don’t look great from the outset to even try). So I can’t really give an example of one outside Smash that I think does it well. MultiVersus is the new kid on the block, and I think it does characters and originality well. But I personally feel like some moves have too much delay. Specifically any of the moves that can be charged, the “instant” (pressing, not holding) version still feels slow. Bugs Bunny’s side air is especially egregious. It’s still “in beta”, but I don’t see that being retooled for every character. It’s “finished” enough for them to charge money after all. They likely mean “beta” as in “not content complete”, rather than characters or the basic mechanics/movement are subject to change drastically. It just doesn’t have enough characters/stages/etc. for their liking to call it “done/out of beta”.
I’m a Super Smash Bros man through and through. The first game came out when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old at a time when I was obsessed with anything Mario, Pokemon, or Donkey Kong. It was more the crossover aspect that drew me in since I wasn’t well versed in fighting games and have no recollection of the term platform fighter being around back then. I’ve put a lot of time into every Smash game since then, but the identity of what Smash is has kind of made anything similar feel lesser and lacks what initially drew me to the series to begin with. It’s not fair or even something meant to criticize similar titles, but the aspects that make a platform fighter a platform fighter never really grabbed me enough to make me want to reach out and explore the subgenre further. It is cool that the genre is coming into its own and diversifying, though, instead of just being seen as a quirky Nintendo spinoff of traditional fighting games.
When you play Smash and then play its derivatives back to back, you realize the world of difference that there is between them. Not that I think said derivatives are necessarily bad but it’s something you realize in hindsight. PlayStation All Stars came in a rather opportune time when I was more into Sony’s gaming space, so it held my attention for pretty much its entire effective lifespan before Smash and certain other new franchise entries pulled me back into Nintendo’s fold again. Most would probably speak negatively about it but it was certainly fun enough for 15 year old me to keep coming back and as such I hold a certain amount of nostalgia for it despite its issues; it’s even one of the few games I owned that I went out of my way to get the Platinum Trophy for (quasi-related anecdote: when the servers were going to shut down I was able to help a random person get a multiplayer related trophy and share in having the Platinum, which they were quite appreciative of). That’s not to say I would suddenly (attempt to) buy a PS5 if a sequel suddenly surfaced but I do think it’s something they should try again; lord knows they have more franchises and likely a better understanding of what to do in a post-Ultimate and Multiversus world.
Oh right, Multiversus. Probably the Smash derivative with the highest chance of longevity considering it’s pulling from a wider variety of sources and by comparison to some others has more effort put into it despite the fact you can tell it’s very much going through some growing pains. I’ll boot it up occasionally to get in some Iron Giant, Rick or Stripe action, and their wide pool of inclusion will at the very least hold my interest in that sense, I don’t play MultiVersus religiously, so perhaps I’m less invested in it compared to some others, but in the interest of diversity I do hope it grows into something great…and hopefully separate from the dumpster fire going on at Warner Bros. right now.
I’ve played a lot of Smash-likes in my day, but none have really compared to Smash Bros. itself. Smash Bros. (64) released while I was in high school, but the series didn’t really grab me until Melee – and since I laid hands on that game I’ve been obsessed with not only the series, but the genre as a whole. I feel that most platform fighters fall into two categories: games that are straight Smash clones but aren’t able to provide the polish that Smash provides, and games that change too many of the core concepts and just feel off to me. PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale was a game I tried to get into that falls very firmly in the category. It could have been GREAT in my opinion, but they had to go ahead and implement a weird super KO system. I’ve put some time into other games, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up , Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and several always indie spins on the concept, but the only other game in the genre that I’ve really enjoyed is Rivals of Aether… maybe that’s because of my Melee roots. say that we don’t call 2D fighting games Street Fighter II clones because competitors were quickly able to take what worked about that game and make tweaks to the formula while keeping the core intact. Hopefully the same will be said about platform fighters in the future.
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Of all the non-Smash platform fighters/Smash-like games I played, I think only the “Jump Stars” series (specifically Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars) and Multiversus are the ones I would call my favorites.
PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale have a few good points and had potential but overall it failed to really deliver imo. The chances of getting a new, improved title are as likely as a snowball in a oven sadly.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is alright I guess, and I’m personally glad to see Jenny and Rocko in there, but outside of that I’m not fond enough of the game to keep playing it in the long run.
Of course just as there are plenty of ‘good enough’ platform fighters out there, there are pently that are plain bad as well. For me the most terrible one is with no doubt Bounty Battle. Take my advice, do not waste any time or money on this game. BB almost, if not completely ruined the reputation of “indie crossover fighters”, and it nearly ruined my taste in non-Smash platform fighters in general. One thing for sure is that I will never show interest in any future project the BB devs will make assuming they do make anything, wouldn’t surprise me if they gone out of business after that fiasco.