Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Reviews

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is ranked in the 25th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
6.5 / 10.0
Oct 8, 2001

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl reminds me of the popular maxim, fast, cheap, or good? Pick two. Just with different options and only one choice. It’s clear Ludosity did the best they could, honestly, there is no denying good gameplay would beat out voices, a bad story, or a number of other things, it just doesn’t make for a great experience.

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Unscored
Oct 5, 2021

Hopefully, characters can be voiced soon, because currently, without voices or soundtracks containing memorable tunes from shows, “Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl” feels lifeless, with the characters and stages appearing as copies that don’t quite nail the memories we cherish from the cartoons. Sure, the gameplay is tight and fun, but without the iconic phrases, noises and soundtracks, these fighters might as well be anyone.

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7.5 / 10.0
Oct 5, 2021

This is one of those titles you walk into with at least a twinge of dread as a reviewer...

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5.5 / 10.0
Oct 6, 2021

We’ve seen a lot of Smash clones come and go over the years, very few with any staying power. All-Star Brawl feels like another flash in the pan, very much like opening the biggest box under the Christmas tree only to find a pair of socks inside.

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7 / 10.0
Oct 6, 2021

The weird thing about Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is that, despite being janky, low-budget, and lacking in content, it’s a lot of fun. It all boils down to its ludicrous concept and the fact that at the end of the day, it’s functional. It’s a power trip for anyone who grew up watching cartoons in the late 90s to early 2000s. Its online multiplayer also works surprisingly well, even better than Smash, to be honest.

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7 / 10
Oct 6, 2021

Unfortunately, these issues make the product feel cheap, which does the quality of the actual fighting a tremendous disservice. Again, it’s the best Smash clone we’ve ever played – we just wish Nickelodeon had shown some confidence in it.

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7 / 10
Oct 6, 2021

Nickelodeon All Star Brawl is an easy to approach brawler in the same vein as Super Smash Bros. Whilst it does have some extremely intricate mechanics and technical aspects for high-level gamers to get stuck into, the average player may find it’s lack of core game modes and party-style options a major cause for concern.

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Niche Gamer
Fingal Belmont
Top Critic
2 / 10.0
Oct 7, 2021

Probably the biggest and easiest missed opportunity to get players on board with some of the characters they know nothing about would have been to include a cartoon episode for each character. Instead there is nothing but still images. For $49.99 USD, this is a rip-off and is a wasteland of content. Maybe Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl will get better with updates, but it would take a miracle to salvage this pile of slime.

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GameSpew
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Oct 7, 2021

Ultimately, the success of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl lies in how lively its online community is. We’ve found players easily enough so far, but who knows if they’ll stick around. It’ll be a shame if they don’t though, because this is a competent brawler. Its pleasant visuals, varied roster of beloved characters and surprisingly deep combat make it one of the better Smash-type games out there. But if there’s nobody online to play with, its offline content will quickly lose its fun.

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3.5 / 5 stars
Oct 7, 2021

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is brimming with fantastic characters, fun combat, and legitimate potential. However, limited content and a laundry list of bugs keep it from thriving as a platform fighter right now.

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7 / 10.0
Oct 7, 2021

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is definitely more than just Nickelodeon Smash Bros., but you'll need to be willing to overlook some pretty substantial flaws to find the surprisingly nuanced fighter underneath the surface.

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5 / 10.0
Oct 7, 2021

Regardless, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl serves as an example of how surgical marketing can be, feeding competitive players with specific bullet points while trying to cast a wide net with its popular IP. Playing it may certainly make you smile, and moments of hype can follow. But in the end, it’s an extended meme at best and a monument to capitalistic cynicism at worst.

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Metro GameCentral
GameCentral
Top Critic
6 / 10
Oct 7, 2021

A mechanically solid and fun Super Smash Bros. clone which doesn't have the style, personality or affection for its characters to reach the heights of its inspiration.

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6 / 10
Oct 7, 2021

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl doesn’t bring anything new to the table, instead offering a certainly competent if not hugely exciting brawler with a confusing roster of characters cynically chopped up seemingly for future monetisation and very little to actually fight for in terms of unlockables for the fans. The fundamentals are here, and the Sports modes are terrific fun, but there isn’t much else to get too excited about when the content included is this lacking.

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Jordan Minor
Top Critic
Oct 8, 2021

More than a nostalgic joke, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl delivers a genuinely fantastic cartoon fighting game just slightly marred by unpolished presentation.

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3.5 / 5.0
Oct 8, 2021

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl feels incomplete in a lot of ways. It needed more modes, better sound design to provide some personality, a better selection of stages. If the developers take the time to fill the game out further, it could even end up being something pretty special. For now, this is still far better than a Nickelodeon fighting game has any right to be. The most important part of a fighting game is the feel, and the team at Ludosity nailed that. When I was tearing through foes with Reptar online, I had a hard time caring about what was missing. Players coming in with the right expectations will have a ton of fun, just don’t expect a game that is more than it is.

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Oct 8, 2021

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a must-play for the hardcore, but doesn't look after casual audiences.

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7 / 10
Oct 9, 2021

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a solid platform fighter with an awful lot of hidden depth, and also an unfortunate lack of polish outside the fighting. If hardcore gameplay is the number one concern you'll have a wealth to sink your teeth into here, but expect to be underwhelmed by various elements that surround it. There's a grand old time to be had, but it's no Super Smash Bros. (damn it yet again).

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7 / 10.0
Oct 9, 2021

Overall, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a fun fighting game with iconic characters and easy to learn but challenging to master mechanics. They nailed the feel of a good fighting game, but the game still feels like it has a ways to go before it reaches the level of an iconic franchise like Smash. The potential is absolutely there, and after we see a few DLC launches who knows where it will stand, but for now it’s hard to imagine myself inviting friends over to play All-Star Brawl when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is still around.

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Oct 9, 2021

Right now, All-Star Brawl stands on its own two feet, not trying to be Smash Ultimate now that its DLC has dried up, but trying to show us a good ‘ol nostalgic time. It lulls you in with its lightning flash fights and accessible combat, keeping a grin on your face throughout.

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