Hungrybox (YouTube)
Armada (YouTube)

While it’s a little silly to rank Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl’s roster this early (a fact many of the folks listed above point out), these videos do provide some insight into what top players look for in a high-level platform fighting game character early on. It should also be fun to come back in a few months’ time to see how these day-one reactions stack up when the game is more developed.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Catdog ranks in the upper echelons of all these lists thanks to their large attack hitboxes, but everyone has a different opinion on who is the strongest character in the game. Leffen’s video, for instance, puts Sandy Cheeks at the very top thanks to her infinite combo, but the others (made before the infinite was discovered) put her lower in favor of characters like Aang, Danny Phantom, and April O’Neil.

Advertisement

One thing they all agree on, however, is Patrick Star being the absolute lowest of the low tiers.

“Patrick, I’m sorry, you felt like the worst character,” Armada explained, placing the poor, dumb starfish all the way down in D tier with zero hesitation. “He didn’t seem to have anything crazy at all. He’s very slow, seemed to have the worst punishes in the game. I don’t know. That’s normally a bad sign: slow and bad punishes. Overall, I think [Patrick] will struggle.”

Advertisement

But far from just talking about Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, the Smash community is also hard at work producing footage of early competition in the crossover fighting game. Smash University recently uploaded two great sets featuring top Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players like Eric “ESAM” Lew and James “VoiD” Makekau-Tyson.

Smash University (YouTube)
Smash University (YouTube)

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl may not be perfect for the casual crowd—so far, the lack of voiceovers remains a constant sticking point—but it’s clear players in the tournament scene are finding tons to enjoy about this oddball platform fighter. And as we all know, the competitive community will put up with a lot of nonsense for their favorite games.

Advertisement

Is Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl good enough to ignore its faults? That remains to be seen, but it sure is fun watching Smash pros pick it apart in these early days.