Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl just came out yesterday, but that hasn’t stopped Super Smash Bros. players from tearing the game apart for any juicy morsel that may give them an edge in the platform fighter.
The period directly following a fighting game launch is always a special time, especially in the competitive community. The mad rush to discover everything a new release has to offer before tournaments inevitably begin is some of the most fun you can have with a fighting game. I’d gladly give up something like a spot on the Evo main stage if it meant this feeling of communal research and info-sharing could last forever.
With that little bit of saccharine nonsense out of the way, here’s some cool stuff high-level Smash players have been doing with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl since its release.
Folks, would you believe me if I said we already have, not one, not two, but several tier lists? Well, we do, courtesy of Super Smash Bros. gods like Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma, Adam “Armada” Lindgren, Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman, and William “Leffen” Hjelte.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.