Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 Review

When the first Nickelodeon All Star Brawl released back in 2021, it was fairly well received by critics (ourselves included!) although a lack of content and some small quality of life omissions stopped it from being a true must-play brawler. Now, with the release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, can developer Fair Play Labs improve on the fairly basic original title? Let’s find out!

Quite possibly the biggest change from the first game is the inclusion of a campaign mode, which adds a surprising amount of content and is much more than just one fight after another. We begin with the adorably simple duo SpongeBob and Patrick, where the former is teaching the latter how to blow bubbles. One such bubble opens up a portal to another dimension, swallowing Patrick in the process, before a mysterious voice beckons SpongeBob to follow his friend in order to rescue him. So far, so nonsensical; at the very least, it’s a narrative that not only gives a reason as to why these beloved Nickelodeon characters are interacting with one another, but wouldn’t be out of place if it happened in a SpongeBob SquarePants episode.

This mode consists of various zones, each including a number of stages within them, and plays out similarly to a roguelike, with any perks and buffs earned being reset upon defeat. It’s a fairly enjoyable mode, with several paths to take through each run and stages from one-on-one battles, multiple generic enemies swarming you, light platforming stages, or even a shop to spend your hard-earned currency. Reach the end stage and you’ll go up against a boss character, which are larger, heavy-damage dealing opponents that will take a bit of attack pattern memorisation in order to overcome them. Eventually, upon being defeated in battle, you’ll end up in the Timeless Stardial for the first time, a sort of mini-hub area that allows you to change character as well as unlock permanent upgrades and cosmetic items upon every visit. You’ll return here after a run — successful or otherwise — and it was rewarding to see the area grow and include more characters to talk to that I’d rescued during a zone playthrough.

Aside from this main single-player component, there is a wealth of other modes to get stuck into. You have the standard battle mode, where up to four participants can duke it out with one another or pair up for team-based combat. Then you have the ranked and quick play options for online, as well as the ability to search for or create your own lobbies. There’s also the typical fighting Arcade mode, with a few minigames thrown in to break up the fights, a Boss Rush mode featuring each end zone boss from the campaign, and a training mode to help teach you the basics.

For the most part, All-Star Brawl 2 doesn’t look all too different from its predecessor, at least from a graphical sense. The animations of the characters, however, are vastly improved, and every character feels like a faithful virtual representation of their cartoon counterparts. Whether it’s Aang’s mastery of the four bending arts or the more obscure “Log from Blammo!” attack by Ren & Stimpy, each of the character’s movesets are crafted using props or animations from their respective shows. Likewise, the battle stages seem more faithful to the TV shows and backgrounds feel more alive when compared to the rather bland and static ones of the first title.

One of the biggest criticisms of the original’s release was the complete absence of character voices. Thankfully, All-Star Brawl 2 has an abundance of voice acting! Aside from the odd quip or yelp from characters during battles, the main campaign mode is fully voiced, and whilst not every original actor reprises their roles, the stand-ins do a great job regardless. Still no licensed music, though; I want to beat up Squidward whilst jamming to the TMNT theme!

Much like the graphics, not much has changed in terms of gameplay. You’ve got three sets of attacks assigned to three face buttons: light, charge, and special. The fourth face button is used to jump, which will grant additional aerial moves (some of them unique to being airborne) for when you’re following up from a ground combo. Each of these three attacks can be mixed up by holding the analogue stick in a specific direction, whilst the charge attacks (defaulted to the circle button on PlayStation) can be held down to, you guessed it, charge them for harder-hitting moves. One new feature seen in battles is the Slime metre, which works similarly to the EX Specials from the Street Fighter series. Once one of the three segments is filled up, you can spend one to unleash a charge move with additional damage-dealing properties, such as adding in an explosion. However, filling up all three lets you use a character's ultimate ability, which, if connected, all but guarantees at least one elimination. From Nigel Thornberry dropping a giant elephant on his opponent to Donatello chasing down his foe in the Party Wagon, there are some great, flashy finishing moves that are sure to put a smile on fans’ faces.

If you haven’t played the first game — you’re better off skipping it; this one has much more content — All-Star Brawl 2 plays like the majority of other platform fighters, as in, the aim of the stock rulesets is to eliminate your opponents by dishing out enough damage so that they are sent flying off-screen from the next big attack. Rulesets mix things up a bit; you can opt for the standard three lives per character or see who can earn the most eliminations within an allotted time. There are other rules, such as having standard health bars, but these basic two are certainly the most fun and frantic ways to play.

The game isn’t without its issues, though, with characters being removed from the first game (no CatDog was a particularly harsh blow for me) although new characters — including Squidward and Jimmy Neutron — are still a blast to play as. There are also some peculiar omissions as well; why are Gerald and Grandma Gertie here, but no Arnold? And what happened to the other two Ninja Turtles? Some performance issues did hamper my enjoyment initially, although the two updates already rolled out seem to have ironed most of this out, with slowdown only occurring during the most hectic of fights. Despite not being able to play the online component during pre-release, I do hope this becomes a non-issue once servers are turned on. With a dedicated “PlayStation Tournaments” option on the main menu, it’s clear that online will be a big focus post-release. Finally, I came across a few instances of being attacked by enemies whilst they were underneath the bottom of the stage, where they clip through the edge of the platform to sucker punch me; talk about cheating!

Overall, as much as I enjoyed the first game, there is much more in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, that despite my initial scepticism of this being a rushed sequel, it’s clear a lot of effort was put into expanding on the original; so much so that it almost makes it look like an early access version of this far superior sequel! With 26 stages (many of which feature alternate layouts) and 25 available characters on the base roster, there’s plenty to get stuck into with this finely crafted platform fighter, and I’m looking forward to jumping into the online mode to duke it out with some legendary cartoon characters!