Second chances are rare in gaming, but now that Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 might be including a giant Plankton mecha ripped straight from Evangelion, I'm willing to give it one.
I dip my toes into platform fighters from time to time—though I don't own a switch, so pickings on the PC have been a touch slim. I've played Rivals of Aether, Brawlhalla, and a little Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl—a game which confused me, more than anything. I enjoyed my time with it, but it was very slim on features, and it didn't exactly smash any records. My optimism for its upcoming sequel has been decidedly cautious.
Until now. A leak's been making the rounds on Twitter, and it's dealt a knockout blow to my caution. It looks professional-grade enough to have me starting to believe, though it should be noted that the developers are yet to comment—and a screen grab from unverified sources, no matter how glossy it may look, isn't a replacement for the genuine article.
All-Star Brawl 2's newcomers include Avatar: The Last Airbender's Azula, Ember from Danny Phantom, and Grandma Gertie from Hey Arnold. The leak's also confirmed some returning favourites like Jenny Wakeman from My Life as a Teenage Robot, Zim from Invader Zim, and Garfield from rummy star his least favourite day of the week.
I don't care about them, though (okay, I care about Garfield a little). I only have time for Plankton—the image of SpongeBob SquarePants' Plankton driving a mech with a Ratatouille-style control scheme is wedged into my grey matter, both because it's amazing, but also because it's apparently not even a new concept.
Plankton's mech stomps in from the 2015 movie SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water, wherein it rises ominously from a pile of mayonnaise like truth climbing out of her well to shame mankind. From what I've been able to glean, though, it runs out of gas before it can command-grab much of anything.
Regardless, I might buy the game just to stomp around with this horrible monstrosity—though I'm also curious to see if a second swing is going to save Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl from platform fighter obscurity. It's not a bad time to do it, especially with Mulitversus languishing in an unexpected hiatus until 2024—I just hope they get the rummy wealth Krabby Patty Secret Formula right this time.