Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl release date, trailer, characters, and rollback netcode

“Super Smash Bros. clones” have mostly been failed experiments. Even first-party attempts like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale have had trouble maintaining popularity. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is the latest try at aping the popular franchise by using a bunch of Nickelodeon characters. It likely won’t dethrone Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it could be a worthy contender, especially as the Nintendo series winds down.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is leaning into nostalgia by focusing on many of our childhood favorites like SpongeBob, Reptar, and the “smashing” Nigel Thornberry.

Here’s what we know about Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.

When is the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl release date?

Developed by Fair Play Labs and Ludosity (the studio behind Slap City), the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl release date is October 5, 2021.

You’ll be able to play it on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Which characters are in the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl roster?

20 playable characters will be available in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl when it launches:

• Aaahh!!! Real Monsters — Oblina
• Avatar: The Last Airbender — Aang
• Avatar: The Last Airbender — Toph Beifong
• CatDog — CatDog
• Danny Phantom — Danny Phantom
• Hey Arnold! — Helga Pataki
• Invader Zim — Zim
• Rugrats — Reptar
• SpongeBob SquarePants — SpongeBob SquarePants
• SpongeBob SquarePants — Patrick Star
• SpongeBob SquarePants — Sandy Cheeks
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Leonardo
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Michaelangelo
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – April O’Neil
• The Legend of Korra — Korra
• The Loud House — Lincoln Loud
• The Loud House — Lucy Loud
• The Ren & Stimpy Show — Ren & Stimpy
• The Ren & Stimpy Show — Powdered Toast Man
• The Wild Thornberrys — Nigel Thornberry

These are only the characters that will be available at launch. Additional characters are set to be added as DLC. The DLC characters are currently unknown, but according to rumors, they might include Garfield. Two DLC characters will be available shortly after launch and more will come down the line.

In Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, up to four players can compete online or locally, across 20 different levels. It also features a single-player mode wherein you must take down AI competitors.

Is there a Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl trailer?

There is! On July 13, IGN exclusively premiered the trailer for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. It showed off many of the game’s characters, stages, and move sets.

Do the original voice actors return for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl?

If you’re excited to hear Tom Kenny play Spongebob in a fighting game, please put those hopes to rest. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl won’t have any voice acting at launch.

In an interview with Game Informer, Ludocity CEO Joel Nyström said

“As we continue to build the Nick All-Star Brawl franchise, we will be reviewing all options, which may include adding VO down the road.”

Will Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl have rollback netcode?

As confirmed on the game’s Discord channel, yes, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl will feature rollback netcode “on supported platforms.”

Without getting too far into the weeds, rollback netcode is a feature that predicts a character’s movements when playing online, to eliminate (or reduce) input lag.

When playing locally, there is no lag, but over the internet, the lag can make things unbearable. So, rollback netcode can be used to predict your movements to better keep the two fighters in sync. It’s not perfect, but fighting games have implemented this feature with lots of success in games like Injustice 2 and Street Fighter V.

One game that doesn’t support it is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, leading to lots of discussion on Twitter comparing the two. Another point of comparison between the two is the ability to perform a wavedash.

This is a technique that will be present in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, allowing players to cancel out of a low, diagonal air dash to mimic a slide. It’s a technique that greatly improves your ability to slide through attacks. This feature, which hasn’t been present in Smash Bros. since Melee on the GameCube, is sorely missed by veteran players.

Based on the character roster, inclusion of rollback netcode, and the ability to perform wavedashing, it seems Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl will be much more than a standard Smash Bros. clone.