Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The Smash-like who tried to dethrone the King

Brawhalla

While none of the games come close to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, some come out with honors. This is particularly the case of free-to-play Brawlhalla which takes the ideas of Nintendo’s game to the letter. In this production signed Ubisoft, the player must once again send his opponents out of the set. The more blows a fighter has suffered, the more likely he is to be thrown out of the arena. However, if we find the basics of the game of Nintendo, the sensations are really different. The game is more violent than its model thanks to an impacting sound design and less colorful attacks. Even if Brawhalla unveils a new world and its own characters, a few guests are still there. We think of Rayman in particular or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

Speaking of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles … Earlier this year, Ludosity and Fair Play Labs released a certain Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. And if the title is nowhere near as successful as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, mainly because of its timid content, the creation charms thanks to its successful casting. It brings together the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of course, but also April O’Neil, SpongeBob SquarePants and his friend Patrick or even Helga Pataki from Hey Arnold! and Danny Phantom. In other words, if you are a big fan of cartoons and more particularly of the Nickelodeon channel, you are going to be in heaven. The whole is also served with a solid gameplay. For more information, we suggest you read our test.

Brawlout

The independent gaming world also got its own Smash-like: Brawlout. The latter offers a roster composed of anthropomorphic animals, but also owns a few stars of independent productions, and this is, moreover, one of its great qualities. Indeed, the creation which is greatly inspired by Nintendo’s successful formula opposes The Beheaded, the dark hero of Dead Cells, to the colorful characters of Yooka-Laylee or even to the main protagonist of Hyper Light Drifter. Ah … And Juan Aguagate, the wrestler from Guacamelee! is also in the game.

Rivals of Aether

If you want to live an experience with an old-school and polished visual, it is on the side of Rivals of Aether that you have to turn. The title, sharp and technical, pushes you to organize house competitions with your friends. Unfortunately, we prefer to let you know right away. Despite successful gameplay and balanced fighters each offering unique gameplay, the game lacks a bit of content, at least at launch. Thanks to recent updates, the title now has a total of 18 playable characters, including two guests: Ori and the hero of Shovel Knight. In other words, the design, the animation and the overall feeling are worth the detour.

Stick Fight: The Game

If you want to be sure to have a good evening with your friends, we suggest you immediately turn to the Stick Fight: The Game proposition. The latter spins the Super Smash Bros. formula. to derision by offering you the incarnation of not very agile stick figures. These fighters have only one desire, that of killing each other. To do this, players can of course destroy the architecture of the different levels to knock their opponents down or use the various weapons available, starting with a bazooka. If you are interested in production, note that it is available on Steam or even on Nintendo Switch.

Lethal League Blaze

We end this list with the amazing Lethal League Blaze. The production of Team Reptile takes the ideas of Nintendo’s cult game, but drastically changes them. From now on, the objective is no longer to strike his opponent using his fists or any weapon, but to hit a ball to send it on the enemy. The more the ball is returned between the characters, the faster the ball goes. And the faster she goes, the more chance she has of propelling a “fighter” out of the picture. You got it, the idea works wonderfully, especially since the game has a really inspired design.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

We start strong the section “the Smash-like that failed” with the inevitable PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. In 2012, to ride the growing success of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Sony decides to come up with its own vision of Smash-like with a brand new fighting game. For it, the Japanese firm decides to see the big picture by bringing together the biggest icons of the PlayStation brand. We therefore find the duo Jak & Daxter, but also Kratos from God of War, Nariko from Heavenly Sword, Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series or even the malicious Sly Cooper. Indeed, it is no less than 24 icons that answer the call of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, but unfortunately that is not enough. Instead of completely appropriating the codes of Smash-like, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale brings its own rules. These are really lacking in interest, because of a pickup balancing. This time around, players no longer have to kick their opponents out of the playing field, but eliminate them with a Super attack. This technique, specific to each fighter, is unfortunately not as effective from one character to another.

RagDoll Kung-Fu: Fists of Plastic

In second position, we find a second exclusivity of the PlayStation 3: it is Ragdoll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic. Despite its wacky graphic identity, its funny characters that take the form of puppets and its extensive customization system, the title distributes a little too short experience and floating gameplay. But ultimately, his biggest mistake is not having implemented Online multiplayer. A little word anyway on its Fish Fishing mode which can ensure many successful games with friends.

Cartoon Network: Clash of Heroes

Three years before the launch of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS on Nintendo 3DS, Papaya Studio has come to delight fans of the Nintendo saga by offering its own vision of Smash-like with Cartoon Network: Le Cloc Des Héros. As its name suggests, the title brings together the icons of the television channel, starting with Ben from Ben 10, Bulle et Rebelle from Les Supers Nanas or Jack from Samurai Jack. Nevertheless, despite its good ideas – the game offers players a long scripted campaign – the title misses the mark, blame it on a sawtooth achievement, gameplay that changes little from one character to another and the fights that quickly show themselves to be very messy. In two words: “to avoid”.

Digimon Rumble Arena

The Digimon animated series also tackled the Nintendo phenomenon in the era of the first PlayStation with Digimon Rumble Arena. The goal was to take the recipe from the very first Super Smash Bros. to stage dozens of monsters from the Japanese saga. And even if this idea was more than welcome – to use the formula of Nintendo was rare at the time – the creation of Bandai and Hudson Soft failed. The clashes offered by Digimon Rumble Arena are nowhere near as intense as those offered by its model and the content is more than shy.

BattleStadium DON

We end this selection of big disappointments with BattleStadium DON which, however, has more than one card up its sleeve. Indeed, D refers to Dragon Ball, O to One Piece and N to Naruto. In other words, this fighting game brings together the most influential sagas of the manga world of recent years and at the same time brings together characters known to all: Luffy, Son Goku, Kakashi Hatake or even Trunks. Unfortunately, despite the original promise, this proposal falls far short of Nintendo’s must-have production. The title, just average, lacks subtleties and was already unpleasant to watch when it was launched on PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube.

MultiVersus

We end this article with a little surprise: MultiVersus. Last Thursday, Warner Bros. announced a Smash-like that brings together all the stars of the American house. We therefore find legends of the cartoon world, starting with Bugs Bunny and the inseparable duo Tom & Jerry, but also the most emblematic heroes of the world of DC Comics (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn), Shaggy of Scooby -Doo, Arya Stark from the Game of Thrones saga or the original fighters. We think of Reindog, a cute mutant dog. For now, thirteen characters have been announced, but more will surely arrive since Warner has many essential licenses, starting with Mortal Kombat. In order to separate themselves from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Brawhalla, this free-to-play smash-like emphasizes team play with adapted game modes and characters with complementary abilities.