Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

TL:DR Not for $50, only maybe at a deep discount especially since there's a sequel/revision already on the way. My main issue with this game is mostly the lack of varied content and "good" unlockables/replay value imo. The only thing to do really is stock or timed battles. Unlike Slap City there are no unique platforming stages or challenges for the single player mode akin to another platform fighter's "classic mode". So you are just going to be fighting CPUs in stock matches, something you can just do in the battle mode. Also, items don't appear in arcade nor have and option to appear either (at least from my experience), that's only for the battle mode which makes arcade even less appealing to go through. The only reason to play arcade is to see if you can finish a run with however many stocks you allow yourself, there's not even a unique boss/fight at the end just another usual stock battle. There is a ball mini game similar to the one in Slap City but it feels more tacked on here since there really isn't a stage made specifically for it while Slap City had a few (IIRC), plus it's not that fun to keep coming back to imo (more of a novelty rather than a highlight mode).I don't really have much to say about the game mechanics and other things that many others haven't already stated like the janky character animations, questionable movesets, or the models of some of the characters looking off. I will say though, I really liked the idea of like locking your character in one direction, sad to see it won't be making it's way into the sequel. Also, why is there no camera mode in this game, Slap City also didn't have one but I also find it disappointing that there isn't one there either. I heard it' cause some of the models are dependent on the camera but it would be nice to be able to freely look at the stages without being in a fight and take screenshots of what's going on in a match. Another thing, I really disliked how the the DLC was handled imo I think they should have all been put in as free DLC since the base game is already $50, asking an additional $12-15 for only 3 characters and 3 stages didn't sit right with me. I know I sound entitled and I probably am but I was already disappointed with the initial roster, (and game as a whole). Since there weren't alot of 2000's era characters from shows I enjoyed that I also wanted to play as, seeing Jenny as DLC rather than being in the base roster and seeing Hugh before Jimmy had me feeling some type of way. From a business perspective (having a popular fan favorite character sell the DLC) I get it but I still didn't like it. Kind of too late to suggest things that'd make this game better (imo) since a sequel is coming but I'll list some anyways with some closing thoughts. Focusing less on the competitive aspects I think would help the game appeal to more people, By that I mean more wacky and dynamic stages, more single player content that isn't just fighting someone and if it is a fight make it not boring, add some gimmicks/modifiers to it. Instead of a 1v1 each time make it 1v2 or a team battle (2v2), an item only battle or stamina or life bar fight, something to keep it dynamic. For non fights, have something similar to a break the targets or race to the finish type stage or just have a traditional platforming stage (for the PLATFORMING fighting game crazy right). For multiplayer, having other modes other than versus and the ball minigame, maybe give the ability to go through the arcade mode with another person for a coop mode, if there were platforming stages a racing mode could work or create a new mode inspired from the many Nick live action game shows. For additional unlockables, instead of just giving out renders and songs (that you can already hear on the stages) give out unique artwork rather than renders of the characters standing in a colored void. If it has to be renders at least give it some staging, include other characters (and make it look like they are interacting with each other), recreate a scene from the show, anything more than just basic renders. Something akin to trophies or stickers so that we can get bios/additional info for the characters or other things related to the shows the characters come from. Unlocking alternate songs would be cool too. I feel like since they seemingly wanted to garner a competitive scene that a lot of single player and modes outside of just fighting someone 1 on 1 aspects got neglected. It seems like the same is happening with the sequel but not as bad since there seems an actual single player mode this time but that remains to be seen at the time of writing this. I know I've just been suggesting to take ideas from Smash but Slap City also had some of this stuff too and it's kind of jarring to see that only the engine/some mechanics (maybe) only carried over when there was already a good foundation. I get that this is a small company and that doing a licensed game comes with licensing issues and shenanigans however it still sucks when things like budget/time, small character picks, and limited costumes (only 1 come on) affect the end product. Not everyone knows or is going to look up clues as to why a character (Timmy) didn't get put in or why there's only ONE costume for each character, they are just going to be disappointed and wonder why. I get that some things just aren't do-able but there's a lot of potential in a NIckelodeon Platform Fighter that has barely been tapped into with this first game. I hope the sequel fairs better than it's predecessor.