Fighting Games Friday: Where’s Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl’s Voice Acting?

Nickelodeon and development partners Ludosity and Fair Play Labs appeared to be doing everything right with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, their attempt to create a multiplayer fighting brawler similar to the Super Smash Bros. titles. But a big question loomed over it since the announcement: Would it have voice acting? This question should have had an easy answer — we’re taking about a game containing characters from multiple popular franchises releasing in the year 2021 here. It wasn’t, though considering previous Nickelodeon games have peculiarly lacked the feature.

All-Star Brawl is indeed and unfortunately following in the footsteps of those titles by having its characters be pantomimes. Ludosity CEO Joel Nyström confirmed it in an interview with Game Informer, who claimed the team’s focus was on “on creating the best possible gameplay experience for core brawling fans and Nickelodeon fans around the globe.” He continued by saying that this is “not as straightforward to do as one might think, and 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.” It’s fine that they’re keeping the option open for the future, but it remains unacceptable that this game is launching without it, just as it was for previous Nickelodeon games.

Just watch the gameplay and character videos released thus far, which have shown multiple characters in action. Compared to other fighting and vs. games released in the last several years, it sounds bizarrely muted and sterile. It’s lacking something that would make the experience feel more authentically like a Nickelodeon crossover title and not a throwaway mobile game with exorbitant microtransaction pricing schemes. This is not the comparison the developers deserve, because all indications suggest they’ve put an ample amount of work into creating the experience.

All evidence points to Nickelodeon being the culprit, just as they were for previous projects from different developers that also lacked voicework. It’s not clear if they simply didn’t give the development team the budget necessary to hire the voice talent, many of which are very popular and would demand big fees, or if Nickelodeon simply told them to go without it. The former is more likely, which Nyström implied above. The developers valued implementing a solid fighting system and including several characters over hiring talent for voice recording. But the choice shouldn’t have been necessary in the first place.

Nickelodeon could afford it. If considerably smaller fighting and vs. games can afford voicework, there’s no way in hell they can’t. The takeaway here is that Nickelodeon doesn’t care enough about their video game releases, nor do they take their presentations as seriously as they should. Just as, say, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix felt like it was lacking something special compared to Mario Kart 8 after watching it in action, All-Star Brawl feels similarly sterile after comparing it to any Super Smash Bros. game. This project could have come with the best production values of any non-Nintendo Smash-like title, but it’s apparent that Nickelodeon didn’t consider the potential audience beyond largely parents buying the game for their kids as Christmas presents.

Note that I don’t intend to undermine the potential quality of the game in criticizing this move, in which Ludosity and Fair Play Labs are making the best attempt they can with the budget, resources, and character slate they’ve been given access to. But that won’t stop the final game from feeling like it could have more faithfully replicated a Nickelodeon crossover feel. Nyström’s expressed hope about adding voices “down the road,” but that’s unlikely to be as DLC. The hope is that Nickelodeon will see the criticism about the lack of them and give the teams the budget to hire the voice talent after it releases. But this assumes they’ll care enough. If this didn’t concern them for the main launch version, they’re unlikely to care post-launch.

The strong roster in All-Star brawl makes it a bigger shame that it will be lacking this key element. April O’Neil — her 1990s variant, at that — and CatDog were revealed nearly a month ago, while the duo of Ren & Stimpy from the titular franchise were revealed this week. Both will fight together, similar to Banjo & Kazooie from SSBU, making them a unique roster addition. The game will launch with 20 individual roster choices, a respectable amount for non-sequel multiplayer fighter, while DLC is planned. There’s, of course, no clue as to who the first DLC characters could be, but the other two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might be a good start. It may not take long to find out considering this game is due for release on October 5th, two weeks from Tuesday.

The lack of voice acting won’t stop Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl from being an enjoyable and potentially tournament-ready game, assuming the team has been given the time and resources to balance it. Again, the chance of it getting voice acting post-release is low (though I certainly wouldn’t be opposed). There’s a better chance of this waiting for a sequel if this game performs well enough, the likely scenario that Nyström implied for adding them “down the road.” The Kart Racers series suggests that a follow-up is likely, and the teams might have more to work with thanks to assets prepared for this game. But it still would have been ideal if this particular title had voicework in the first place.

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