It has been over ten years since the release of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Released for the PS3 on November 20th 2012, this fighting game was Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros series. It allowed players to beat up Kratos as Sackboy while some Hot Shots Golf characters played on Jak & Daxter’s Sandover Village in the background.
However, it failed to capture the same attention as Smash Bros due to various criticisms, most notably the absence of some iconic characters and a few issues with bland presentation. However, while history doesn’t look fondly on the game, it does deserve credit for some of the things it achieved.
5 Combos
In the Smash Bros series, combos feel almost like an accident. It’s no secret that Nintendo’s series was built as more of a party game than a traditional fighter, so while many pro players have gotten good at building combos, it’s not something that comes naturally to a casual player. In PlayStation All-Stars, however, combos were baked directly into its DNA.
The emphasis on combo strings is a great strength for the game, and one that no doubt emerged from the presence of characters such as Kratos or Tekken’s Heihachi Mishima, whose home games are so reliant on combos to begin with. Even for characters who don’t naturally string combos together in their home games, like Ratchet & Clank, this gave the game a much more technical fighter than its inspiration.
4 Accuracy
While there are valid criticisms of PSASBR’s roster, it’s hard to deny how well they’ve been represented in the game. Every character feels like they were lifted straight from their home games and dropped right into the action. This is a stark contrast to Super Smash Bros, where older characters especially can feel a little weird compared to their home games.
While characters like Metal Gear’s Raiden or Heavenly Sword’s Nariko naturally feel like their original games, even characters like Nathan Drake or Kat feel like they came straight out of Uncharted or Gravity Rush. From Drake’s hurried running style to Kat’s fluidity in the air, it’s clear the developers spent a lot of time and attention focused on the details of each character. Character representation feels like it was done out of real love for the franchises.
3 Resurrecting Dormant Characters
PSASBR’s love for its characters also shows up in some of the character choices. While some characters were accused of only being added to advertise recent titles like Metal Gear Rising or Fat Princess, other characters were returning favorites who hadn’t been seen in a while.
Parappa the Rapper is the most notable, as he was revealed with the game’s announcement, despite not starring in a game since 2001. Elsewhere, Spike gave Ape Escape some representation at a time when monkey catching action was mostly relegated to older spin-off titles on the PSP or titles that never left Japan, while Sir Daniel Fortesque was a pleasant sight for fans of MediEvil on the PS1. The presence of these characters showed an interest in the developers exploring more of PlayStation’s more forgotten history, and if the game had leaned into this more, it may have been more well received.
2 Specials
PSASBR attracted a lot of criticism for its special system. Unlike Super Smash Bros, which focuses on ring outs, or traditional fighting games, which are about reducing the opponent’s health bar, PSASBR’s only method to get KOs is to hit your opponent with a special attack. However, while there is valid criticism of this system, it’s hard to deny that the specials themselves are cool.
Each character has three special moves, which increase in deadliness as the player advances through the levels. The Level 1 special is usually just a quick directional attack that’s easy to avoid, such as Big Daddy throwing out a Little Sister or Sly Cooper’s buddy Murray performing a belly flop. Level 2 increases the distance or time, such as Jak & Daxter’s explosive Dark Bomb or Parappa charging around on a skateboard. Level 3 attacks are similar to Final Smashes, with some devastating multi-kill attack like Ratchet firing on opponents from his ship or Kratos going into full Rage Mode. All of them are exciting and terrifying, keeping players on their toes.
1 Mashups
Easily the coolest part of PSASBR was how much it leaned into the idea of it being a crossover title. While Super Smash Bros certainly allows for some strange combinations as Final Fantasy’s Cloud can beat up Pikachu on a plane from Pilotwings, PSASBR baked the concept of a crossover into the stages themselves.
While each stage was a location from a specific PlayStation title, there would always be a point in matches where a different game would crash into the action, changing the music in the process. Parappa’s first level being invaded by the MAWLR from Killzone 3. Sly Cooper’s Paris gets invaded by the Negativitron from LittleBigPlanet 2. The Heavenly Sword stage breaks apart to reveal a track from WipEout. While the combinations didn’t always work (Metal Gear RAY didn’t gel with LocoRoco’s art style too well), this element of PSASBR made it feel like the franchises really were battling against each other.
PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale is available now on PS3 and PS Vita.