Although history usually ends up putting everything in its place, the industry and the players do not usually look kindly on blatant copies. From the many mediocre soulslike games that fall short to failed products like PlayStation Move or Xbox Kinect, companies often crash believing that the shortest path to success is imitation.
PlayStation has a long history of jumping on what Nintendo has done, as the console itself was born after a failed agreement for an accessory for the SNES. But when it comes to video games, there are few cases as notorious as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. A game as interesting as it is denigrated, and now more relevant than ever in the new era of the company.
Much More Than a Copy
When it was released in 2012, it was impossible not to mention the elephant in the room with any mention of Sony’s title. All-Stars was definitely a copy of Smash Bros., for many that was enough reason to want nothing to do with it, and even those who enjoyed it couldn’t escape the tagline “it looks a lot like Smash Bros., but…”
It turned out that Sony’s crossover was more than it seemed. From 3DJuegos, we saw it as “an intense brawler with plenty of options that could be the start of a new and interesting IP”, and we were not alone. Among the good reviews of the time, there was an optimistic spirit that it would continue to evolve and carve out its own identity.
The combat system was the most surprising element. All Stars had a crucial change from its main inspiration, you could only defeat enemies by hitting them with super attacks, not throwing them off the stage. It was a limitation that was compensated with a fairly tactical combat and combo-based system. Each fighter felt complex, true to their saga, and completely different from the others.
The roster of fighters was one of the most controversial topics regarding the game. The selection was questionable but to a certain extent justifiable, knowing that SuperBot Entertainment worked with what they could, with rights concessions to iconic characters like Crash that Sony couldn’t obtain and other distributors who seemed more concerned with promoting new games (such as lending the image of the 2013 Dante, a game that had not yet been released) than celebrating the old ones.
Selective Nostalgia
At a public perception level, the main problem the game faced was that the “PlayStation nostalgia” at that time was not very established. From the outside, it was difficult not to see this as a soulless copy when Sony itself did not seem to make much effort to explore its history beyond very forced products. The best example we had a year before, when Sony released the mediocre PlayStation Move Heroes for Move, whose sole purpose seemed to be to sell the accessory.
Of course, recent history has shown that Sony can handle its own nostalgia when it wants to. We are talking, of course, about Astro Bot. A game that is not only an excellent title on its own merits but also an unstoppable nostalgic product in terms of brand image. With its charming protagonist, vibrant and colorful world, and dozens of cute robotized versions of Sony’s mascots designed specifically to bring a smile to players’ faces.
If in 2012 All-Stars Battle Royale had to scrape for fighters, more than ten years later the situation is very different. In addition to its ample history of obvious classics like Jack & Daxter or Cloud Strife, there are also characters of recent creation that would be ideal for a fighting game, such as Aloy or Astro Bot itself. The audience is also there, the game community was small but dedicated, and there have been initiatives on social networks waiting for a sequel for years.
If we stick to the rumors, it seems that Sony has also considered this at some point. A supposed sequel would have been in the company’s plans and then discarded in recent years. Despite having an excellent gameplay base to expand upon and a nostalgic community willing to relive it, the company still has reservations about putting their mascots back in the ring.
And the worst part is that even if we want to settle for what already exists, it’s not easy to remember. The game shut down its servers in 2018 and, except for those players who still have their PS3 at hand, the title is completely absent from any PlayStation Plus tier. It seems unlikely that this crossover will reappear in the near future. We are left with one of the most underrated pieces of the company’s history with an ending as predictable as it is unfair.
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