Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Releases In October

Smash Bros.-esque Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was one of the surprise announcements this summer, but it's also one of those games that make you think: "Why didn't they do this before?" Nick has some of the most beloved cartoon characters of the last two decades, meaning that an eight-year-old who fell in love with SpongeBob or Avatar when they were new is now in the prime video-game-playing demographic. Seems like an obvious win, no?

Developers Ludosity and Fair Play Labs are making up for lost time, as the game has been announced as releasing for the Nintendo Switch just over a month from now, on October 5. (The game will also be on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Steam.) It was a bit of a stealth announcement, and reported as a "leak" by some sites, but seeing as how it's still listed as such on the Nintendo eShop, I think the release date reveal was intentional, if a little low-fanfare.

On the other hand, the icon for the eShop did feature an expanded image of the game's roster, which has since been replaced by the more sparsely populated icon on the page now or the silhouetted version that's been circulating for some time. That was spotted by Twitter user Eternal Flame Guy and it features 13 characters, including five that aren't currently viewable in the eShop. Other characters have been revealed over the past few weeks, bringing the total "confirmed" roster up to about 20.

The roster as we currently know it includes:

• Oblina (Aaahh!!! Real Monsters)
• CatDog (CatDog)
• Danny Phantom (Danny Phantom)
• Helga Pataki (Hey Arnold!)
• Zim (Invader Zim)
• Lincoln Loud (The Loud House)
• Lucy Loud (The Loud House)
• Reptar (Rugrats)
• SpongeBob SquarePants (SpongeBob SquarePants)
• Patrick Star (SpongeBob SquarePants)
• Sandy Cheeks (SpongeBob SquarePants)
• Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
• Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
• April O’Neil (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
• Nigel Thornberry (The Wild Thornberrys)
• Ren (The Ren & Stimpy Show)
• Stimpy (The Ren & Stimpy Show)
• Powdered Toast Man (The Ren & Stimpy Show)
• Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
• Korra (The Legend of Korra)

Which one is your favorite? And are you one of those twenty- or thirty-somethings who might be picking up this game to recapture a piece of your youthful animated nostalgia?