Sony apes Smash Bros. with cross-franchise All-Stars fighting game

April 27, 2012

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Kick, punch, it's all in the mind...

While Nintendo is arguably the console maker best known for its wide stable of easy-to-milk established franchises, Sony has been building up its own impressive roster of exclusive series over the last couple of decades. So it's not that much of a shock that the company is throwing many of its biggest titles together into a Smash Bros.-style fighting game it's calling PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale.

The game's official unveiling, which comes after months of rumors, shows off gameplay that seems taken directly from the Smash Bros. playbook, with up to four 3D characters darting quickly around vast, platform-filled 2D playfields. While Smash Bros. is focused on knocking characters off the edge of the stage, however, Battle Royale has players using small attacks to fill a meter that can be used to unleash three levels of elaborate special moves, which are the main method of scoring kills.

Newcomer developer Superbot Entertainment has so far shown off six characters from Sony's back catalog: God of War's Kratos, Killzone 2's Colonel Radec, and Twisted Metal's Sweet Tooth will fight alongside Sly Cooper, Parappa the Rapper, and the Fat Princess herself. Each character's specific moves and abilities are heavily inspired by their games—Sly Cooper, for instance, can sneak around invisibly rather than blocking.

Each of the game's levels seems to draw inspiration from two highly distinct titles from the Sony universe as well. One stage sees the tiny black creatures from Patapon invading the hellish world of God of War, for instance. Another features quiz questions from the Buzz! series interrupt a stage being built using LittleBigPlanet's level editor.

The developers have promised many more Sony franchises will be announced for inclusion in the game by June's E3 expo, which should have fans of series like Uncharted licking their lips in anticipation. There are even promises that a few third-party franchises will be included in the final mix, which has us hoping against hope that the Prince of All Cosmos will be able to roll up any competitor that dares to get in his way.