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PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale is Sony's Super Smash Brothers

Sony finally unveils the long-rumored brawler featuring various disparate characters from the PlayStation universe.

It's been rumored for months, and now we finally have official confirmation: PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale is Sony's answer to Super Smash Bros. No, that's not just a quick-and-dirty comparison. Look at the PlayStation Blog reveal video above if you don't believe me. It's the same damn concept.

The only way this ends is with a Nintendo lawsuit, right?
The only way this ends is with a Nintendo lawsuit, right?

Except that now, instead of Mario and Samus and whoever else, you'll have the likes of God of War antihero Kratos, Twisted Metal lead crazy person Sweet Tooth, noted anthropomorphic raccoon and master thief Sly Cooper, and tragically underused boy/dog/rapper Parappa to play around with. Other announced characters include Colonel Mael Radec from Killzone, and the eponymous Fat Princess of her own game. Sony has hinted that some third-party characters could join the thus far solely first-party cast, though nothing's been confirmed yet.

The action, at least based on the reveal, looks definitively Smash Bros.-like, with multiple players battling it out in Sony-themed arenas, using fairly over-the-top abilities mined from their particular universes. Again, you can get a decent look at the action in motion via the promotional video above, so I probably don't need to describe it in too much detail.

Now that we know it's out there, all that's left to do is speculate wildly about what characters would make good combatants in a PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. I'll get the discussion kicked off with a few suggestions of my own:

  • Piposaru - Considering the terrible things Sony has been doing with the Ape Escape franchise of late, the least they could do is let me run around smacking Nathan Drake and Kratos as a mischievous, siren helmet-wearing monkey. The sheer variety of weaponry he'd have at his disposal alone makes this an attractive option.
  • The King of All Cosmos - Katamari started out as a PlayStation franchise, and I would certainly consider the King a PlayStation All-Star. His enormous size might be tough to insert into the game, but I'm sure the developers could think of something. Preferably something that properly leverages his smooth, royal charm, and preternatural crotch bulge.
  • Reiko Nagase - With the exception of Gran Turismo, what driving franchise is more closely associated with the PlayStation brand than Ridge Racer? I have no idea what her abilities would be, except for a particularly brutal special move where she calls in a drift car to essentially clear the entire track. Also, any time she knocks out an opponent, Kaz Hirai's head will pop up Dan Forden style to let out a particularly hearty "RIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RACER!" It never gets old, people.
  • System Update - You play as a sentient, partially completed progress bar whose sole ability is to slow down time to an excruciating crawl. All the players on the field eventually die of boredom.
  • Anonymous - An unplayable boss character that appears as a swarm of V for Vendetta masks and immediately disconnects you from the PlayStation Network. You won't be able to reconnect your console online until you beat them. Fortunately, they're all malnourished and out-of-shape due to their constant computer use, so you pretty much just have to hit them once to win. It's actually kind of anticlimactic.

What have you got?

Alex Navarro on Google+

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Jrinswand

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Edited By Jrinswand

Ha! I was about to compliment OP on such a well-written post, but then realized that it was written by . LOL.

Anyway, I can't say this looks very interesting at all. Then again, I've never really been a fan of the Smash Bros. series. There are some hella weird character choices on the Playstation front though. Parappa the Rapper? I love Parappa the Rapper, but the last time he was in a video game was a decade ago. That's more than a bit of a stretch when Sony is presumably aiming towards a younger crowd. And if the game is aimed more towards kids, it might be a little problematic that Kratos is one of the main fighters in the game.

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1p

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Edited By 1p

Did not expect it to resemble Smash Bros this much. Pretty blatant!

Still cautiously looking forward to it. At least it'll probably have good online, unlike Brawl.

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Video_Game_King

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Edited By Video_Game_King

I'm guessing you wrote the blurb the way you did to fuck with people playing the "Patrick or Alex" game, right?

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papercut

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Edited By papercut

@MisuseOfLasers said:

Man it would be the coolest if they could get Tomba in there somehow.

DUDE!

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Kete

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Edited By Kete

It just looks kind of bland, especially those stages.

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BoG

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Edited By BoG

@stalefishies said:

@BoG said:

Well, I don't really doubt the qaulity, but I'm just not into it. I've mentioned this before. Something about the style just doesn't mesh as well as Super Smash Bros. I don't want to say the characters aren't as memorable, because this isn't true. Kratos is absolutely more popular than Ike. I guess it's simply that most Nintendo characters seem right for a mash up, whereas Kratos and some dude I don't care about from Killzone... don't quite fit.

To be honest, I think it's mainly down to art style. Most of the Nintendo characters go better together because their games have more stylised art styles, but when you're trying to match games with much more detailed, realistic graphics like God of War and Killzone with the stylised worlds of Parappa and LBP, the result just doesn't work so well. I mean, I've always thought Snake was a really weird fit for SSBB.

Agreed. We've got Nathan Drake, who exists in an imagined version of our own world. Then Parappa, who seems more at home next to Mario than Drake! I have to agree that Sanke was an odd fit, and it had nothing to do with his lack of appearances on Nintendo consoles. I think that, because he was the only character of his type and because Nintendo really changed his nature, it worked as good as it could have.

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glots

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Edited By glots

Not that I was counting hours to the announcement of this, but...still pretty dissapointed. Don't think it could've been anything less interesting, really.

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Detrian

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Edited By Detrian

Ah yes the great playstation characters like....................................................... maybe Solid Snake? I guess?

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BBAlpert

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Edited By BBAlpert

"Parappa is a character that people traditionally haven't seen doing much melee combat"

Chop Chop Master Onion would like a word with you, sir.

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kpaadet

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Edited By kpaadet

@cexantus said:

Looks so....meh.

While I could join on the "this looks like they just looked at SSMB and said, 'yeah, let's do that...BUT WITH SONY CHARACTERS!!!!' bandwagon, I'm mostly just flabbergasted as to why this is happening now. I mean, was anyone really asking for this?

If we only got games that were "asked" for, we would only get sequels. Consumers dont know what they want until its presented to them.

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adamfedoruk

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Edited By adamfedoruk

My Parappa is gonna distroy.

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Enigma777

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Edited By Enigma777

@Moncole said:

I felt like punching the guy when he said "God of War is the best looking game on the planet"

Console game, yes.

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Imensae

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Edited By Imensae

@MmaFanQc said:

before the "oh my gawd its a blatant ripoff" comments begin,

The King of Fighters was released by SNK in 1994

Fighter's Megamix was released by Sega in 1996

X-Men vs Street Fighter was released by Capcom in 1996

But when Nintendo released Smash Brothers its like they invented the crossover fighting genre like Apple invented touchscreen smart phones.

This is an old tried and true genre and successful formula every major game development company should have.

after all, arent all the FPS games a blatant ripoff of Wolfenstein3D?

sure the gameplay is very VERY similar to ssb, but honestly its not a reason for the nintendo fans to go apeshit because the gameplay is similar.

..if the game is good and fun...whats the problem? ...and what if the game end up being better and more fun than ssb?

I think you might be missing the point. I don't think the people will be mad about it being of the same genre as SSB, it's the fact that everything from the HUD to the level design to the gameplay is ripped right out of it. Yes there were cross over fighters before SSB, but none of them to my knowledge looked like SSB, they looked like fighting games. I don't disagree with you that it could still be a good game, but it is seriously unoriginal.

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bearshamanbro

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Edited By bearshamanbro

Don't get the big deal about this being so close to Smash Brothers. It's not like this is a new phenomenon that nobody has seen happen before. GOW>Dante's Inferno, Final Fight>Street's of Rage, Street Fighter>Fatal Fury, Virtua Fighter>DOA, GTA>Saints Row, and this could go on and on. If they can take the concept and improve it, more power to them. It's not as if making a good game is as simple as copying the concept. They have a long read ahead of them to make it approach the quality of Smash Bros. With that said, there is no real competition for this game on PS3 so this game's existence makes a lot of sense to me.

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AngelN7

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Edited By AngelN7

@Moncole said:

I felt like punching the guy when he said "God of War is the best looking game on the planet"

A guy who works for Sony says a good looking Sony game looks good so...? chill out people I don't know why you're making such a big deal about this silly game that is trying to be a silly game.

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papercut

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Edited By papercut

Does anyone else wish they had went with the SSB ring-out method instead of health bars? It would probably be too much like Smash after that but that is the only thing that is really bumming me out right now.

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sixpin

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Edited By sixpin

Feeling pretty ambivalent about this one. I'm not a big fan of Super Smash Bros. either though, so maybe I'm not the target here.

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Elod

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Edited By Elod

Seems like crash bandicoot would be the mario of this game yet he's MIA!

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probablytuna

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Edited By probablytuna

Wasn't a huge fan of Smash Bros so probably won't be getting this.

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moncole

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Edited By moncole

@Enigma777 said:

@Moncole said:

I felt like punching the guy when he said "God of War is the best looking game on the planet"

Console game, yes.

He said best looking game not best looking console game. He should play Witcher 2.

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alex

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Edited By alex

@habster3: This is what I get for barely sleeping the last two nights.

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Edited By jacksukeru

I know that the monkeys make more sense considering that they appear more consistently from game to game, but I'd still rather see a Ape Escape protagonist over them.

I also want that androgynous thing from Journey as well as Mr.Domino as a boss character.

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DopeToast

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Edited By DopeToast

I will play this game, regardless of its ripoff-ness. It still looks cool.

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alex

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@Jrinswand: YOU KNOW JUST BECAUSE IT'S ME DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T SAY NICE THINGS.

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sins_of_mosin

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Edited By sins_of_mosin

Hell, I don't know why a dev hasn't just made up a game like this.  No need to use characters from past games, just make it fun.

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Edited By BoG

@ShaggyPolarBear said:

@BoG said:

Well, I don't really doubt the qaulity, but I'm just not into it. I've mentioned this before. Something about the style just doesn't mesh as well as Super Smash Bros. I don't want to say the characters aren't as memorable, because this isn't true. Kratos is absolutely more popular than Ike. I guess it's simply that most Nintendo characters seem right for a mash up, whereas Kratos and some dude I don't care about from Killzone... don't quite fit.

My big question: Will Snake show up in here? I'm talking about how characters "fit," and Snake definitely belongs among a Sony crowd more than a Nintendo crowd.

@MmaFanQc: I don't think anyone would call it a rip-off for being a character mash-up game. It would be that, combined with the clearly Smash Bros. inspired gameplay.

I think this is really important ^

This makes me realise I don't have as much an affinity/ attachment to Playstation characters as I do Nintendo characters - even though I'd much rather fire up my PS3 right now over my Wii.

Absolutely. I haven't turned my Wii on for months, and I play PS3 all the time. Perhaps only by virtue of being first, Nintendo characters are closer to my heart.

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LibrorumProhibitorum

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The cameraman must of been drunk or something.

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super2j

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Edited By super2j

lol fat princess peach.

also snakes gotta be in this right???

also sly cooper repesent!!!

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adoggz

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Edited By adoggz

When I heard Sony was making a smash bros game I thought it was just shorthand for a fighting game with Sony characters not literally a smash bros game.

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deactivated-5e4c09d3ba1b3

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@MmaFanQc: I agree with the notion that "if it's good, who cares?," but this really can't be called anything but a rip-off. KoF was a three on three 2D team-based fighting game, setting up a new genre. Fighters Megamaix was a 3d one-on-one fighter that took characters from other fighting games and made it a bit more lighthearted, plus combined elements from Fighting Vipers with the characters from VF. X-Men vs Street Fighter was a 2d tag game, unlike anything else, with assists, tagging out mid-battle, double super moves, and an emphasis on aerial combos not yet seen before. What does this do differently from SSB aside from adding new characters? The game looks like a prank to me, like someone modded SSB, made Peach fat, and made Snake look like "dude from Killzone."

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Cloudenvy

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Edited By Cloudenvy

@papercut said:

@MisuseOfLasers said:

Man it would be the coolest if they could get Tomba in there somehow.

DUDE!

Oh god I wish, Tomba was awesome.

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Edited By zaccheus

This is weird, right? Right?

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AuthenticM

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Edited By AuthenticM

I am super excited for this. :)

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Nasar7

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Edited By Nasar7

I wanna play as the Maiden in Black. That or a plague baby.

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Edited By Cyrisaurus

I'm sick of all these butthurt Ninendo fans who can no longer use SSB as a reason why the Wii isn't worthless. Listen, just because Nintendo did it first, doesn't mean Playstation fans don't deserve this. I have been waiting forever for this game. Fuck you if you are against it. If anything, Sony is doing Nintendo a favor by providing competition, and thus giving Nintendo ways to improve the next SSB.

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habster3

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Edited By habster3

@Alex: I was just pointing that out because no one else did :P It really didn't matter that much to me; I guess my tongue-in-cheek tone kind of got lost in translation in text form. Oh, and have I ever mentioned that you're awesome? Just saying.

Also, thanks for the quest; I used to get responses from staff members sometimes, but that was before the quest system launched :/

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ShawnS

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Edited By ShawnS

@MisuseOfLasers: it would be the perfect setup for the much-overdue return of Tomba! I was gonna say him too.

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Edited By Bobby_The_Great

Looks pretty fun to me. Also, if it has online play that's not ridiculously laggy, then it's already miles ahead of SSB. 

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frankiebeanz

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Edited By frankiebeanz

it needs a health bar and level knock off kills because without that its less tactical and you loose all of the tension of trying to stay alive and trying to stay on the level and then it just becomes hit hit hit without even thinking about what you're doing because you dont have the possibility of death coming from the wrong action.

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geekbot

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Edited By geekbot

Um... no thanks?

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LegendaryChopChop

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COLE FROM INFAMOUS

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cexantus

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Edited By cexantus

@kpaadet: "we would only get sequels"

One could argue that, for the most part, that's the case (especially in the last couple of years.)

I just don't find anything worth getting excited over this. I think the problem has to be attributed to the fact that Sony's "mascots" lack the same presence than Nintendo's. I mean I'm not exactly frothing at the mouth over Nathan Drake fighting Fat Princess.

@Cyrisaurus: So.....calling butt-hurt fanboys out by being butt-hurt is totally not you being ironic, right?

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abendlaender

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Edited By abendlaender

If you could play as a system update, I would buy a new PS3 and this game

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deactivated-5e4c09d3ba1b3

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@Cloudenvy said:

@papercut said:

@MisuseOfLasers said:

Man it would be the coolest if they could get Tomba in there somehow.

DUDE!

Oh god I wish, Tomba was awesome.

I was blown the fuck away when I first saw Tomba on a PlayStation Underground disc that let me WATCH VIDEOS ON MY COMPUTER!!!

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Dain22

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Edited By Dain22

I love the idea that they're mashing up various licenses to make the levels! Patapon vs. Hades looked great! Can anyone else figure out the other levels they showed? I'm not very familiar with Sony's IPs.

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Edited By DrifterInGreen

What’s the point in not announcing Jak or Ratchet but clearly showing their stages?

That said I find it weird that the Jak stage is based off the Precursor Legacy and the Ratchet stage looks like the original game too (Blackwater City vibe I think).

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cexantus

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Edited By cexantus

I'm sure it'll be a fun trip through Sony memory lane, but the way Sony is trotting this out as some premiere AAA (heh, do people even use that term anymore?) game, it's hard not to be underwhelmed.

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hermes

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Edited By hermes

This is weird... Nintendo characters don't exist on the same realm as Playstation exclusives.

Exclusivity for Sony has always been because its consoles were more popular than the competition on each generation. Their 1st party studio has never been as prolific as their 3rd party support (even now that they bought a bunch of studios). That makes thinking about character that could fit in this game extra hard, since many candidates (like Snake, Heihachi, Spiro and Crash) are no longer exclusives.

EDIT: A few character I would be surprised if they do NOT use them: Nathan Drake, Jak, Cole McGrath, Ratchet, Chimera, Sackboy and Sir Fortesque...

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Xtrememuffinman

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Edited By Xtrememuffinman

Yep, couldn't be more rip-offier. The Killzone guy's special is literally Snake's Final Smash.
Which makes me wonder if Snake will be in this... and if he is if he'll have the same(ish) moveset.
 
 
 
Also, did Smash Bros sound this goddamn cheesy and exploitative when they first announced it way back when? I was too young to think that having Mario and Link fight was not cool and could potentially not be amazing. Thankfully, Nintendo nailed it.