Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is cheap and generic in a way that was forgivable and even charming in Slap City, Ludosity's previous game and this title's most direct influence. Nobody expected much from the little developer who saw the platform fighter genre, dominated as it is by the Smash franchise with niches filled in by Rivals of Aether (Smash for furry autists) and Brawlhalla (Smash for Brazilian children), and decided to make their own version (Smash for ...?), seemingly half-jokingly the whole time. The design of Slap City's quirky and high skill-ceiling mechanics provided enough "crunch" to distract players from the game's stiff animations, unpolished visual effects, and tiny cast of programmer-art nobodies. While these defects kept Slap City from reaching popularity even within the small world of platform fighter enthusiasts, it still had a place within the pantheon as a strange but endearing not-quite-a-novelty game.

But when that little developer put on their big boy pants, got a license from Nickelodeon, and decided to charge $50 for their $20 quirky/janky fighting game with a new coat of paint, there is an implication that the aforementioned coat of paint provides a value of around $30. Yet it's impossible to avoid noticing the cut corners and lack of content that reveal the absurdity of this game's price. I would've been more forgiving had this been a $20 download-only title, or a free-to-play game with individually purchased characters ala Brawlhalla. But since they are charging AAA prices, I'll review them to AAA standards.

Graphics: 4/10
Mediocre models and limited animation make this title feel like an early PS2 game. Characters have no alternate skins or even palette swaps to support readability in ditto matches. UI is generic and utterly without "Nick"-style flair and aesthetic. In fact, the only UI elements that feel "Nick" at all are the giant character art cutouts on the various menu screens. The rest of the UI looks like a rushed affair with a lack of polish approaching that of a game jam weekend project.

Sound design: 2/10
Characters don't have individual sound effects or voices. Just thump/slap/whack effects for the various types of moves that are reused throughout the roster. The only voice you'll hear throughout your fights will be the announcer half-heartedly reading through some generic reaction clips: "Wow!", "That's gotta hurt!", et cetera.
Zero music tracks from the source material. Stages have one song per stage, questionably "inspired" by the TV show it's from, but the best of these are unmemorable and little more than background noise (Harmonic Convergence - Korra's Theme). The worst are irritating enough to distract from the gameplay (Glove World - Sandy Cheeks' Theme).

Controls: 4/10
Barely customizable, doesn't work natively with gamecube controllers, no saving settings per-profile (no profiles at all, in fact). No tap jump option for those who aren't used to button jumping and have decades of muscle memory of pushing up to jump.

Gameplay: 7/10
This is Slap City with 90's nick themed character skins. If you liked playing Slap City you'll like this. If Slap City felt disjointed and janky then you're going to feel that way about All-Star Brawl. Not terrible, but not as good as any other platform fighter (except Brawlhalla).

Overall: 4/10, Do Not Recommend
All-Star Brawl is a barebones affair from start to finish and does not justify its asking price. While the gameplay is serviceable and an interesting departure from the tried-and-true formula of Smash, this is a thin, hollow-feeling experience that consistently leaves the player disappointed. I won't be returning to this game.