5 Games that Tried to Copy Smash Bros. and Failed

Smash Bros.
Image provided via Nintendo

5 Games that Tried to Copy Smash Bros. and Failed

Recommended Videos

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

PlayStation All-Stars
image via gameinformer

Imagine a game that takes all of your favorite characters from one of the most popular names in gaming and pits them against each other in multiplayer arena combat. No, no, no this isn’t Smash Bros; this is PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale for the PS3.

Possibly the most infamous Smash Bros. clone, PlayStation All-Stars suffered from a great strength that managed to become an insurmountable weakness. People love the PlayStation brand, and over the years they really have created a solid cast of characters that are recognizable to fans.

This meant that people were excited to see this project come together and if anyone could pull off the Smash Bros. formula then it had to be Nintendo’s biggest rival Sony, right? Well, that was kinda the problem, they couldn’t pull it off. At least not with the same polish that Nintendo had for many years now.

The biggest flaw with PlayStation All-Stars was its win condition. Instead of the usual damage system that Smash Bros. had become known for it relied on characters building up special meters. Meaning that the only way to best your opponent was by filling up your special meter and unleashing a finishing blow.

It was clever of Sony to try and give their fighting game a different angle than the game it was so obviously inspired by, but this system makes the game feel fairly cheap and unbalanced.

Ultimately, skill counts for very little in All-Stars. Only the player that can successfully land their finishing blow the most will win, and that takes a lot of the competitive nature out of the game.

As a party game, All-Stars still holds up, but it will never have that level of competitive gameplay that Smash Bros. has. After all balance and competition are instrumental in keeping any fighting game relevant.


Twinfinite is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article Top 10 Shortest-Lived Live Service/Online Games of All Time
live service games that failed
Read Article 10 Coolest & Strangest Dragon’s Dogma 2 Character Creations We’ve Seen So Far
10 Coolest & Strangest Dragon's Dogma 2 Character Creations We've Seen So Far
Read Article 9 Shounen Tropes Created By Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama black and white on shounen anime background
Related Content
Read Article Top 10 Shortest-Lived Live Service/Online Games of All Time
live service games that failed
Read Article 10 Coolest & Strangest Dragon’s Dogma 2 Character Creations We’ve Seen So Far
10 Coolest & Strangest Dragon's Dogma 2 Character Creations We've Seen So Far
Read Article 9 Shounen Tropes Created By Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama black and white on shounen anime background
Author
Nolan Mackey
A former freelance writer for Twinfinite, Nolan focused his time writing news on all of the biggest games coming to PC and consoles. When he wasn't writing, he was busy fine-tuning his Hearthstone deck or watching the latest goings-on in the esports scene.