Smash rival Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl drops to single-digit Twitch viewers

It looks like Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl isn’t the Smash Ultimate-killer like some fans were expecting. Since releasing in early October, the game has plummeted in terms of Twitch viewership, all the way down to single digits.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was designed to appeal to Smash’s competitive esports crowd, borrowing elements from the game’s longest-running and most technical entry, Melee. With mechanics such as wavedashing available, the Smash community was excited to try it out.

While there have been Smash clones released before, none had such a recognizable roster of characters that could pull fans in the way that Nintendo has been able to. It seemed like the recipe for success.

To make things even wilder, days before Nintendo revealed Sora as the final Smash Ultimate DLC fighter, the developers took shots at Smash’s balance stating, “we played a lot of Smash games in the past and we know how it feels to not be listened to by the developer.”

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Twitch viewers plummet

On October 5, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was released to the public and saw some success on Amazon’s streaming platform, reaching over 120,000 viewers in the first couple of days.

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However, those numbers wouldn’t last. According to SullyGnome, by Saturday, October 30 at 8AM EST, the game had a mere five viewers watching on Twitch.

At that exact same time, Smash Ultimate had 2,800 viewers. Melee, which has been out since 2001, meanwhile, had 62.

So, how did this happen? It could potentially due to the game lacking depth and polish.

Notably, the fighting game lacks any voice acting. And due to its budget, some have criticized its look.

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Another factor could be the leaked Warner Bros Smash-style game ‘Multiversus’ potentially stealing its thunder despite not even being officially announced.

Whatever the case, it will be interesting to see if Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl can bounce back or if Spongebob and friends really are dead in the water.