Platform fighters barely get recognition as a genre at all, with many preferring to call them by the semi-derogatory term “Smash clones” instead. In recent years, people have started to recognize platform fighters as their own genre and not solely derivative of one game, and that’s great! Unfortunately, a woeful number of gamers still insist on referring to them purely in reference to Smash. Thus I feel compelled to draw attention to some of the best and most unique platform fighters out there, and hopefully convince some of you to reach out a bit into the wonderful world of platform fighters.
Rivals of Aether: Pure Platform Fighting Excellence
Now I love Melee as much as the next guy, but it’s hard to ignore how often it gets ragged on for being too technical and inaccessible to new players. I'm sure I don't need to tell you about its notoriously tight input windows and the very specific hardware required for anyone hoping to be competitive in it. Cool a game as it is, Melee principally was not designed to be a competitive game. Rivals on the other hand takes Melee’s “happy accident” competitive framework and perfects it. Unlike later Smash games which took unintended techniques like wavedashing and put one between their eyes, Rivals adopts and refines them into intended, unique mechanics. Wavedashing in particular is much easier to perform in Rivals than it is in Melee, to the point that anyone coming in from Smash can do it with just a few minutes of practice (shameless plug intended.) Other than that, there’s stuff like hitfalling which is sort of a reimagining of Melee’s L-canceling mechanic, reworking it from a pure execution barrier into an easily understood and applied mechanic that rewards players for landing hits.
This isn’t to say Rivals offers nothing of its own though. The ledge, a staple of Smash and the platform fighting genre as a whole, is completely absent from this game, instead giving each character a wall jump and the necessary tools they need to recover without it. This in my opinion makes both recovering and edgeguarding much more active and fun, since the offstage player can’t just touch the lip of the stage to get a lifetime supply of free invincibility. Rivals also axes the bubble shield mechanic from Smash, instead replacing it with a new parry system which can stun other players and even reflect projectiles. This mechanic makes camping MUCH easier to deal with than it is in Smash, leading to a more fast-paced and aggressive gameflow. These techniques and mechanics exemplify what I love about Rivals and other platform fighters like it; they pay homage to their inspiration, but don’t get tied down and venture to do their own thing with the platform fighting genre. Nothing, not even Melee, plays like Rivals.
As far as characters, sure, Rivals does have less of them and it may not have Mario and Pikachu in it (well, at least not officially). But this is more than made up for by how interesting and frankly awesome the characters themselves are. Wrastor is like an avian Jigglypuff that can boost its speed and use Smash attacks in the air. Ori & Sein are like if Pikachu and Captain Falcon had a baby (and that baby had a Luma). The new Olympia is basically Little Mac if he were good. And then there are characters that are entirely unlike anything we’ve seen in Smash like Elliana and Sylvanos. Rivals covers a surprising amount of ground with its 18-character roster to the point that I can confidently say there’s probably one for you in there somewhere.
If you’re wondering when the best time to get into Rivals of Aether is, the answer would be right now. Just last week the game received its latest round of DLC characters and full rollback netcode, which along with the practically endless well of community-created Workshop content makes the game more jam-packed than ever before. And that’s to say nothing of the 3D followup to Rivals that’s currently in the works, or the numerous spinoff games like Dungeons of Aether and Creatures of Aether. If you’ve ever wanted to get into Rivals, but are worried you missed the boat, rest assured that the game itself and the Aether IP as a whole are more alive than ever.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl: Imperfect Genius
In all seriousness, to call NASB a perfect game would be an overstatement. The game’s lacking in features and modes currently, it definitely lacks polish in certain areas, and stuff like the lack of voice acting have put many people off since day 1. Thankfully, though, the devs are actively working to rectify most of these issues—they’ve already teased additions such as voice acting and crossplay via the game’s Discord server, for instance. Additionally, if you’re worried about your favorite Nicktoon not being in the game, never fear, as we’ve still got a bunch more characters to look forward to like the newly announced Shredder. (So yes, that means Jimmy Neutron's dad can still be in it.) As much as I disagree with others calling this game (or any game, really) a “Smash killer,” I think Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl does a respectable job standing on its own in the genre. I remember a time not so long ago when something like NASB would’ve been blown off as cheap, licensed shovelware (not to say people aren’t doing that even now). But the geniuses at Ludosity managed to make a game that’s not only super unique, but also wholeheartedly enjoyable.
Fraymakers: Hope for a Bright Future
In terms of gameplay, Fraymakers promises to include a lot of what I love about NASB, including airdashing and directional blocking. However, the game is also coming with full mod support from launch with a unique Fraytools system, allowing people to make Fraymakers whatever they want. Additionally, the developers claim on the game’s Kickstarter page that they’re prioritizing the “easy to pick up, hard to master” mantra that the platform fighting genre is built on. In their words: “new players can still have tons of fun while those looking to play at a high level have endless depth and nuance to explore.” I can’t speak too much on this game since I obviously haven’t played it yet (and I hope to soon!), but Fraymakers is looking super promising from what we’ve seen of it. I have faith that the good developers at McLeodGaming will do us die-hard indie fans good.
...and even more!
Not even ten years ago, every non-Smash platform fighter on the market was some obscure licensed game that probably didn’t play very well. But now, we live in an age where a bunch of indie devs are making platform fighters arguably better than the people who invented them. It’s awesome. Now that Smash Ultimate’s DLC run has come to a close, hopefully you’ll take this opportunity to explore the genre a bit and try something you haven’t yet. You might even be surprised—as a former die-hard Smash fan, I know I was.
Writing:
Ze Diglett
Editing: @Sari, @Zerp
Thumbnail Graphic: @Zerp
Social Media: @Zerp
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