It’s hard to believe, but Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is over six years old, and over that time, you may have grown tired of the same characters, stages and movesets. Thankfully, some platform fighter alternatives can keep your interest, such asBrawlhallaand Rivals of Aether II, which are both offering new experiences for players of the genre.
10 Fighting Games with Phenomenal Character Creators
What better way to enjoy a fighting game than creating your own character to join these epic battles?
Some of these games provide a better online experience than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and others provide an alternate take on the classic platform fighting genre that Nintendo’s series made famous. Let’s take a glance at the best platform fighters not called Super Smash Bros.
7Rushdown Revolt
One game that’s released outside of many peoples' radars is Rushdown Revolt, a game that brings back the Melee-style movement and a new system called the Spark mechanic. When activating spark, it lets players create satisfying combos. It lets you be more expressive with how you play as each of the twelve characters, and one of the best things about this platform fighter is that it’s free to play. It has a Mostly Positive score on Steam and features rollback netcode, a blessing for those who have played with Super Smash Bros' messy connectivity over the years.
6Fraymakers
Fraymakers is another indie platform fighter, developed by the makers of Super Smash Flash. It pits indie heroes like Octodad and Commander Video against each other, while adding many assist trophy-like items that summon icons likeAmong Us' astronaut aliens and Cadence from Crypt of the Necrodancer. You can also create your own custom characters, modes and stages into the mix with the game’s workshop on Steam. For example, Isaac from The Binding of Isaac is available as a fan-made character. Like Rushdown Revolt, Fraymakers also supports rollback netcode. The game is still in early access, so hopefully it has a successful launch in the future.
5Brawlhalla
Brawlhalla
Brawlhalla is one of the most prolific entries on this list as it has attracted over fifty million players to the game. It’s a simpler take on the platform fighter genre as each character switches between two different weapons during a match with similar movesets throughout the roster. That doesn’t stop the game from being fun as you need to rely on both your platforming and fighting skills to prevail in battle. Brawlhalla has an illustrious cast of characters in its game, from its original heroes to third-party selections like Po from Kung Fu Panda, John Cena from the WWE and Darth Vader from Star Wars' galaxy far, far away as skins. Even Rayman, Master Chief andMegamanare in the mix. It is a free-to-play game with a random suite of free characters to pick between. Expect to pay some money though for some of the skins.
4Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 brings the faster pace of combat likeSuper Smash Bros. Melee, with a cast of beloved characters from the kids channel’s history. It includes the likes of SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Aang and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into the brawl. The stages are all well-crafted and look ripped from the shows and the animation is decent in comparison to other platform fighters that try to replicate Smash’s style. Additionally, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 has a fun roguelike mode you’re able to spend a few hours with. It’s an overall great time and the game supports crossplay.
3MultiVersus
MultiVersus
Despite the game getting shut down officially on May 30 and won’t be available to download from digital storefronts after that date, MultiVersus is still a fantastic platform fighter that should be played before it has its final curtain call. Each character brings a unique moveset into the mix, and developer Player First Games does a great job of delivering the personalities of each of these heroes like Bugs Bunny and Harley Quinn into the game. Playing as the characters from Warner Bros' past like the Iron Giant and seeing Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees stab Superman with his knife is something else. The stages are also a highlight as you fight at the Teen Titans' tower and the city of Townsville from The Powerpuff Girls. Combos inMultiVersusalso feel fun to pull off, and the movesets for each character show plenty of creativity, especially with LeBron James.
2PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Out of all the games on this list, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale arguably makes the most changes to the platform fighter genre. The stages themselves are a mash up of two franchises together. For example, there’s a stage that has an unlikely match of Killzone and Parappa The Rapper and it’s as whacky as it sounds. Some of them are creative as you’re stuck in the airplane from Uncharted 3 and then get swept into BioShock Infinite’s Columbia. Additionally, the gameplay relies upon KOs rather than throwing them out of the screen. You build up meter and unleash special attacks that differ depending on the energy level you have. For example, Nathan Drake throws and shoots an explosive barrel out of the sky as his Level 1 attack, but Sweet Tooth gets in a big mech for his ultimate level 3 attack. This game deserved way more love when it released as it was way more than a “Smash clone” that many derived it. Admittedly, its online was messy.
1Rivals of Aether II
Rivals of Aether II
Rivals of Aether II is one of the best platform fighters out there right now. The animations are spot-on and adorable, the stages are pretty to look at and each character moveset is well crafted. Ranno is a thrilling character to play as fighting game fans as he can set up combos mid-air like Fox and then trap his enemies in bubbles. Orcane is a cute orca who can propel enemies with his water and can move around quickly with his puddles. The developer Aether Studios shows its creativity within this genre well and Rivals of Aether II is a great alternative for those who are tired of playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and want something a bit fresh. Our sister site,GameRant, says that Fleet is the best character in the game right now.
10 Best Fighting Games for Beginners
The fighting game genre is one of the most vast in gaming. Because of this, however, it can be intimidating to decide which one to start with.
