PlayStation All-Stars: The Untold Stories Behind Sony's Smash Bros.

Cancelled fan-requested characters. Baffling internal Sony decisions. Activision being greedy. PaRappa the Rapper. This is the story of PlayStation's failed Smash Bros. game, a game whose failure 10 years ago helped reset and redefine the future of PlayStation games that came after it.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
5:13 Chapter I: Michael
13:43 Chapter II: "It Takes Two To Tango"
28:40 Chapter III: Go Out Fighting
49:47 Chapter IV: New Challengers
57:48 Chapter V: Grand Finale

This video is not intended for viewers under 13 years of age, and may contain content inappropriate for such viewers. Parental guidance suggested.

[TheGoldenBolt]

-PaRappa- Killzone MAWLR mains represent.

[jasonhazelroth]

Ah All-Stars memories. I was a Superbot developer, and I remember all the hate it got. For what it’s worth I loved working on it and I met a lot of great friends and coworkers to this day. There were admittedly many mistakes from the studio, as well as from the publisher that contributed to much of the criticism, but I genuinely loved the gameplay, and I’m not even a platform fighter fan.
I actually remember the thing about about sending gift bags to appreciators like yourself.
Thanks for the awesome retrospective. I thought it was very fair and done with a lot of passion. Great job!

[ThoseCrazyBuckleys]

Honey, The Golden Bolt uploaded. I will be gone for the next 1-2 hours.

[baileypalmer]

It does feel pretty bad for Superbot. They tried so hard to make a fun game for fans but got destroyed for things that were out of thier control.

[nsgames]

This series deserves a legit comeback and I still feel for everyone at SuperBot for having to go through all the nonsense with the game's development, behind the scenes.

That "Michael" commercial alone still makes me smile and proud to be a fan of PlayStation and I still feel that this series has huge potential, nowadays.

Heck, I'll say flat-out that PlayStation All-Stars not only had some heart put into it, but SuperBot did things in this game that I think even Nintendo could take notes from. Case in point:

- Online Play let you chat with others before, during, and after the match

- Every character in the game had many unlockable outfits (some of which were DLC) that referenced their games

- Every character had different introductions to the stage, as well as numerous win and lose animations (some of which were also references)

- Stages were connected with each other, which makes sense considering that this is a CROSSOVER, after all

- Every character has rivals, but they're not from their own respective series, which was neat

- The character's remarks to when they pick up certain items, during the match and heck, even the character's remarks on the player selection screen were unique

- The game literally had a combo tutorial mode for each character (showing that the devs made this game with competitive play in mind, which is definitely something Nintendo doesn't want folks to do with Smash, these days (at least not with Melee))

- Unlike in Smash where the characters are just toys, characters in PS All-Stars are the actual characters from their own respective universes all coming together to punch, kick, shoot, and slash each other's lights out

Despite the fact that Smash Bros. went all out with Ultimate, Nintendo is literally at a point, right now where both Nintendo and Sakurai-san himself don't really know what to do with the next game.

Not to mention, Ultimate's DLC support has officially ended and other folks have thrown their hats into the ring when it comes to the brawler genre, these days: the Rivals of Aether series, Brawlhalla, Brawlout, Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl, and of course, the most recent being Multiversus.

And even if Sony can't get a lot of third-party companies onboard, they actually own a decent number of characters themselves that would make for a decent roster. Don't believe me? Look up all the series that they have made, up to this point including ones they made recently.

Yeah, I understand the problems that would come from that seeing how most folks who look at PlayStation, they don't just think of Sony owned franchises unlike Nintendo and their systems. Not to mention, PlayStation's characters while iconic are not nearly as iconic as Nintendo's, but still.

I still believe that they can do another fighting game crossover justice, these days, but the main problem that I see them having is: "Whose going to make it?"

[CrashJakFan]

Perhaps it is lacking these days, but I spent so many hours on this game. I even remember bringing my PS3 to my high school's video game club to play this with other students. I also credit this for getting me to try out other franchises like "Ape Escape, " "MediEvil, " and "God of War." "PlayStation All-Stars" means a lot to me and it's a shame that it's become a laughingstock over the years, but I'll never forget the good memories I had with it.

[CoUltraspider]

I will NEVER stop saying this but it truly makes me happy seeing more love for this old game, issues and all. I played this with my best friend back when I was younger, even though he’s gone I still remember the times we had on this game.

[DankRedditMemes]

Funny that people bashed on PS All-Stars for being a smash clone back then, but nowadays, people WANT 1:1 Smash copies and praise games for being such (Brawlhalla, Nick All-Star Brawl, Multiversus, etc)

[BovineDesigns]

It really is a shame it got so much backlash. Even though I grew up with mostly Nintendo, I was desperate to see something like Playstation All-Stars because I wanted to be introduced to new games I'd never seen before. Heck that was why Smash itself was so important to me growing up in the first place.

[TheDanTheManShow]

I love the fact that in the span of less than 3 years, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo used Robot Chicken to advertise their products.

[totallytubular]

When you described getting chills even talking about the commercial, I was in the process of getting chills. I remember that ad very fondly. I thought it was the coolest thing in the damn world that all my favorite characters were chanting *my* name. Good times. Haven't finished the video yet, but I love your content. Those Ratchet and Clank retrospectives? Binged em all in about a day.

[Wayneisboss]

Great work as always man. Never thought someone could make such an in-depth way of convincing people to play Gravity Rush

[SaoryEmanoelle]

I had SO MUCH fun with this game. Back this year I went back to download it only to find out the servers are dead. I'm still super sad about that, I have so many good memories related to this game and the hours I spent playing it with friends

[matthewbrooks]

I was never a Playstation kid, so my experience with this game was solely at another friend's house laughing and having a blast with our favorite fighters. SSB was always something I took way too seriously because I would practice it over and over, so All Stars got to be the actual fun time party game for me

[DominoPivot]

You're making me feel nostalgic about that era when I called myself a PlayStation fan and a gamer. By the time PlayStation All-Stars released my tolerance for Sony's mistakes was dwindling. The way this game was treated less like a celebration of the past and more like a big marketing stunt made me realize I should be faithful not to brands, but to the people actually making games. Because the people working on this one? They definitely did a decent job given what they were asked, and they didn't deserve the vitriol they received for the missing characters.

[egateqa]

I wouldn’t say PlayStation All-Stars as a failure. I just see as an underrated gem turned cult classic.

[roger_towny_jr]

Thorgi's Arcade did a pretty epic episode of Build a Roster, and his Hypothetical roster for PS All Stars 2 is honestly an amazing fever dream.
With Platform Fighters and crossovers being much more welcomed now, one can only hope Sony makes another honest attempt.

[felonyx]

"imagine that ratchet or sly were sliding on those wires" fuckin hell I completely forgot that was something I did until you brought that back.

[bennett]

It's stuff like this that truly gets me excited for gaming again. Regardless of how the final product turned out, having that extra perspective of what kind of passion the devs had ignites me. It can help to further enjoy a game when you know what was intended.

I personally love checking out long-form analysis videos for games, but the added history and context that you add is what makes me so magnetized to these videos. It's a bit of a rarity to find someone so concise and full of information rather than straight opinion.

[mathieupr]

Being in the back seat at night when it's too dark to see your gameboy screen so you imagine characters sliding on garden rails, posts and Fuck that hit me hard, is this what it is to feel old?
(also that was Jak grinding on his hoverboard on the rails of the highway for me, but I'll admit, Ratchet and Sly were also joining in sometimes)