Although it never did quite live up to the hype of being a potentialSuper Smash Bros.rival,Nickelodeon All-Star Brawlremains a game that the developers put their heart and soul into, despite budgetary limitations. It might lack certain things, most notably voice acting, making it feel incomplete without mods, but the game has its own effective way of representing the now 30-year-old history of Nickelodeon animation. Being a crossover,Nickelodeon All-Star Brawlhas plenty of material to pick from, despite having plenty of source material from popular shows likeSpongeBob SquarePants,Avatar: The Last Airbender, andThe Loud House.
However, the game decided to give a more accurate picture of whatNickelodeonhad to offer, especially during the 90s and early 2000s. As of now, DLC is being planned, with the famous comic strip characterGarfieldandTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ own Shredder being added to the roster for free as part of separate updates. Once the DLC officially begins, the developers should begin by adding the titular character fromRocko’s Modern Life.
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Rocko’s Modern Life and Old Nicktoons
Rocko’s Modern Lifeis one of Nickelodeon’s oldest shows. As far as cartoons go, the only ones to precede it areRugrats,Doug,The Ren and Stimpy Show, andAaahh!!! Real Monsters. Three of the four aforementioned shows have gotten representation inNick All-Starsas of now, with Doug being the outlier. The fact that the oldest Nicktoons have gotten a lot of love from the game is a meaningful creative decision.
WhileRugratswas Nick’s flagship series untilSpongeBobcame along,Aaahh!!! Real Monsterswas quickly overshadowed by its fellow Klasky Cuspo shows, includingRugrats.As forRen and Stimpy, while it is one of the most influential cartoons of the 90s, the endless controversies surrounding it, especially the ones related to its creator, made it hard for Nickelodeon to give the show the attention it deserves.
Rocko’s Modern Lifeis in a similar boat. While not nearly as infamous asRen and Stimpy, nor is itas traditionally “underrated” asAaahh!!! Real Monsters, it is still one of the oldest Nicktoons.Rocko’s Modern Lifedeveloped a cult following among both nostalgic fans that grew up with it, and people that were adults but enjoyed it during its original airing.
Rocko’s Modern Lifewas notorious for having edgy and adult-friendly jokes and themes, despite being ostensibly a kid’s program. It embodied the term “family-friendly” at a near literal level due to its uncanny ability to appeal to both children and adults, which was fairly new in the realm of television animation. Some of its episodes were censored in their home video releases. In some cases, they were even banned.
Rocko’s Modern Lifedoes not have the same visibility problem as the aforementionedDougandAaahh!!! Real Monsters. It got a special in the late 2010s alongside other popular Nicktoons,Hey Arnold!andInvader Zim. Both of these series have decent representation inNickelodeon All-Stars Brawl. This means thatRocko’s Modern Lifeis not a niche show with a cult following based on nostalgia, but one of Nickeldeon’s strongest and most enduring cartoons. It may not havethe commercial value ofSpongeBobor the critical acclaim ofAvatar, but it stands on its own for being proudly cartoony, genuinely edgy for its time, in addition of benefitting from nostalgia.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawlis missing other key series, most notablyThe Fairly Odd ParentsandJimmy Neutron, who were excluded due to copyright reasons. There are no such issues withRocko’s Modern Lifeas far as the public knows. Starting the official DLC with aRocko’s Modern Lifecharacter, whether it is Rocko himself or someone else, would continueNick All-Stars’ trend of representing classic Nicktoons and include one of the studio’s strongest cartoons of the 90s.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawlis available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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