Nostalgic!~ Awesome!
Despite the average ratings given by "Videogame Journalists", this game is pure gold if you are a fan of Cartoon Network (CN of the 90s of course) and Super smash bros. This game pits (18 Playable + 19 Assist) Cartoon Network characters from over 11 CN properties, in a battle royale!
Characters like the Powerpuff Girls, Mojo JoJo, Dexter, Monkey, Flapjack, Chowder, Ben 10, Grimm, Billy and Mandy and even CAPTAIN freaking PLANET! Just to name a few. Gameplay wise, the game is broken up into Story Mode and Battle Mode (No online play though, just local ad hoc and download play).
Story Mode is played as a platformer with awesome detailed settings from the respective CN shows (fan service galore!), with each level typically ending with a Boss fight. Battle mode however, plays like a Super Smash Bros clone. If you have never heard of or played SSB before, the battle mechanics are some what influenced by the sport of Sumo Wrestling, in that you win by throwing your opponents out of the stage. Instead of having a health bar for each character, they have a Damage Percentage instead. Receiving damage will increase the percentage and the higher the damage percentage, the more susceptible you are to being thrown out of the ring, or in this case, knocked out of bounds. And that is how you win a match in this style of play.
Aside from the basics, they are items which appears from time to time on the stage to help you deal more damage to your opponents. This consist of weapons ranging from a lighting-shooting guitar (a nod to Val Halen from Justice Friends) to throwable items like Bubbles' purple stuffed octopus. From time to time, assist boxes will appear which when activated, will summon a random assist character from a pool of 19 Awesome CN characters, to help your cause or to just plain destroy everything in sight (summoning "HIM" from PPG with basically have him grow big enough to damage everyone in the vicinity, Friend or Foe).
Damaging opponents in battle with have them drop tiny blue cubes, which when collected will fill your PTE gauge (Punch time Explosion). When it is full, characters can unleash a very powerful "limit break" attack which comes in pretty handy when your opponent looks to have taken the upper-hand.
As for the stages, the battle arenas are taken straight out of the 11 CN cartoon properties and are extremely detailed. The stages are also dynamic with an ever changing landscape throughout a match, but I will let you experience that for yourselves. Overall, I think this is a great game for fans of CN, and a great nod to the CN of Old (the good o'l times). It was a BUY for me!
