Plankton from SpongeBob Squarepants has been revealed as Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2‘s newest fighter.
Plankton joins the likes of Squidward Tentacles and Jimmy Neutron as new fighters alongside a slew of characters returning from the 2021 original, including SpongeBob Squarepants, April O’Neil from the Ninja Turtles, and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Plankton’s reveal trailer features Mr. Krabs’ rival piloting a mech suit before putting a beating on his opponents using ketchup-based attacks, his wife Karen (who also happens to be a computer), and lasers. You can still see — and hear — the aquatic microorganism as he barks threats and steers his mech using its antennae. Plankton’s inclusion in the game lends further cadence to a supposed leak that predicted his inclusion in the game as one of its new combatants.
Set to release sometime later this year, this sequel promises to fix some of the original’s biggest issues, like the game’s lack of voice acting and relatively shallow mechanics compared to other titans of the genre like Super Smash Bros., Rivals of Aether, and Multiversus.
As part of EVO’s Industry Showcase, publisher Game Mill Entertainment and developers Ludosity and Fairplay Labs also teamed up with Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma to break down some of the new mechanics that are being added to the upcoming platform fighter. The breakdown revealed some groundbreaking new mechanics, including overhauls to All-Star Brawl’s shielding and dodging mechanics, as well as the new Slime meter.
Hearkening back to Nickelodeon’s iconic green goo, characters are able to build up their slime meter by attacking their opponents or taking damage before using it to augment any number of moves. Players can use Slime to extend dodges, escape combos, strengthen special attacks, or unleash a super move.
While the game doesn’t currently have a firm release date, we’re likely to hear more about it in the coming weeks, since it’s supposed to come out later this year.
Charlie Wacholz is a freelance writer at IGN.
