Watch Out 'Super Smash': 'MultiVersus' Is Here To Beat You Up

Harley Quinn and Jake the Dog from Adventure Time are trying to kill each other. No this isn’t my dream from last night, I would never tell you about my dreams, that’s boring. But what isn’t boring is Lebron James trying to murder Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. These fantastical situations are all reality now that MultiVersus has hit the competitive gaming scene. MultiVersus is a new fighting game featuring famous fictional faces (and one real face with Lebron) all from Warner Bros. intellectual properties. Though it’s still in open beta, the game is picking up steam on Twitch and with sweaty palmed competitive players around the world.

I do feel that, canonically anyways, Bugs Bunny and Batman should be an unbeatable team. It’s fun to test that hypothesis while duking it out with strangers in frenetic, hyper fun 2v2 gameplay. The game offers two other modes: 1v1 and 4 player free-for-all. A lot of the battleground stages maps look ripped directly from Super Smash Bros. Scoobie’s haunted mansion looks a lot like Luigi’s haunted crib. And the map “trophies EDGE” looks so similar to a smash stage that I’m surprised there isn’t news of a cease and desist letter. But the game has two major factors that could give it a big edge in battle for fighting game supremacy.

The game is cross-platform, which allows players to battle each other regardless of the system they’re using to play. Xbox, Playstation, and PC players can now try to kill each other in harmony, as god intended. Notably missing from this console line-up is the Nintendo Switch. ‘Tendy (my adorable nickname for Nintendo) jealously guards it’s precious fighting title Super Smash, even going so far as to actively discourage competitive tournament play in some cases. They’re a mega brand with a mega reputation to protect and IP they love more than their own children (probably). But the biggest difference between the two? MultiVersus is free to play. Super Smash Bros. is sixty damn dollars and that’s before you buy a fighter pass so you can be Sephiroth or whatever. Of course, Warner Bros. is betting on players’ willingness to shell out for micro transactions to unlock skins and such. But the success of games like Fortnite and Warzone make that a safe bet for a game where you get to see Arya from Game of Thrones kicking Wonder Woman’s ass.