* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** The stage mash-ups are cool by themselves, but the music that goes along with them is amazing, remixing classic tunes from the two game series involved. Some greats include the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yIVc7op2qw Time Station]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KqBQcCPJEU Metropolis]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awyCL-ndoCo Dojo]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHEH_6gF6UE Black Rock Stadium]].
** There's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0h2u87JwyA "Finale" by Madeon, which serves as the game's main theme]], and then there's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifnWQkN1mkE boss theme]].
** The amazing music is probably a good excuse to actually watch the painfully slowly-scrolling credits.
* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** While popular on his own and used by multiple players, Raiden is also receiving flak simply because he's not Solid Snake.
** Evil Cole. Some have complained about him being an extremely lazy or unimaginative addition similar to the complaints about Dark Pit or Dr. Mario in the ''Smash Bros.'' games, though others appreciate his moveset and the chance to use his dark persona rather than the canon one.
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome:
** Despite not technically being a Shoto, Kratos has quickly become the Shoto equivalent in PSASBR. Being as faithful as he is in his fighting style, the ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' gameplay runs the distinctive risk of being overpowered in a game like ''PSASBR''.
** A milder example is Nathan Drake. He's similar in some respects to Kratos (such as the AP values for their supers), but is looked at more favorably due to his more complex, but rewarding fighting style. Raiden is one as well, but [[DifficultButAwesome one actually needs to know]] how to effectively combo with him and make up for having a shorter range and no long range options outside of items.
* CultClassic: Despite middling sales and critical reception, the game still retains a degree of popularity among [=PlayStation=] fans due to it being a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover between several of their series. There also remains a decent amount of demand for a sequel, as rumors about a potential sequel or SpiritualSuccessor tend to crop up every year.
* DifficultySpike: The Combat Trials are innocent enough and most of them are reasonably doable with proper focus and application. Unfortunately, most of them are cut-and-pasted for the entire roster. This can be an issue depending on the character, since trials that are a breeze for one character can be horrific for another. The later trials can become surprisingly nightmarish on the easiest difficulty.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** For the minions, the [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} Helghast soldier]] is very likely to be seen online.
** [[VideoGame/DeadSpace3 John Carver]] is another minion likely to be seen, as well.
* FandomRivalry: With ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' for [[TheyCopiedItSoItSucks obvious reasons]].
* FridgeBrilliance:
** Big Daddy and Sackboy's rivalry might seem completely random, until you think about the philosophy behind the games they are from. Both characters are the consequence of a world only limited by the creativity of those who occupy it. The difference is that [=LittleBigPlanet=] fared much better than Rapture.
** Ratchet has two cases of this:
*** The Constructo-Pistol has a brief pause between the second and third shot, with the third hitting harder then the first and second. If you look closely, you can see that Ratchet has the Charge Trigger equipped. That pause is Ratchet charging up the third shot.
*** The Plasma Striker gains 10 AP and causes minor flinching when you just press circle. However, by holding circle to aim the weapon, you'll gain 20 AP and cause higher flinching. What's the gimmick of the Plasma Striker? Aiming down the scope lets you [[AttackItsWeakPoint hit the weak points]] of the enemy.
** Spike thinking Parappa works for Specter may seem like a stretch, until you remember that Parappa is both an animal smart enough to talk and skate, and has a huge hat that could very well hide a helmet like the ones Pipo Monkeys wear. Obviously, that's not the case, but considering Spike's history with monkeys, it wouldn't be a stretch to think Parappa's appearance is setting off red flags in his head. On the other side, Parappa may not have really known Spike's name, he just called him that because of [[AnimeHair his hair.]]
* FridgeHorror: One of Isaac's losing animations is him clutching his side in pain and dropping his weapon. Nothing too bad, right? Then you remember how much his [[Franchise/DeadSpace home series]] loves [[{{Gorn}} dismemberment and blood]]. He could be trying to cover a pretty major injury.
* GameBreaker:
** Evil Cole's Giga Punch has SuperArmor, breaks through {{counter attack}}s, and leaves opponents in a crumple-state, making it the most [[{{Pun}} infamous]] example of the widely-hated "kill-confirm." As a result, some Evil Cole players have shot up the leaderboards using this technique alone.
** Kill-confirms in general are a hot-button issue. Some will tell you they ruin the meta-game by making Level 1 Supers less risky, others will say that certain characters (i.e. Heihachi) need them for how weak their Level 1's are. Using a kill-confirm is considered in some circles to be the dirtiest, most dishonorable tactic one can use.
** The biggest example early on was without a doubt [[VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet Sackboy]]. His attacks gave him a lot of AP, and his supers were very cheap -- his level 3 super is among the best supers in the game, and it cost the same as [[AwesomeButImpractical the cutscene level 3 supers]]. Sackboy was quickly nerfed, with his most used attacks gaining less AP and his supers requiring more AP. In this case, Superbot themselves thought Sackboy was a GameBreaker, and were already working on a patch before the game's release.
** Isaac has two popular ones:
*** His detonator has good AP gain, can be followed up with combos or Supers, is indestructible online (due to netcode), hard to destroy anyway, and can cover Isaac better than most projectiles. It was later nerfed.
*** His Plasma Cutter Loop is this as well, although it takes a while to properly pull off. If mastered, it can help his combo ability by cancelling the final Plasma Cutter shot into another attack or looping it with another set of shots.
* GatewaySeries: Much like its [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros inspiration]], ''[=PlayStation=] All-Stars'' has introduced many obscure [=PlayStation=] franchises to the public. People who play this game due to more iconic characters like [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]], [[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Nathan Drake]], [[VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet Sackboy]], and Franchise/RatchetAndClank will wonder who the heck VideoGame/PaRappaTheRapper, VideoGame/FatPrincess, [[VideoGame/MediEvil Sir Daniel Fortesque]], and [[VideoGame/GravityRush Kat]] are.
* HighTierScrappy:
** Kat is considered the best character in the game, hands down. She excels in all types of play and her combo ability is unmatched. Potential runner-up would be, of all people, Isaac Clarke: his Plasma Cutter Loop aids his already surprisingly excellent gun combos, allowing him to fight from longer distances and keep space controlled. Raiden and Fat Princess are also in the running, due to the former's melee game and the latter's assists.
** Kratos is a long-standing one for being a LightningBruiser by design (being a JackOfAllStats with HackAndSlash gameplay of his series rendered faithfully) and having several "kill confirm" options.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]] appearing in ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''[[note]]Alongside [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]][[/note]] and [[VideoGame/{{inFamous}} Cole MacGrath]] appearing in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken''[[note]]With characters from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', Franchise/MegaMan, VideoGame/PacMan, and Sony Japan mascots Toro & Kuro[[/note]] have become this.
** Nathan Drake was supposed to be the GuestFighter for ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'', but was taken out and replaced with Cole due to not having moves suited for the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' style of fighting. Now, Nate is included as one of the combatants, joining ''SFXT'' vets Heihachi, Cole, and Toro.
** In the ending of ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'', Nathan Drake comments that his greatest fear is clowns. Cue this game putting him opposite Sweet Tooth, the resident MonsterClown of the [=PlayStation=] universe.
** With the announcement of Polygon Man as the final boss, Kratos's inclusion in the game is now [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haOCJ8wL0OA the subject of a quite odd and amusing coincidence.]] Many people have made the connection between Kratos and [[spoiler:the Saturn's launch mascot campaign thing]], so someone was bound to point out this little coincidence sooner or later.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUNCfVTFbCU The Robot Chicken sketch]], while funny enough on its own, becomes hilarious taking into consideration Kratos and Nathan's conversation about getting beaten "by a burlap sack." Not weeks after the sketch was run, Sackboy was the first character announced to be getting a nerf.
** The concept of [[SugarApocalypse video games invading each other]] (via HostileShowTakeover in stages) suddenly becomes funny once you remember that [[WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph a certain movie about video games]] did just that [[spoiler:in its climax[[note]](the Cy-Bugs from Hero's Duty invading Sugar Rush)[[/note]]]]. Both works came out in November 2012, and the movie ''barely'' predated the game. Some theaters with the [=FirstLook=] feature even played a commercial of ''PSASBR'' before ''WIR''.
** The February 12th patch changed Dante's character select picture from a cocky smirk to a disappointed frown. This change was made shortly after his game [[http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/capcom-almost-halves-dmc-sales-expectations/0110372 failed to meet Capcom's expected sales]].
** Heihachi appearing in this game, despite news that Namco Bandai was assisting Nintendo in developing the new ''Smash Bros.'' game. For some reason, ''Tekken'' characters are still highly requested by the ''Smash'' fanbase, despite a series veteran appearing in their rival MascotFighter. And if that wasn't enough, he was actually [[http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/06/26/800/ considered as a playable character]] according to Masahiro Sakurai. And ''then'' [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu]] ended up as a playable character in ''Smash Bros.'' DLC... ''along with a Mii Brawler costume resembling Heihachi''. And to further add insult to the injury, it turned out Heihachi banked on the wrong game to cross over with: Someone else from ''Tekken'' took that spot in ''Smash Bros''... and it's his AntagonisticOffspring Kazuya, coming along with a Mii costume of the original Dante to boot.
** Tropers/{{Luigifan}} came up with an "Enhanced Final Smash system" for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' on the Website/GameFAQs forums which turned out to be remarkably similar to this game's Supers. Needless to say, when [[https://www.dropbox.com/s/wx5sbgjf8hfl0ee/Luigifan%27s%20Enhanced%20Final%20Smash%20System%20%28SSB4%20Edition%29.docx?dl=0 he brought it back]] for ''[=SSB4=]'', he had to clarify that, no, he was not ripping this game off. And then ''Ultimate'' took the idea of using a (optional) meter for [[LimitBreak Final Smashes]].
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud]] isn't in ''[=PlayStation=] All-Stars'' at all, despite the game he's a part of being one of the most iconic [=PS1=] titles ever made, but he ''is'' in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU Smash 4]]'' despite his home game not receiving a Nintendo release until the Platform/NintendoSwitch nearly a ''decade'' after this game. Relatedly, ''FFVII'' BigBad Sephiroth would be added to ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' as DLC in late 2020, and his pack includes music from the movie ''Advent Children'', which was co-distributed by Sony.
** The fact that the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series, one of the most successful franchises on [=PlayStation=], has no characters here also becomes hilarious after [[VideoGame/Persona5 Joker]] was included as DLC for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate''. Doubly so since, similar to Cloud, the one appearance he had on a Nintendo console prior to this was in a [[VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth crossover game of his own]].
** Being able to pit Dante, Raiden, and Kratos against each other, considering that their DuelingGames were released within months of each other. [[note]]''VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry'' was released January 15, ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' on February 19, and ''VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension'' on March 12.[[/note]]
** The decision to include Good and Evil Cole as separate characters proved to be a controversial one, with some preferring a switching mechanic of some sort like Zelda and Sheik have in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. Cue the announcement that ''Super Smash Bros for 3DS/Wii U'' was dropping transformations and making them into separate characters.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ump239LywoQ This commercial]] in which a player apologizes to Kratos for a mistake and tells him "You remember what we [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu did to Zeus]] [[Videogame/GodOfWarIII that one time]]? Let's Finish this!" becomes a bit more humorous considering that Zeus later got to join the cast as a DLC character.
** When Kat joined the cast, she indeed was going to be reprised by Creator/SanaeKobayashi; hilariously enough, she ''actually'' voiced both the VideoGame/{{Ice Climber}}s ''and'' [[Manga/DGrayMan Allen Walker]], who both appeared in [[MascotFighter Mascot Fighters]] in the [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros same]] [[VideoGame/JumpSuperStars vein]][[note]]However, prior to ''VideoGame/JStarsVictoryVs'', Allen wasn't voiced in the two prior games; he also has a brand new seiyuu in the 2016 anime.[[/note]]. There's also [[Manga/HikaruNoGo Akira Touya]]; even though he didn't appear in the same game as Allen, his series was included before it was scrapped in the sequel. The same went for Spike/Kakeru: Creator/FujikoTakimoto was also the voice of [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Young Link]], especially in ''Melee''. However, Cole's Japanese voice, Creator/KeijiFujiwara, was also the voice of [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Mewtwo]] in the fourth ''Smash'' game.
** More than three years after this game was released, [[WebAnimation/DeathBattle a few folks tried their hand]] in solving the rivalry between Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter.
** This would not be the [[https://youtu.be/8IA34hF_RS0?t=50s last]] [[https://youtu.be/9GtqHUMMifw?t=29s game]] to feature both [[Franchise/RatchetAndClank Ratchet and Clank]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGear Raiden]].
** With both Toro and [[VideoGame/ApeEscape a Pipo Monkey]] being patched into ''Super Bomberman R'' as [=PS4=] exclusive characters, it seems Konami is trying to make an ''All-Stars'' sequel.
** While less requested than Cloud, ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' debuted on the [=PlayStation=] 2, and since then most of its major games used to be [=PlayStation=] exclusives and it's hard to argue the biggest bulk of its fanbase don't use [=PlayStation=] systems, making Sora also a very wanted character. But also like Cloud, Sora would instead appear in ''Super Smash Bros.'' as the last DLC fighter for ''Ultimate''.
** Raiden and Heihachi are able to physically fight each other in this game. Then comes ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', [[DemotedToExtra where only this time they lose their physical forms and become spirits]].
** Apparently, [[VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet Sackboy]] had dressed up as half of the roster before he crossed over with them in proper. [[note]]Although one of his prior crossover appearance was in Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds, alongside Kratos and Toro.[[/note]]
* HollywoodPudgy: Fat Princess, compared to the levels she could reach in her home game, anyway. Here she maxes out at the second level of chubbiness.
* IAmNotShazam:
** She's almost universally referred to as Fat Princess, which is the name of her game. Her real name is Princess Plump. This may be intentional because she has the blue princess, Princess Muffintop, as an alternate color.
** Most gaming news sites and even the developers frequently refer to him as "Sweet Tooth," while that is the name of his car, and Needles Kane is his name.
* IKnewIt: Polygon Man is the final boss of the game. Ironically, he became a well-speculated boss for many fans ''because'' he was an obscure and mostly forgotten character that very few remembered (initially).
* JustHereForGodzilla: Some just play because of a few characters in the game, such as Sly Cooper, Cole, and Ratchet & Clank.
* LowTierLetdown: Sir Daniel has slow attack speed, and slow movement in general, making it hard for him to fight against his foes (especially in comparison to his home series where he is capable of dashing and attacking his enemies rather quickly).
* MemeticBadass: '''ISAAC CLARKE.''' BadassNormal who fought Zeus, caught his lightning bolt in mid-air and won.
* MisBlamed:
** The game's developer [=SuperBot=] Entertainment, for various points of contention that were not their fault to begin with, such as the utilization of [[VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry Dante's reboot appearance]] over [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry classic Dante]] (which was Creator/{{Capcom}}'s decision), the inclusion of Evil Cole in a separate character slot apart from Good Cole (which was the decision of Creator/SuckerPunch, the developer of the ''VideoGame/InFamous'' series), and Raiden's inclusion over Snake's (WordOfGod states that the decision to use Raiden was none other than Creator/HideoKojima's).
** A very common discussion point is that characters who debuted on a [=PlayStation=] console such as Cloud, Sephiroth, and Sora were in ''Super Smash Bros.'' games but not this game. What they don't realize is that ''Super Smash Bros. 64'' and ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' also only featured characters directly owned by Nintendo, as they weren't willing to spend the extra money to license third party characters yet due to uncertainty of how popular the game would be. ''Final Fantasy VII'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' are owned by Squaresoft. [[note]]For comparison, Mega Man and Banjo-Kazooie weren't in ''Smash 64'' despite being on Nintendo consoles, because the former is owned by Capcom and the latter by Rareware.[[/note]]
* OlderThanTheyThink: ''VideoGame/ShrekSuperSlam'' was actually one of the very first PlatformFighter games to use the "super-move-to-score-points" mechanic, around ten years before this game was released.
* TheScrappy:
** [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]], again because he has his [[VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry reboot appearance]]. The decision to include this Dante is Creator/{{Capcom}}'s, [[MisBlamed not]] [=SuperBot=]'s, which hasn't helped things.
** On the day of his announcement, Zeus received a pretty noticeable backlash, either because they [[ReplacementScrappy wanted someone else]], think that ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' is overexposed in the game and want more franchises represented, or because they think Zeus doesn't even count as a video game character because he is a classic Greek mythology character.
* ScrappyMechanic: The game has been been derided as being both oversimplified ''and'' overcomplicated compared to ''Smash'' as well as most typical fighting games:
** Overly Simple: The "Only supers can kill" mechanic tends to be the critics biggest point of contention. Missing a "[[LimitBreak super]]" in other games is a shame, but you can still pull through and win the old-fashioned way, whereas in this game it essentially means all your previous progress is wasted and it's back to square one. Even the people behind the game such as Sony President Shuhei Yoshida and Superbot Director Omar Kendall have admitted that it was a bad mechanic in hindsight, and that it would be absent in any future sequel.
** Overly Complicated: The game has three attack buttons, but there's no basic consistency in what button does what kind of attack. E.G. Pressing Circle as Kratos fires a projectile directly in front of him, but doing the same as Jak requires you to press Side + Triangle.
* SoOkayItsAverage: This is the game's general reception as a whole: it manages to nail the series it actually managed to get in the game pretty well, but it's really light on content and has some odd roster choices, especially in comparison to its [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros rival series]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The music composed for the third-party franchises (''[=BioShock=]'' (with the exception of the "Elizabeth" remix from ''[=BioShock=] Infinite'' in the Stowaways stage), ''Tekken'', ''Devil May Cry'', ''Metal Gear'', and ''Dead Space'') are all original compositions inspired by tracks from said games.
* TaintedByThePreview: The fact that you can only KO with the supers wasn't initially well-received by some in the previews, but opinion improved once gameplay footage and the demo started getting out. The lack of a kill display on-screen had a similar take; however, there's an option to turn them on if you want.
* TakeThatScrappy:
** In the launch trailer highlighting the rivalries between the characters, Dante (who has a rivalry with Nariko) is unceremoniously flung from the screen by Heihachi (who has Toro as his rival), who proceeds to laugh about it. Notably, whilst not the only time someone is by attacked a character who isn't their rival[[note]]Nathan kicked Ratchet, Fat Princess nearly crushed Sly, Sweet Tooth tried to kill Cole, and Sir Dan attacked Evil Cole[[/note]], it's the only time attention is drawn to it.
** Patch 1.07 changed Dante's character portrait from a cocky smirk to a disappointed frown. Notably, this happened ''after'' his game failed to meet Capcom's sales projections.
* TearJerker:
** A happy one, though. All of Sackboy's story tells that he heads off not for power or monetary reward. He heard of worlds filled with destruction and goes off in trying to make them beautiful with the power of creation. Then we have his scenes with the Little Sister; at first, she asks "Mr. B" to 'unstuff' Sackboy, but then it shows the two playing together. The ending has him back in his world, and Stephen Fry narrates about how Sackboy is his happiest when people create and share with the world, topping it up with how VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet will always be home to everyone whose heart is full of imagination.
** Big Daddy's story will shed some tears also. His Little Sister has found Sackboy and is cheerfully playing jump rope, and then she declares that Sackboy is her new best friend and she coldly tells Mr. B, "Go back to your underswampy!" Considering it's the Big Daddy's role to protect their Little Sisters, it's like telling him he's being replaced. And in the ending, we have the Little Sister's words.
--->"Some friends stay and some friends go...some friends we never see again...But we keep going on and on, don't we, Mr. B?"
** Parappa's losing animation. He thinks about how he let down Sunny Funny and bursts into tears. [[{{Keet}} Parappa]] [[ThePollyanna the Rapper]] crying is a sight no man should have to see.
** Losing as Isaac Clarke implies that Isaac outright '''DIES'''. His default losing pose shows him getting sucked out of his spaceship and into space, and another one shows him lying motionless in space. Worst of all? The "results screen loss" pose for him is nothing but his helmet rotating in a circle. It hurts if you're the one who lost as Isaac, and even more if you're a ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' fan.
** Spike's loss animation on the results screen shows him crying over his loss. It makes you wish you could just go in there and give him a hug.
** One of Fat Princess' loss animations has her sobbing over the dead bodies of the villagers who accompanied her on her quest for cake.
** One of Big Daddy's loss animations has the Little Sister sobbing over a presumably dead Big Daddy. And another one has her sobbing all alone with the Big Daddy nowhere in sight.
* ThatOneLevel: Franzea, the stage mash-up of ''VideoGame/LocoRoco'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', is seen by many to be a massive eyesore, as it's a very bright and colorful stage but with a "Metal Gear Ray attacking a city" replacing the sky background of the stage. The contrast between the two games leads to this stage getting more than a little bit of hate. It doesn't fare much better in gameplay either. Many players are annoyed at constant GravityScrew and awkward terrain, which, while accurate to ''[=LocoRoco=]'', aren't exactly ideal conditions for a fighting arena. The RAY that appears later on will also saturate the ground-level with randomized heavy artillery fire, making it one of the odd hazards to potentially cover an entire stage.
* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks:
** Before the game was released, it was decried by some as a ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' rip-off, despite it having largely different mechanics, among some other differences.
** On the flip side, there's also people who [[DamnedIfYouDoDamnedIfYouDont hate on it]] for not copying ''Super Smash Bros.'' enough.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** A crossover, fighting game that celebrates the Playstation company has a lot of potential when it comes to the fighters, but the problem is that the roster is lackluster with many iconic Playstation-related characters not being present, including Solid Snake and Cloud Strife, who are instead playable in the Nintendo fighting series ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''.
** The characters and their rivals. The rivals are only capable of interacting with each other, such as Nathan Drake and Sly Cooper, and Heihachi and Toro, instead of all of the fighters having a lot more screen time together.
* UncertainAudience: It's often believed that this was why the game didn't do very well. The gameplay ends up being oddly technical due to the focus on {{Combos}}, which alienates people who want a simple party game, but is also very gimmicky and unconventional due to the "only supers kill and supers only kill" mechanics, which alienates the hardcore crowd. The game's roster is a good case of a DemographicDissonantCrossover: about half the franchises involved are gritty M-rated ones, but the game itself is a cartoony PlatformFighter with tons of wacky concepts gelling seamlessly with the other half of it -- it's rather baffling to see what is essentially a space Nazi with actual firearms be a playable character in a game where you can rack up damage by hitting your opponent with a fish. Even as a pure celebration of [=PlayStation=] history, many felt the roster was too heavy on {{Guest Fighter}}s from non-Sony games, ironically making it seem like Sony didn't have much of their own history, while what third-parties ''were'' there were mostly promotions for upcoming games, such as [[VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry DmC Dante]] and [[VideoGame/BioShock Big Daddy]] (with most of his accompanying material coming from the then-upcoming ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite''), instead of more historically significant characters known for being on [=PlayStation=] consoles, like VideoGame/CrashBandicoot and [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]], making it look like Sony barely had any third-party history either.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The game is very much a product of the late [=PS3=] era, when most of the represented franchises were in top form or had yet to see a release. The [=PS4=] years saw most of them decline, get heavy redesigns, flop or reveal themselves as a StillbornFranchise never managing to leave the [=PS3=], making the game very dated in retrospect. Arguably the biggest example would be Dante, whose widely hated redesign would, outside of being an alternate skin in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'' and receiving homage {{palette swap}}s in the mainline ''Devil May Cry'' games, be completely abandoned after one game in favor of {{unreboot}}ing the beloved original version. Later [=PlayStation=] megahits such as ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' and ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' are also conspicuous by their absence.
* UnexpectedCharacter:
** VideoGame/ParappaTheRapper. A character from an obscure (albeit one of the first) rhythm game as one of the first announced? It happened.
** Due to his series being extremely obscure and nowhere near as popular as other first-party [=PS1=] games, [[VideoGame/MediEvil Sir Daniel]]'s inclusion into the game really caught people by surprise.
** VideoGame/FatPrincess' game was successful, but it was 3 1/2 years old by ''[=PlayStation=] All-Stars Battle Royale'''s release-date and her role was the flag in the game's signature {{capture the flag}} style gameplay. Here, she takes matters into her own chubby hands.
** Radec is this to an extent, as he represents ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}}'''s Helghast, who are frequently considered the face of the franchise and [[TheHeavy the main source of interest in the plot]]. Still, [[ItWasHisSled he died in the same game he was first featured in]].
** Toro is kind of an odd choice, seeing as how [[NoExportForYou none of his games have been released outside Japan]].
** Big Daddy isn't exactly the first character to cross your mind for this game, especially since [[VideoGame/BioShock the game he originated from]] was originally an Xbox 360/PC exclusive title. Plus, like the Piranha Plants from Mario, Big Daddy is a generic enemy-type character, who isn't even playable until ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock 2}}'' with the introduction of [[PlayerCharacter Subject Delta]].
** While the ''VideoGame/{{Starhawk}}'' series has been around since the early years of the original Platform/PlayStation, Emmett Graves' game was out for less than 6 months before his announcement and just over 6 months by the time he was released as DLC.
** Zeus was a popular choice for a potential sequel, but few predicted that he would appear in the first game, due to the unofficial one-character-per-franchise rule, and ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' already being represented by Kratos.
** The biggest one, however, is the Final Boss: [[spoiler:Polygon Man]] — though only a few might recognize him.
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