And in the span of just five short seconds, all expectations for what the game's roster would be like were sent straight to the Shadow Realm.
While characters from more well-known Nicktoons such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Invader Zim, and The Loud House were a given for a Nickelodeon mascot fighter, there were plenty of other shows that came as quite the shock.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
Let's start with the first game's initial reveal trailer...- In a manner similar to Princess Zelda in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, while everyone was expecting at least one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, most people would expect the 2012 or 2018 versions. Few would have expected the Turtles would be the 1987 versions, as that iteration is only owned by Nickelodeon retroactively, as opposed to the two that Nickelodeon themselves published. This was done entirely at the request of the developers, who were huge fans of the 1987 series growing up.
- Possibly the biggest surprise in the initial reveal trailer is Powdered Toast Man being playable - and strangely, it has almost nothing to do with the fact that a Ren and Stimpy character in general got in despite the controversy surrounding the show's creator (considering the sequel to Nickelodeon Kart Racers has the titular duo as racers). Instead, the main reason is because he's a recurring secondary character in his series while two certain fighters in the entry below are at least part of their respective main casts... And yet, PTM was officially revealed for the game about two months before the duo themselves were. Furthermore, his last playable appearance in a video game, Nicktoons MLB, was released over a decade earlier, meaning most people weren't expecting him to be playable in general.
- Now for the two certain fighters in question from the above entry... Oblina from Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Nigel Thornberry from The Wild Thornberrys. The sheer fact that this here is the first time that these two Nicktoons have received playable representation in a Nickelodeon crossover game in years (Nicktoons Racing in 2000 for Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Nickelodeon Party Blast in 2002 for The Wild Thornberrys) is already quite the pleasant surprise... Then there's the fact that Oblina and Nigel made the roster over Ickis and Eliza Thornberry, who are both generally regarded as the "main character" of their respective shows.
- On a lesser note, no one was really expecting Lucy to be a representative for The Loud House, as the more obvious choices after Lincoln would've been Lynn Jr. (the Passionate Sports Girl of the Loud sisters) or Ronnie Anne (who has her own show). She was warmly received, regardless.
- Helga G. Pataki from Hey Arnold! also has this distinction to some extent, both for being the sole playable representative of her series on the base roster and for being officially revealed as a fighter before Arnold, her love (who as of this writing, has yet to appear as a playable fighter himself).
- Reptar counts as this too for being an In-Universe fictional character on Rugrats, and for being the sole playable representative of the Rugrats franchise on the base roster as opposed to his Nickelodeon Kart Racers appearance where he was playable alongside Tommy and Angelica (and Chuckie in the second game).
- While CatDog was not a very likely choice for playable representation given the nature of the titular duo, the real shocker of the two new fighters revealed at the Future Games Show at Gamescom 2021 was April O’Neil. April being playable in her 1987 form (who was a complete noncombatant unlike her 2012 or 2018 counterparts) was a surprising choice considering her reveal was hot off her announcement that she would be a playable character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, and that her silhouetted form resembled that of the movie version of Dora the Explorer. In addition, everyone assumed Donatello and Raphael (who also have yet to be playable themselves, although they would be revealed as newcomers for the second game) would be revealed over her, given that they make up the other half of the Ninja Turtles.
- Out of all the noteworthy locations in Rugrats, no one expected Teeter-Totter Gulch to be used as Reptar's stage, seeing as it's mostly an Imagine Spot that only appeared in a single episode, and one that Reptar himself did not appear in, no less.
- Avatar fans were pleasantly surprised to see Toph, though less because of her inclusion at all and more due to the fact that she was apparently chosen as the second Avatar rep over Zuko, the Deuteragonist of the original series. Also, her stage is Omashu, a location she didn't actually visit in the original series.
- As far as non-playable characters go, the presence of Mondo Gecko in the game (most notably the Sewer Slam stage) was surprising to some, given Mondo was never the most major of characters in any of the TMNT series he appeared in.
- The player base was puzzled over the origin of Helga's first alternate costume until someone discovered that it was pulled from a Nicktoons commemorative Christmas cup
◊ instead of anything solely related to Hey Arnold!. - Garfield, the first free DLC fighter, is this for a few particular reasons. While he was leaked weeks ahead of his official announcement on December 7, 2021, Paramount's acquisition of the franchise was, at the time, fairly recent, and had yet to even have his own Nicktoon show produced (compared to the '87 incarnation of the Ninja Turtles having been retroactively acquired, but still getting two Nick-produced series prior to their appearance here). Furthermore, his portrayal takes some cues from Garfield and Friends, a show that had previously aired on the channel but was not produced by Nick themselves.
- Another example of non-playable characters, Oblina's home stage, The Dump, gives a cameo appearance to Zabliner, who is barely ever acknowledged in her show and is very forgettable.
- Even despite being leaked, Shredder wasn't much of a surprise. What was a surprise is the fact that rather than a stage from his universe, the stage he comes bundled with is based off the 1986 version of Double Dare.
- Among the paid DLC characters revealed on May 13th 2022, Jenny and Rocko were highly-requested additions. But it was assumed that if any character from The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius was added, it would be Jimmy himself, since he's the main character and his inventions give him plenty of interesting possibilities for attacks. Instead, the first Jimmy Neutron character is his father, Hugh Neutron, a goofy but otherwise normal man, making this the second time, after Nigel Thornberry, that a show's main character is excluded in favor of their father simply because of said father's Fountain of Memes and Memetic Badass reputation. The sequel does bring in Jimmy himself, though Hugh would be demoted to a shoopkeeper in the sequel's Campaign mode.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
- With the announcement of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 came the addition of new characters to the roster. While some of these characters were popular requests (Squidward, Jimmy Neutron, Plankton, the other Ninja Turtles), others took people by surprise... especially given a popular leak on August 1st, 2023 revealing several unconfirmed fighters.
- One very unexpected addition is El Tigre, who is a rather interesting case due to having been allegedly leaked twice... first in an alleged leak from July 4th that was later confirmed fake... posted about a month prior to the game's official reveal... and secondly as part of the aforementioned August 1st leak. This unexpected factor is especially because his series only lasted one season and was largely forgotten by Nickelodeon for several years... with his only official appearances in a Nickelodeon crossover game prior being in the Nintendo DS version of Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots and in the Leap Frog Didj game Nicktoons: Android Invasion, both released over a decade earlier, making his inclusion in All-Star Brawl 2 even more unexpected!
- Not many people saw Ember McLain coming. While she is a popular Danny Phantom villain, some fans expected a more prominent character with more appearances like Vlad (the non-playable Big Bad of All-Star Brawl 2), Sam, Skulker, or Technus to get in before her, as Ember is more of a secondary character who didn't have many appearances in her home series. Some even thought she'd been blacklisted by Nickelodeon altogether after the infamous Randy Stair controversy, so her return here was a pleasant surprise.
- The second Hey Arnold! representative, Grandma Gertie, is a very shocking inclusion, since she is mostly a side character in her show. Even with her quirky personality and mastery of karate, not many would expect to see the main character's grandma to be a playable character in a fighting game.
- Daggett and Norbert were very unexpected, as their show hadn't been acknowledged much by Nick in over 20 years, and their last appearance in a video game was Nicktoons Racing way back in 2000. As such, many fans of 90's Nicktoons were very happy to see the Beaver Brothers return.
- Not many expected the third Avatar representative to be Azula, because while she is a major antagonist in the series, the most recurring Firebender was series deuteragonist Zuko, who had appeared in Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway beforehand and was a popular fan-requested character for the first Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. Thus, a lot of people considered Zuko a more likely choice to represent the Fire Nation instead of his sister. Zuko himself would later be announced as one of the DLC characters for the Season Pass, though it's still odd that his sister was added to the roster before him.
