Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 players compare Garfield to iconic Melee character

He loves lasagna, hates Mondays, and… has a Shine? No, that can’t be right.

Garfield is a lot of things, but a brawler isn’t usually one of them. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 was released on Tuesday, Nov. 7. The returning cast from the first installment, including Garfield, has been significantly reworked to make them as vibrant and expressive as the characters themselves. And the approach to Garfield is beyond hysterical.

Among Garfield’s moveset, he has powerful smash attacks, a drill attack that works as a combo starter, and pies that he can toss across the stage as an annoying projectile. But what really ties it all together is his frame-one invincible neutral special that sends the opponents down and away, with the chance to kill them surprisingly early.

For reference, Fox McCloud in Super Smash Bros. Melee is well-known for his dominance in the competitive scene of that game. Even if you don’t follow the scene, you’ve probably heard of the satiric line “No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination.” Everything I said about Garfield is a core part of Fox’s kit—even his Shine, which can combo, pressure, and kill the opponent all on its own. This powerful moveset is why Fox is so good in Melee: No matter the opponent’s percentage, Fox always has a way to combo into a kill.

In fact, players have already discovered that Garfield can perform the Thunders combo, named after a Japanese Fox player who popularized the sequence in Melee. This means that off of a drill, which is one of the safer moves in Garfield’s moveset, he can combo into his most powerful attacks to set up consistent kills. Considering this is only day two into NASB2’s lifespan, that gives Garfield players a massive advantage over the rest of the cast.

What’s even funnier is that Fox isn’t the only Melee character who’s snuck into the fray of NASB2. Grandma Gertie from Hey Arnold! has been getting players excited with just how closely she feels to playing the electrifying Captain Falcon.

With her nimble dash speed and even possessing a matching knee attack, Melee players have already been using Gertie to great success in NASB2. In an online session between moky and Zain, two of the best Melee players in the world, moky unleashed his Gertie and got a dominating four-stock on Zain’s Donatello, landing a triple-knee combo in the process. 

As a competitive Melee player for over seven years, I’ve been having a blast with NASB2 so far. Being able to apply my knowledge of platform fighters and the technical skill that comes with it seamlessly into this shiny new game has been a wonderful experience. I just hope getting combo’d by Garfield doesn’t feel half as infuriating as dying to Fox at 20 percent.