MultiVersus shouldn’t be any good. It’s a Smash Bros. clone that’s shameless about being IP soup and it started life because of an outdated Ultra Instinct Shaggy meme - it sounds like a recipe for disaster, especially from an unproven developer.

Despite the odds being stacked against it, MultiVersus isn’t just good, it’s the closest thing to a rival Smash has ever had, and it may eventually stand beside it after some more time and fine-tuning.

Related: Steven Universe Is MultiVersus' Most Overlooked Fighter

Although the instant comparison point here is Smash Bros., MultiVersus manages to feel distinct in the platform brawler genre thanks to its more stat-based and co-op-focused gameplay. The core mechanics are the same - four special moves, percentages, recoveries, stage-guarding and the like - but the tweaks to the formula are not only positive ones, but ones that make MultiVersus feel like an evolution of the genre.

Mechanically, MultiVersus is snappy and responsive, with a decent amount of weight in both movement and combat. It’s not quite as fine-tuned as Smash Bros. and feels a little floatier and slower, but the unique focus on team fights and characters with moves that work to help the other player makes it feel like a beast of its own, as does the surprisingly enjoyable use of perks. The overabundance of stat effects can be a little much to begin with, though. It’s a hat on a hat.

A platform fighter wouldn’t be much without its roster, and MultiVersus already has one of the most unique ones around with a great spread of characters from Looney Tunes, DC, Cartoon Network, and more. With some left-field choices like Steven Universe and LeBron James, the possibilities feel endless for a company as big as Warner Bros. and it’s already a great start for the first season with Gremlins and Rick & Morty being tossed in the soup.

As great as it is to see Bugs Bunny pummel Steven Universe or Arya Stark kick the life out of Finn, what’s most impressive here is how different all of the characters feel from one another, with no two fighters feeling the same so far, even if they’re in the same class of characters. Having it so characters with similar fighting styles like Batman and Harley Quinn feel different from one another is great, but some of the picks here feel unique across the whole genre, like Tom and Jerry just trying to fight each other and everyone else getting in the way or Bugs Bunny and his endless box of tricks.

The overall number of characters here is a little smaller than most fighting rosters at launch, but the commitment to each of them feeling like their own thing at least means you won’t be having five anime characters with swords here. The ‘quality over quantity’ approach is even clearer with how much love and respect has been put into each character and their respective property. Aside from LeBron and Steven Universe, every single fighter has their original voice actor, complete with new lines and interactions with one another. It makes MultiVersus feel like a premium experience, something that other recent platform brawlers have lacked.

It’s not just the characters either - the stages are full of fun little references to the shows, like Amethyst hiding out in the Sky Arena, and the orchestrated soundtrack delivers some beautiful remixes. It’s just a shame that there are only a handful of stages right now, as even the most epic rendition of We Are The Crystal Gems can get a little old after hearing it for four hours.

Now that MultiVersus is in its first season, we’ve got some indication of the content we’ll be getting over the next few months, and it’s looking pretty promising so far. Morty and Rick are both big draws (although seemingly without new voice lines), while Black Adam and Stripe are both polar opposites for character choices, one clearly being done for marketing synergy and the other a great passion pick.

Four new characters coming in the next few months is pretty impressive, especially if they manage to be as unique as the rest of the cast. There’s also the promise of a classic arcade mode, ranked mode, and even more content to come from now until November, so it’s looking pretty promising so far.

The overall pricing of content seems fair too, with every character unlockable through enough playtime and most of the skins being fairly affordable. Some of them need adjusting, like the $20 legendary skins and expensive ringout animations, but overall it’s incredibly fair for a free-to-play game - although the fact unlocking the premium currency Gleamium is impossible without cold hard cash will sit uncomfortably with some players.

Sadly, even though the content of the first season is exciting, it’s been a rough launch for season one. The current version of the game is arguably the buggiest and least balanced it’s been so far, although changes are constantly being made to fix it. It’s a bit worrying to see these issues crop up with each update, but the communication from Player First Games is some of the best I’ve seen in a live-service game and gives me hope that with some time it’ll be able to iron out the issues.

Although its core mechanics are fantastic and the characters are all well thought out, MultiVersus has a pretty big balance issue, one that somehow keeps finding new issues every other week. First it was the frankly unacceptable state of Taz’s tornado, then it was Finn and his godforsaken backpack, and I’m sure by tomorrow it’ll be another character with a big obvious flaw. Balance is a tough thing to get right in a live service game, but it’s pretty rough right now.

Right now, one of MultiVersus’ biggest problems is a lack of quality of life features across the board. Playing games with friends is much harder than it should be, the UI is a total mess to navigate, perk selection needs to be streamlined to allow for loadouts, and you can’t even preview taunts and skins properly yet. None of these problems are more than minor annoyances each, but add them all up over some long play sessions and they become a lot more noticeable.

Even with the balancing issues and a clear rough start to its first season, MultiVersus’ incredibly solid and unique core mechanics, along with its clear love and respect for every character and series that it represents, let it stand close to the top of the genre. It still needs some fine-tuning, but I’m confident that in a year’s time, MultiVersus will be standing strong next to Smash.

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