MultiVersus is the First Worthy Challenger to the Super Smash Bros. Throne

esquire.com:

Someone let Mario know that Shaggy and Wonder Woman are coming for him.

It's no secret that Nintendo has a family-friendly grip on certain corners of the gaming industry. That stronghold is certainly on platform fighters. Ever heard of a little game called Super Smash Bros.? The original Smash Bros. debuted in 1999, revolutionizing the genre. Since then, many studios have tried to invent a worthy competitor to Mario's MMA pursuits. Many—and I mean many—have failed. Hell, platform fighters that aren't Smash Bros. are often labeled as smash-like.

Now, there's a new challenger in the arena: MultiVersus, which sees characters from the massive Warner Bros. library duke it out. (Think: Shaggy, Harley Quinn, Bugs Bunny, and LeBron James. No Jay Gatsby, though.) The title has now commenced its open beta phase, which means that the game isn't quite finished, but everyone is free to download, play, and test it out. I'd recommend that you do exactly that, because MultiVersus just might come the closest we've ever seen to the heights of Smash Bros.—because it isn't trying to be Smash Bros. How’d did the crew over at Warner Bros. Games pull it off?

Well, MultiVersus has a massive IP base of recognizable characters, to work from, arguably more so than the House That Mario Built. But as Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl showed us, a recognizable cast is far from a sure shot when it comes to making a crossover hit. You need stellar gameplay, which MultiVersus absolutely pulls off. MultiVersus mastered something that's been on my wishlist since had PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale debuted in 2012: quality team gameplay. The standard mode for the game sees two players working together, which is deeply cool. Wonder Woman can lasso someone