Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers

Lore & Background

The game's plot begins when Uncle Grandpa accidentally drives his RV through the universes of other Cartoon Network shows, picking up Gumball, Clarence, Steven Universe, Mordecai and Rigby, and Finn and Jake. The group must defeat an army of Mirror Clones, evil shard clones formed after breaking through dimensions. Players control six characters, each with unique attacks and abilities, progressing through six worlds based on their respective series, each containing two normal levels and a boss fight. Secret bonus rooms require specific character abilities to access, and some levels must be replayed in special modes to collect hidden items.

Reader's Guide

Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers is notable primarily for its poor critical reception. It received negative reviews from multiple video game journalists, who described it as repetitive, boring, and lacking the unique personalities of its source characters. The review aggregator Metacritic gave the Nintendo 3DS version a score of 21 out of 100, making it the lowest-rated game on that platform on the site. Critics compared it unfavorably to browser flash games, citing small enemy variety, forgettable music, absence of voice acting, unbalanced character attacks, and low difficulty. The game's padding—requiring replay of stages for hidden items—was also criticized. Its legacy is as a cautionary example of a licensed game failing to capture the appeal of its source material.

Did You Know?

• The game was announced on 17 August 2016, with a trailer released the same day.
• It is the lowest-rated Nintendo 3DS game on Metacritic, with a score of 21 out of 100.
• A reviewer for the Daily Mirror described it as a 'glorified browser flash game.'
• The game features six playable characters from six different Cartoon Network series.