Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Battle Crashers’

It has been a particularly trying Fall for Cartoon Network fans – the network announced that two of their seminal series, “The Regular Show” and “Adventure Time” would soon be coming to a close.

Cartoon Network has never been one to slow down, they’ve proved time and time again that their steady flow of lasting characters and stories is about as reliable as Kevin Feige’s at Marvel Studios, which is the long way of stating, “Cartoon Network is good.”

So how will fans keep Finn, Jake, Mordecai and Rigby in their lives? Well, if Magic Pockets has their way, it’ll be through playing their latest game “Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers.”

A side-scrolling brawler that features six playable characters from Cartoon Network’s current series, “Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers” looks to bring back the days of flash games on www.CartoonNetwork.com.

Review Fix got to talk to Etienne Jacquemain Magic Pockets about the challenges of developing upcoming game and what they hope fans take away from their latest.

Review Fix: When did the prospect of developing a game centered on some of Cartoon Network’s most iconic characters come along?

Etienne Jacquemain: Actually, the opportunity came from our publisher, GameMill Entertainment. We’d been discussing a possible collaboration for quite some time, and they had a good relationship with Cartoon Network. When they told us we could make a game with Gumball, Steven Universe, and other IPs like Adventure Time, Clarence, Uncle Grandpa and Regular Show, we jumped at the opportunity!

Review Fix: Was working with such beloved characters intimidating at all?

Jacquemain: As big fans of these TV shows, we definitely felt the pressure to make something great with them! We really wanted to get them right, so we spent a lot of time watching episodes and exploring all the different fan websites devoted to them (yes, we have a tough job!).

Review Fix: The game is a side-scrawling brawler – did you guys arrive at that decision organically through the development process? Or was it a part of the original pitch?

Jacquemain: This idea came pretty early in the initial concept phase. Being a local multiplayer game, we thought that a brawler game would be a great way to gather everyone on screen while keeping the action fun and easy enough to read for players. We also wanted to stay as close as possible to the 2D representation of the characters, and a lateral view is perfect for that.

Review Fix: Cartoon Network has a stable of amazing characters – was it difficult to get the roster of playable characters down to six?

Jacquemain: It’s always difficult making those kinds of choices when there are so many good characters to use! Should we focus on the more recent shows, include some characters from the older shows, and so on. We even cheated a little to get more than six characters in the game, as Finn & Jake and Rigby & Mordecai work together as their own unit pairs. We had a lot of discussions about which characters to make into teams. Should we focus on Gumball only or try to include Darwin as another two-in-one character? I really love Darwin, so I wanted to keep him, but the gameplay patterns we tried with these two guys together were less convincing than what we did with Finn & Jake and Rigby & Mordecai.

Review Fix: With six playable characters, some being two-in-one like Finn & Jake, was it difficult at all to balance each character?

Jacquemain: Yes, it was pretty challenging considering that they also have passive effects that can affect the other characters around them! Some players are also more defensive, like Steven, who plays a lot with shields, and each character is more efficient on specific traps. The balance also has a lot of consequences on level design. We play-tested a lot (and also played with our kids) until we finally reached a good balance and everybody was happy with each character. The good sign is when no one in the room says, “oh no, not this guy again!”

Review Fix: Outside of the six playable characters, there are others that make appearances – what characters can fans expect to see not in the playable roster?

Jacquemain: You can talk to some of the characters’ friends and family members, like Richard, Skips, Belson or Flame Princess, for instance. Some of them also appear in the special “Call of Buddies” attacks, where you literally call your friends for help, including Darwin (yes!), Muscle Man, High-Five Ghost, the three Gems, etc. Of course, you’ll also meet several bosses taken from the shows, but I don’t want to spoil anything here!

Review Fix: What worlds in the Cartoon Network universe will fans be fighting in?

Jacquemain: You’ll visit several locations from each of the main heroes’ home universes, from Clarence’s hometown to Rigby and Mordecai’s park, Uncle Grandpa’s crazy RV, Gumball’s school, etc. Each level also packs in a series of hidden rooms from several iconic locations, which you’ll have to discover by yourselves!

Review Fix: Are there any characters you love that you were not able to tackle in this game?

Jacquemain: Many of them, of course! I think Gumball’s mother, Nicole, has great potential as a badass fighting character, for example. Early on, we also considered bringing in sidekick characters such as BMO or Lady Rainicorn (pretty challenging to animate, I admit), but we chose to focus on a limited roster of satisfying, well-balanced characters instead of an extensive list with less depth for each character.

Review Fix: Over the years, there have been a lot of Cartoon Network-based games over the years – what separates “Battle Crashers” from the rest?

Jacquemain: I think it’s the first time you have these six characters playing into each other’s worlds, like in those exclusive crossover TV shows. Moreover, this is a four-player local multiplayer game where you can drop-in and drop-out of the action whenever you want. And you have this nice “ I think it’s the first time you have these six characters playing into each other’s worlds, like in those exclusive crossover TV shows. Moreover, this is a four-player local multiplayer game where you can drop-in and drop-out of the action whenever you want. And you have this nice “coopetition” gameplay element we designed where you’re fighting together to progress, but, at the same time, trying to steal each other’s’ pick-ups and power-ups to gain the best rewards at the end of the level. This really adds a lot of fun to the game.

Review Fix: I think anyone who has grown up in the past 20 years has a Cartoon Network memory, what kind of memories would you like players to walk away with from “Battle Crashers?”

Jacquemain: We hope players will share a good laugh with their friends! Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers is an original take on characters we love, and we wish fans a fun trip into all these very different and very wacky worlds.