Let’s be real for a second. If you were around in 2012, you remember the hype. We were finally getting the "Sony Smash Bros." It felt like a fever dream. Imagine Kratos ripping through Sackboy or Nathan Drake trying to headshot a PaRappa the Rapper. The playstation all stars roster was, on paper, the greatest crossover event in gaming history.
But then the game actually came out.
Look, I love this game. I still have it on my Vita, and honestly, the combat system—while controversial—had some legs. But that roster? It’s a fascinating case study in licensing nightmares, weird marketing decisions, and what happens when you miss the "Icons" for the "Adverts." We’re going to look at what really happened with those characters, who got left on the cutting room floor, and why it still feels like a massive "what if."
The Core 20: Who Actually Made the Cut?
The base game launched with 20 characters. It wasn't a small number for a first entry, but the selection felt... let's say "eclectic." You had your heavy hitters. Kratos was a given. Nathan Drake was at the height of his Uncharted fame. Sackboy was the face of the PS3 era.
Then things got weird.
The Heavy Hitters
- Kratos (God of War): He was basically the Ryu of this game. Everyone played him. His range with the Blades of Chaos was oppressive.
- Nathan Drake (Uncharted): They actually did a great job with him, using cover mechanics and propane tanks.
- Sly Cooper: One of the few characters who actually felt "right" in a platform fighter.
- Ratchet & Clank: They played like a traditional zoner, and it worked.
The "Wait, Why?" Additions
We have to talk about Fat Princess. I love that game, but as a "representative" of the PlayStation brand? It felt like a reach. Then there was Toro Inoue, the Sony Cat. If you aren't from Japan, you probably had zero clue who this was. He’s a mascot, sure, but in a game where people wanted Crash Bandicoot, Toro felt like a slot wasted.
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And we can't ignore the "Two Coles" situation. Cole MacGrath and Evil Cole MacGrath took up two separate slots. In a game with only 20 characters, having 10% of your roster be the same guy in a different shirt was a tough pill for fans to swallow. SuperBot Entertainment (the developers) later admitted they wanted them to be one character that transformed, but the IP holders pushed for two.
The Third-Party Problem: Why No Crash or Spyro?
This is the question that defines the playstation all stars roster legacy. How do you make a PlayStation celebration and leave out the two characters that literally built the brand's foundation?
Basically, it came down to money and ownership. By 2012, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon were owned by Activision. Reports from the time, and later reflections from developers like Omar Kendall, suggested that the licensing fees were just too high. Sony didn't own their own icons anymore.
Instead of the orange marsupial, we got:
- Big Daddy (BioShock): Cool? Yes. A PlayStation icon? Not really. BioShock was a timed Xbox exclusive at first.
- Dante (DmC: Devil May Cry): This was the biggest sting. Fans wanted the classic, white-haired Dante. Instead, they got the "reboot" Dante because Capcom was pushing the new game.
- Raiden (Metal Gear Solid): Another weird one. We wanted Solid Snake. We got Metal Gear Rising Raiden because, again, it was the "current" game to promote.
It felt less like a Hall of Fame and more like a 2012 trade show floor.
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The DLC That Almost Saved It
The roster eventually grew to 24 with DLC. These additions were actually pretty great, though they came too late to save the game's momentum.
- Kat (Gravity Rush): Easily one of the most creative fighters in the game. Her gravity-shifting mechanics were a nightmare to balance but a joy to play.
- Emmett Graves (Starhawk): He could call down buildings. It was a neat gimmick that stayed true to his game.
- Isaac Clarke (Dead Space): Another third-party addition, but he fit the "brutal" vibe of the game.
- Zeus (God of War): Because apparently, we didn't have enough God of War representation.
There were plans for more. Dart from The Legend of Dragoon and Abe from Oddworld were deep in development. Concept art for Dart exists, and fans still mourn what could have been. If the game hadn't underperformed, these "cult classics" might have given the roster the soul it was missing.
Why the "Super to Kill" Mechanic Ruined the Roster
We can't talk about these characters without talking about how they played. In Smash Bros, you knock people off the stage. In All Stars, the only way to get a point was to use a Super Move.
This meant characters weren't judged on their movesets, but on how "guaranteed" their Level 1 Super was. Kratos and Raiden were top-tier because their Supers were fast and easy to land. Characters like PaRappa or Sir Daniel Fortesque had awkward Supers that made them frustrating to play in high-level matches.
It fundamentally broke the "All Star" feeling. It didn't matter if you were playing as your favorite character if their only way of winning felt like a chore.
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The Legacy of the PlayStation All Stars Roster
Does it still matter in 2026? Surprisingly, yeah. You see the DNA of this game everywhere. When Sony launched Astro Bot, the first thing everyone did was look for the "cameos." That’s what All Stars should have been—a massive, unfiltered celebration.
The game failed commercially (selling roughly a million copies in its first year, way below Sony's hopes), but it proved there is a massive hunger for a PlayStation crossover. We just want it done right. We want the characters we grew up with, not just the ones with a sequel coming out next month.
What We Can Learn from the Roster Failures
If you're a fan of these games or just a student of gaming history, here’s the takeaway:
- Licensing is King: You can't build a "legacy" game if you don't own the keys to the castle.
- Fan Service > Marketing: Promoting DmC Dante over Classic Dante was a mistake that alienated the core audience.
- Gameplay Must Match the Character: Putting characters into a "Super or nothing" box stripped away their individuality.
If Sony ever decides to give this another shot—maybe for the PS6—they need to look at the playstation all stars roster as a blueprint of what to avoid. Give us Crash. Give us Spyro. Give us Joel and Ellie. And for the love of everything, just let us knock people off the stage.
The best way to experience the roster today is honestly through the community-run servers or by digging out a PS3. Despite the flaws, there's a certain charm in seeing Sackboy and Sweet Tooth in the same frame. It’s a messy, weird, beautiful relic of a different era of PlayStation.
To really appreciate the depth of what was attempted, you should look into the "Title Fight" leaks from early development. Seeing the placeholder assets for characters like Master Onion really shows how much bigger the vision was before the realities of game development and licensing fees kicked in. The dream of a perfect PlayStation fighter isn't dead; it's just waiting for a roster that actually earns the name "All Star."