It’s been six years since we’ve gotten a new Super Smash Bros. game. Similar games such as Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and Brawlhalla served that chaotic rush, but now there’s a new fighter joining the lineup. Byte Breakers could be the next breakout fighting game and it’s from the team that brought us Omega Strikers.
A post from Odyssey Interactive on X (formerly Twitter) shared a Byte Breakers Steam page and video from founders Dax Andrus and Richard Henkel. The duo say they announced the game so players could give their feedback on it, taking lessons from releasing Omega Strikers. Giving the power to the players allows them to know if the game is worth developing further.
“To call out the elephant in the room, making a platform fighter is scary. You’re gonna always be compared to one of the greatest series of all time. But to us, that’s also exciting. We’re not trying to make a better Smash, we’re trying to build an evolution of the genre that Smash started way back when we were kids.” Dax said.
What makes Byte Breakers stand out from previous games in the genre is its massive 40-player lobby. That means the maps will be expansive and large enough to accommodate such a vast amount of players. In the fashion of games like Super Smash Bros. Byte Breakers will include a roster of characters, many from Omega Strikers, power ups, items, and a selection of maps to choose from.
A playtest is being held to give players exactly that chance. The team at Odyssey Interactive will listen to the feedback from players to determine what to do with the future of Byte Breakers. Marketing Director for the studio Ryan Rigney posted that the game may not even be shipped at all. That it all depends on what people think about it.
“We might not actually ship it. We’re playtesting in public to find out whether we should. This isn’t rhetoric—we’re serious. If you love it, we double down. If not, we icebox it.”
The team is calling it a prototype and will announce more details as the playtest continues.