PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale could have been a party game, beat-'em-up

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale wasn't a brawler until six months in development.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a 4-player brawler in the vein of Super Smash Bros., but that wasn't always the case.

"During the [design] process, many different games came out of it. Not just fighting," said Game Director Omar Kendall. "When [Chan Park, President of SuperBot Entertainment] talks about combat, he speaks on a high level. This game wasn't even a fighting game at certain points.

According to Kendall, the team experimented with various genres including beat-'em-up and party games. "The team settled on [Battle Royale] about 6 months into the process," said Kendall. "About a year and a half ago."

Two key characters have always been part of the game. "Kratos and Sweet Tooth existed in all the various incarnations," said Kendall, "and when the 4-player fighting game was chosen, they added more [characters]."