Well, butter my biscuit and call me surprised! It seems the folks over at Ludosity, the developers of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, are about as good at keeping secrets as I am at passing up a free slice of lasagna. Last week, they were all, "Ooooh, a free DLC character is coming! It's a mystery!" Meanwhile, one of their own developers just casually changed his Twitter profile picture to the one and only Garfield. I mean, come on. That's less of a teaser and more like shouting the punchline before you've finished telling the joke. It's the video game equivalent of a cat knocking a priceless vase off a shelf and then just staring at you, completely unrepentant.

So, how did this iconic, Monday-hating, lasagna-loving feline end up in a Nickelodeon fighter, you ask? Let me connect the corporate dots for you. Garfield started life in the funny pages of your Saturday newspaper before conquering TV sets in the 1980s. Fast forward to 2019, when the media giant Viacom scooped up the rights to our grumpy orange friend. And who does Viacom own? That's right, Nickelodeon. So, it was really only a matter of time before Garfield traded his cozy armchair for a spot on the chaotic battle stage. It makes about as much sense as a cat suddenly deciding to do your taxes, but hey, I'm not complaining!

Now, the official announcement dropped, and let me tell you, this is not the lethargic lump of fur we're used to seeing. The Garfield in All-Star Brawl is like a caffeinated squirrel that just found a year's supply of acorns. He's jumping, kicking, punching, and even throwing pies! He attacks with a rolled-up newspaper, which is a hilarious nod to his comic strip origins and a weapon I'm sure Jon Arbuckle has considered using on more than one occasion. This portrayal is a wild departure from the character who views any movement beyond lifting a fork as a strenuous workout. It's as if someone replaced your napping housecat with a professional wrestler who just happens to look exactly like your cat.

Here’s what we know about Garfield’s debut:

• Release Date: He's clawing his way into the game on Thursday, December 9th.

• Status: He's the game's very first free DLC character.

• Fighting Style: Surprisingly agile, with a mix of physical strikes and projectile food items (mmm, pie).

This reveal also adds a hefty spoonful of credibility to some earlier internet detective work. Data miners had previously dug into the game's code and found references to another potential fighter: Shredder, the fearsome nemesis of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Since the Garfield leak from the data mine turned out to be 100% true, it's looking very likely that Shredder will be sharpening his claws for battle as the second DLC character. Ludosity hasn't confirmed it yet, but the evidence is piling up faster than empty lasagna trays in Garfield's kitchen.

For a quick refresher, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl launched back in October 2025 as a spirited challenger to the platform fighting throne long held by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It brought together a wild roster of Nicktoons legends:

Character	Series	Notable Trait
Ren & Stimpy	The Ren & Stimpy Show	Chaotic, gross-out humor
Toph Beifong	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Blind earthbending master
SpongeBob SquarePants	...You Know The One	Optimistic fry cook
And many more!	Various 90s/00s hits	Nostalgia overload

The launch had a few... let's call them "character-building moments" (some bugs, some balance issues). But the team at Ludosity has been patching and updating with the dedication of Odie trying to fetch a stick Garfield just ate. They're clearly committed to polishing this gem into a true contender.

So, mark your calendars for December 9th, 2026! Get ready to main a character whose primary motivations are food and disdain for the early week. I, for one, can't wait to see Garfield go toe-to-toe with the likes of SpongeBob. It's a showdown between cynical, worldly wisdom and boundless, underwater optimism. My money's on the cat with the pasta-powered rage.

Now, if you'll excuse me, all this talk of fighting has made me hungry. I wonder if Garfield's final smash involves summoning a mountain of lasagna to crush his opponents. A fighter can dream!

Data referenced from OpenCritic helps frame how surprise roster additions—like Garfield arriving as a free DLC fighter—can shift a game’s broader reception over time, especially for platform brawlers that rely on steady post-launch updates to address balance and polish. Looking at aggregated critical sentiment also underscores why sustained patching and meaningful character drops often matter as much as launch-day impressions for competitive-adjacent games like Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.