Bugs Bunny had it coming. A right straight, delivered from Batman to his smug face was karmic retribution for decades of… actually I’m not certain what Bugs did, but I was just happy to throw a haymaker at him because he needed to be brought down to size.

In case you’re wondering, this isn’t a repeat of me being tossed out of a Six Flags theme park yet again for attacking an employee dressed as the wascally wabbit, but an example of MultiVersus, an upcoming metaverse brawler that plays like Super Smash Warner Bros.

This isn’t the first time a major company has attempted to wrest the fighting game crown away from Nintendo–Hello PlayStation All-Stars!–but MultiVersus is shaping up to give Smash Bros. some serious competition in that arena. Like its primary inspiration, MultiVersus isn’t so much about whittling down an opponent’s health bar inside of an intense bout, but more about setting them up for that one knockout blow that sends them hurtling out of the arena entirely.

With a stacked roster that includes DC Comics heavyweights alongside Arya Stark, Shaggy and Velma from Scooby Doo, plus even Tom teaming up with that little mouse bastard Jerry, MultiVersus has a cast of characters that reads like fan fiction written by human creatine advert Joe Rogan.

And yet this take on the Smash Bros. formula doesn’t just work well, it works brilliantly thanks to some clever design choices. One such example is that knockouts act as scored points in 2v2 bouts, allowing for both players to stay in a bout and prevent one side from being at a disadvantage. Characters not only have a selection of idiosyncratic moves that shows just how much homework the development team did, but they also have abilities that are designed to foster teamwork and keep each partner in the game.

For example, Shaggy can power up and buff his teammate, several characters can create a tether to one another, and Wonder Woman’s shield provides a defense to her ally if they’re close enough. The keyword of MultiVersus is synergy, and this game is soaked in it. The current closed alpha has been a blast with the 15 characters on offer, and combinations highlighting an amazing amount of depth and potential combo-attacks. Who would have thought that Shaggy and Batman could form a new Dynamic Duo this good?

The biggest–and smartest–draw is that MultiVersus uses rollback netcode to provide a smooth online experience, which several fighting games have begun to adopt as of late. That results in an almost lag-free experience, something crucial to a genre where even a slight foot-shuffle has major ramifications on a match. Combat may be familiar to anyone who’s played Smash Bros., but it also has a freshness to it and a wacky nature that is well-executed by its goofy personality.

When you’ve got Maisie Williams, Matthew Lillard, Kevin Conroy, Tara Strong, and George Newbern in the voice cast, reprising their signature roles, you know the developer is making certain that it caters to fans of those beloved characters.

MultiVersus is also free-to-play, but there are the usual live service elements such as cosmetics, season passes, and character progression to grind for. Because someone needs to keep the lights on at Multiversus headquarters. At least none of these features feel egregious right now.

If all this sounds appealing, you can check out an open beta next month ahead of the official launch of MultiVersus in July for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.