AlteredBeast
Smash Lord
Who is Maxwell and what is Scribblenauts?
Maxwell is the main protagonist of the video game series Scribblenauts. He has a magic notebook that he brings with him and he uses it to write words in to make things appear or change. He solves puzzles by collecting “Starites” and can write words to summon animals, objects, vehicles, famous people, even internet memes, etc. He may not have much of a personality or backstory but he has quite a knack for writing and vocabulary. I suppose we can all call him a word wizard per say.
To answer the second part of the first question, Scribblenauts is a puzzle action video game franchise that involves you playing as Maxwell and solving puzzles. However, in the latest entry Scribblenauts Showdown, it had more party-game oriented gameplay than action puzzle gameplay. The games were developed by 5th Cell but they were published by Warner Bros Interactive Development. Therefore, he is eligible for MultiVersus.
For those wanting to learn a bit more about the history of the franchise, I’ll give you all a rundown. Warning: it is lengthy.
Scribblenauts was first conceived of back in Q2 of 2007. Jeremiah Slackza, the creative director of 5th Cell at the time came up with a concept that he conceived of with the idea of Mad Libs coming to life. You can write one thing and it appears. However, this idea was not that easy at first. During development though, the programmers decided to push the limit of the DS and it succeeded. There was one other problem though with the game; there was no publisher to publish said game. Warner Bros. Interactive Development officially became the publisher of the game in May 2009. 5th Cell thought the company was the best to publish it due to their close proximity to said company.
The first Scribblenauts game was revealed at the E3 2009 convention. It was considered the “sleeper hit” back then. However, this game was the first ever portable game in history to receive “Best of Show” awards for E3 from any major gaming outlet. That is quite impressive. Even IGN called the game ingenious for this time. There was even a huge launch event back on September 13th, 2009 at the Nintendo World Store (now known as Nintendo NY) in NYC where the developers were there and fans got Maxwell’s signature rooster hat.
Overall, the first game was very well received by reviewers and fans alike. While there were problems with movement with controls and moving Maxwell, people loved the gameplay of summoning objects. It was an achievement in itself.
Moving to October 2010, a sequel game came out due to Scribblenauts’s success being Super Scribblenauts. This game now has a higher amount of vocabulary in the game such as adjectives being added to influence an object’s behavior, size, etc. At the end of the game, there was a final boss fight where you fight against Maxwell’s evil Doppelganger who stole his last Starite. This game also broke the fourth wall by telling the player that the last Starite got broken in the UFO crash and yet you can make a new one from the NotePad you had. The controls were much improved after the complaints from the first game and it was well-recieved yet again.
A year later, Scribblenauts Remix came out to IOS and in 2012 to Android. The game was a combination of the first game as well as Super Scribblenauts. There were also ten new levels in the game. This game was the top selling game in the App Store on the week of November 14th, 2011 dethroning Angry Birds. That’s wild, isn’t it? By February 2012, the game got 1,000,000 downloads. The game then received an update with a Valentine’s Day themed playground. This game uses features within the IOS system such as the built-in phone keyboard and allowed for the cloud storage to share the game with other devices in someone’s cloud storage.
2012 saw Scribblenauts get its first release on home console and fourth entry in the series being Scribblenauts Unlimited. The game came out for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS on November 13th, 2012 as the game was a launch title with the Wii U console. The game also came out to Microsoft Windows in 2012 as well. In addition, the game saw a port to IOS and Android in 2015 and to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018. The game was more open-world based and allowed for exploration but it was very similar to Super Scribblenauts. You also will learn in this game about Maxwell’s family and how his parents who were travelers and gave Maxwell his trademark magical notebook and Lily; Maxwell’s sister, a magical globe that can take her anywhere in the world.
In the game, Maxwell decided to prank an old man who was hungry by giving him a rotten apple. However, the old man decided to put a curse on Lily to teach Maxwell that he is spoiled. Then, Maxwell and Lily went to their older brother Edwin’s farm to learn about the “Starites” which Maxwell must collect to free Lily from the curse. In the end, Lily was freed and the old man turned out to be Maxwell’s father in disguise. Overall, all ends well and the family makes sixpence. Reviewers gave this game high praise. However, most reviewers thought this game was too short but still allowed for creativity.
The following year saw the release of the Scribblenauts franchise’s first lengthy crossover aside from a few Nintendo-themed objects in the Nintendo version of Scribblenauts Unlimited. I am of course referring to Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. This involved Maxwell and Lily being both comic book geeks and argue about which superhero would win in a fight. Therefore, with help from Lily’s globe and Maxwell’s notebook, they are able to find out the answer to their question. However, they land in Gotham City and must collect the “Starites” to aid them. The narrator for this game is actually Alfred Pennyworth. Along with that, this game just about has every DC Comics character. Quite awesome for the DC Superfan if you ask me. Maxwell also gains DC themed gadgets through a utility belt including a grappling hook, a jetpack and can even summon DC superheroes like Beast Boy. The game came out on Windows, the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS in 2013. The Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 all received a port of this game in 2018. Overall, there was praise for this game due to the plethora of challenges this game has to offer.
After a five year hiatus due to 5th Cell laying off their employees and winding down operations, the Scribblenauts franchise returned with their most recent game being Scribblenauts Showdown which was the first Scribblenauts game not to be developed by 5th Cell. The game came out on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Unlike the other games, Scribblenauts Showdown was more akin to being a party game ala Mario Party. The game took place on a board and involved minigames. Before the minigame, players would choose a noun that would help them win the minigame. There was also a 1 v 1 mode but that did not have the board game aspect. This game was not well received due to limited creativity and taking away the main identity of Scribblenauts. Also, in 2018, Scribblenauts Unlimited and Scribblenauts Unmasked came as a port to the Switch, PS4 and Xbox One in the form of the Scribblenauts Megapack which added new content as well.
There were also two titles planned for the franchise but canceled being Scribblenauts: Fighting Words which would have been a beat-em up style game and a 3D action game (title unknown) that was leaked in 2019 on Instagram. Since 2018, Scribblenauts had not seen the light of day and has not made a comeback. The IP is right now dormant. However, MultiVersus could fix this. This leads me to my next question.
Why should Maxwell be in MultiVersus?
Although Scribblenauts has been dormant for a few years, it has made a great impact on mobile console gaming and was an extremely innovative game for the time. Lots of people will just feel nostalgic seeing Maxwell or any Scribblenauts related content in MultiVersus. I know Warner Bros does not put their video game IPs first. However, I feel Maxwell would be a perfect addition to showcase the diversity and variety of IPs Warner Bros owns. Heck, he had a crossover with the DC Comics characters which is one of the biggest subsidiaries Warner Bros owns. Due to MultiVersus also having a big focus on internet memes, Maxwell is kind of a meme summoner as the games have seen him write internet memes into the game. Also, he fits in perfectly with the cartoony-ish nature of MultiVersus due to Scribblenauts’s zany nature. He’s also highly talked about by the speculation community for this game. I also feel if Maxwell joins MultiVersus, it could possibly gauge interest for a Scribblenauts revival. Hopefully if the MultiVersus developers are able to work out with Maxwell’s complex kit as well as see the demand for him, he’d be a perfect addition. Talking about Maxwell’s complex kit leads me to my final question…
How will Maxwell fight? What can he bring to the table?
Technically, Maxwell would be a support character. He could buff himself or his teammate via using adjectives. However, I am thinking due to his complicated kit in Scribblenauts, I’m thinking he can have more of a gameplay akin to Hero from Super Smash Bros Ultimate. I mean, the developers can take Maxwell’s moveset in any direction. He can summon memes to fight, weapons to help him fight, adjectives to buff/nerf him or his teammate or even his opponents. He’s just got so much to work with. Therefore, I cannot even write a concrete moveset for him.
Beyond his fighting style, Maxwell can also bring a cool stage being any cool location from Scribblenauts or a traveling stage which can take the fighters around the Scribblenauts universe. He also has a plethora of alternate costumes as well (his Doppleganger could be an alternate costume as well). There’s also a good soundtrack that can be used from Scribblenauts Unlimited and Scribblenauts Unmasked. Overall, with the content he can bring, Maxwell is a perfect addition for MultiVersus despite the IP being dormant these days. Scribblenauts is definitely a diamond in the rough for sure.
These are just two of the many themes from the Scribblenauts series that can be used.
Maxwell’s Scribes (Supporters)
AlteredBeast
DaUsername
Torgo the Bear
silenthunder
Greenhorne Ethan
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