SMITE: Battleground of the Gods added another crossover to its expansive lineup of collabs this week by unveiling new Nickelodeon skins that'll soon be added to the game. This crossover event is scheduled to get underway in July 12th, and with it will come five new cosmetics mirroring the looks of Danny Phantom, Invader Zim, Rocko from Rocko's Modern Life, Powdered Toastman from Ren & Stimpy, and XJ9 from My Life as a Teenage Robot. Each of the five skins will be available for five different gods, but even if you don't end up paying for those to own them, you can get some different cosmetics for free by completing challenges.
Danny Phantom's skin is for Janus, Rocko's is for Danzburou, XJ9's is for Freya, Powdered Toastman's is for Gilgamesh, and Invader Zim's is for Cupid. The trailer below shows what these skins look like in action within Smite. We don't have prices for them just yet, but players can expect them to follow the premium pricing trend established in past crossovers.
The trailer that shows a lighter side of Zeus as he interacts with the Nicktoons characters before being slimed. The trailer gives Smite fans a brief glimpse at what they'll see with the Nickelodeon crossover like Rocko riding a vacuum and wielding a remote, Zim riding an inflatable before summoning Gir with an army of Minimoose, and Danny Phantom shooting ecto-energy prior to opening a portal which presumably can be used to traverse the battlefield. Like in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, XJ9 takes to the sky to unleash an aerial attack on her foes in the Smite x Nickelodeon trailer, while Powdered Toastman enters the arena with a ground pound as he fittingly wields a butter knife.
As mentioned previously, Smite has had tons of crossovers already. Just recently, it introduced a crossover with the metal group Slipknot which was one of the most unexpected crossovers even considering already how many there are in the game. Transformers heavies Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream joined the roster last year. Other Nickelodeon properties like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Avatar: The Last Airbender as well as Legend of Korra characters have been added in the past, too, but Smite's creators pointed out that this will be the first time the game has benefitted from a collab introducing multiple characters from different shows at once.
"This is our first crossover that includes characters from multiple completely different shows, which presented an interesting challenge to the team," said A.J. Walker, the design director at Titan Forge Games. "For example: how do you turn a feisty musket-toting Tanuki (Danzaburou) into a shirt-wearing, tv-watching Wallaby (Rocko)? By turning the musket into a remote control, of course! We wanted to design every character in a way that did their Nickelodeon origins justice."
On top of the skins being added with Smite x Nickelodeon, there will be a dozen free cosmetics for players to unlock such as the Global Emote or Gir Jump Stamp, allowing Nickelodeon fans to express themselves in numerous ways.
Titan Forge Games also said PlayStation Plus subscribers would have an opportunity to purchase a bundle including the five gods mentioned above as well as their voice packs.
Based on the positive reception to Smite's previous Nickelodeon crossovers with TMNT and Avatar, many Smite fans are expressing the same excitement for this latest batch of characters. Several responses to the Nickelodeon trailer crossover voiced enthusiasm for each of the shows as well as Hi Rez Studios' ability to do all sorts of different kinds of crossovers rather than sticking to a tone or specific style. Some fans utilized the opportunity of another Smite crossover to voice their hopes for future ones that include SpongeBob SquarePants, Jimmy Neutron, Cartoon Network, Fortnite, Berserk, and more.
Further details about the crossover event and the rest of Smite’s midseason update will be announced at the upcoming update show later this week. The midseason update show will be live at 2pm CT on July 6, via the official Smite Twitch channel.
From the PlayStation Blog:
Nickelodeon and Smite collide in an all-new crossover, live July 12
Plus Titan Forge Games takes a look back at Smite’s colorful crossover journey.
A.J. “TitanAjax” Walker, Designer Director, Titan Forge Games
Don’t touch that remote! Danny Phantom, Invader Zim, Rocko, Powdered Toastman, and XJ9 battle Gods in the all-new Nickelodeon x Smite crossover event going live July 12! After the success of Smite’s previous crossovers with Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, we’re going all out this time to bring you your favorite characters from across Nickelodeon’s roster.
Bringing these iconic Nickelodeon characters into the Battleground of the Gods was an incredible experience for our team, and I’m so proud of how these skins turned out.
Wait… Danny Phantom in Smite?
Yup, you heard that right! Every Classic Nickelodeon character materializes in Smite as a dazzling skin for an existing Smite God: Danny Phantom Janus, Rocko Danzburou, XJ9 Freya, Powdered Toastman Gilgamesh, and Invader Zim Cupid. Plus, players can unlock a dozen free Nickelodeon cosmetic rewards like the meme-worthy smashing Global Emote or Gir Jump Stamp, just by playing Smite games and completing quests.
Why Nickelodeon?
“Excited” doesn’t even begin to explain how our team reacted when the news broke about the Nickelodeon crossover. Our team dove into the project with animated enthusiasm, developing imaginative ideas and amazing content. While we’ve worked with the Paramount team before, this crossover covered so many different generations of childhood television that it brought up a lot of nostalgia for the team. We hope that our community will experience that same feeling of nostalgia when they see some of their favorite Nickelodeon characters realized in Smite.
This is our first crossover that includes characters from multiple completely different shows, which presented an interesting challenge to the team. For example: how do you turn a feisty musket-toting Tanuki (Danzaburou) into a shirt-wearing, tv-watching Wallaby (Rocko)? By turning the musket into a remote control, of course! We wanted to design every character in a way that did their Nickelodeon origins justice.
From the Gods of Mt. Olympus to the Heroes of Nickelodeon…
Smite has come a long way since its PS4 launch in 2016, going from 17 gods to now over 121 in total. As the roster of deities grew, so did the number of pantheons in the game. At first, the precedent was set: Smite was the Battleground of the Gods – and as such; we’d only be including actual Gods and Goddesses from times past.
As the game matured, we started to push back against these boundaries. The team decided that King Arthur, from Arthurian myth, would be an ideal addition to Smite. Sure, he’s not a god, but he is a figure of myth.
We followed up the Arthurian Pantheon with Cthulhu, the legendary tentacled Great Old One. Smite’s lore is simple: If people believe in a God, if they talk about it, they make it real – even more modern entries like Cthulhu. These legendary figures from history and mythology brought a breath of creative freedom to the Battlegrounds – giving us the chance to include even more characters that didn’t fit the “standard” mold.
And as we looked toward expanding our collection of characters in Smite, we wanted to stay authentic to the game. why you’ll see all these crossovers as Skins and not as God additions. But we think these crossovers resonate with our community because this idea of crossovers is at the core of Smite. And we love welcoming new communities that are as passionate about these great IPs as we are about the pantheons of Smite.
Smite’s First Nickelodeon Crossover: Avatar: The Last Airbender
The first Nickelodeon crossover to hit Smite was the legendary Smite x Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover. The Titan Forge Games team is full of diehard Avatar fans and was overjoyed to bring the Avatar world to life in Smite. This world-bending crossover event saw Aang, Zuko, Korra, and Naga face their toughest challenge yet: the Battleground of the Gods.
This project included many technical challenges that the Titan Forge team had to overcome. For example: How do we make Merlin, a full-size adult, into a child (Aang, from Avatar: The Last Airbender)? Merlin was chosen for Aang because of his use of different elements. It felt like it would fit best for Aang’s Character- but Merlin looked nothing like Aang. Modeling, rigging, and animation departments had to collaborate to make the skin a success.
Aang was referred to internally as a “god-Level” skin. He doesn’t share any of Merlin’s base assets. The only thing that is similar to Merlin is the timing of the abilities. He was created from the ground up, completely from scratch. Every single part of the Aang skin was created entirely new so that we could make sure that Aang was represented in the best possible way. A bunch of us here on the Titan Forge team are huge fans of the show, so we were able to easily find references to fit into the game.
We followed up on Avatar with another Nickelodeon classic: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Featuring Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo; this crossover was full of incredible content from the classic animated show. Cowabunga!
More Smite Crossover Hits:
Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long from RoosterTeeth’s hit anime series RWBY was the first crossover to crash into Smite as a resounding success. Our players loved the inclusion of these bombastic huntresses and clamored for more crossover content. Smite slipped into the Upside-Down with the Smite x Stranger Things crossover; which included four fan-favorite characters from Stranger Things: Eleven, Hopper, The Mind
Flayer, and The Demogorgon.
Transformers rolled out onto the Battleground of the Gods in 2021, with Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream.
Soon after that, the Titan Forge team broke the mold yet again with the Monstercat Crossover. This bass-pounding crossover used music to help define a variety of EDM-inspired skins, like Crab Rave Khepri.
Quickly following up on that endeavor, Smite released their Rambo crossover in April 2022.
Our most recent crossover (before today’s Nickelodeon news) was an entirely new kind of crossover: Slipknot. This massive crossover included nine new skins for the Gods of Smite, accompanied by a head-banging Music Pack created with original Slipknot anthems.
All of these projects have culminated in our newest incredible collaboration : The Smite x Nickelodeon crossover event, and we’re so excited for players to dive in starting July 12.
Special offer for PlayStation Plus members
To celebrate the Nickelodeon crossover, we’ve put together a limited-time offer for
PlayStation Plus Members*. The Smite x Nickelodeon Plus Pack unlocks all five Gods featured in the Nickelodeon Event (Invader Zim Cupid, Rocko Danzburou, XJ9 Freya, Powdered Toastman Gilgamesh, and Danny Phantom Janus) and their Voice Packs.
This offer does not include the Nickelodeon Skins or Cosmetics.
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Of course, there’s already an outlet for Nick fans to throw down as these characters: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. In fact, all five of them are confirmed characters for that platform fighter too. Powdered Toast Man, Zim, and Danny Phantom were a part of the game on day one, while Rocko and XJ9 are being added as DLC. The game also saw a big update in May, which added voice acting, items, and more.
Stream all your favorite Nickelodeon shows old and new on Paramount+. Try it FREE at ParamountPlus.com!
More Nick: Nickelodeon Supercharges Its Franchise Strategy With Steady Stream of New Premium Content for 2022-23 Season!
Originally published: July 05, 2022 at 20:46 BST.
