MultiVersus Update Adds Fan-Requested Feature

MultiVersus‘s new patch brought an important feature its fans have been requesting for months: the ability to play any character in local game modes. MultiVersus has been rolling along in the months since its official launch in May 2024, with a stream of new characters and improvements being added to the game.

Prior to this, MultiVersus strangely removed the ability to play any character in local modes at launch, after establishing it during the beta period. This led to players calling for the whole roster to be restored, especially after it looked like Warner Bros. had done this in order to entice people to spend money buying the characters they wanted. Unfortunately, such a decision is typical of free-to-play games relying on microtransactions to make profits.

On its August 29 update, MultiVersus finally officially added the feature back. The game also made some more changes to its play experience, including a much-needed parity measure where players with two or more ranking tiers from each other will not be matched in the recently added Ranked mode of MultiVersus, while parties of two will have their matchups based on the higher-ranked player. The patch also improves MultiVersus‘s ground bounce combos for more dynamic juggling combinations and more nuanced gameplay.

Other than the general changes in the patch, a few characters were also buffed, nerfed, and had bugs fixed, most notably Beetlejuice and Agent Smith. Beetlejuice has proven to be a capable Assassin in MultiVersus, and his extensive changes, which include damage buffs and knockback scaling increases, make it clear that the developers are pushing him so players get the most out of the new character. Meanwhile, Agent Smith has some of his animations and windows improved, while Morty’s Air Side Attack 1 has been reverted to its state from before the changes in Patch 1.2.0, making the move more consistent.

On the topic of characters, MultiVersus recently added legendary Cartoon Network character Samurai Jack in a recent update. With nearly 30 characters available on its roster from a wide variety of Warner Bros. IPs, it’s only natural that fans would want to play with as many of them as possible. Allowing free, unrestricted access to all the characters in local modes is a great way to keep fans playing the game, and even entice them to actually spend money or put in the time to grind for the ones they want to use in online multiplayer.

MultiVersus Patch 1.2.3 Notes

General

• All fighters are now available for play in local play game modes
• In Ranked modes, players will no longer be matched where there is a difference of more than 2 full tiers in Rank. For 2v2, parties of 2 will be matched based on the higher ranked player in the party.
• In Platinum, Diamond, and Master tiers RP loss is capped at -19.
• If you haven’t played a character recently, your win/loss streak will be reset for the purpose of matchmaking. This applies to both Ranked and Unranked modes.

General Combat

• Air Down and Air Down-Forward Dodges will now more reliably land on platforms
• Certain air attacks now maintain less momentum when executed as part of a dodge off of a platform

General Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue where controller rumble was not properly playing
• Fixed an issue where the Marceline Ringout was disabled
• Fixed an issue where Voice Lines were not playing for some characters

Rifts

• “In The Shadows” gem is now re-enabled
• Fixed issues with the camera preventing progression during the co-op golf mini-game

Characters

• Agent Smith
  • Ground Up Attack
    • On-hit cancel window advanced 2 frames
  • Air Up Attack
    • Repeat-move lockout reduced to 13 frames from 18 frames
  • Air Neutral Special
    • Start-up window before charge reduced 4 frames
• Beetlejuice
  • Ground Dash Attack
    • Knockback scaling increased to 20 from 18
    • Damage increased to 9 from 8
  • Ground Side Attack 2
    • On-hit cancel window advanced 1 frame
    • Hitstun reduced
  • Ground Side Attack 3
    • Start-up window reduced 3 frames
  • Ground Down Attack
    • Start-up window before charge reduced 4 frames
  • Ground Up Attack
    • On-hit cancel window advanced 5 frames
    • Hitbox updated to better match the fist on up attack
  • Air Side Attack
    • Damage increased to 8 from 7
    • Knockback scaling increased to 15 from 13.5
  • Air Up Attack
    • Damage increased to 7 from 6
    • Knockback scaling increased to 9 from 8
  • Ground Down Special
    • Fixed an issue where the bomb visuals would stay on screen if the ground disappeared underneath Beetlejuice
  • Air Side Special
    • Sour Spot Hitbox Damage increased to 7 from 5
    • Sour Spot Hitbox Knockback reduced to 2650 from 2800
    • Knockback Scaling to 15 from 9
• Garnet
  • “Marker” Perk
    • Gauntlets no longer spawn a star if the gauntlets are too close to the edge of the arena
• Jake
  • Air/Ground Side Special
    • Fixed an issue where Jake wouldn’t look like he was running while moving as a horse
• LeBron
  • Air Down Attack (Basketball and No Basketball Versions)
    • Now allows fast-fall during attack start-up
  • Air Neutral Attack
    • More upward aerial momentum is maintained on attack start-up
• Morty
  • Air Side Attack 1
    • Knockback reduced to 1000 from 1300
    • Knockback scaling reduced to 5 from 6
    • Knockback angle made more horizontal allows for more ground bouncing
  • Air Down Attack
    • Hitbox start-up time advanced 1 frame; Hitbox active duration increased 1 frame
    • Visual effects now better match attack properties
  • Ground Up Attack
    • Gun tip Hitbox damage increased to 6 from 1
    • Knockback increased to 1350 from 750
• Reindog
  • Ground Side Attack 1
  • Air Side Attack
    • Knockback made more downwards to allow ground bounce combos
  • Air Neutral Attack
    • Projectile start-up time reduced 1 frame
• Shaggy
  • Rage Air Side Special
    • Fixed an issue where this attack was breaking armor unintentionally
• Taz
  • Dodge Land
    • Fixed an issue where Taz’s dodge land would not slide off of platforms