If you aren’t aware of it, it’s a Warner Bros-themed Smash Bros-alike.

You choose from a bunch of familiar characters, and then fight on 2D stages.

Best of four wins.

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Not simple, obviously, and here’s where an admission comes in.

But I am thick and slow and these games have always looked fast and complicated.

I think there are two reasons MultiVersus clicked.

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The second reason goes in the opposite direction a little.

you’ve got the option to play as Bugs Bunny in MultiVersus.

And Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

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This makes a real difference.

It makes the game - for a person like me in their 40s - particularly easy to get into.

I know Bugs Bunny.

I know Batman, and Shaggy, and Wonder Woman.

With MultiVersus I just learned: directional attack button, directional special button, dodge, jump.

And then I let my deeper knowledge of the characters do the rest.

And weirdly it’s worked.

I know that Batman’s going to be fast and use gadgets.

Bugs was nerfed recently, but he’s still a badass.

Nobody messes with Bugs.

I know that all this is true of Nintendo too, but there are a few differences.

There’s a sort of superpositioning.

It’s easy when it’s Mario, sure.

The guy drives a car.

I guess I’ll be jumping a lot?

With Warner stuff, though, I go straight to the personality.

There’s nothing else to confuse me and overlap in my mind and get me in a muddle.

They own Batman, which I have known and loved since I was 11.

They own Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera stuff, and I was loving this stuff before I could speak.

I’ve known Bugs Bunny longer than I’ve known both my younger sisters.

Bugs Bunny was my wife’s first crush.

Is this how I became good at MultiVersus?

And actually I’m still terrible at it.

If you play me, it’s going to feel like a vacation for you.

But it’s given me a foot in the door.

The rest comes later - but I feel like I’m ready for it.