Marvel Rivals' Goofiest Addition is Hopefully Just the…

Multiplayer shooter games like Marvel Rivals are often created and maintained with the competitive scene in mind. However, there’s always room for some lighthearted fun. Titles like Fortnite and Overwatch 2 often provide whimsical cosmetics and limited-time game modes to let players have fun and unwind during and after their intense ranked matches. It looks like Marvel Rivals also took a crack at injecting more humor into the game through a recently concluded limited mode.

Marvel Rivals took the competitive shooter scene by storm when it released in December 2024, capturing over 600,000 concurrent players. It’s no surprise that the hero shooter genre is quite popular, and the game’s characters have a massive following among different generations of gamers. As with any multiplayer title, however, the hype is bound to die down. Marvel Rivals recently hit a new low of 159,426 concurrent players in early May 2025, so it could benefit from rolling out some fun new features like the limited Giant-Size Brain Blast Game Mode to encourage fans to get back into the action.

Marvel Rivals Namor Skin Pleasant Surprise

Why Namor's New Marvel Rivals Skin is a Pleasant Surprise

Marvel Rivals recently released an X-Men-inspired Namor skin, which is a pleasant homage to the Atlantean hero's mutant roots.

Posts

By Jackie Arias

Marvel Rivals’ Giant-Size Brain Blast Should be the First of Many Wacky Game Modes

Marvel Rivals’ Giant-Size Brain Blast ran for two cycles, from April 25, 2025, to April 28, 2025, and May 2, 2025, to May 5, 2025. For those who missed out on the event, the mode looks just like it sounds. The Marvel Rivals characters’ heads are supersized to look like silly-looking bobble-heads, making it significantly easier for everyone to land those crisp headshots. This wacky feature called for a more lenient set of rules, too.

Within this mode, the two competing teams raced to score 50 points. If both groups failed to reach that limit within four minutes, the team with the highest score was the victor. Tokyo 2099 Ninomaru is the only map that this mode can be played in, with the rewards for this mode including:

Brain Blast Emote: Players got this after they played 10 rounds of the game mode. They then have the choice to assign it to a hero of their choosing. Players could also get this emote from the store for 400 units.
Brain Blast Titles: Players also got limited Brain Blast titles when they placed on their character’s leaderboard during the event. Top 500 netted a “Giant-Sized-Brain [Hero Name]” title. Those who placed in the Top 100 got the “Monster-Sized-Brain,” and players who eked into the Top 10 got the prestigious “Planet-Sized-Brain.”

Marvel Rivals’ Whimsical Modes Shouldn’t Stop at Brain Blast

Marvel Rivals is currently seen as a casual-competitive hybrid type of shooter because of its more lenient abilities. There’s more room for seemingly difficult-to-counter shenanigans, like Jeff’s team-swallowing ultimate and the melee Iron Fist being able to pick off flying enemies, compared to its closest competitor: Overwatch 2. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If anything, a more laid-back multiplayer shooter game is exactly what the gaming scene needs to counter the pressure and vitriol that comes from the more competitive titles. As such, Marvel Rivals should continue to lean into its more whimsical side and release even more fun and out-of-left-field game modes like Giant-Size Brain-Blast.

The game could take a page out of other games like Call of Duty Zombies. Its Whimsical GobbleGums provide pointless but fun power-ups, like dressing the undead in rubber ducky floats or Christmas attires. Other hilarious effects include weird color overlays, floating corpses, and getting zombies to projectile vomit when killing them.

Perhaps Marvel Rivals could create a mode with similarly silly perks that players could acquire through team-ups, parodying one of the game's best features. It could also introduce more sports-themed modes, similar to its Overwatch 2 Lucioball equivalent, Clash of Dancing Lions. When it has created enough casual modes, it could rotate them in the Arcade section throughout the season, ensuring there's always something fresh for those looking to goof around. While such modes likely won’t be the main attraction, they’ll be the perfect palate cleanser for players coming from rough ranked games or those who just want to have some pressure-free fun with their pals.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image