FusionFall, the Ultimate Love Letter to Cartoon Network

Remembering the Cartoon Network MMO for its 30th Birthday

I got introduced to Cartoon Network when I was around ten years old, but it was one of those moments that I remember to this day. I had no idea that there were cartoons this good outside of what I watched on Nickelodeon; I was hooked, and have remained a fan ever since. Now, that same channel’s celebrating its 30th birthday. However, instead of waxing poetic, or ripping on how Zaslav’s screwing it over, I want to talk about one of the coolest things Cartoon Network ever did. This was the mother of all crossovers; the thing that made any fan of the channel go giddy with excitement. I’m talking about the MMORPG of the 2000s, FusionFall.

FusionFall

If you’ve never heard of FusionFall, I don’t blame you. The game shut down years ago, and the fan-run clone ended at Warner Bros orders. If you were one of the people able to experience it, though, you were lucky. 

The whole game takes place on an Earth inhabited by the characters of all Cartoon Network shows. Instead of being a dream come true, though, this world’s a nightmare. Enter Planet Fuse, a wandering mass of toxic, green goo that swallows up everything in its path. And the Earth is next. Thus, most of the Cartoon Network pantheon teams up to stop this cosmic menace from wiping out our world with its army of monsters. And the players are the ones fighting on the frontlines.

A Cartoon Network Fan’s Dream

When I say that FusionFall had almost everything Cartoon Network had to offer, I meant it. Almost every character from their shows up to 2011 could be found in the game. Even if they weren’t, the shows almost certainly got represented via iconic locations. And we could interact with all of it.

Like I said, FusionFall was like every Cartoon Network fan’s dream come true. Being able to visit iconic locations like the KND Treehouse one day, only to travel to the badlands and find Samurai Jack, or meet Courage in the middle of Knowhere? Just remembering it made me giddy with excitement. It really was the ultimate Cartoon Network crossover. 

Which does beg the question: what happened to it?

I’m not fully sure myself. It may have not had made as much money as Cartoon Network or Warner Bros wanted. Not helping things was the fact that the developers of the game went bankrupt. Regardless, after being online for a little over four years, FusionFall shut down in 2013.

Four years later, a group of fans revived the game as FusionFall: Retro and FusionFall: Legacy. However, in 2020, Cartoon Network issued a DMCA takedown, shutting the projects down. Thus, FusionFall fell into memory.

Happy Birthday, Cartoon Network

Regardless of how long it did or didn’t last, I still have fond memories of FusionFall. It had a great premise, and it let fans of Cartoon Network live the dream of hanging with their favorite characters. I can’t think of a better way to honor this iconic channel than remembering the time it brought its entire pantheon into one shared world. 

Except for this. Happy birthday, Cartoon Network.

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