Like many licensed properties, Marvel has had a mixed relationship with the video game world. From questionable early Commodore 64 games to some cash-hungry mobile games in recent years, not every Marvel game is worth remembering. But amid some duds, we’ve been treated to several excellent releases over the years, many of which still hold up to some fun play sessions to this day.
Arcade Fun
A cavalcade of Marvel video games hit home computers in the 1980s, including properties as varied as the Fantastic Four and even Howard the Duck. However, for many fans, the first great Marvel comics games didn’t arrive until the early 1990s, helping to heighten the spreading popularity of side-scrolling brawlers. Data East’s Captain America and the Avengers (1991) went a long way toward establishing the potential for a big multiplayer comic game. The arcade title was especially notable for the broad range of allied Avengers and enemy supervillains that showed up. In addition to playable versions of Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Vision, we also are treated to the appearance of other contemporary superheroes like Wasp, Wonder Man, and Namor. Bad guys included Living Laser, Klaw, Ultron, the Mandarin, and ultimately, the Red Skull.
If Captain America and the Avengers established the potential of a comics-based brawler, X-Men fulfilled it. The incredibly popular arcade cabinet hit in 1992, and rapidly found its way into various bowling alleys, bars, and kids’ restaurants. While multiple versions of the game were available, the most impressive is a massive six-person affair that included two side-by-side monitors to create the effect of a widescreen theatrical display. Cyclops, Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Wolverine took on lead duties. The large, well-animated onscreen characters help to accentuate the explosive action, and each character has his or her own distinct super-powered mutant ability that could be triggered.
Arcade cabinets, Super Nintendo, Genesis, and later, PlayStation, played host to a number of middle-of-the-road action titles throughout the '90s, including titles like The Punisher, Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage, and X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse. However, the next universally praised Marvel title wouldn’t show up until 2000, with the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. Still fondly remembered as one of the great fighting games, MvC 2 allows for a mishmash of favorite comic characters like Magneto and Storm, and Capcom mainstays such as Ryu and Jill Valentine. By allowing for a mix of three distinct characters on your team, the fighting game encourages myriad strategies for victory, and its insane special moves had the tendency to overwhelm the entire screen.
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