With around 30 movies along with several interconnected series, the scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is staggering, but for video game fans who are bored with the MCU there is fortunately decades’ worth of gaming options that predate the modern cinematic vision of Marvel. The MCU’s 14 years of content is impressive, but video games based on Marvel Comics characters have a 40-year history. The quality of these titles varies, as most licensed games from early gaming generations were low-effort cash-in products, but veteran gaming fans fondly remember those that rose above that trend as timeless classics. Even the most diehard Marvelites are unlikely to defend games like the terrible Iron Man and X-Manowar in Heavy Metal crossover game. True Believers still have reason to say Make Mine Marvel when recalling the polished arcade brawlers, fighting games, and action RPGs that all carried a distinctly different feel from the modern, homogenized MCU.
Fans of arcade style beat ‘em ups in the mold of Double Dragon and Final Fight have the longest history of Marvel games that largely hold up well today. Games like Data East’s Captain America and the Avengers and Sega’s 1991 Spider-Man arcade game proved the side scrolling brawler was a perfect fit for most Marvel licenses. The rosters of playable characters in these games tended to be more diverse, as they were not limited to promoting characters already established in the MCU. The Spider-Man brawler featured Black Cat and Sub-Mariner as player options, and Capcom’s The Punisher game included both Frank Castle and Nick Fury. The modern Yakuza games owe River City Ransom for their brawler roots as much as Shenmue, but the entire history of Marvel video games arguably owes as much to the genre.
Due to licensing issues, the X-Men remained separate from the MCU for its first decade, but the mutant team is easily one of Marvel’s most popular franchises. There were many attempts to adapt the X-Men to the video game format, and most fared terribly, including the NES X-Men overhead action game that is considered among the worst games in that console’s vast library. That woeful game was based on the 1989 animated X-Men pilot Pryde of the X-Men, but the failed pilot would also form the basis for the most iconic Marvel brawler of all time, the 1992 X-Men arcade game from Konami. This arcade game beautifully translated the animated designs to game format, with its massive sprites and impressive special attack animations for mutant powers. The arcade X-Men deserves the Shredder’s Revenge treatment, certainly, as X-Men and the 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games are among the best remembered multiplayer arcade brawlers of all time, along with The Simpsons arcade game.
Pre-MCU Marvel Comics-Based Fighting Games From Capcom Are Timeless Classics
Marvel is synonymous with quality fighting games as well as brawlers, but only for fans who selectively ignore those not produced by Capcom. The subpar fighting games, like Avengers in Galactic Storm and Marvel Nemesis, have largely been forgotten, and the more competent X-Men: Mutant Academy series also failed to make a lasting impression. Capcom succeeded in redefining Marvel fighting games with its series that started with X-Men: Children of the Atom. This game took the core combat of Darkstalkers and added elements like Super Jumps and extensive aerial combos and juggles. The same formula and anime-styled graphics would extend to the Marvel setting at large with Marvel Super Heroes, which featured many of the X-Men from Children of the Atom alongside the likes of Captain America and Doctor Doom.
Many fans agree Marvel vs Capcom 2’s iconic designs outdo all other Marvel games, and it is largely considered the peak of Capcom’s work on the franchise, and the last 2D entry produced. Children of the Atom featured Street Fighter’s Akuma as a hidden character, and the follow-up to Marvel Super Heroes built on this with a full-blown crossover in X-Men vs Street Fighter. This marked the start of a new franchise, which continued in Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, followed by Marvel vs Capcom. Marvel vs Capcom 2 provided the most ambitious game in the series, with an unmatched character roster. The third MvC’s transition to 3D was somewhat rocky, and its fourth and most recent entry, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, was considered mediocre at best.
The X-Men Legends series is another high point for Marvel games, and a distinct departure from the MCU. Raven Software’s X-Men Legends revisited the idea of an overhead X-Men brawler, but it made up for the disastrous NES X-Men game with its multiplayer action RPG format. X-Men Legends perfectly introduced Marvel's mutants, with a diverse character roster and enough build complexity to satisfy RPG fans. X-Men Legends 2 continued to polish the formula and is considered the apex of the series as an action RPG, since the follow-up, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, stripped away most of the RPG elements. It did provide a solid multiplayer brawler, however, and it, along with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and its long-belated third entry, The Black Order, are all held in high regard by Marvel gaming fans.
Many Spider-Man Video Games Have Unconventional Stories Outside The MCU Template
Like the X-Men, Spider-Man is a signature Marvel character who was absent for the formative years of the MCU due to licensing issues. Outside of some entertaining brawlers, like Sega’s arcade Spider-Man, or console beat ‘em ups like Maximum Carnage and Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety, most early attempts to translate the character in the video game medium fell flat. Fans debate which Spider-Man game has the best web-swinging, a mechanic ill-suited for the methodical progress of the traditional brawler. Neversoft’s 2000 Spider-Man game, which released on PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Dreamcast, made good use of 3D gameplay to deliver what many consider the first true Spider-Man video game experience. Its PlayStation-exclusive sequel, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, failed to reach the same heights, but provided another entertaining Spider-Man adventure that holds up today.
These first 3D successes with Spider-Man would herald a series of gaming adaptations of varying quality. The games based on the Sam Rami trilogy were well-received, but those wanting to distance themselves from the MCU might prefer more adventurous stories involving the character, particularly as those films were retroactively added to the MCU multiverse. Ultimate Spider-Man is a standout in terms of quality, and games like Friend or Foe, Web of Shadows, and Shattered Dimensions featured less predictable stories than most. Spider-Man: Edge of Time is an underrated, albeit flawed, gem, and arguably the last noteworthy game featuring the character prior to Insomniac’s take on the hero with Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4.
Marvel Comics fans who are tired of the MCU’s regimented vision of the setting will find a lot to enjoy in these standout video games. Before cinematic licensing issues began to impact which characters should be showcased, game makers took more freedom in drawing from the rich history of the larger Marvel world. The Punisher could team up with Nick Fury in Capcom’s brawler, or Sub-Mariner could lend Spider-Man a hand, without worries about conflicting with the films’ rendition of these characters. Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro featured the X-Men’s Danger Room, and Spider-Man interacting with Rogue and Professor X. The X-Men Legends series included numerous deep cut Marvel characters, and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions featured Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Man Noir working alongside more traditional takes on the character to restore balance to the multiverse.
Quality Marvel Games Can Provide The Perfect Cure For MCU Fatigue
Actual MCU-based video games largely evaporated, transitioning to mobile games and VR experiences for the most part. Many games that use their own unique continuities, like Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series and the 2021 Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, still cling too closely to the version of the characters presented in the MCU films, unlike the earlier video games that told more distinctive stories. Fortunately, for fans who suffer from Marvel Cinematic Universe fatigue, there are dozens of polished Marvel Comics games that can help to remind them of why they loved Marvel in the first place.