From Page to Screen - The Best and Worst Video Games Based on Comic Books
The good, the bad and the ugly
Over the years comic book licences have brought a….mixture of fortunes to the world of video games. Not just in the world of video games, but throughout the eclectic geeky culture of comic cons, comic book movies, comic book inspired clothing and more. Back when I was a kid it was not cool to be caught reading a comic book. It was certainly not cool to walk around with Marvel characters plastered across your T-shirt and socks. In fact it was almost Taboo. How times have changed.
Nowadays you cannot walk down the street without seeing a cluster of people with something comic book related. A pin badge of Wolverine on the bag of a college student, a T-shirt, hearing a ringtone from one of a multitude of comic book animated adaptations - comic book culture has risen to become an integral part of not only geek culture, but mainstream culture. Why is this? We could argue that Hollywood's interpretations of various comic book franchises has a lot to do with it, but we are not here to talk about that. We are however here to talk about some of the best and worst comic book licensed video games from years gone by. Here I try to offer three of the best/worst for you to experience/avoid at your leisure.
Three of the Best
Spider-Man & the X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge (SNES)
Everything an old school comic book based video game needs:-
· Team-Ups!
· Amazing characters!
· Cool theme music!
· Faithful yet obscure comic book menace!
· Unfathomably difficult!
· Zero continues!
Maybe not the last two so much, but Spider-Man & the X-Men is a very challenging experience indeed. Once lives are all used up, that’s it; no saves, no passwords to jump back on board. Sounds ominous, but this is a great Marvel Super Nintendo classic, and in that period was among the best your buck could buy.
The theme song evokes 70’s US cop show theme, with a very catchy accompanying action-packed score throughout. Spider-Man & the X-Men is essentially a standard left to right platformer that offers slight variation with each of the character-designated stages; Spider-Man, Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit, with Storm being the only exception to the genre rule.
Although one hell of a tough game, it’s highly playable, faithful to the character’s appearances of the time, and given its challenge, very rewarding an achievement should you actually complete it. I managed it once, long before save states were a thing. Good luck.
Marvel Super Heroes (Arcade)
Ever since Capcom made the genius of move snapping up the Marvel license in the early 1990s, the characters were pitted against one another in Capcom’s genre of choice – the one on one fighter. There have been no less than eight different iterations of this format, the first in X-Men: Children of the Atom, to the latest, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. For me, the second of such titles – Marvel Super Heroes – captured the comic book essence most of all. And while it will forever remain in history a stepping stone towards the Marvel vs. Capcom series itself, Marvel Super Heroes also happens to be an amazing fighter in its own right.
There are ten characters available, covering different angles of the Marvel Universe. Fan favourites Wolverine and Psylocke were retained, as well as the chance to be the final boss Magneto, all from Children of the Atom. Add newcomers Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Juggernaut and The Hulk into the mix, and there is a truly great selection of Marvel characters on offer here. With great boss characters in Doctor Doom and Thanos to back up the fantastic roster, it’s any Marvel fan’s dream.
What separates Marvel Super Heroes from the crowd is the gems system. Loosely based on the Infinity Gems storyline that would go on to dominate the Marvel Cinematic Universe of the 2010’s. five of the six gems can be obtained during combat. Each gem (Power, Time, Space, Reality, and Soul) holds different results. For example, if Juggernaut uses the Space gem, his armour turns silver, and will not flinch/fall after being attacked for a short time. These might sound off-putting, skill-quashing, or even unbalanced by design, but they occur infrequently, and through special conditions, such as making the first attack, etc. Although the Marvel vs. Capcom series has since massively expanded the series, Marvel Super Heroes is a true gem (sorry not sorry).
Batman Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)
The arrival of Batman Arkham Asylum exorcised a couple of superhero/video game demons. Firstly, it had been years since a decent comic book related video game had finally been developed. The market was done with fighters, beat em ups and platform adventures that were all more or less the same experience, despite their varying degrees of success. The second? It was so damn good upon its release over fifteen years ago it easily still stands up with some of the best third-person action/adventure games of this current generation, something unheard of for a comic book license video game.
Batman Arkham Asylum is a superb video game. It is a perfect homage to the comic to which it is based (Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum), and to the excellent 90’s show Batman: The Animated Series with its quality voice acting and casting. A clever and intuitive fighting system allows you to take on swarms of enemies at once, to spectacular effect. Batman’s vast array of gadgets is gathered as the adventure progresses, such as the grappling hook, Batarang, and so on. Detective mode may sound a bit naff, but is a necessity for success; following vapour trails, footprints and clues that would be otherwise unseen. This was the first Batman video game where you really felt like you are Batman.
3 of the worst:
Straight off the bat, I am compelled to mention Superman 64. It is widely regarded as not only the worst superhero game, but the worst game of the entire Nintendo 64 library. Just to confirm, it is not one of my picks, as I have never played it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
When this, the first TMNT video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, was released, many flocked to it, particularly kids. I was one of them; what child of the 1980s would pass up the chance to be one of their new-found cartoon heroes? Having sampled the fun but brief Konami arcade scrolling beat em up, hopes were of course high for TMNT in the home.
Oh dear. A few minutes in, it becomes clear that despite the license, this is a travesty of a video game. Adopting a more platform approach to the previously mentioned arcade iteration, the gameplay is hideous, and then some. Jumping is so unnecessarily high that small gaps are just near impossible to make, attacks are sluggish and take forever to complete. The visuals barely contain the same number of colours than a ZX Spectrum can provide, and on top of that there is plenty of flicker and slowdown. The swimming sections will have you wishing your ‘heroes’ were once again pet turtles, just to navigate them successfully.
Despite all this, I have to admit I loved it as a kid, being only eight at the time, and was one of the first NES games I ever played. I was completely blinded by the license. But now, TMNT on the NES is not one even for the nostalgic, except for the wonderful cover art, taken direct from one of the original comic book series covers.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (Xbox 360/PS3)
I’ve always been a fan of scrolling beat em ups, of which Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (Xbox 360/PS3) is a modern variation of. I was excited for this one, but it feels this was the timeline turning point for the genre going back to its retro roots. What a comedown it was. The action itself is a nonstop, repetitive, button bashing hell. You lose as much health as you gain, and most of the time you are not aware of it even happening as you’re too busy mashing buttons!
With tedious levels, repetitive bosses and terrible voice acting, it’s difficult to want to be one of your favourite Marvel heroes in this one. Its only saving grace is there is a vast amount of playable characters on offer, and the plot, is borrowed from the successful ‘Civil War’ storyline. But considering the arduous task Ultimate Alliance 2 is to play, stick to the 1990s offerings instead.
X-Men: Children of the Atom (PS1)
Ok, so it’s not one of the worst games, but it is an awful conversion of an arcade classic, compounded by the box art using its arcade equivalent as the selling point.
The pros:
· A home conversion of a classic. We all welcome that.
· Its X-Men, therefore cool in my book.
· That’s about it.
The cons:
· The frame rate is shocking. 30 FPS in fact.
· Slow down and intermittent mid game flickering
· Much slower than even the Saturn version, never mind the arcade
· Endings has been removed (!)
· Capcom didn't even develop this version.
PS1 versions of Capcom fighters were generally slower but never this bad. Children of the Atom had already arrived four years too late to the home market, leaving it a very redundant release.
So these are my picks, but how do yours differ? Any stinkers you feel need reporting, or classics that need addressing? Drop a comment and tell me your best and worst.