Marvel MaXimum Collection Review
Back in the 90s, Marvel Comics brought a bunch of 2D beat ’em up games, both on consoles and in the arcade. It seemed impossible that any of those games would ever be re-released now because of licensing issues. Color us shocked when Marvel MaXimum Collection was not only announced this month but also released in the very same month. We also got to review it for Nintendo Switch.
Marvel MaXimum Collection features 13 retro 2D games in all, with various versions of Spider-man Maximum Carnage, Spider-man Separation Anxiety, X-Men the Arcade game, Captain America and the Avengers, Spider-man & X-Men, and Silver Surfer included.
I was 14 years old when Spider-man Maximum Carnage came out for the Super Nintendo. I had read the comics-Carnage gets lose from prison and starts to go on a rampage and gets a little help from some friends. Spider-man, Venom, and others have to team up to take Carnage and his friends down. It was a multi-comic book event, across all the various Spider-man comics at the time. I never read the entire event. It was tough to keep up with comics back then. I did, however, get the video game when it came out.
Spider-man Maximum Carnage was released in a completely red cart. The game was a 2D side scrolling beat ’em up, with cutscenes that looked like they were ripped right out of the comic books. The graphics, for the time, were really good. The gameplay was really good too. Maximum Carnage was one of my favorite games back then. It was definitely one of the best comic book based games out there.
I have a bit of nostalgia for Captain America and the Avengers, since I played it in the arcade. I also think I played X-Men the Arcade game too but that memory is a little fuzzy. I know I played Spider-man & the X-Men, but thought it was just ok. I’m not sure if I ever played Separation Anxiety or not. I definitely never played Silver Surfer.
Maximum Carnage is the game I have the most nostalgia for in this entire collection and yet, being a comic book fan, I also love each and every game here. I’m a huge Marvel fan.
Is it perfect collection? No. I wish it had more extras and I wish it had the fancy timeline that Digital Eclipse does. I’d love to see behind the scenes video interviews with people from Marvel Comics and from Konami about the creation of these games. I especially want to know more about how Maximum Carnage came together. None of that is featured here. This collection’s extras seem thrown together.
And yet. I really love this collection. I’m a huge Spider-man fan and he’s all over most of the games here. Though I’m also a Captain America and Avengers fan and X-Men fan and Silver Surfer.
Oh my goodness. Can we talk about Silver Surfer for a second? I never played this game before and its the hidden gem on this collection! Silver Surfer feels like a 2D “space shooter” expect you play as the Silver Surfer shooting stuff. And sometimes its in space or side scrolling across land or even scrolling forward! The menu select when you first start is like a Mega Man game: choose which area you want to go to first. Its pretty neat.
All of these games are neat. None of them would win “best graphics of the year” awards. This is a retro collection after all. There is even a Gameboy game here. I do think Maximum Carnage holds up pretty well. The Mega Drive version looks better than the SNES version, though I think the SNES soundtrack is better.
Oh that reminds me: the music for all of the games is really good. You can listen to it in the music player and you should. I especially love that rocking Maximum Carnage theme song.
Overall, Marvel MaXimum Collection is a miracle. Can you imagine all the hoops Limited Run had to go through-Marvel/Disney/Konami/etc to get this collection to happen? If you’ve never played these games before and you love Marvel, you’ll want to check this out. If you have played them before and want to play them again, check this collection out.
I love having this collection on my Nintendo Switch. I can’t wait to see what miracle Limited Run pulls off next!
Thank you to Overload PR for providing a digital copy of this game for review. Marvel MaXimum Collection is available now.
Article By Daniel Fugate
