Heroes Of Vidya Games, Part 3: Comic Book Heroes

So, with that (part 1, part 2), the general timeline is covered on video game history...

...and, most of the big figures of game mythology have been covered...

...but, any history of gaming would be incomplete without the overlap between the new and the old.
That being, when classic comic book characters came to the console/PC.

Because, as much as they're naturals for this recent spate of CGI epics on the silver screen, they're also naturals for button-mashing fantasy realms.

After all, flights of fantasy are what they sprung from in the first place.

So, let's take a quick stroll down that memory lane.

I won't cover every single one, but I feel like at least acknowledging them.
Going down Wiki's lists, the following comic book heroes have been done up as games...

Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Catwoman, Justice League, Swamp Thing, Teen Titans, Watchmen, Spiderman, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Avengers, X-Men, Wolverine, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Elektra, The Punisher, Blade, Ghost Rider, Kick-Ass, The Darkness, Danger Girl, The Crow, Hellboy, Judge Dredd, The Mask, Men In Black, Popeye, Robocop, Sam and Max, Scott Pilgrim, Scud: The Disposable Assassin, Spawn, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Tick, Timecop, Turok, and Usagi Yojimbo.

And, that's just listing each unique character, never mind all the remakes, sequels, reboots, crossovers, alternate formats of the same game, etc, etc.

Taken altogether, there's literally hundreds.

And....a lot of 'em are ranging from unmemorable, to utter shit.
But, you can say that about any mass media.

So, what follows, is the narrowed down list of stuff that stood out from the herd.


Popeye

Donkey Kong with more bells n' whistles, and a power item (the spinach)
Yep, power pellets in Pac Man, and Popeye's spinach were the first power items in gaming.
Hmm...spinach may in fact have been the first power item in comics period....
Anyway, still a fun game, I still fire it up every now and then.


Superman (arcade)

Superman has been cursed to this day with no definitively blockbuster culture-changing landmark game.

Indeed, most have been outright garbage.

I don't know why, his powers can't be that hard to get a handle on.
Other characters have the same power stats, or even more powers, and they've translated over.

Anyway, this little arcade game that was never ported to a console was basic, but half decent.
Beat-em-up with flying.
And you had all the powers.

Why has this been so hard to accomplish for other developers?
They all over-think it, and think they have to pile other stupid shit on, like over-complicated menu systems, and story shit that handicaps the powers, or level-up systems that make you have to go through a miserable slog to "earn", the powers...or, whatever.
Look, assholes, we just wanna be Superman.
Flight, punch, lasers, freeze breath.
That's all we need.
Besides that, give us a GTA style Metroplis to smash up, and go away.
This shouldn't have taken 30 years to figure out.


Batman

The only thing that makes this Batman is that the character is in it.
Stranger still, that the cinema scenes associate this as connected to the '89 Tim Burton Film.
Resembles that film in no way whatever.
That said, I do like this.
Kinda Castlevania-ish in its format, and challenge level.
I haven't gotten very far in this.
Fired it up last night on Dingoo to prep for this review, and...it didn't tell me much "story", wise.
Straight ahead beat-em-up with a weapon's screen.


Batman: Return of the Joker

Better play control, and graphics than "Batman", but, again, only thing that makes this Batman is the character.
It's Castlevania meets Megaman with a cape and cowl.
The NES was really pushing it to the limit in its waning years, the graphics are aaaalmost as good as SNES here.
Yeah, good game.

I also never figured out, what is the Joker "returning", from?
If this is a "sequel", to "Batman", and it was based on the Burton film, then...he's returning from..the DEAD!
But...if this is, as it appears on the box, and the cinema scenes, the comic book Joker...then, he's already alive, and him "returning", is no big deal.
He always "returns".

Meh, sales gimmick by dummies who didn't know the storyline.
Or, who didn't care.
Lotta that at DC back then.


The Amazing Spider-Man (Gameboy)

Fucking HARD!!

Basic side-scrolling beat-em-up action.
Sorta "Double-Dragon"-y.
You can swing on webs though.
That helps a little.

One of those ones where your character is as fragile as tissue paper hit-point wise, and everything in sight hits you, but you have to beat the everliving shit out of even piddly-shit henchmen to get them to keel over.

That said, I blasted through the first five levels or so before hitting the proverbial wall.

There's no password or save-state though, so that's a bitch.

Especially on fuggin' Gameboy, where you need to power down eventually, or the battery fuggin' futzes out.
I recall enjoying the game though....for what it was.

Anyway, Spidey has the most games of any single character....the X-Men maybe edge him out, but they're a team.
This particular one I remember, because I owned it, and...it was straightforward.
As said with Superman, superhero games shouldn't be bogged down with too much shit that gets in the way of the fantasy, unless it's a gritty complicated story that's being adapted.
And...even then....


Captain America and The Avengers

Tilted-axis side-scrolling beat-em-up.
Like "Final Fight", or "Captain Commando".

Which, is fitting, since it's by Capcom.

Dream Machine in the mall had it. (they're gone now, BTW, used to be in the food court area)
I remember it as being pretty stock.
Iron Man was the funnest one to use, cuz he had his repulsor beams, and could fly for short spurts.

But most of all, I remember it having some primitive speech recordings, and if your guy ran out of life, instead of dying, he'd freeze, and go "I...can't...MOOOVE!!".
Which, gave you a chance to pump in a quarter to resume.

With three guys playing on the machine, and the life bar being short (to milk you for quarters) you heard it every 15 seconds or so.

It was kind of a "help me Smee!", deal.


Spider-Man/Venom: Maximum Carnage

Same beat-em-up formula as the Cap/Avengers one, but you play out the "Maximum Carnage", storyline from the comics.

Which...I'm not familiar with, and I'm none too impressed with the character of Carnage (see here for the rant on that) to begin with.

Anyway, I own the cart of this, cuz I was craving superhero based beat-em-ups that didn't suck.
This one...eh..*wavey hand*

What really seduced me over to it though, was that Green Jellö did a song for this.
Crummy MIDI on the game, you had to have their second album to hear the real thing.
Which, I did.


Sam & Max Series

Haha! Yeah! I got to loophole these guys in after all!
Screw the mainstream populace, these guys were the kings of the PC/CD-ROM era.
Funniest bastards ever.
Their TV show left me laughing to the point of guts pains.
I thought they were long forgotten, but turns out they've reincarnated into the I-Pad era as a download.
Sweet.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade)

Not only did this kick ass, I first got to play it at Disney World and before the rest of you peons.
Aaahahahaa!
Yeah!
Sit on that!
Anyway, similar play style as "Avengers", but bigger prettier graphics, smoother play control, and better and more voice recording.
And, it wasn't fuckin' stingy with continues.


Marvel Superheroes

Arcade never had this, but I woulda fucking loved it.

By Capcom.
Essentially, "Street Fighter Alpha", with Marvel characters instead.
This is where the Capcom crossovers started.
They figured "well, if we can slap these guys into the SF formula, and we've got the rights, then maybe players might also like...".


X-Men vs. Street Fighter

...and then they were like "well, that went well, so, why not throw in more characters, and have..".


Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter

....and then, that sold like hotcakes, so they were like "well....we also had a Megaman tournament game that did well, why not throw him in, and a bunch of our floor-sweeping characters we have lying around, and do...".


Marvel vs. Capcom

...which, as you can see from the part 3 on the box there, has become an epic series.

And hey, look, Dante!

So, then, the answer to that one, was of course...


Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

...from Midway.
(Previously mentioned here)

And man, they'd better let Superman cut loose...


Spider-Man 2

Based around the second movie, and retroactive for both films up to then, since Spidey-1 didn't get a game, and chronologically fits nicely between 2 & 3, I'd have to say...this is the best Spidey game I ever played.
I gotta get around to owning this.

Also, features witty narration by Bruce Campbell, and I think it's his best game voicework next to "Evil Dead: Regeneration".


Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Aw, just the idea for this makes me rub my hands in excitement.

All the alternate incarnations of Spidey cross-dimensionally meet, and team up, and all the different Spideys are voiced by guys who've done Spidey in the cartoons.

Regular "Amazing Spider-Man", is Neil Patrick Harris who voiced him in the 2003 CG incarnation.

Spider-Man Noir (a retro-30's version) is voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes who did him in the 90's FOX Kids version.

Spider-Man 2099 is voiced by Dan Gilvezan who played Spidey in the "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends", series that I grew up with.

And Ultimate Spider-Man is voiced by Josh Keaton who did 2008's "The Spectacular Spider-Man".

Stan Lee narrates.

*Passes out*


Batman: Arkham Asylum

Featuring Kevin Conroy from...anything Batman animated from the 90's onward.
Ditto Mark Hamill for Joker.

And, given the rave reviews I've heard...everywhere...apparently, it is indeed "the best Batman game ever made".

Well, up to that point...


Batman: Arkham City

Everything that made "Arkham Asylum", great, but opened up free-roaming GTA style.

Now, with Batman all squared away, they have to look back, and break "the Superman curse".


DC Universe Online

The comic book MMORPG.
Yep, inconceivable as it is, there were some geeks left on the planet that "World of Warcraft", and "Star Trek Online", hadn't sucked up yet.

This ought to finish the job.
Resistance is futile.


The Darkness

No, not this one....

...the one who met Batman, and Hulk in the comics.

Maybe his powers are funner in game form, I dunno.
But, I've been seeing the ad for part II on TV a lot lately.
So, for the sake of a time capsule, thought I'd throw it in.

And there, that's those.

With parts 1, 2, and this, and Crossovers 4, and Video Game films part 1 and 2, that makes up the big uber video game thing I planned on doing since before Christmas, but thought was too unwieldy at the time.

So, that's done now.

But...up next, one more little side trip off of this topic...