Captain America and the Avengers is an arcade game released by Data East in 1991. It features the Marvel Comics characters The Avengers in a side-scrolling brawling and shooting adventure to defeat the evil Red Skull.
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Pretty fun! Short, but that's because I used unlimited continues. Recommended for couch coop!
Almost all the bosses and enemies are your same height.
Why would superheroes need cans and wrenches to defeat the baddies?
Why would superheroes need cans and wrenches to defeat the baddies?
Not a fun experience. A poor port of the arcade game.
Upon going into the game, I wasn’t expecting too much from Captain America and the Avengers, which is probably the same attitude that most people going into this game would have. Sure, it may be the first Marvel game to properly feature the Avengers team (or at least, a portion of them), but it seemed like it would be your typical Marvel arcade romp rather than anything completely unique or original. It’s not surprising, since Marvel was as much of a cash cow then as it is even now, but I still went into it at least expecting it to be fun and enjoyable, and yeah, I would say that this game is definitely that, but I wouldn’t say it is anything else. As a beat-’em-up, it is perfectly fine, not doing anything wrong for the genre, but not really doing anything to advance the genre either, and for those who are fans of these superheroes, I’m sure it would do enough to leave them feeling satisfied with it.
The story is one you would typically expect from a comic-based video game, where Red Skull assembles (HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA) a team of villains to assist him in destroying the world, so it is up to Captain America and his team to stop them from doing so, which is a fine enough plot, even if it ends on a kinda-cliffhanger that never gets resolved, the graphics are… interesting, as they are somewhat faithful to how the comics would’ve looked, along with the designs of the characters, but on their own, they aren’t necessarily all that impressive, the music is what you would expect to hear from a superhero arcade game, and while it isn’t bad, it is mostly extremely forgettable, the controls are exactly what you would expect, so moving on, and the gameplay is also mostly what you would expect, but with a little more included to make it not-so-generic.
The game is your typical arcade beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of the four Avengers available at the start, or if you are me, you choose Iron Man over everyone else, cause he is simply the best, take on a set of five different stages, or “scenes”, which take place in a variety of different locations, beat up the many goons that you will face by using either regular attacks or your superpowers, use plenty of different objects around the arena to deal more damage, or even get a powerup here or there to help you out against your foe, and take on plenty of bosses, each one being a familiar face from the comics that I mostly didn’t know who they were, because I am not a FUCKING NE- I mean, uh, comic enthusiast. But anyway, yeah, for the most part, you know what to expect from it, and it can be fun at points, but those experienced with this genre won’t get too much out of this particular game.
Like with the X-Men arcade game and The Simpsons Arcade Game, the most enjoyment you could get from this game would be if you are quite familiar with Marvel characters, and for a good chunk of them, I was. I knew who Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Red Skull were, and even then, I was at least aware of Vision, the Wasp, and the Juggernaut, but aside from them, I didn’t recognize a good majority of the other characters, and most others probably wouldn’t either. Seriously, unless you are a comic enthusiast, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell me who Wonder Man, Crossbones, or Whirlwind are, because I certainly didn’t know. Aside from that aspect of the game, there is one other element helping the game out a little bit, and that is the shooting segments! Every once in a while, you will enter these shmup sections where you will also be blasting down plenty of enemies and bosses, and unlike actual shmup games, these sections don’t want you mauled and beaten to death. However, they are also nothing particularly special either, so while they are fun for a bit when they come up, they don’t leave that much of an impact.
Which is probably the best way that I can sum up this game: it is nothing particularly special. It is exactly what you would expect from a beat-’em-up based on the Avengers, and if you don't necessarily like the Avengers, then there isn’t really any reason you would want to give this game a shot over others. Not to mention, it has the typical arcade handicaps, such as arcade syndrome, especially towards the end of the game, and like with the X-Men game I covered a while back, there are no healing items to grab throughout the entire game! Seriously, what the fuck is that all about? I know that game came out after this one, but come on, healing items are essential to beat-’em-ups, so why do you insist on not delivering the goods every time?
Overall, despite some fun shmup segments every now and then, this game really is pretty generic when you take everything into consideration, and it doesn’t leave any kind of impact whatsoever. I wouldn’t say it is a bad game at all, but really, the only reason you would want to play this is either because you are a big Avengers fan, or you need something to mess around in with your group of friends. Aside from those few reasons, there is no reason to check this game out, especially compared to other beat-’em-ups not just from other companies or series, but even other Marvel beat-’em-ups as well. Although, before we end this review off, I do wanna point out that every time you get hurt in the game, someone randomly shouts “NO!”, and it is just really funny to me for some reason. Probably because of how much the guy saying it sounds like he doesn’t really give a shit when doing so.
Game #470
The story is one you would typically expect from a comic-based video game, where Red Skull assembles (HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA) a team of villains to assist him in destroying the world, so it is up to Captain America and his team to stop them from doing so, which is a fine enough plot, even if it ends on a kinda-cliffhanger that never gets resolved, the graphics are… interesting, as they are somewhat faithful to how the comics would’ve looked, along with the designs of the characters, but on their own, they aren’t necessarily all that impressive, the music is what you would expect to hear from a superhero arcade game, and while it isn’t bad, it is mostly extremely forgettable, the controls are exactly what you would expect, so moving on, and the gameplay is also mostly what you would expect, but with a little more included to make it not-so-generic.
The game is your typical arcade beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of the four Avengers available at the start, or if you are me, you choose Iron Man over everyone else, cause he is simply the best, take on a set of five different stages, or “scenes”, which take place in a variety of different locations, beat up the many goons that you will face by using either regular attacks or your superpowers, use plenty of different objects around the arena to deal more damage, or even get a powerup here or there to help you out against your foe, and take on plenty of bosses, each one being a familiar face from the comics that I mostly didn’t know who they were, because I am not a FUCKING NE- I mean, uh, comic enthusiast. But anyway, yeah, for the most part, you know what to expect from it, and it can be fun at points, but those experienced with this genre won’t get too much out of this particular game.
Like with the X-Men arcade game and The Simpsons Arcade Game, the most enjoyment you could get from this game would be if you are quite familiar with Marvel characters, and for a good chunk of them, I was. I knew who Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Red Skull were, and even then, I was at least aware of Vision, the Wasp, and the Juggernaut, but aside from them, I didn’t recognize a good majority of the other characters, and most others probably wouldn’t either. Seriously, unless you are a comic enthusiast, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell me who Wonder Man, Crossbones, or Whirlwind are, because I certainly didn’t know. Aside from that aspect of the game, there is one other element helping the game out a little bit, and that is the shooting segments! Every once in a while, you will enter these shmup sections where you will also be blasting down plenty of enemies and bosses, and unlike actual shmup games, these sections don’t want you mauled and beaten to death. However, they are also nothing particularly special either, so while they are fun for a bit when they come up, they don’t leave that much of an impact.
Which is probably the best way that I can sum up this game: it is nothing particularly special. It is exactly what you would expect from a beat-’em-up based on the Avengers, and if you don't necessarily like the Avengers, then there isn’t really any reason you would want to give this game a shot over others. Not to mention, it has the typical arcade handicaps, such as arcade syndrome, especially towards the end of the game, and like with the X-Men game I covered a while back, there are no healing items to grab throughout the entire game! Seriously, what the fuck is that all about? I know that game came out after this one, but come on, healing items are essential to beat-’em-ups, so why do you insist on not delivering the goods every time?
Overall, despite some fun shmup segments every now and then, this game really is pretty generic when you take everything into consideration, and it doesn’t leave any kind of impact whatsoever. I wouldn’t say it is a bad game at all, but really, the only reason you would want to play this is either because you are a big Avengers fan, or you need something to mess around in with your group of friends. Aside from those few reasons, there is no reason to check this game out, especially compared to other beat-’em-ups not just from other companies or series, but even other Marvel beat-’em-ups as well. Although, before we end this review off, I do wanna point out that every time you get hurt in the game, someone randomly shouts “NO!”, and it is just really funny to me for some reason. Probably because of how much the guy saying it sounds like he doesn’t really give a shit when doing so.
Game #470
Captain America has an extremely funny bitcrushed shout of pain whenever he gets hit.
I played the Genesis version a while ago, so refer to that review for my overall feelings - it all still applies. This version is slightly better, being the original and on superior hardware. Normally I would grouse about the painted art being scanned in for the backgrounds, but I think it actually works quite nicely here and makes it seem a bit like you're playing across the pages of a comic book. Nice! Everything else still right on the edge of incompetent, though.
Also: good villains in this. Deep cuts. Look for my hot new list coming soon, "Superhero Video Games Ranked by How Good The Villain Lineup Is". Hoping to drop this year.
Also: good villains in this. Deep cuts. Look for my hot new list coming soon, "Superhero Video Games Ranked by How Good The Villain Lineup Is". Hoping to drop this year.