Marvel MaXimum Collection Nintendo Switch 2 Review 6.5/10 "Welcome to DIE!"❌🦹‍♀️ @LimitedRunGames #RetroGaming

With some games featuring regional variations (JP, US, EU) and also archival details – as well as a ‘jukebox’ section – on the face of the matter, this looks like pretty decent ‘snikt!’ For your buck, but the age and design of some of the games, as well as a bare bones feel to the package in terms of the extras included does end up making things feel a little lacklustre overall, although you do get the usual save state and rewind features along with the choice of using a CRT filter.

A collection of six games from the early to mid-nineties starring beloved Marvel characters, Marvel MaXimum Collection puts the below games in one place:

1. Silver Surfer (NES)
2. Captain America and The Avengers (NES, Arcade, Genesis)
3. X-Men (Arcade)
4. Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge ( Genesis, SNES, Game Boy, Game Gear)
5. Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (Genesis, SNES)
6. Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (Genesis, SNES)

Starting with the strongest entry, X-Men (1992) is a stone cold classic filled with colourful characters that capture the comic book style of the time, preposterous one-liners, satisfying button-bashing gameplay and a pace that keeps the energy up as an incredible soundtrack pumps the blood as you churn your way through memorable myriad foes and moments with the X-Man of your choice. 

This is also the game wherein the different cabinets (2,4, or 6 players) and regions vary the most, with the North American release being more of a coin-guzzler as opposed to the more balanced Japanese release, the resolution and aspect ratio also adjusts dependent on which version of the game you are running, and the subtle differences in enemy number and placement are plain to see, it’s also the only game in the collection with an online component, and having the ability to play this classic arcade brawler at home with up to six players is genuinely awesome. 

There’s an arcade in Bridgwater (U.K) called Timewarp, and every time a group of us visit it’s become a tradition that we smash through X-Men first, that’s the kind of tradition I like!

Another highlight of the collection is Captain America and The Avengers, again – high octane brawling action and very silly, simple fun. A game that I was very familiar with on the Mega Drive – the kind of game I could happily quote aloud as I made my way through – and to play the arcade version here, with its stronger audio, higher quality visuals and much smoother gameplay, is a real treat and certainly one I will keep returning to. 

There is also an 8-bit entry, which is a totally different experience that’s very ‘NES’ and is a nice way to round out the versions of the game, as it isn’t just a lesser/similar port...which is something that we now unfortunately move on to.

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage and Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety are very similar games that didn’t really hold up at the time of release, being tedious and a bit of a trudge even back in the 16-bit glory days, paling in comparison to other entries in the genre at the time. 

I played Maximum Carnage a lot (I actually own the QVC special edition of the game, thanks to my lovely fiance!) but even a fan such as myself has to admit that it’s tired now. This isn’t helped by the fact that it’s a single player game, and whilst the sequel adds co-op, it’s a case of the SNES and Genesis versions being similar aside from audio quality differences and the colouring used in-game, they don’t really feel or play differently enough to make it worth exploring even for fans of the game.

This brings us to Silver Surfer and Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge, which are games that have never really been held in any high regard and feel like awkward relics now, with the latter especially just playing stiffly and blandly, with the toughest enemy in the game being the controls, they just aren’t fun to play and I’d be surprised if many folks out there have any nostalgia for them. Whilst Arcade’s Revenge has the most ports here, they are mainly handheld ports, which are effectively very stripped back versions of the same game, again nice to have – but how many people are going to play these versions over the others?

The jukebox is a nice touch, and some of the fusion used in X-Men is still great fun to hear, but the archival details are so, so thin on the ground that I wonder why Limited Run bothered, as each entry is so varied in what is included that it feels like random stuff was just thrown in with little context, it’s a very disappointing aspect of the collection if you were hoping for a Digital Eclipse-esque approach as fans of these Marvel games.

SUMMARY
In closing, X-Men and Captain America and The Avengers are simple, fun games that are an absolute blast in multiplayer, and have many quotable moments that celebrate that era of arcade gaming, but are followed up in this collection by games that are either bland or flat out frustrating to play, combine this with a very sparse archival section and it adds up to a mixed experience to say the least.

6.5/10

💧MELTING💧

(also available on PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox Series X/S, Windows)

Developer / Publisher – Limited Run Games