MARVEL MaXimum Collection

Raccolta di giochi iconici. Compilation molto ben strutturata, ma forse poteva essere più corposa.

If you've never played any of these games, you are in for a treat. If you have played these games before, you are also in for a treat. Before I talk about the games I've completed, know that you can ramp up the difficulty on all of the games. For some, like the Arcade games, you might want more of a challenge than the legacy difficulty setting. For others, like Arcade's Revenge, you would be sadistic to turn that difficulty up. The menu is pretty good. You can change a few settings, including the widescreen framing backgrounds. Each game has a rewind option and save state (at least in single player), so you can practice levels or cheese the games by easy restarts/save points to your pleasure. X-Men Arcade: It's the same game, but you can play it online. I absolutely love this game and the fact that I can do a pick up group of this classic arcade is great. Captain America Arcade: My biggest disappointment in the collection is that I can't play this one online. But, I have kids so was still able to play it multiplayer and that was fun couch co-op. Captain America Arcade (Sega): I loved this game as a kid and it's just like I remember. It's like the arcade but looks worse and with some minor game changes. Spider-man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge (SNES): I loved renting this game as a kid but I was never able to beat it because it's really hard. As an adult, it's still really hard. I won't lie - I save scummed this one using the save state quite a bit and it still took me almost 4 hours to clear. I'll probably try going through this one again without the save scumming now that I remember how to play it. But, I still enjoyed the game and experience. Maximum Carnage (SNES) - This game isn't as good as I remember but it's still a fairly solid story and arcade game. Definitely harder than I remember - there are a lot of counter attacks from bosses. But, save scum away and it's much easier. Silver Surfer (NES) - I had never played this prior to this collection. This game is actually good by NES standards. Definitely an 8 out of 10 NES game. It's Rtype meets Megaman and Marvel. Not the best game, and incredibly hard due to it being NES with no saves or passcodes. But, at the credits, you'll see that only 8 people put this game together; it's actually super impressive. Again, incredibly challenging but luckily you can save scum or use cheats. Check out infinite bombs if you just want to win quickly. Separation Anxiety (SNES) - This one doesn't hold up as well as the others. After playing Maximum Carnage, you will see that they actually seemed to have downgraded the game. It's a whole bunch worse than Maximum Carnage BUT it is 2 player and there are passcodes. So, I guess that was an improvement if you play with others. Otherwise, I'm glad that I have it and got to play it again but this is a below average game compared to the rest of the collection. And, even then, still more variants of these games. I'll edit the review as needed when I beat those extra games. So, I'm a big fan of this collection. I bought at full price and feel like the value is there, but definitely worth picking up on sale if you haven't played these or only have passing interest in some of the games in the collection.

This game is a wake-up call that some of these X-Men and Marvel games we adored as children were not nice, with cruelty seeming to be the design philosophy, haha. But, with the rewind feature taking the bite out, it's a pretty charming way to relive these while looking great on modern displays. Playing an X-Men arcade game that once was an exhilarating way to spend time at a skating rink as an adolescent while doling out quarters into an arcade machine, now with instant rewind capability on a nicer screen, is definitely a small joy. Classic collections done well like these are a treasure. I'm looking forward to more.

Good old-fashioned Gen X side-scrolling beat 'em up. Torturous difficulty at its finest. My review is primarily on the X-Men game since that's the centerpiece. I appreciate the attention to detail and the fact that it's like playing on an arcade cabinet. Mostly responsive controls if not surrounded by enemies on all sides. "You are dead, X-Chicken." A fine archive title for when you have that nostalgic itch with a few caveats. I wish they had not just re-released the original title but made some subtle tweaks to the experience. Updated Voice acting lines and tweaked the enemies in general. Would have made the game even more fantastic; they missed it. As for difficulty, it's a button-mashing quarter guzzling, tear drinker. You have enemies that slide up behind you to attack you from both sides, enemies that club you (rifle guys and lizard guys), which you can't defend, ranged enemies that shoot you and seem to read your controls to dodge, and bosses that ignore your attacks and club you to death. Makes it a very cheap quarter hog. They could have added in free power use instead of requiring your health, as when you're swarmed by a screen of cheap enemies, you have to use your power to avoid dying. [Spoiler] I played it on difficulty 11, hoping that they included some sort of real ending, but nope, it's just loops forever. [/Spoiler] For what it is, gonna give it a C+. Could have been given some love and made into an A. If you miss playing it, don't miss getting it. Experience a beat 'em up in true Gen X fashion, that offers no apologies and cheats with its soul.

kuf you carange

While this game is brutally punishing I still enjoy it to an extent due to the nostalgia factor. HOWEVER, my friend and I beat Separation Anxiety from start to finish and the achievement never popped for beating the game Cooperatively. SOOO hopefully they fix that and I'll be less bothered about this collection. But yeah either way this game is difficult so don't expect it to hold your hand like all the other modern games out there do.

BUY THIS GAME!!! -The President