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Looking Back: Old-School Iron Man Games, Part 1
2008-04-11 09:40:52
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By now you undoubtedly know that May 2's a big day for Iron Man fans. Not only does Marvel Studios’ movie hit theaters that day, but it’s also when Sega unleashes “Iron Man” to a console near you. I don’t think Justin would disagree with me here when I say that never before has a video game so respected all aspects of the Armored Avenger’s powers. And what better way to test that statement than to go back and play Iron Man games?
Obviously, there’s not much time left between now and the game release, so in order to make it easier on ourselves and actually give ourselves time to work, we’ve decided to focus on the older Iron Man games—Tony’s games of the 20th Century, if you will. And if you know your 20th Century Iron Man games, you know they fall into one of three categories: 1) As part of a team of Super Heroes beating the crap out of evil, 2) as a fighting-game character or 3) sharing the spotlight with some dude from Valiant Comics you probably wouldn’t have otherwise heard of. I’m tackling the first category for the initial entry in this series.
Like we mentioned the first time we went back in time, one of the biggest parts of our job in Marvel’s interactive division is to ensure that the characters are portrayed accurately and to their full potential. With that in mind, since this entry is all about Iron Man as a supporting character, I won’t focus so much on each game itself as I will on Iron Man’s portrayal in it. Got that? Good. Here we go…
"Captain America and the Avengers"
Arcade – Data East, 1991 (later ported to Sega Genesis by Data East; ported to Super Nintendo, Sega Game Gear and Game Boy by Mindscape)
Iron Man’s first-ever video game appearance was as one of the four Avengers in this arcade beat-'em-up—you know, the genre that was all the rage in the early ‘90s. In addition to Cap, he teamed up with Hawkeye and Vision, taking on Red Skull’s forces, which included the likes of the Wizard, the Mandarin, the Juggernaut (taking a break from terrorizing the X-Mansion, apparently) and a few more. There were even some cameos by Wasp, Quicksilver, Namor and Wonder Man. Overall, it’s a quality beat-'em-up that really feels like you’re playing a comic book with its BOOMs and SNAPs. We’ll talk more about the game itself in a future entry.
The four characters play essentially the same, but with their own respective powers, all with two buttons—attack and jump. (Ah, the good old days…) For Iron Man, that means a combo of punches as the primary attack, plus a jump attack. If you really want to get complicated, you can hit both buttons at once for a long-range repulsor shot from the ground, and you can even shoot repulsors while mid-jump in a downward-diagonal direction. The latter puts Tony in the air for about two seconds, which is the closest he comes to true flight.
And therein lies the greatest misrepresentation of Iron Man in this game—outside of the “Gradius”-like shooter portions where everyone takes to the air, he pretty much doesn’t fly. At all. Taking to the skies is only, like, his most basic super power. It’s pretty obvious Iron Man’s flight was omitted for gameplay balance reasons, as none of the enemies fly, and picking them all off from up high kind of isn’t fair. So give them jetpacks or something.
One basic gameplay element feels particularly odd. Like any good beat-'em-up of the era, you could pick up items to throw for a little variety. This includes things like heavy machinery, which is fun and makes sense. But Iron Man can also pick up wrenches and soda cans to throw. Is there any way these could ever be as effective as a repulsor shot? Well, according to this game—yes!
One other big thing that Data East forgot: The unibeam. It’s arguably Tony’s coolest power, and it isn’t even in there.
But all things considered, given the game and the time of its release, Iron Man fans should be pretty happy with his representation in “Captain America and the Avengers.” At least this version…
"Captain America and the Avengers"
Nintendo Entertainment System – Data East, 1991
The NES version of “Captain America and the Avengers” had nothing to do with the arcade semi-classic of the same name. Rather, it was a 2D action-platformer akin to “Castlevania” and “Ninja Gaiden,” but with Cap and Hawkeye. Not a bad game, necessarily, but certainly Iron Man’s personal low point in video game history.
Why? Well, he and Vision were essentially the unplayable Princess Peaches to the other two’s Mario brothers, held captive by the Bowser known as the Mandarin. I’m surprised we’re never told, “But our Iron Man is in another castle!” Though, for what it’s worth, as we learn in the game’s all-text ending, they “made resistance while being captured.” Whatever that means.
"Marvel Super Heroes in War of the Gems"
Super Nintendo – Capcom, 1996
One of the last big games for the Super NES, “War of the Gems” also took the beat-'em-up route in a game based on Marvel’s classic “Infinity Gauntlet” storyline. Capcom let you choose between Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Wolverine and Spider-Man en route to securing the six Infinity Gems and stopping Thanos once and for all.
Once again, flight was an afterthought, as its only real implementation was a double-jump that allowed Tony to access areas other characters could not. He could also charge forward with a flying turbo boost. But basic hovering and shooting? Nah…
Oddly, “War of the Gems” incorporated a fighting-game style for combos, but used only two of its six possible buttons, making things a bit unnecessarily complex. This control scheme made the simple act of shooting repulsors a bit of a chore—it should have been easier. However, the inclusion of a smart bomb, meant to be fired from above, was an unnecessary but welcome inclusion, showing that there’s more tucked away in that suit than a variant of the traditional sci-fi laser beam.
Well, that’s it for this batch, True Believers. Check back here next week, when we tackle some more of these.
--C-Bake
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Hey guys! Quick question
Are you guys open for an interview?
Posted by Aziroth on 2008-04-11 18:59:46
I'm really enjoying this series of articles. I've always liked to look back at the games of my youth and see what they were like when stripped of nostalgia.
Posted by JdRavnos on 2008-04-15 12:40:50
Glad you like, Jd
It's definitely fun (if a bit more work than you'd think) to put these kinds of entries together. The end result is totally worth it, though. Plus, it's just a good excuse to go back and play some old Marvel games again!
And Aziroth, I'm sure at some point -- post The Incredible Hulk, perhaps -- we'll be up for a Q&A-type blog entry (or perhaps even series of them). We appreciate that you have questions (yes, we saw your comment in the last entry :-) ), and we'll definitely get to answering some once we have a little more time on our hands.
--c.bake
Posted by Marvel_Interactive on 2008-04-16 00:15:11
Thank you very much
Thanks a million C.Bake. I am profoundly greatful of your response. ^_^
Looking forward to reading Marvel Interactive's next blog.
Thanks -
Aziroth
Posted by Aziroth on 2008-04-16 11:00:37
Wow I use to love playing the iron man game for genesis. It was awesome at the time.
Posted by Th3 1mpaler on 2008-07-27 05:10:53
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About this blog:
A behind-the-scenes look at Marvel’s current and upcoming video games.
 | About the author:
Chris Baker is the Interactive Content Coordinator for Marvel, having a hand in all video games for the House of Ideas. |
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