It’s been an interesting few years for Marvel Games. Rather than coast on the MCU’s name and release a bunch of movie games, we’ve seen plenty of quality titles in various genres. There are AAA open-world titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the ridiculously popular Marvel Rivals, and big re-releases like the Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics.
With the recent announcement of Marvel Cosmic Invasion from the team that made TMNT Shredder’s Revenge, the company seems to be embracing video games more than ever. Knowing that the company is willing to experiment with different genres has fans hopeful for the future and is reigniting my fandom for the brand.
Cosmic Invasion is the main reason for this story, since no one expected to see Marvel jump on the beat-em-up craze. Based on games like Midnight Suns and Guardians of the Galaxy, it seemed like the company would only focus on AAA games. Now that we’re seeing a beautiful 2D beat-em-up that looks straight from a ‘90s Capcom fighter, it feels like the company can make more unique games from here on out.
Imagine a new fighting game only featuring Marvel characters similar to the old X-Men: Mutant Academy games. Or a co-op game with Cloak and Dagger that plays similarly to the incredibly successful Split Fiction. How about a cooking game featuring Jarvis?
That’s not to say that Marvel Games is dipping out on AAA development entirely, as we’re still getting games based on Iron Man, Black Panther, and Blade. We still haven’t seen any gameplay from these titles, so we can’t assume they’re high-quality yet. At least, Marvel has learned from their failed Avengers game, and they won’t be making the same mistakes.
Marvel Rivals is also a success for the company, getting new players every day and selling some incredible-looking costumes for their awesome character designs. Seeing this free-to-play title surpass Overwatch 2 felt earned, and it should remain a popular shooter if NetEase doesn’t get too greedy.
Although it wasn’t a huge financial success, Midnight Suns was also a quality release that most fans slept on. It’s most likely due to the confusing marketing for this game’s card-based combat, but actually playing the game is remarkably easy. We also give the devs credit for including obscure characters in major roles like Sister Grimm, Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider, and Magik.
Now that characters like Nova and Phylla-Vell can appear in Marvel Cosmic Invasion, it looks like all heroes and villains are fair game now. This opens up the kinds of games developers might try pitching to Marvel Games, which is a good thing. In an age where most AAA publishers are comfortable releasing similar games over again, this kind of range in gaming is good.
The future of Marvel Games looks bright, and we imagine even more unique games are going to be announced. Could this mean Ultimate Alliance 4? An X-Men-centric RPG? Anything could happen.