It seems like Marvel is on everyone’s lips nowadays. For decades, it stayed in the realm of the geeks and outcasts. However, with the resurgence and the popularity of the MCU, the once struggling comic company has turned things around.
One of the biggest markets for the company is video games. With that being said, we thought it might be fun to take a look at 13 fun facts about Marvel video games. Some of them you may know already, but others may be new facts that you can store away for those lively trivia nights!
The First Video Game
Video games have been around for a lot longer than people realize, but for Marvel, their adventure in this market started way back in 1982. After the Atari home console release in 1977, Marvel decided they needed to get in on the game.
In collaboration with Parker Brothers (yes, the board game behemoths), they created a Spider-Man game. It was also available for the Sears console.
Marvel Crossovers
In the 80s and 90s, Marvel concentrated on fighting games and seemed to have a long stretch of great options. However, the breakout star came in 1996 when video game giant Capcom collaborated with Marvel on X-Men Vs. Street Fighter.
The game was such a big hit that they went on to do another game that the rest of the Marvel Universe characters. By that time, Street Fighter was a substantial series on its own.
With this, the young host Ryu and Chun-Li became the perfect sparring partners. A year later, it was out-of-the-box thinking and incredible collaboration that made these Capcom’s prizefighters square off against the extensive Marvel world. Marvel Superheroes Vs. StreetFighter was just the beginning.
The whole scenario was recognized as a trailblazer when Capcom set into motion the ‘Marvel vs. Capcom’ series. The 2000’s ‘Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age Heroes’ is one of the iconic fighting games so far. It was simply because of the timeless vibes created due to the blend of 2D characters and 3D backdrops.
Iron Man Was a B-Player?
Iron Man is a big star nowadays, but in the 90s, he was still considered a secondary character. This is why, in 1996, just in time for the holidays, the company released the video game Iron Man/XO Manowar: Heavy Metal. This game was a failure, but it is still considered a collectible today.
One of the common reasons this game is still a collectible is the presence of many other A-list characters that managed to catch the audience’s attention.
These characters include Batman (A+), Superman (A+), Spiderman (A+), Fantastic Four (A), and Xmen (A). Interestingly enough, even the comic of Ironman was not a best-selling item.
First Person Shooter
In the 90s, Marvel was struggling financially, so when it came to their video game division, they decided to try something new. Thus, X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse was created, and it was a first-person shooter that allowed you to take out some popular Marvel characters.
What was even more unique was that you have to have the original Quake game to play this game. In other words, this may well be one of the first expansion packs, if not the first!
EA & Marvel
EA has developed a certain reputation, and not all of it is good, so when Marvel fans learned that there was a collaboration coming from the two companies, they were skeptical. EA lived up to its reputation and demanded its own set of characters be added into the game.
Worse yet, once you reached the final level, you couldn’t even play a Marvel character. That is probably why this was the only collaboration between the two giants of the industry.
The Period Of Bankruptcy
It might feel like a bombshell to Marvel’s fanatics, but it is a truth that, at the times of the Cinematic Universe, Marvel didn’t possess the movie rights to its two iconic characters - SpiderMan and the X-Men.
The fact is that Marvel sold the rights to Sony and Fox in the late 1990s to save itself from bankruptcy. Anyhow, to continue, Kevin Feige drafted a contract in which Marvel still owned the rights to its low-budget characters like Iron Man.
Feige concentrated on writing great characters and great stories to cope with the financial strains at that time.
X-Men Couldn’t Be In Marvel Vs. Capcom
Here is another gospel associated with the story of Marvel selling its SpiderMan right to Sony and X-Men rights to Fox. Since the rights bled into merchandising, the things turned out a little complicated and made it impossible for X-Men to be part of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
Nevertheless, as Fox has been bought, there is a chance that the same nexus won’t take place again. And, if things turn out in favor, the fans may finally experience the thrill of having X-Men character on PS4. Now, this sounds like happy news for Marvel enthusiasts.
Spider-Man - The First Marvel’s SuperHero Based Game
Spider-Man is one of the popular Marvel characters ever. Interestingly, the first Spider-Man sequence was the first SuperHero based game. The 2000 release of Spider-Man was still known as the greatest game in the chain so far.
And why not! It completely changed the levels of the Marvel Universe with the addition of bizarre situations and innovation in the storyline. Surprisingly, the player can relish a whopping adventure across New York City with this game.
Stan Lee’s voice-over for fighting Scorpions, Rhino, Venom, and many others is also the highlight of the game.
Tragic Delay In Spider-Man 2
Now that we are talking about super-adventurous Spider-Man, the delay of Spider-Man 2 needs to be highlighted. The reason for the delay was the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. Astoundingly, the World Trade Center in New York was the major background in the game.
The developers of the game delayed a month to save themselves and their brainchild - Spider-Man 2, from the controversy. As a consequence, the towers were merged into one but not removed completely.
The Girl Next Door In Spider-Man
Many Marvel or Spider-Man fans might not know, but another Spider-Man game heads to controversy for its ‘GIRLNEXTDOOR’ cheat code. By entering the code, the players could become Mary Jane in the PS2 tie-in game.
To a little more surprise, it was possible for Mary Jane to later kiss herself. The scenario came out of the blue even for developers, as they didn’t think this could be possible. However, it was later removed, and the disc was reprinted.
Marvel Disk Wars - Shipped Only In Japan
Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers-Ultimate Heroes, enunciated in 2014 for 3DS by Bandai Namco, was a tie-in game to the anime Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers. The game was meant for kids to experience the thrill of classic heroes like Iron Man.
The kids could also become great superheroes while playing the game. However, the undesired fact about the game is that it never shipped outside Japan, even after being localized for the West.
Silicon Knights Legal Action
Think much of games like Eternal Darkness and Blood Omen; the Silicon Knights was a fever. However, due to the Too Human and X-Men Destiny, the company deviated from its goal of making Silicon Knights live in action.
Charges were brought against the company for copying the code from Epic Games to make X-Men Destiny. With this being the case, they end up losing Silicon Knights. They had to pay $9 Billion as a liability and were also asked to recall the copies of it and Too Human.
A Modern Marvel For Gamers
After the disappointment of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, 2018 finally broke new grounds for gamers, with Marvel’s Spider-Man becoming active for PlayStation 4.
The game was fun for players and received great feedback from the audience and critics. With this, the gamers finally had reasonable expectations from the Marvel world.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, developed by Ninja Gaiden, was another major release shared with other platforms. In addition, Marvel’s Avengers project also made the gamers bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. In January 2017, Marvel revealed that there would be a new Avenger’s project in partnership with Square Enix.
The 2020’s Marvel Avengers was an action role-playing brawler inspired by Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. The game can be played from a third-person perspective with both single-player and multiplayer modes in availability.
Summary
The vast number of Marvel video games out there gave us quite the challenge to find just thirteen fun facts, but we think we chose the best ones. Be it kids or adults, the die-hard fanatics of Marvel video games can take pleasure in some not-so-known facts and realities.
From the first video game to unique offerings to some exciting collaborations, these facts are fun. You may be able to surprise your friends with your expertise when it comes to Marvel video games.