At the time of its release, this Data East-developed game was second only to Konami’s X-men game in terms of multiplayer beat-em-up action, and even today it maintains its charm. Taking control of either Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, or Hawkeye, you battle your way through various supervillians in order to make it to the Red Skull’s moon base. You’ll meet Whirlwind, the Wizard, Ultron, Crossbones, and several other familiar Avengers villains. You’ll even run into Juggernaut and the Sentinels from the x-men comics. Quicksilver, Namor, the Wasp, and Wonder Man make cameo appearences. There are even some shooter segments to mix up the action. The game’s English translation took some hits (“Why should it goes well?”) when it came over here, but the game is still enjoyable, especially when you bring along friends. There is an absolute zero chance of this being re-released in any way (primarily due to the fact that Data East no longer exists and Activision holds the licensing rights to most major Marvel properties), so you’re going to have to do some searching to find the cartridge or cabinet. If you do manage to run across the game, check it out, and it will tide you over until Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 hits sometime down the road.

If you are not reading Captain America, you should be. After the recent death of Steve Rogers, the mantle of Captain America was passed on to his long time sidekick, James ‘Bucky’ Buchanan. Diamond Select Toys has announced a Marvel Select action figure based on Bucky’s modified Captain America uniform. The 7 inch tall figure was sculpted by Sam Greenwell and features 14 points of articulation. It will also come with a rooftop gargoyle base (pictured).

To my knowledge, this is the first action figure based on the new Cap uniform.

Welcome back to Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters. This is part 2 of our special edition X-men $20 GOTW and lost classics. In the first part we looked at some of the lows of the X-men franchise. In this second part, we’ll take a look at the Marvel Vs Capcom series, as well as Activision’s X-men games. You can find pretty much all of these games in stores, and most of them retail for $20 or less.
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In 2004, developer Raven created the smash hit X-Men Legends. This game took Marvel’s merry mutants and sent them throughout the X-men universe in 4-player action rpg goodness. The game featured customizable stats, upgradable powers, and a huge load of fan service. Raven followed up the following year with X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse which addressed the small amount gameplay issues found in the original XML and featured a story which included even more of the X-Men universe, including elements from the Age of Apocalypse storyline. In 2006, Raven decided to let the whole Marvel universe get in on the act with Marvel Ultimate Alliance. This game allowed fans to experience their favorite (and not so favorite) Marvel super heroes in a way they never imagined possible.
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CoolToyReview.comhas gotten word from a ‘reliable source’ (grain of salt recommended) for the lineup for the next wave of Marvel Legends. Curiously, the listing also shows UPC numbers. The wave will consist of the following:

• Adam Warlock (UPC # 65356931894)
• Black-suit Spider-man (UPC # 65356931891)
• Silver Savage (UPC # 65356931893 – Silver Surfer from the Planet Hulk storyline)
• Spiral (UPC # 65356931895)
• USAgent (UPC # 65356931890)
• Union Jack (UPC # 65356931892)

And it appears that they have wildly guessed on the Build-A-Figure for the wave so I won’t even mention what it was.

I am ecstatic about a Spiral figure, assuming its done right, but rather apathetic to the rest of the wave. I’m still waiting on a Nimrod Build-A-Figure. Make it happen Hasbro!

Today Marvel unveiled the new Captain America, designed by renowned painter of super grandpas heroes; Alex Ross. While the design shares much with the classic Cap design there are some notable changes such as the black pants, the lack of chainmail, and the gat. Writer Ed Brubaker states that this new Cap isn’t Steve Rogers and indeed all signs point to Cap’s former partner and the Winter Soldier; Bucky Barnes. We’ve got more pictures after the jump.
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IGN seems to have the cover to the first issue for the third installment of the Ultimates book. It appears to be a slightly new lineup of Ultimates facing off against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Venom and maybe Storm? I haven’t been keeping up on the Ultimate books lately outside of the Ultimates itself. Thankfully thats been on a schedule I can keep up with; about two issues a year.

Shortly after the fighting game X-men Children of the Atom, Capcom wasted no time in putting out more games featuring Marvel’s pantheon of super heroes. This game in particular is one of the more slept-on Capcom fighters (although not to the degree of Project Justice and Tech Romancer). Taking control of one of six Marvel heroes (Spider-man, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Psylocke) or one of six villains (Shuma Gorath, Blackheart, Juggernaut, Magneto, and Thanos and Dr Doom via use of a code), you must fight your way up the ladder to meet Thanos in a plot loosely based on 1992’s Infinity Gauntlet storyline.

The game play is similar to most other Capcom fighters, with six attack buttons, three for punches, three for kicks, each differing in speed in power. Special moves are done via quarter and half circle motions, as well as charging. However, since these are superheroes, don’t expect your garden-variety martial-arts maneuvers like in street fighter. Your fighter can jump up to several feet high, ‘normal’ attacks fire projectiles, special attacks can cause serious damage, and super moves take up the entire screen. It’s not as zany as in Darkstalkers, but you’re still not gonna see any of these moves in the next Street Fighter game. The main difference that sets this game apart from other Capcom fighters, although it isn’t much, is the addition of the Infinity Gems. They appear throughout the match, and grant your character special powers when you use them. Of course this regulates multiplayer games into bouts of “who can get to the gems the fastest” although an experienced player can destroy any newbie player who plays in that manner.

This game is often overlooked due to the fact that at the time of it’s release, it was just one of many 2-d fighting games. However, it was a Capcom fighter. Moreover, it was a good game based on a Marvel property. Capcom of course went on to use the engine to produce several more Capcom fighters, most important of which being the Marvel Vs Capcom games. This is still a good game to check out if you run across the arcade cabinet, even better if you can find a copy of any of the home ports. Also of interest is the SNES spin-off “War of the Gems”, which is a side scrolling beat-em-up in the vein of Capcom’s “X-men Mutant Apocalypse”.