as much into comic books as I am video games, which is saying something. I’ve always felt that comics and video games are natural extensions of one another. That is why it’s easy for properties to cross over so that we have games that have been adapted from comics and vice versa. Marvel Comics is probably the best example of using a comic to create a video game. They have inspired the most adaptions. Don’t quote me, but I’m fairly certain that the number of games featuring Marvel characters is somewhere between 95 and 100, if not more. With that many games being released over the course of 25-30 years, it makes me wonder why we haven’t really seen any kind of collection or anthology.

I’m not the biggest fan of anthologies, but some of the recent releases have got me thinking otherwise. Samurai Shodown Anthology was an awesome collection I picked up on the PlayStation 2 because it was so self-contained. I had never played Samurai Shodown before, so seeing I-VI packaged together on a single disc was perfect. Sure there were a few titles missing, but those six games are the very core of the franchise. Being able to pick them up in one shot for $19.99 was so convenient and made it that much better. Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection is another great example because there’s so much packed into that one disc. We’re talking 40 Genesis games as well as another 9 unlockable titles from the arcades and the Sega Master System. Add in trophy support and a bunch of behind-the-scenes videos and it virtually makes this collection a must have. Even the recent PlayStation Network release of Namco Museum Essentials has the right idea. Sure the collection is very small with only 5 or 6 games (all of which we’ve seen maybe a dozen times over), but I love the fact that they’re offering rewards tied into PlayStation Home. Playing Pac-Man for the 100^th time is fun when I know I can unlock stuff like t-shirts and furniture for my Home avatar and living space.

Marvel, you have close to a hundred games to pick from, there’s no reason we should not see some kind of a collection. I think when you’re trying to shave down a list of 100 games, the first limit you’d have to set is a specific time period. I would look to form a collection based on the Marvel games produced between the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Some of the more recent releases like Spider-Man 2, The Punisher and X-Men Legends were awesome games, but in terms of the overall landscape, the 3^rd and 4^th generation of home consoles along with the arcades probably featured the best period for comic book games. The games were far more difficult compared to today’s standards, but they were also a lot more fun, whether you were playing solo or with friends.

The next step in sorting out the remaining games would be to categorize them by character. Just off of the numbers, this would probably go Spider-Man, X-Men, Other. Spider-Man is easily Marvel's most popular character and the X-Men hit the height of their popularity during our time frame with the Jim Lee/Chris Claremont X-Men book which would go on to spawn the very successful animated series. So it’s no surprise that those two particular properties would probably make up 70% or 80% of the titles selected for an anthology. Honestly though, given the time period I’m selecting from, the games pretty much all fall into that side-scrolling, beat ‘em up category. They are as follows:

 Spider-Man

• The Amazing Spider-Man vs. the Kingpin (Genesis)
• Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six (NES/Master System)
• Spider-Man &Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES)
• Spider-Man &Venom: Separation Anxiety (SNES)

             X-Men

• X-Men (Arcade)
• X-Men 2: Clone Wars (Genesis)
• X-men: Mutant Apocalypse (SNES)

             Other

• Captain America &the Avengers
• The Punisher
• The Incredible Hulk

Looking at the list, it’s easy to see similarities between just about all of these games and titles like Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, and so forth. But I’m fine with that. I’m content with the fact that these games all play in much of the same way because they’re fun and they capture the spirit of the comics. However what makes so many of these games better is drop in co-op gameplay. Being able to play a game where a buddy can jump in and out at any time is genius as far as I’m concerned. Gameplay aside though, there are a few unique titles on the list that deserve honorable mentions.

The Punisher was always fun because it featured hand-to-hand combat and melee weapons, but there also included a heavy emphasis on firearms and explosives. It was such a great addition because it really made you feel like you were playing a Punisher game. Whether you were playing as Frank Castle or Nick Fury, both of their signatures consist of a large arsenal of sophisticated, automatic weapons. To leave that out would have betrayed the characters.

Lastly X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse is, in my opinion, the best comic book game going into the late 1990’s. Developed by Capcom, Mutant Apocalypse had great production values in terms of the music and the visual designs of the characters. What really made the game stand out was its control scheme. Rather than designate a single button as an overall special attack, Capcom followed what they had done with the Street Fighter series and created several special attacks for each character with each one having a different button combination (down-to-forward punch or forward-forward punch, etc). It was cool to actually have to learn your character’s special powers for once rather than just automatically mashing a button assigned to it.

Besides the games, a collection like this needs to have the proper extras packaged in. I’d love to see some DVD-style behind-the-scenes videos about these games and how they came to fruition. Also being a comic book publisher, I think it would be really cool to see Marvel make use of some of their extremely talented artists to create a gallery of original pieces of artwork based on the games. I’m also a big fan of Namco and what they did to include unlockable items for PlayStation Home. Naturally that would be something awesome to include in here as well as trophies, achievements and those sorts of things. Ultimately whatever happens, I just want to see this anthology put together at some point because it deserves to be done. With so many games to choose from and so many quality games, it makes all the sense in the world to take some of these classics and put them together in one perfectly collected anthology.