The 20 landmark comic book video games isn't just a list of the best or worst comic book inspired games. This list points out the highlights and progression of comic book video games, where they've started and how far they've come. With Konami announcing this weekend that their classic arcade version of X-Men is coming to XBLA we thought we'd take a look at the greatest classic comic book video games. From Atari's Superman to Arkham Asylum to Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Enjoy.
Starting us off the is the Superman game for the Atari 2600 released in 1979.
This game is actually known for being pretty unplayable, however it is the first super hero game to come out for a home console system so it definitely has a place on this list.
It starts out with the phone booth quick change which is kind of cool, though.
In case those of you watching this video feel like you just took some bad acid, don't call 911 (or your dealer) just yet, here's what's happening in this video and the "plot" of this actually pretty inaccurate game.
"Basically you have to repair the bridge and arrest Lex Luthor and his other thugs. If the kriptonite (that atom thing) touches you, you become powerless (the Spider-Man) and have to find Lois Lane (the nurse). She "cures" you.
When you're finished, you have to go to the journal where Clark works (the rectangle with a question mark) and the game ends. The other rectangles are subways entrances (I think). And I don't know what the helicopter is for." (thanks YouTube!)
A classic game, w/o Superman's playability problems, Spider-Man was one of the MUST OWN Atari games from our youth.
An exercise in avoidance, it played closer to Donkey Kong than an actual Spider Man game, but it is the one we all remember taking out of those grid-patterned white boxes and throwing into our Ataris.
This game took the genre about one step further (no more, no less) and was actually able to mirror the some of the abilities of the actual comic book character.
In the game you could swing like Spider-Man and even climb walls like him. Sure, the entire premise of the game revolves around Spider-Man trying to do something that would pretty much be a given for him in absolutely any other situation, but it's as close as they got back then and sure as h**l kept ME entertained when I was a young lad.
Sam and Max is the classic comic turned video game success story. The comic characters were used as models and for environment tests by Lucas Arts employees when making Monkey Island, so they already had some of the framework rockin'.
The creator was working for Lucas Arts, then one thing led to another and thus the coolest Private Police force pretty much ever officially went interactive.
Sam & Max was the rare case of the game far surpassing the source material and how early on it came made it that much more revolutionary. Most likely because it shared a studio with the creators of Monkey Island, this game not only stayed in classic Sam & Max fashion, but improved on the beloved model.
Using the character designs from "The Pryde of the X-Men" animated pilot, this arcade game could be found in malls across the country in the '90s and even now.
Revolutionary in its use of multiple monitors and up to six player stations (just enough for some jerk who wanted to hog Cyclops then come along and mooch off your continues to upstage you next to your middle school girlfriend... what?), the X-Men arcade experience was your chance to play along side 5 other people.
Even people who hated the X-Men played this well crafted arcade beat 'em up and loved taking the guise of their favorite X-Men, or get to know ones they would grow to love.
This X-Men title started a long tradition of well made and inventive game titles and included a wider, more varied rogues gallery than any game before it.
This game's rogues gallery really set it apart from all the other comic book games before it and set the stage for games really going as deep into continuity as their source material.
The game is so beloved that Marvel negotiated with Konami and Activision to free up the license to get it released on XBLA and PSN. Now a whole new generation will be able to play it.
After the arcade game, this one came along and took everything one step further.
The game that defined the Genesis for quite a few comic book fans, X-Men for the Genesis let you experience all of the iconic locations from the comics, play as multiple characters, and even call in back up support characters (because the X-Men were always a team).
One of the first games to fully utilize a comics cast of characters to their full potential, this game was without a doubt a Genesis classic.
But its true legacy is the memorable "Reset".
Breaking the 4th Wall, players had to hit the reset button on the Genesis after defeating Mojo on the mojo-verse level.
It was an inspired functionality and ranks up there with Psycho Mantis reading my memory card for memorable game experience. Not only an amazing step forward in comic book gaming, but in console gaming in general, bringing the game into real life through more than just button mashing.
Hit "next" for the next stage in the evolution of comic book gaming.
The Spider-Man game redefined what a comic book game could be. Spider Man was fast paced, inventive, and above all else fun. Players were finally able to truly do what they always wanted to with Spider Man: fight, climb walls, and even shoot webs in 3D.
This was a monumental leap for comic geeks and video game junkies alike as Activision and Neversoft gave us the wall crawler we always wanted.
The coolest parts in the game were taking a little time out to talk to Johnny Storm at the Statue of Liberty and unlocking the different costumes Spider-Man has worn in the past, really putting you into the position of Spider-Man, not just someone playing him.
Danger Girl wasn't the best game ever made, but it was important to comics and gaming since it was the first game to ever be a sequel to a comic and also be canon.
The Danger Girl game picks up after the events of the original miniseries and introduces players and fans to JC, the Danger Girl team mechanic.
While the play was like a wonky Tomb Raider, the story, cut scenes, and loading screens were memorable because it was one of the few games that focused on story as opposed to killing henchmen or throwing them against the screen.
Technically based on the movie, this game obliterated the idea that a movie license had to make a video game suck.
In a few words, this is the first real "sandbox" style game that we got as comics fans. Almost a kind of "Grand Theft Spidey", if you will in that you could stop wherever you wanted and start a mission, as well as have control of Spidey in an open world environment.
Many gamers, myself included, wasted hours of their lives just web slinging around Manhattan. This was a turning point for modern comic book games.
When Capcom propositioned Marvel to make an X-Men Fighter game, I doubt there was anyone in that meeting who didn't here the cash register ringing in their head.
The X-Men roster with Street Fighter graphics and playability, Children of the Atom went on to start one of the greatest video game dynasties ever made.
From this title sprang Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel Vs Street Fighter and ultimately Marvel Vs Capcom. The seeds were planted here for arguably the greatest fighting game ever made.
From fighting games to multi-character rpg's X-Men seems to be the "porn" of the comic book video games world (by which we mean the first to really have the balls to make leaps and bounds to advance the genre and technology forward).
This was the first attempt at a Marvel RPG, and it actually worked out really well.
Using a Baldur's gate style perspective and allowing you to customize and balance your team, the X-Men Legends formula would be repeated with success by both Marvel, in Legends II and Ulimate Alliance 1 & 2, and DC in JLA Heroes.
This game was also the first time we saw a Marvel property pick and choose between Ultimate and regular continuity costumes interchangeably, opening up the gaming experience to the entire medium, not just one story.
In one of the coolest things to come from the Quake modding of the early '00's, X-Men The Ravages Of Apocalypse has you taking down clones of the X-Men... Quake-style. While not a huge success due to a hefty price tag on top of having to own Quake in its entirety, the game is satisfying in that it is the only completely licensed Marvel (or DC) first person shooter.
In the video, you get to see backup character Gateway serve as your portal to the next level.
Little details like that are what make this game worth it.
Here's hoping that someday we get a release on XBLA & PSN, so we can relive one of the most personal comic book video games ever made.
The landmark MMORPG allowed players to take full control of their own customizable superhero. You could not only do what you'd been doing on the back of notebooks ever since you could draw, but you could see it come to life and then play with it along with other people's ex notebook drawings.
To a certain extent this game was dream/wish fulfillment.
Everquest had been around for a while, but this was the MMO comic fans had been waiting for.
DCU is supposedly on its way, as it has been for what feels like almost a decade, but why bother? The immense customization options allow you to make any character you can imagine. The only difference will be that your imagined character will be able to help out with something Superman is involved in or foil a plot concocted by The Joker.
Freedom Force is one of the most well respected comic book based games ever made... which is a little odd considering it's not based on an existing comic.
Instead of trying to create a licensed property, the folks behind Freedom Force made a loving tribute to their favorite comics, as opposed to taking what was on paper and making it move awkwardly.
You can easily tell which famous characters inspired the heroes at your disposal in the game.
As far as a video game tribute to comics go, you'll find none better than Freedom Force, a game that proved that there WAS something in comics games that was just dying to come out.
Be it a personality beyond the superficial fighting you'd find in your regular beat 'em up comic game, or just something that went a little more into story, as opposed to just treating it as an interstitial in between boss battles and thug-bashing.
No one wants to play a Hulk game where you just fight bad guys and face off against lame bosses (or any game, really... not anymore).
The whole point of the Hulk is destruction, and in this gem of a game, a publisher finally got it right.
You could destroy pretty much everything you saw. The reaction of your environment to your actions made this feel more real than almost any superhero game had ever done or been able to do (well, had bothered to do) at that point.
Want to use that tank as a baseball bat? Go Ahead. That building need a beat down for getting all uppity? Take it down a peg or two. This was the game where the phrase "HULK SMASH!" finally meant something in anything other than the comics.
In what may be one of the greatest game mechanics ever introduced through a Marvel property, the interrogations in the Punisher are nothing short of awesome. Being able to use your environment to torture gangsters and bad guys made players bring out their twisted side for the first time in comic book video games ever.
The game was written by longtime Punisher scribe Garth Ennis (who writes some of the most violent comic books you'll ever read) and seamlessly melded elements of his classic "Welcome Back Frank" and the Punisher movie that had been released that year.
In the video, those clever interrogation deaths are displayed in all their gory glory and actually allowed players to become sadistic, and to have fun with a character they know exists almost purely for revenge. If you haven't played as The Punisher as a sick, twisted b*****d, you've never really played as The Punisher.
The Lego games are modern classics. Hands down the most clever (all ages) comic book game, Lego Batman injects humor and fun into what has been largely become a dark franchise (and a franchise that has made people think that dark = realistic).
Combining the best elements of every iteration of Batman, but staying true to the property is the tight rope this game successfully walked.
The highlight of the game comes in the fact that not only do you get to play as Batman AND Robin (a rarity), but you get to control almost the entire Bat-family and all of the Batvillains.
Not something you can say about any other game on this list. This game showed people that it was okay to inject humor into a franchise everyone takes really seriously, and that it can be done tastefully in a way that doesn't demean the franchise or the player.
Web comics are huge... since you are reading this on the internet, I'm assuming you already knew that. Few web comics have been able to capitalize on their success as much as the guys behind Penny Arcade. They have two conventions every year, a very successful children's charity, and with this game a wildly irreverent and fresh take on the standard role playing action game. The wonderful mix of humor, game play, and absurdity let everyone who wasn't already aware of a unique little thing on the internet in on the joke in a major way.
Infamous is not the first game to take inspiration from the world of comics and build off of it. It is however one of the only games to do it and not seem entirely cheesy. Infamous may be the first example of an interactive comic, where there is no need to even publish a book. It just went straight to the console.
And here we are. The culmination of nearly 30 years of comic book video games. Arkham Asylum is a near perfect game. It contains everything you love about the comic, great gameplay mechanics, incredible storytelling, and doesn't dumb it down for you.
Based on this list you can see how Arkham Asylum is standing on the shoulders of some giants, but there is no denying it is the most well made comic book game of all time, and that no matter how much people s**t all over the genre in general, it's not only come leaps and bounds from its beginnings, but has allowed a level of gameplay that rivals its source medium.
And finally there's the yet-to-be released, but long-awaited and hugely anticipated Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World game.
This is the first HUGE comic book game with an insane amount of buzz behind it that's coming out for a major next-gen system that isn't based on a superhero comic book.
With a franchise that just got its own film and a book that took pieces of video games (leveling up, getting an extra life, people turning to coins when they die) and translated them into real life, this franchise has not only come full circle with this game, but it has come home.
This game, which is about a guy who plays life like a video game, gets turned into a game and receives the gaming royal treatment. This is the first comics game that is not only an homage to the comic, but about a comic that is an homage to gaming in general, even if it is just a simple beat 'em up with a hilarious social-comedy personality.
HatersGonH8 20 Landmark Comic Book Video Games at 8/01/2010 2:47 AM
This list was garbage. He just compiled games that have come out in a timeline and not by how good they were. Turtles in Time shouldv'e definitely been in there. And The Avengers for the arcade and SNES as well.
Brian Walton 20 Landmark Comic Book Video Games at 8/03/2010 11:52 AM
"This list points out the highlights and progression of comic book video games" yeah, it's in a timeline. What's wrong with that? And what did the avengers game do that X-Men didn't do before it?
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