Superhero games

Superhero comic books have been a staple of pop culture since the 1930s, and they have been often adapted into video games.

Marvel

Cover	Title	Year	Genre	Platforms	Description	Screenshot
	Captain America and the Avengers	1991	Beat 'em up	arcade Mega Drive Super NES	THE AVENNNNGERRRRS! While somewhat simplistic, it's regarded as a classic for its fast-paced thrashing, comic-book aesthetics, and wicked cool soundtrack. The few intermittent side-scrolling shmup-like levels in the sky are also pretty damn cool. Be careful when fighting bosses though, since they tend to move pretty fast, with little start-up to their animations and attacks. OKAY, GO! As usual, the arcade version is the best. The Mega Drive port is acceptable, but the SNES one is terrible.
	Marvel Super Heroes	1995	Fighting	arcade PlayStation Saturn	A huge improvement over Children of the Atom, this time featuring various Mahvel characters beating the crap of each other. Loosely based on the Infinity Saga, you can collect the Infinity Gems during the fights, each one granting a special power-up when used.
	Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes	1998	Fighting	arcade Dreamcast PlayStation	Marvel and Capcom heroes duke it out in the ultimate crossover! This time it features various characters not from Street Fighter, such as Mega Man, Strider and Captain Commando, and completely new backgrounds. You can also choose a third character that acts as a helper during the fights. While there are sequels around, this one still haven't lost it's charm!
	Marvel Super Heroes In War of the Gems	1996	Beat 'em Up	Super NES	Considered as a spiritual sequel to X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse. Actually it's all the same, but now you play as Avengers team and you can actually choose certain character to pass certain levels. Music and sound effects are not as great as in first game, but still it's a solid fighting gem by Capcom. Be warned: it's a very hard motherfucker.
	Spider-Man	2000	Beat 'em up / platformer	PlayStation Nintendo 64 Dreamcast Windows macOS	Spider-Man was framed for an attack to a science expo, and has to beat lots of villains and thugs to find who's behind this evil plot. Clearly inspired by the '94 cartoon, with many voice actors returning to their roles (plus Stan Lee as the narrator). Seriously fun game, mostly on the easy side.
	Spider-Man: The Videogame	1991	Beat 'em up / platformer	arcade	Spider-Man, Black Cat, Hawkeye, and Sub-Mariner fight a series of villains on Doctor Doom's payroll to recover a magical artifact. A mostly forgotten but still worth playing brawler from Sega, and completely different from the console games. The visuals were really impressive for the time: after each brawling stage, the game zooms out for a little platforming session. HG101 article
	Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin	1991	Action / Platformer	Mega Drive Master System Game Gear Mega-CD	The Kingpin has convinced everyone that Spider-Man planted a bomb that will destroy New York in 24 hours. This must be the first time a game got the character right, with web-swinging and wall-climbing that feel on point. A cool feature is the camera: to refill the web fluid, you take photos of the villains and sell them to the Daily Bugle. And to regain energy, you rest in Spidey's apartment, but mind the time limit. The Mega CD version adds animated cutscenes and new stages.
	The Punisher	1991	Beat 'em up	arcade Mega Drive	Combines traditional beat 'em up fare with pseudo-light gun shoot out sequences. Great if you're a Marvel fan or not.
	X-Men	1992	Beat 'em up	arcade	Xbox huge arcade game with two monitors, six players, crappy dialogue, and stupid amounts of awesome.
	X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse	1994	Beat 'em Up	Super NES	A Beat-'em-up by Capcom. What can go wrong? That's right - absolutely nothing. Features 5 mutants and specific missions for each of them. Really good animation and vivid colours are breathtaking. Sometimes may be hard.
	X-Men 2 - Clone Wars	1995	Action / Beat 'em Up	Mega Drive	It's one of this visual gorgeous games that came out in 1995, when the death of Mega Drive was near. It pains me to think that not so many gamers saw this beauty. It's so long, so hard, so stunning, it's one of the best X-men games out there. There are 6 heroes to command, each of them has unique skills (pick Wolverine, Gambit or Cyclops for the win). Has a very unique "cold start": the first level starts as soon as you turn on the console, and the title screen only appears after you beat that. Excellent soundtrack by Information Society's Kurt Harland.
	X-Men Vs. Street Fighter	1996	Fighting	arcade PlayStation Saturn	The game that started the Capcom crossover craze, it features a refined engine from Marvel Super Heroes, and all Street Fighter characters have their fighting styles adapted to the Mahvel gameplay. Fuck yeah Ryu shooting Death Star beams from his hands!

DC

Cover	Title	Year	Genre	Platforms	Description	Screenshot
	Batman	1990	Platformer	Mega Drive	Based on the Tim Burton movie. It's by the same devs as the NES and Game Boy versions, but quite different from both. Most of the game is an admittedly simple sidescroller with some vertical sections here and there, but there are also shmup sections in the Batmobile and Batwing. Awesome music. No batdancing.
	Batman	1989	Platformer	NES	A very challenging Sunsoft platformer based around the 1989 Batman movie. Excellent graphics and art direction especially for 1989. Includes a walljump that you WILL need to master. Feels Ninja Gaiden-ish, but make no mistake, it is one of the better games in that 'genre'.
	Batman: Return of the Joker	1991	Platformer	NES Mega Drive	Batman sheds his ninja skills from the first game in favor of FIREPOWER. The game is notably more frustrating due to many beginners' traps and seemingly-unavoidable hits. Minor gripes aside, this is one of the most visually and audibly impressive titles on the NES, and never stops being dark or full of action. Avoid the Mega Drive port, it was outsourced and didn't come out quite right.
	Batman Returns	1992	Beat 'em up	NES	Unlike its platformer predecessor, this is a brawler closer in style and gameplay to the TMNT games (also by Konami). Once again, the visuals and audio are really impressive for the system, and it's just as dark and stylish as a good Batman game should be.
	Batman Returns	1992	Beat'em up	Super NES	It's a very solid beat 'em up about Batman (duh). Maybe it looks like Final Fight, but sound, background are arcade quality. And levels vary from classic isometric view to flat 2d levels. Features intermissions based on movie. And look at that goddamn Batman! He just lifts up those bad guys by one hand! Badass, total badass.
	The Adventures of Batman & Robin	1994	Action / Platformer	Super NES	Based on the animated series and completely different from the Sega Megadrive iteration, this game has a lot of variety in stages and some differ in the way they are played, for example the first mission features an awesome fight against the Joker on top of a roller coaster, another one features the Batmobile and so on, made by Konami so you can expect good quality.
	The Adventures of Batman & Robin	1995	Platformer	Mega Drive	Completely different from the one above, this was made by the short-lived studio Clockwork Tortoise. It's a bit too hard for its own good (this patch should help), but damn it looks absolutely stellar. It pulls some visual tricks that put it among the most impressive of the system.

Other publishers

             

Cover	Title	Year	Genre	Platforms	Description	Screenshot
	Bucky O'Hare	1992	Platformer	arcade NES	Based on the comic and cartoon series. A Mega Man-esque game by Konami, this game is surprisingly solid. You can switch between characters and utilize their abilities. The arcade game is a beat 'em up, but also made by Konami. Give both a shot, whether you know of the source material or not (The comic is better though).
	Cadillacs and Dinosaurs	1993	Beat 'em up	arcade	3 player simultaneous beat 'em up. Fight dinosaurs, drive cars, and shoot guns, all in the dystopian future. Extreme amounts of awesome. Pretty damn good music, too. Like other "later-era" Capcom beat 'em ups, you can use some inputs (like down, then up+attack or dash+attack) for special moves. The gun factor is pretty cool, giving it aspects of the Arcade "The Punisher" game, but the control scheme doesn't shift like that game and you get way more gun variety (rifles, uzis, bazookas, etc.) and when you're out of ammo, you can even swing (or throw) the gun around as a weapon!
	Chakan: The Forever Man	1992	Platformer	Mega Drive Game Gear	What's the worst thing that can happen when you challenge Death itself for a duel? Well, you can win, and be cursed with an eternal life of agony that will only ever cease if you destroy all evil. A nice platformer with a very dark atmosphere. You start in a hub dimension and enter portals which take you to the stages proper, where you platform and slice and dice demons. Possibly one of the most difficult games of all time.
	Dinosaurs for Hire	1993	Run 'n Gun	Mega Drive	Think "Contra with Dinosaurs", throw in a melee button, and you've got one pretty kickass game. Based on a crazy comic book by Malibu.
	Heavy Metal: Geomatrix	2001	Arena Shooter / Fighter	arcade Dreamcast	Based off the American comic/magazine of the same name, HM:G is a third person fighting game similar to Power Stone. The difference being the bigger emphasis on weapons and overall style. It also has a kickass soundtrack featuring Megadeath, Halford and W.A.S.P to name a few, Cheap as fuck also. (No relation to the 1981 film, unfortunately.)
	Shadow Man	1999	Action-adventure	Windows macOS Nintendo 64 PlayStation Dreamcast Switch PlayStation 4 Xbox One	Game based on an obscure comic book series of the same name. Think of it as a darker, scarier and gorier version of Mario 64 where you get to kill Jack the Ripper. Supports gamepads and works on XP/Vista and Win 7. The only modding you can do with this game is changing the texture, music and SFX files. Has a sequel on PS2, but it's crap.
	Spawn: In the Demon's Hand	2000	Action / Beat 'em up	arcade Dreamcast	WTF? A Spawn that's actually good? When Capcom makes it.. YES! Supports up to 4 players.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	1989	Beat 'em up	arcade NES DOS Commodore 64 ZX Spectrum Amiga Atari ST	Choose from one of the four turtles and go kick the butt of Shredder and his goons. Based on the cartoon rather than the much edgier comic, but so there, it's a fun brawler. The NES version has two extra stages.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time / The Hyperstone Heist	1991	Beat 'em up	arcade SNES Mega Drive	The Turtles are back with new moves and power ups. The SNES version was mostly a straight port, with cool visuals and extra content, but slower pacing (fewer enemies on screen most of the time). The Mega Drive version, The Hyperstone Heist, is a sort of remix; it lacks the SNES' cool effects, but restores the arcade's intensity. But any of them is guaranteed fun.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rescue-Palooza!	2019	Beat 'em up	Windows	A delicious fan mashup of all the 90s TMNT Konami games, with 17 stages and 60 playable characters. Yes, pretty much every side character from the cartoon is unlockable: Baxter Stockman, Casey Jones, Metalhead, Leatherhead, April, Irma, Miyamoto Usagi, the Punk Frogs... Get it here.
	The Red Star	2000	Run n' gun	PlayStation 2 Xbox PSP iOS	Set in an alternate history Soviet Union, with industrialized magic running rampant. Gameplay consists mostly of beating up grunts in melee and memorizing bullet patterns to dodge for bosses, saving up points for character upgrades. Oh, and some side-scrolling shmup thrown in to stir things up a little. Good old arcade fun, on the whole. Based on a comic book of the same name, but doesn't actually spoil it in any way if you were concerned. Note: the Xbox version was cancelled just before release, but it was leaked.
	XIII	2003	FPS	Windows macOS Gamecube PlayStation 2 Xbox	You wake up on a beach, half-dead, amnesiac, with a strange tattoo, and a bunch on gunmen on your trail. Also, it seems you've just assassinated the president. A spy conspiracy thriller based on a Belgian comic book series, and its cel-shaded graphics really make it look like a playable comic book. Voices by David Duchovny and Adam West.