Comic books and arcade games go together like peas and carrots, so there have been a ton of excellent titles released over the years. Many have been in the fighting game genre, though there are more than a few outstanding beat-’em-ups out there as well. We took a look at comic book-based or inspired video games released initially in arcades. We ranked them based on their popularity, contemporary critics’ reviews, and how much fun it is to feed quarters into them. Only the best entry from a given franchise is included, and we’re excluding titles like Marvel vs. Capcom, as it includes non-comic book characters.
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5) X-Men (1992)
When X-Men was released in arcades, it was a massive beast of a cabinet, as some versions housed two screens and a control panel, allowing for six players to play at a time. This offered the most exciting option, as an entire group of friends could band together in the beat-’em-up to take on the X-Men’s many foes. The game draws its designs from X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, a pilot episode that didn’t lead to any additional content before X-Men: The Animated Series became the team’s first proper cartoon. The game was a massive success, and it was eventually ported to home consoles and a variety of mobile devices, where fans continue to enjoy it to this day.
4) The Punisher (1993)
The Punisher is another beat-’em-up released a year after X-Men, though its play style is different. Its plot centers on the Punisher and Nick Fury as they hunt the Kingpin to take down his evil organization. They meet up with plenty of goons and various minions along the way, and overall, The Punisher is just a great, highly enjoyable game. It was popular throughout arcades in the early 1990s and is one of the best beat-’em-ups of the era, which is saying something. Eventually, it was ported to the Sega Genesis, which didn’t do well on the home console, but the arcade game remained a hit for many years.
3) Marvel Super Heroes (1995)
While we aren’t including fighting games with non-comic book characters, there was no way that Marvel Super Heroes wasn’t going to be on this list. The game was released in 1995, and while it’s a relatively standard fighting game, it incorporates all of its characters’ superpowers in their special moves. This makes it much more exciting than a run-of-the-mill fighting game, as it’s more dynamic. The game’s success spawned a massive franchise that dominated arcades for several years. Its predecessor, X-Men: Children of the Atom, is also a great game, but the OG Super Heroes takes the lead. It was eventually ported to various consoles and remains popular among fans.
2) Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1993)
Xenozoic Tales may not be the best-known comic book series out there, but it nonetheless spawned a fantastic side-scrolling beat-’em-up back in 1993. Capcom created the game based on the Xenozoic Tales comic book series. It was developed and released as a tie-in to the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs cartoon, which was nowhere nearly as successful as this arcade game. It allowed up to three players at a time and featured many of the genre’s standard mechanics. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs remained popular in arcades for several years, and it consumed plenty of quarters throughout the mid-1990s.
1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (1991)
There were several great games based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and while most were based on the cartoon of the same name, none would exist were it not for the indie comic book series. While there are many to choose from, most fans consider Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time to be the best. It’s a sequel to the first TMNT arcade game, both of which were developed and published by Konami. Turtles in Time is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up that sees the Turtles thrown into a time warp, where they must fight Shredder’s army throughout time to get home. It’s a fun, brilliant adaptation that has been ported to numerous home consoles since its release.
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