Marvel Super Heroes is a one-on-one fighting game developed by Capcom and distributed into arcades in 1995. It is the second Capcom beat ’em up based on characters from the Marvel Comics line and is loosely based on “The Infinity Gauntlet” storyline from the Marvel Universe. The gameplay follows the Street Fighter II template for fighting games and uses six buttons and a joystick for each player. The game can be played in either normal or ‘turbo’ mode.

Marvel Super Heroes features a variety of Marvel heroes and villains who’re fighting each other for possession of the ‘Infinity Gems‘, which the main antagonist – Thanos – is trying to claim in order to take over the universe. These gems play a major role in the game and introduce a unique mechanic during battle. By fulfilling certain criteria in Arcade Mode or Versus Mode (such as getting the first hit) you can obtain these gems and use them to activate special effects that’ll help you for a short period of time. The Infinity Gems come in six varieties: Power, Time, Space, Reality, Soul and Mind, each of a different colour. Some will increase your attack power, or defense; others will give you temporary health recovery, increased speed, or unlock additional attacks. For example: if Spider-Man uses a Power Gem, he can create a copy of himself on the opposite side of his opponent and can deal double damage during his attacks. Note that your opponents can also use these gems against you, if you don’t take them from them first.

There are ten playable characters to choose from, including Blackheart, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Juggernaut, Magneto, Psylocke, Shuma-Gorath, Spider-Man and Wolverine, and also two non-playable boss characters: Doctor Doom and Thanos.

The aim of the game is to either knock out your opponent, or have more life left at the end of the round. Each match is a best-of-three contest. Throughout the match players build up a ‘super meter’ which can be used to perform powerful Infinity Combo attacks. Various joystick and button combinations will perform ‘Super Jumps‘ and hidden projectile moves, just like in Street Fighter II, and the game tells you how to do these during intermission screens.

Marvel Super Heroes is varied, challenging and fun. The 2D graphics are beautifully drawn and animated. The music is also pretty solid. There are also lots of nice touches, like Spider-Man setting up a camera on a web and posing by a defeated enemy for a photo with his thumb up, and the opening door intro to Tony Stark’s laboratory. Overall, Marvel Super Heroes is a significant improvement over its predecessor (X-Men: Children of the Atom), particularly in terms of presentation.

Ports of Marvel Super Heroes were released for the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1997. The game is also dedicated to the famous Marvel Comics artist Jack Kirby, who died in February 1994.

More: Marvel Super Heroes on Wikipedia