Forgotten Old Games – Marvel Super Heroes in War of the Gems

Hello everyone. Welcome to another Forgotten Old Game!
I’m sorry for my absense. I’ve been pretty busy lately and couldn’t even find time to play anything! But I’m back now, and ready to hit you with another blast from the past.
Today I’m gonna tell you about a game from the Marvel universe. And no, it’s not a fighting game, but a 2d platformer with hints of beat-em-up for the SNES. I’m talking about Marvel Super Heroes – War of the gems!

Released in 1996 by Capcom, one year after it’s arcade fighting counterpart, this game is also based on the same comic books series as the Arcade one, “The Infinity Gauntlet”. By acquiring the six Infinity Gems which controls Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Reality and Power and becoming a God, Thanos proceeds to exterminate half of the sentient beings in the universe, which includes most of the heroes, just because of his love for Death (the being, not because he likes to kill err…maybe he does). The remaining heroes(Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and Wolverine) guided by Adam Warlock unites to battle against him, retrieve the Infinity Gems and undo all this crazyness.

Graphics 

 This game has good graphics, huge and well drawn backgrounds with lots of stuff and enemies on screen at the same time. The characters are also very detailed and the animation is good.

The Stage Select screen

Sound
The game music is just okay, nothing that really stands out. The same can be said about the sound effects.

Gameplay
Plataform + Beat-em-up = Fun! The controls are simple, responsive and fast!
Also for the game basics controls:

D Pad: Moves Characters
Y: Attacks
B: Jumps

Well drawn and animated scenarios!

On the start screen you can choose if you want to start a new game, adjust options or enter a password. Yes, this game does not have a save option, instead it uses passwords to keep track of your progress.
In the Options menu there isn’t really much to set. You can adjust the control setup and if you want Stereo or Monoaural sound.

Choose wisely, some stages requires skills from specific heroes!

This games works basically as any other 2d platformer, but as I said it’s kinda of a beat-em-up as well, allowing you to use special attacks of your heroes, and even combos! Don’t think it’ll be easy though, once you die, you lose that hero you’ve chosen and have to choose another one.  There are specific attacks for each hero, using simple sequences like  pressing Down, Forward and Y.

This item lets you perform a special attack once if you already have one of the Infinity Gems.

While looking for the gems on every stage, you’ll find lots of differents enemies and bosses. There are also items that recharge your health, allows you to use a special attack if you already have one of the Infinity Gems and even ressurrect a fallen hero.
Equipping one of the Infinity Gems will give your character a special ability. They are:

Time Gem: Hero moves 2 times faster.
Space Gem: Gives the hero the double jump ability.
Reality Gem: Shows hidden places/items.
Soul Gem: Doubles HP.
Power Gem: Doubles attack power.

You’ll be visiting lots of places in your quest for the gems, at first you can choose one of the following stages: The Avengers Base, Boston Aquarium, Amazon, Alaska and Dr. Doom’s castle, but more places will show up as you progress trough the game.

Conclusion
Marvel Super Heroes – War of the Gems is a real GEM for that time. It could be better if it had better songs, but otherwise it’s still a good game, and I truly recommend you to play this one! ‘Till next time!