MARVEL MaXimum Collection – PS5 Review

It is very strange to a Limited Run Games developed title on sale. I know they do dabble in game preservation but I’ve mostly seen them as a publisher rather than being more hands on. MARVEL MaXimum Collection is a diverse packaging of some 90’s classics and a couple of stinkers. On one hand, it’s nice to see the rights holders like Marvel and Konami coming together for the sake of business. Plus it gives me a chance to play these in an official capacity.

I’m all for big compendiums of old games. My upbringing didn’t really allow for much arcade browsing or console gaming. As a result, a lot of these games can be new to me. In this instance, MARVEL MaXimum Collection presents me with a baker’s dozen of unplayed games. Taken from a breadth of consoles, there’s a solid swath of titles to dig into, although it’s perhaps not as nicely curated as I’d like.

There’s a strong selection of games on offer. There’s seven individual titles with 16 and 8-bit ports bolstering the collection up to 13 games. That’s a lot of value for money, although not all games are fondly remembered. The majority of them are side-scrolling beat ’em ups that, to my eyes, control well enough. I missed all of these growing up so it was a chance to digest them as a new player.

I do think the collection puts its best feet forward with, X-Men: The Arcade Game and Captain America and the Avengers. Both titles feature some strong, comic book presentation but there’s also some solid speech samples and sound within the cabinet. Hits have a decent sense of impact but they can never escape the trappings of being doubled-up or murdered by projectiles. Still, I had a good time with both of them. Loading up the continues and blasting through the stages has been fun and the bosses do try to throw as many Supervillians at you as possible.

When you get into the console offerings, the bar of quality is a little lower. Spider-Man/Venom: Maximum Carnage and Spider-Man/Venom: Separation Anxiety feel like companion pieces. Both games feature Spider-Man and Venom pursuing Carnage and a host of other villains. Again, there’s a strong comic book presentation but the enemy variety, across both games, starts to wane. Bosses repeat and being lumped into the trap room between stages can feel like padding. It did feel like a game that was outstaying it’s welcome and I definitely had moments where the hit detection wasn’t quite lining up.

Silver Surfer and Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge feel like the odd sheep. Neither are beat-em-ups with the former taking on a shoot-em-up form. Your sprite feels too big to skilfully weave through traffic and, with most stages scrolling automatically, I would find myself locked into routes that were difficult to navigate. I can see why it’s not considered a classic and tends to appear near the bottom of NES lists. It does at least have an interesting format. Silver Surfer is trying to piece together some equipment and you grab the parts within five different worlds. You can tackle those in any order and the stages do switch between vertical and horizontal scrolling.

Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge is a two-dimensional platformer that prioritises collecting things over direct combat. The combat that is on show, can feel clumsy and Peter Parker’s not the most resilient character. The levels can feel like labyrinths but your spidey sense will point you in the right direction. The basic movement is supplemented by web slinging which at least allows for plenty of verticality.

It handles multiple protagonists well but the overall design of the levels is messy. It looks cluttered and one of Wolverine’s levels is outright garish. It also feels like the hardest game of the bunch. Enemy projectiles like to track and, whilst the health pool looks quite generous, it can evapourate in a flash. It’s easily my least favourite of the bunch.

The usual quality of life features like save states and cheats are present. You can pump the arcade titles with continues and mess with the dip switches. There’s also a rewind ready to undo any of your mistakes. It’s welcome for people like me that want to see the whole of a game. The arcade titles also include online multiplayer for up to six players. That’s a rare addition and it’s nice to see the opportunity to link up over the internet.

There’s not a lot of archival content on offer. Each title has a meticulously scanned manual and some marketing material. One of them has a design document. It still feels a little thin. I would’ve liked some concept art or maybe some interviews. As it is, you get a big music player with all the soundtracks. There’s a variety of visual filters and options. I largely kept thing as default but you have borders to add and the usual CRT options to attempt to emulate an old display. If all feels like standard necessities for a retro collection.

Whilst I might be slightly disappointed by the extra features, the sheer number of games on offer is worth applauding. It’s an interesting variety of arcade beat-em-ups and console versions that aren’t just about presenting the biggest hits. When dealing with console ports, they can sometimes feel like minor differences but it’s nice to have over a dozen titles to play with. I do think that is where the value lies and the extras they do have are well preserved.