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A collection of ’90s Marvel video games, all in one place on the current generation of gaming consoles… Marvel knows how to take my money.

MaXimum Collection

After Marvel Cosmic Invasion I wanted more side scrolling beat ’em up Marvel action and Limited Run Games has delivered with a collection of Marvel games from Arcade, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Sega Mega Drive (Genesis outside of UK), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Sega Game Gear, and Nintendo GameBoy. That’s quite a mix of platforms, and quite a mix of quality.

The collection includes refers to the NES as “8-Bit”, the Mega Drive as “Mega”, and the Super Nintendo as “Super”, probably due to trademarks.

To Me My X-Men!

The gem of the collection is Konami’s X-Men (arcade). It has seen previous re-release during the X-Box 360 / Playstation 3 era but has not been available for purchase since (as far as I’m aware) so its a great opportunity to play X-Men.

The game includes 2 player, 4 player and 6 player options, as well as online play sadly did not have any lobbies when I tried playing earlier on the 27th March but hopefully that improves.

Released in the 1990’s X-Men was gives players the opportunity to play as Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Dazzler, Storm, Wolverine or Colossus as they take on sentinels, reavers and level bosses such as Pyro, Blob, Wendigo and Juggernaut.

It is a great side scrolling beat ’em up and the multiplayer is always fun. Listen out for the classic Magneto line of “Master of magnet”.

Avengers Assemble!

Captain America and the Avengers gets three versions thanks to Arcade, NES and Mega Drive versions. I had this on the Mega Drive many years ago and so dived right in, and it’s shorter than I remembered but still playable with character selection of Captain America, Hawkeye, Vision, and Iron Man available.

Non-Playable support characters such as Wasp, Quicksilver, Namor and Wonderman show up to help you tackle foes such as Living Laser, Whirlwind, Mandarin, Crossbones and the Red Skull.

The game is made up of levels which are either side scrolling beat ’em up or side scrolling shoot ’em action. A note on the Mega Drive version, hitting jump+action buttons at the same time makes your character do a range attack (e.g. Iron Man’s repulser blast, Vision’s gem beam).

The definitive version of the game is the arcade version which has nicer looking visuals compared to the Mega Drive version, although the Mega Drive version does try.

Spider-Sense Tingling!

Comic book readers in the 1990s may remember the frequent advertisements for Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage, and Spider-Man / Venom: Separation Anxiety. It was a time when Venom was big in comics. As a younger comic book reader at the time I really wanted to play both games but could not get my hands on them. Flash forward to 2026 and I can play them … and I’m a little disappointed.

The games allow the player to choose between Spider-Man and Venom, with several super heroes (e.g. Ghost Rider, Captain America, Daredevil) appearing as non playable support characters that can be called upon after collecting tokens.

My main disappointment came with Separation Anxiety which feels quite bland with levels feeling very similar and the foes being very repetitive. Fighting the same looking Life Foundation foes, the same Jury members and getting pulled back to “trap rooms” became boring.

What could have been a good Spider-Man style “Streets of Rage” is more of a bland tie-in that is a slog to play through.

To Me My Board

Marvel’s cosmic surfer, and one of the toughest games in the collection (imo). For a character that has gone toe-to toe with the likes of Thanos, it’s weird how scraping a wall can cause him so much damage.

The game is a scrolling shoot ’em up, and if you can get past the difficulty (or cheat, see “Extras” below) then it’s not too bad and a positive to see the Silver Surfer in his own game.

Extras

The games have a rewind function, which comes in handy for some of the more frustrating “timing” moments or boss fights, and gets a thumbs up from me. As does the option of stage select on X-Men, cheat menus for some of the games, and game save options which makes it easier to pick up and play rather than having to grind through a game in one sitting.

Display options allow for game screens to be resized, a CRT filter, and for different borders based around the games.

There are also game manuals, advertisements (back to those 90’s comics), concept art and box art for some of the games. Also included is a jukebox to listen to the music tracks from the games.

The Games List

• Captain America and The Avengers (Arcade)
• Captain America and The Avengers (NES)
• Captain America and The Avengers (Mega Drive)
• Silver Surfer (NES)
• Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage (Mega Drive)
• Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage (SNES)
• Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (Mega Drive)
• Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (SNES)
• Spider-Man & X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge (Mega Drive)
• Spider-Man & X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge (SNES)
• Spider-Man & X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge (Game Boy)
• Spider-Man & X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge (Game Gear)
• X-Men (Arcade)

Opinion

I’m a comic book fan, and grew up with Sega Mega Drive / Super Nintendo. I also have fond childhood memories of X-Men in the arcade. So the collection was a purchase to relive some of my youth. If you don’t already have a version of X-Men (arcade) from the X-Box 360 / PS3 release era then I recommend Marvel Maximum Collection for it, especially if you can get some multiplayer action in.

If you do already own X-Men (arcade) then this collections value comes from if you want to play Captain America and The Avengers (arcade). It’s not as fluid as X-Men, and the graphics / sound is not as good as X-Men but it is a fun title.

The other titles are good in small bursts, and the save / cheats options help keep them enjoyable in those small bursts. Past that small burst though and the frustration / boredom of grind kicks in, especially in single player.

The collection has left me wanting more retro Marvel fun, and hopefully Limited Run Games or another publisher remembers that Hulk had some games (SNES, Sega Saturn, Playstation), Iron Man teamed with X-O Manowar on the Saturn and Playstation, the X-Men have 2 classic Mega Drive outings and Capcom also did a X-Men SNES game (Mutant Apocalypse). There was also a brilliant Sega Spider-Man arcade game…

Review Specifications

I’m playing Marvel Maximum Collection on an X-Box Series S. The game released in the UK on Friday 27th March 2026, and cost £20.99. It’s also available on PS5, Switch, and Steam.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion (Review)