Captain America and the Avengers

Captain America and the Avengers is a beat 'em up game first developed for coin-op arcade systems by Data East.

Overview

 Arcade Title Screen
Arcade Title Screen

Captain America and the Avengers is an 1991 Arcade brawler from Data East, later ported to the NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Gear and Game Boy. Data East handled the Genesis version themselves, though the SNES, Game Boy and Game Gear versions were licensed out to Mindscape who contracted Realtime Associates the develop the games. The NES game plays a little differently, more of a standard platformer game, and doesn't have as many playable characters.

Taking control of one of the classic (1980s-90s) Marvel Avengers, the player battles their way through five levels in order to prevent Red Skull from carrying out his nefarious plan. The player(s), as either Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, or Hawkeye, fights their way through cities, space, and even underwater. Occasionally other Avengers show up to help the team: Quicksilver by bringing health, Wonderman with a hover craft (for the two Avengers not capable of flight), Namor with a diving suit, and The Wasp becomes an auxiliary attack.

Marvel villains Whirlwind, Grim Reaper, Mandarin, The Juggernaut, Crossbones, and, of course, Red Skull all make appearances as well as quite a few others (including what looks like a Sentinel from the X-Men universe).

Gameplay

Each hero has a similar set of abilities. There are two jump attacks (one if the player taps jump and attack, the other for holding jump and then pressing attack), they can dash at enemies to knock them down, a projectile (laser weapons for The Vision and Iron Man, arrows for Hawkeye, and Captain America's shield), and a series of punches and kicks followed by a throw.

Iron Man is so lazy.
Iron Man is so lazy.

Every couple of levels the brawling action is broken up with side-scrolling shooter sequences. There are three of these: one in space, one underwater, and one in a war-torn city.

The levels are two miscellaneous cities, underwater, a secret underwater base, and the moon.