Flashback Friday: Captain America and the Avengers (NES)

Today is April 4th, and for many a Marvel fan (yeah, I am) that means it's time to go to the theaters and see Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The next blockbuster in Marvel's lineup building up to The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Cap and Marvel have had a pretty impressive run as of late, and, unlike some of their DC counter-parts, Cap and friends have been a part of some pretty good games. (The Marvel Ultimate Alliance games spring to mind). We, however, are going way back, to 1991, to the NES version of Data East's arcade hit: Captain America and the Avengers.

I think Hawkeye's trying to photobomb.

I probably should clarify here: The NES version of Cap and the Avengers is different from every other version. Eventually the game was ported to the Genesis, Game Boy, Super Nintendo, Mega Drive, and Game Gear. The NES version was a side-scrolling adventure game where you could only play as 2 of the Avengers.

The Avengers, in this case, were: Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Vision (whom we should be seeing in Age of Ultron). In the game you could only play as Captain America and Hawkeye on your mission to free Iron Man and Vision who have been captured. That seems like a load of crock since the box art clearly shows all 4 Avengers. The title is also misleading, just call it Captain America and Hawkeye then. Oh well...

America, Fuck Yeah!

The levels in the game take you across America, you start in Tampa and end up in places like New York, Omaha, Boise, Salt Lake City, Houston, and so on. Probably marking the only time an "Omaha" level wasn't a beach in a WWII game.

Gameplay was pretty simple: A to jump, B to attack. Each hero, however, has their own unique abilities within the simple control scheme. Pressing down from a high jump as Cap will lower his shield for an attack or a bounce off spikes, Hawkeye can shoot arrows at an angle or straight up in the air, and so on. Of course, Cap's shield throw is in the game, I think it would be a crime against humanity if Cap couldn't do that.

Do you feel avenged?

There were some things that set Cap and the Avengers apart from other side-scrollers of the era: the most prominent one being the fact that you had to actually find an "exit" pick-up before you could complete the level, instead of just walking to the right until the screen went black. This led to more exploration of the levels and made it feel like more of an adventure game.

If you are wondering who was more fun to play as, let's just look at who is actually named in the title. Captain America felt like a badass while Hawkeye just felt weak, this is partly due to the lack of power the NES could push out, since Hawkeye could only have one arrow on screen at a time. Let's face it though, when you played Avengers as kids, Cap was always picked first and Hawkeye was usually forgotten or the character you gave to your little sister so she would shut up. Not that I would ever do that to my sister (love you, Abbie).

Is Cap going to take down a Cyberman?

Graphically, the game looked great for the time. The backgrounds were colorful, Cap and Hawkeye looked just like they do in the comics, and the game hitched or flickered only slightly. The main problem, again, is the NES power, since there could only be three colors in a sprite, it made some of the villains look washed out.

Cap and Hawkeye travel through different points on the map and you could choose either path. If the paths cross, you can switch between characters. The game was fun, even if it was a little difficult (as many games of this genre and time period were).

I'm going to avenge you so hard!

While this version felt limited as far as characters you could play as, and the fact that the movement speed was pretty slow considering this is trying to be an action-packed superhero game, it was enjoyable, though I would recommend getting your hands on the Genesis or SNES versions. Better graphics, more characters, more action.

Marvel has been hitting home run after home run with this run of movies and I can't wait to check out The Winter Soldier. Cap has indeed come a long way.