I think it has an ugly cute aesthetic which detracts from the game, and the platforming is derivative, but decent.
Perhaps my favorite out of the pre-Sonic Genesis platformers. It may lack the strong presentation of Castle of Illusion, but it makes up for it in the mechanics and gameplay departments.
The level design also flirts with momentum a bit in the form of swinging setpieces that help you pick up speed- two or so years before the blue hedgehog would capitalize on the idea of going fast and being rewarded for fooling around with loop-de-loops and other stage gimmicks.
It also borrows a bit from Mario in the form of warp zones, and they are quite literally everywhere in this game. Sometimes you can push a block and be zipped to a later level in the current world, some are accessed by doors higher up on the map and others pop up out of thin air. This may sound annoying, but I actually had a lot of fun finding them all and finding the optimal route through.
As others have pointed out, the game can be a little obnoxious in its difficulty. You die in one hit, and losing to a "boss" (as they're little more than mini games until the very end) will kick you back to the start of the last stage. However, 1ups are abundant and do respawn upon dying and there are unlimited continues on top of a password for each and every stage. (Thankfully, it's an easy system that was four or five letters long from what I remember) It's very do-able in my opinion.
The two major flaws are that World 4 (the last world, added exclusively to the Genesis version for some reason) absolutely sucks and feels like it was designed by amateurs. You can, of course, skip the vast majority of it if you're acquainted with the warp points but I doubt a first time player will be. The second is that the music ranges from tolerable to just flat out annoying.
It is a shame Namco basically forgot about this game. The arcade game nor this beefed up Genesis conversion have ever been rereleased in North America, and it was only ever rereleased once in Japan via the Wii Virtual Console. There was also a whole ass fan site called "The Parade of Marvel Land", which unfortunately doesn't seem to be around anymore.
The level design also flirts with momentum a bit in the form of swinging setpieces that help you pick up speed- two or so years before the blue hedgehog would capitalize on the idea of going fast and being rewarded for fooling around with loop-de-loops and other stage gimmicks.
It also borrows a bit from Mario in the form of warp zones, and they are quite literally everywhere in this game. Sometimes you can push a block and be zipped to a later level in the current world, some are accessed by doors higher up on the map and others pop up out of thin air. This may sound annoying, but I actually had a lot of fun finding them all and finding the optimal route through.
As others have pointed out, the game can be a little obnoxious in its difficulty. You die in one hit, and losing to a "boss" (as they're little more than mini games until the very end) will kick you back to the start of the last stage. However, 1ups are abundant and do respawn upon dying and there are unlimited continues on top of a password for each and every stage. (Thankfully, it's an easy system that was four or five letters long from what I remember) It's very do-able in my opinion.
The two major flaws are that World 4 (the last world, added exclusively to the Genesis version for some reason) absolutely sucks and feels like it was designed by amateurs. You can, of course, skip the vast majority of it if you're acquainted with the warp points but I doubt a first time player will be. The second is that the music ranges from tolerable to just flat out annoying.
It is a shame Namco basically forgot about this game. The arcade game nor this beefed up Genesis conversion have ever been rereleased in North America, and it was only ever rereleased once in Japan via the Wii Virtual Console. There was also a whole ass fan site called "The Parade of Marvel Land", which unfortunately doesn't seem to be around anymore.
This game has no right to be as good as it is. It's an extremely simple yet fascinatingly fun platformer with a great sense of humor, tons of secrets, hilarious boss battles, and a really great soundtrack. It's quite hard too; things get real in the last world, and it offers some pretty well-thought-out challenges. I'm just really impressed by the competence of the whole thing.
My only true complaint are some really unexplainable slowdowns, which is weird coming from a game that doesn't push the system's potential in any way.
Other than that, yeah, i had a lovely time.
My only true complaint are some really unexplainable slowdowns, which is weird coming from a game that doesn't push the system's potential in any way.
Other than that, yeah, i had a lovely time.
goddamn i wish i had this as a kid, this is way better than alex kidd
Had this one as a kid but never got too far into it. It's not pushing any technical boundaries but it's just a really fun game, with a lot of personality. A little sadistic sometimes maybe, but it hits that sweet spot that makes you want to try again and again.
I did speedruns of the MD version for like 5 years and retired from it. Genuinely fun platformer, but very much not for everyone.
The bonus stage is a gorgeous Namco Electric Light Parade Rainbow Road celebration and it’s delightful.
El juego esta bien, no es una joya, pero tampoco es una basura, sumamente corto por los atajos que puedes encontrar sin necesidad de buscarlos mucho.
A cute little platformer, unassuming but pretty fun.
Marvel Land is a pretty cool platformer that not only has a lot of cool references to cool Namco franchises like Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Dragon Spirit, Wonder Momo and Mappy but it's also got a cool theme to it. I really like the aesthetics here, they just scream of a different time to me.
The game itself gameplay wise is very odd and very challenging. The controls take some time to get used to combined with the fact you die in one hit which is pretty brutal. It also has one of the weirdest attacks I've ever seen. You like have these smaller different colored versions of you and you can spin them around by pressing down or up. Even with that though you'll still be dying a lot. I do think the level design can be pretty enjoyable once you get used to it.
The bosses on the other hand really blow, there's only 3 different types of them and they all kind of suck. Two involve doing this weird Janken game, two involve tug of war where I totally didn't use the slow down button on my emulator, and the final boss has a unique fight and omg it's so hard. No wonder the stage before him is so short. What's worse you have to do this get the hell out of the place level afterwards and if you die, you have to do all of the last level again just for another try, why's it gotta be so brutal?
The music is pretty neat though I mostly just enjoy the main theme you hear in like the first and second areas. The game looks pretty nice too though idk if I like the design of the main character, he looks kind of weird.
It's overall a pretty fun game by Namco, it's far from perfect but I still like the effort. Maybe if it wasn't so challenging I would play it more but otherwise I'm still glad I gave it a try anyway. Play it if you're curious, it recently rereleased on PS4 and Switch.
The game itself gameplay wise is very odd and very challenging. The controls take some time to get used to combined with the fact you die in one hit which is pretty brutal. It also has one of the weirdest attacks I've ever seen. You like have these smaller different colored versions of you and you can spin them around by pressing down or up. Even with that though you'll still be dying a lot. I do think the level design can be pretty enjoyable once you get used to it.
The bosses on the other hand really blow, there's only 3 different types of them and they all kind of suck. Two involve doing this weird Janken game, two involve tug of war where I totally didn't use the slow down button on my emulator, and the final boss has a unique fight and omg it's so hard. No wonder the stage before him is so short. What's worse you have to do this get the hell out of the place level afterwards and if you die, you have to do all of the last level again just for another try, why's it gotta be so brutal?
The music is pretty neat though I mostly just enjoy the main theme you hear in like the first and second areas. The game looks pretty nice too though idk if I like the design of the main character, he looks kind of weird.
It's overall a pretty fun game by Namco, it's far from perfect but I still like the effort. Maybe if it wasn't so challenging I would play it more but otherwise I'm still glad I gave it a try anyway. Play it if you're curious, it recently rereleased on PS4 and Switch.
I'm starting to think platformers are consumed and produced exclusively by people with an innate hatred of humankind
(mega drive version played)
it's funny how this is arguably more cruel than skullmonkeys yet is also infinitely more admirable and charming as a game. sure the controls are slippery and one-hit deaths suck and it's needlessly obtuse. but i can't bring myself to hate this game at all. the graphics are bright, the mini-games are funny, i love the character designs, and there's something admirable about the sprawling levels and early attempts at how momentum affects the platforming hero. lil boy go slip slide
it's funny how this is arguably more cruel than skullmonkeys yet is also infinitely more admirable and charming as a game. sure the controls are slippery and one-hit deaths suck and it's needlessly obtuse. but i can't bring myself to hate this game at all. the graphics are bright, the mini-games are funny, i love the character designs, and there's something admirable about the sprawling levels and early attempts at how momentum affects the platforming hero. lil boy go slip slide