There was a time when fans of sidescrolling beat ’em ups were left high and dry. Pixelated art styles were dismissed as antiquated and regressive—relics of a bygone era—at least until the indie boom hit in the late 2000s. Now, retro fans are treated to a smorgasbord of offerings across all kinds of genres and styles. When it comes to classic beat ’em ups, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge set a new standard, and the team’s latest project looks ready to raise that bar even higher.
Enter Marvel Cosmic Invasion. It’s a full-blown love letter to 90s arcade brawlers, packed with modern twists, a deep roster, and a surprisingly ambitious tag-team system. Whether you grew up smashing buttons at the local arcade or you’ve only recently fallen into Marvel fandom, this game has all the ingredients of a flashy, retro-styled brawler worthy of attention. So before you suit up and take on the cosmic horde with some friends, here are 15 things you should know.
From TMNT to Marvel
Before going through the ins and outs of the gameplay, it’s important to know that this isn’t just some random team slapping together a Marvel beat ‘em up. The publisher, Dotemu, has delivered some bangers this year including the indie hit Absolum and the well-received Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. Development is handled by Tribute Games—the masterminds behind TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. Marvel Cosmic Invasion takes what made Shredder’s Revenge so dang fun and adds quadruple the roster and a slew of new features.
Classic Beat ’em Up Fun
Of course, Tribute Games is sticking true to its classic beat ‘em up roots with with its newest game. Marvel Cosmic Invasion absolutely channels the 90s brawler era, both in gameplay and in its zany galactic-spanning Marvel storyline. This is a sidescrolling 2D beat ‘em up in its purest form. Bad guys pop up as you move from left to right, leading to a charismatic boss at the end of a stage. What stands out most, at least to the 90s kid in me, is the range of color exploding across every facet of the visual design.
Sublime Pixel Art
I don’t know what Tribute Games does to make these games so incredible to look at, but they’re clearly working their magic again. I mean, just look at it. The visuals are so vibrant and cartoony that the pixels are practically popping off the screen. The rich color palate and high contrast really works in this game’s favor. But Marvel Cosmic Invasion also displays more environmental diversity than Shredder’s Revenge did, showing us wild fauna and intricate space-stations among other scenes. The 90s Marvel art style is captured sublimely here, and paired with such wonderful spritework, this is a true gift for retro comic and arcade game fans.
Locations
Interestingly, a portion of the game takes place within the Negative Zone. It’s a locale that hasn’t been explored much, if at all, in film or video game format, helping further distinguish the game’s interesting locales. Besides fragmented anti-matter space stations, players will find themselves fighting through a reference-laden NYC. The second level in the demo is none other than the iconic Avengers SHIELD helicarrior, and we see glimpses of the prehistoric Savage Lands and Asgard from Thor from preview footage. It appears that just about every character has their own complimentary stage.
Huge Character Roster
And with such a large roster of Marvel characters to choose from, well, that’s a lot of potential stages. The game promises 15 characters at launch, and let me tell you, it’s quite the eclectic and unique roster. Tribute Games didn’t just go for the safe picks here, no no no, we have deep cuts like Beta Ray Bill and Phylla-Vell. Here’s the rest of the roster: Black Panther, Captain America, Cosmic Ghost Rider, Iron Man, Nova, Phoenix, Rocket Raccoon, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Storm, and Venom.
It’s odd that none of the Fantastic Four appear, especially given the Negative Zone’s involvement, but it’s hard not to suspect future DLC plans there.
Voice Acting
One of the things I love about the large roster is that each hero is fully voiced. Fans of various Marvel cartoons and games will recognize some names here. For example, Wolverine is voiced by Cal Dodd, who did the X-Men Animated Series as well as other 90s shows. Josh Keaton lends his talents as Spider-Man, while the iconic Steve Blum provides that intimidating Venom voice.
In true Marvel fashion, I’m anticipating some iconic voice actor to quip something ominous at the tail-end of the game only to reveal the flaming  hand of Human Torch or something.
Plot: Annihilus and the Negative Zone
The story itself hints at Fantastic Four connections as well. Annihilus is positioned as the main villain, leading the cosmic invasion mentioned in the title. While the Negative Zone debuted in a 1966 Fantastic Four comic, Annihilus and his Annihilation Wave have appeared in multiple Avengers arcs too. Will Nova overthrow him like in the comics? Or will the game throw a Negative Zone curveball and flip the script? We’ll have to play to see how wild it gets.
4-Player Split-Screen and Online Co-op
Thankfully, seeing the story to its conclusion can be done with several partners in 4-player local and online co-op. Just like Shredder’s Revenge, you can join a friend’s game mid-stage with easy breezy drop-in/drop-out play. What’s more, there’s crossplay between platforms.
Cosmic Swap Tag-Team System
One of the most exciting features is the tag-team mechanic. Tribute seems to be borrowing ideas from other games and infusing them into the brawler genre in a way we haven’t seen before. You don’t just select one character before starting a stage, but two. This makes 4-player co-op feel like controlling a Marvel army of sorts, with eight different heroes tagging in and out of combat. Like MVC, you can unleash a special tag-team combo move unique to the pair of heroes you’ve chosen. I know I’m not the only one going to explore each and every tag-team move between all the characters.
Unique Fighting Styles
Beyond tag-team abilities, each hero has a fully distinct playstyle—not just in animations, but in movement, defense, and special traits. Some heroes, like Captain America, can literally block and deflect attacks. Okay, blocking doesn’t sound revolutionary… unless you remember that Shredder’s Revenge didn’t include blocking at all. Captain America can even deflect bullets and ranged attacks off his shield with precise timing. By contrast, Spider-Man spends lots of time airborne, web-slinging and firing projectiles—perfect cover support for a tank like She-Hulk. Marvel Cosmic Invasion has a diverse roster that appears to genuinely support multiple playstyles and team setups.
Dynamic, Combo-Forward Combat
Even though each character plays significantly different, they all share a basic control framework. That layout features a melee attack, jump, dodge, unique move, and an ultimate attack that usually wipes out most enemies on screen (bosses excluded).
Special Moves
These special moves can only be used when you’ve accumulated enough ‘focus’. The focus gauge fills up the more hits you get on opponents, so it fills rather fast. I mean, when don’t you attack baddies in fast-paced beat ‘em ups? So far in the demo, you can use a special move plenty of times per stage, to the point where it becomes a tad easy. Thankfully, there’s multiple difficulties if you want a bit of a challenge.
Playable Demo
I spoke of a demo and, well, anyone with access to Steam can try it out for themselves. Though, for PlayStation or Nintendo users, there’s no demo yet. The Steam demo lets you try out 9 of the 15 heroes across two stages. The online co-op is also available so you and a few friends can test out the 9 heroes and their tag-team combinations before the full game launches.
PC Specs
Being the retro-inspired pixel-based game that Cosmic Invasion is, there’s not a lot of demand on your system’s hardware. Just about any laptop made in the past 10 years can handle this game with ease. At its highest performance and graphics, you’ll need at least a Intel Core i3-540, but that’s not too high-end. And for all us software hoarders, it only takes up 1 GB of space. How’s that for efficient?
Price
The price is also pretty sweet, at only $29.99. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is endlessly appealing for its throwback beat ‘em up design and ease of access and I can’t wait to tear up the enigmatic Negative Zone when this this future beat ’em up classic launches on December 1st.
