Developer: Namco Publisher: Namco Released: 1991 Genre: Platformer
Namco is not the first name I think of when it comes to platformers. When I think Namco I think Pac-Man, Tekken, and maybe somewhere down the line Klonoa. That isn’t a slight against Klonoa either, just an acknowledgement of its obscurity despite how much I like it. But during the height of the genre it was hard for any company to resist throwing their hat in the ring. Marvel Land was a pretty cool game in the arcade. Its Genesis port is pretty faithful and generally makes for a good time outside of its annoying controls. This is not bad for one of their first attempts at the genre.
Marvel Land does not differ from most platformers in any significant way. The staple butt bounce is your main attack but it works. There are a number of power-ups that help along the way, chief among them are shadow clones. Shadow Clones don’t allow you to take extra hits but provide a number of extras. You can swing them in a circle to hit enemies, collect items, and latch on to objects to swing. For each enemy hit you lose a clone but generally the items are plentiful enough that you are rarely without any. Dragon wings increase your jumps significantly and also allow you to float. This one is incredibly useful and allows you to skip large portions of a stage.
As a platformer Marvel Land is similar to Alex Kidd in a number of ways. Both feature minigames rather than straight fights for their boss battles. They both use rock, paper, and scissors too. Unfortunately they also share the same slippery controls. The sloppy controls are aggravating, no getting around it. The levels are full of all manner of nooks and crannies to find secrets but navigating them is a chore since you slide around constantly. It becomes a problem late in the game when more physics based platforming enters the fray and the controls barely keep up. You can work around it but it never feels intuitive like it should.
Marvel Land is not a particularly difficult game but it has its moments. The sloppy control will lead to many cheap and unfair deaths. The game makes up for it by offering extra lives regularly but it shouldn’t be this way. The level design is creative and fun yet frustrating at the same time. There are blind jumps everywhere and times where the level design isn’t as clear as it should be. Outside of these times the difficulty curve is very linear and set just right. The Sega version is less of a rush since the clock has been made more or less irrelevant. With just a little more polish though this could have been great rather than merely good.
As a port Marvel Land is competent for the time. Marvel Land was an extremely pastel game that leaned heavily into its amusement park theme. The game isn’t as colorful overall but still retains the same general vibe. Many background elements have been simplified or redrawn due to the lesser hardware. Most notably any rotating sprites have been replaced by something much simpler. Despite this the game still suffers from heavy slowdown when any tilting platforms are on screen. It is kind of embarrassing to be honest but whatever, it is only in a few spots.
To make up for it Marvel Land is significantly expanded over the arcade version. There are twenty-nine levels compared to the arcade’s eighteen. Lest you think the game is padded a number of features have been added to keep the same pace. Passwords allow you to save progress and you can find warp zones everywhere. Some of these warp you to different points in a level while others let you skip stages entirely. You’ll have to watch out; these can also send you backwards as well! Most of the new levels are short so the game never becomes a slog. Even the boss battles have three new minigames. These additions more than make up for what the game lacks technically.
In Closing
Marvel Land is a solid game that offers a long quest and fun mechanics. The slippery controls are frustrating but not game breaking. While it could have used more variety in its theme Marvel is a good time overall.
