Marvel MaXimum Collection - Welcome To Die (Review)

Marvel MaXimum Collection

Released: March 27th, 2026

Developer: Limited Run Games

Publisher: Limited Run Games

Systems: PC, PS5, Switch/Switch 2 (both reviewed), Xbox X/S

Among the fractured recollections meandering in my forgetful mind, I have a curiously vivid snapshot of playing X-Men: The Arcade Game the day it arrived on Xbox Live Arcade. It was a far simpler time for videogame memes back then, and by that I mean my frames of reference were relevant enough that I understood them. Not so much these days, with the sixes and the sevens and the brained rots. 

I’m making the unnecessary point that there’s some quality nonsense left forgotten within the expansive vault of gaming in-jokes, and X-Men Arcade is a nice reminder of such nonsense. That is to say, it was lovely to hear Magneto declare “WELCOME TO DIE!” once again. 

I spent the best part of two paragraphs explaining something that could be said in a sentence. It’s no wonder these reviews take me far too long to write. 

My Pokemans, let me show you them.

Limited Run hasn’t exactly been hitting it out of the park lately. I’ve written two unenthused reviews of the Bubsy and Fighting Force collections, and the Ren & Stimpy one was so rubbish I actually forgot to critique it. All you really need to know about the latter is that Stimpy’s Invention, of all fucking games, isn’t included. This time, the retro gold panners have been sifting through Marvel’s riverbed in hopes of finding some nuggets, and I’m a little bit more pleased by what they’ve got to show for it. 

Marvel MaXimum Collection is basically a bunch of old beat ‘em ups starring a bunch of relatively well known superheroes. While not specifically positioned as a collection of brawlers, it accurately reflects an era of licensed games where goodies endlessly punched baddies in the middle of the street. Of the featured titles, only two represent a different genre and one of those still features a load of mindless punching. 

I’m good with it. Beat ‘em Ups are great.

MaXimum Collection includes six games, each one coming in however many versions it had back in the day. While the games are of varying quality, they’re all rather charming and offer something worth talking about which is more than I can say for some of these recent retro rereleases. Plus, one of them is an undeniably bonafide classic. 

Cyclops fights like he's in a pub car park.

X-Men: The Arcade Game is of course the one most people are likely to remember. It’s a solid brawler that delivers plenty of nostalgia via a robust cast of characters, but the overwhelming campiness is what I find most appealing. Abrasively digitized voices spout poorly translated nonsense to a soundtrack best described as funk with ADHD. Stage 2’s music is mint condition as far as I’m concerned, a swarm of exuberant sounds spliced with stern cries of “X-Men!” repeated in seizure-like clusters. Bosses are similarly hammed out, each one arriving with a loud, colorful announcement. They’re pretty fun fights too, some of the better beat 'em up bosses of the era.

Snickley pickley, snark nark!

It’s one of the simpler brawlers out there, a button masher that sticks to the fundamentals. There are six heroes, each mechanically differentiated by a unique mutant power. It’s one of those genre entries where special attacks cost health - I’ve never cared for the mechanic and I especially begrudge it in an X-Men game. Mutant powers are their stock and trade, it’s a bit silly having to weigh Storm’s tornadoes or Nightcrawler’s teleportation against their ability to live. Gotta say though, the powers are very cool. 

It’s a fun, straightforward brawler with some choice silliness and several animations that entertain the hell out of me - there’s something beautiful about Cyclops kicking the shit out of downed enemies, putting the boot to them in a way that suggests he wants his fucking money. Truly a visual treat. 

This is how Vision apparently walks.

When it comes to camp, Captain America and the Avengers has X-Men beat. Despite fairly undetailed graphics and audio so limited that all four heroes share one voice, this game manages to portray Vision as the most flaming homosexual in the universe and I won’t be deterred from seeing him that way. I don’t know how you create something so  flamboyantly stereotypical by accident, but Data East managed it. If it had been intentional, it would be equal parts homophobic hate crime and historic queer rep worthy of applause. 

Yeah, why SHOULD it goes well?

Vision fucking minces his way through levels and lifts heavy objects in a manner best described as dainty. Even his idle pose looks like he’s shimmying in a gay disco despite being a single motionless sprite. When he does move, every frame begs for cock. He breaks out holds like he’s posing for a JoJo episode, spreads his cape like a drag queen, he’s a pipe-hungry todger tugger and I adore him. 

Also he looks like he’s made of cum. That was a choice.  

Cap Ammy and the Avvies is probably the game I like most. Levels have a large number of objects to throw around, shooter stages break up the button mashing, and there’s a fun pool of lesser known supervillains to contend with. It’s not much of a looker, the music’s limited, and the four playables are mechanically identical, but it’s nonetheless an adorable little brawler. 

A fun family picnic.

I wasn’t fond of Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage when I played it decades ago and I’m not particularly fond of it now. That said, it has its charms as a fairly detailed retelling of one of the 90s’ most hyped comic book storylines. Cutscenes are 16-bit replications of comic panels, which I really enjoy, and the game does its little best to offer web-based attacks - you get an almost useless swing, a shield, and the ability to briefly glue up enemies or pull them into punching range. 

Playable Venom is always a cool prospect, but he plays identically to his arachnid-flavored counterpart. The combat stages are broken up by some awful wall crawling sections that don’t seem designed to account for how wide and low Spidey’s swing move is - at least, it’s really hard to move between buildings without knocking into a window sill and losing some upward progress. This game’s value is more academic than interactive - it’s worth including as a part of Marvel’s early game history, but not for much more than that. 

No spider, no cry.

Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety is the same game. The first level is practically a remaster of Maximum Carnage’s, they're that similar. The most obvious difference is a smaller sprite size, with characters taking up far less screen. They lose some definition as a result but honestly look better - Spider-Man is especially improved, dropping the exaggerated muscles to appear less chiseled and more like himself. I’m tempted to say it feels a little more responsive, but that may be due to better animation and sound effects making the action pop more. 

Anyway, it’s basically the same but probably superior by a little bit. 

This screen is full of creative choices.

Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge is not named in reference to X-Men: The Arcade Game but instead takes its title from the principal antagonist. Arcade, the most iconic of all Marvel villains, serves to ignite an action-platformer that’s somewhat dull but also rather strange. At least, I thought the level full of clowns with unsettling background art was pretty weird. 

I didn’t bother too much with this one. Spider-Man kicks it off with an open level, grabbing nebulous pickups in a set order flagged by his Spider Sense, with roughly six or seven enemies in the whole stage. Wolverine fights big toys with some dreadful punches and the game is just tepid overall. Doesn’t look nice, doesn’t feel nice, but at least it’s got the most versions in the collection, so… hooray for the Game Gear rep?

The main event.

Silver Surfer rounds things out and it’s not complete dogshit. Much of it’s annoying to play but it has its meritorious elements, particularly the top-down stages which are much better than the side-on ones. 

It’s a scrolling shmulp because “shmulp” was originally a typo but I actually think it fits. Silver Surfer is a fine example of a shmulp with plenty of shmulpy elements. The pairing of ridiculously erratic enemies and a protagonist who can’t take a single hit ensures the Collection’s obligatory rewind function will earn its keep. Levels love choking your movement with very tight corridors to increase the frustrating ease with which you can die, but it's a staple of the shmulp genre so what can you do? 

If you’ve ever wanted to see the Silver Surfer die because he touched a rope bridge, you might like it. 

Vision? More like Jism.

After the last couple of Limited Run releases I played, it’s nice to see a compilation with some archive material again. As well as manuals and box art, you get a selection of old print ads, additional art, and the design doc for Maximum Carnage. I’ve seen better offerings, but recently I’ve been seeing none at all, so it’s an improvement. 

For some reason, however, the archive images insistently move themselves to the edge of the screen until they’re mostly hidden from view. In order to look at any of it, I kept having to drag it back. 

That ass is the real vision.

Marvel MaXimum Collection is a decent little package, as far as compilations of old ROMs go. There are a couple of genuine classics and even the lower quality stuff is historically interesting enough to be worth a look. 

Cummy Vision is the gayest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’m literally a queerbo.

7/10