Marvel Cosmic Invasion Hands-On Preview – Marvelous Beat-’em-Up
Tribute Games, the developers behind the highly acclaimed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, are teaming up with publisher Dotemu yet again for another exciting project: a brand-new Marvel beat ’em up game, Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
While it still doesn’t have a release date, we did manage to get a bit of a sneak peek at the game with a new hands-on experience. Our thoughts? It’s everything we hoped for and more!
The Cosmic ’90s
Ah, the’ 90s—the era that many would call the golden age of gaming and cartoons. While it brought forth series like Mario, Mega Man, Metal Gear Solid, The Legend of Zelda, and many other iconic titles that are still thriving today, it was also an era where tie-in games dominated comic books and animated cartoons. For every masterpiece like Aladdin on the Genesis or X-Men 2: Clone Wars, you had a dozen forgettable titles that were rushed out to capitalize on a movie or cartoon’s popularity. Sure, the quality was a real mixed bag at times, but when they got it right, they created some of the most memorable and sought-after games of the decade. For me, these were games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, as well as a whole lot of X-Men games and other Marvel IPs, such as The Punisher and Spider-Man.
Life was good back then, and though not all those games have aged all too well, every now and then I do go back to play some of the classics. It’s a fond memory, but one I thought was firmly in the past—until now. Seeing Tribute Games and Dotemu, the team that so perfectly revived Turtles in Time with Shredder’s Revenge, take on the Marvel universe felt like a dream come true. Their expertise in the genre gave me high hopes for Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and after getting my hands on it, I can tell you that they’ve absolutely delivered.
Unfortunately, our build lacked a campaign and instead offered the classic arcade experience, where you navigate a gauntlet of stages, defeat a multitude of bad guys, and confront bosses with limited lives. Still, even then, I could tell just how much potential this game was already shaping up to have. For one, the general look of the stages feels like they’ve been plucked right out of the comic books, with the first stage being set in New York. Again, there was no campaign in this build, but I love how the world conveyed a sense of a story unfolding through subtle references, such as the Daily Bugle littering walls with newspapers and labeling Spider-Man a menace, along with other headlines and such. It’s the small details in this world that Tribute Games really pays attention to, and I love how lively it feels.
The art direction is just so great to look at, and again, feels like it was ripped straight from the comic pages of the 90s, with each character sprite animated with a level of care and detail that’s a throwback to the fantastic pixel art games of that era. But the real star of the show is the gameplay.
Boasting 15 characters when it releases, I was able to try out 8 of them, those being: Captain America, Nova, Storm, Venom, Wolverine, Phyla-Vell, Spider-Man, Rocket Raccoon, and She-Hulk. I’m not going to do a massive breakdown of each character, because I would probably be here all day, but all you have to know is that they all play as you’d expect them to play, and feel fantastic.
My favorite thing, aside from the four-player co-op, is that each player can select up to two heroes to play as, meaning you can tag team with up to eight characters total. I didn’t get to try this out myself with a full set of players, but I did with one other family member for some local play, and the amount of chaos that ensued was a beautiful, non-stop ballet of punches, kicks, and cosmic powers. The tag-team mechanic, dubbed the Cosmic Swap tag-team system, was a pretty big game-changer and spin on the classic beat ’em up formula. It lets you instantly swap between heroes while also chaining their attacks with one another.
For example, the Spider-Man and She-Hulk cosmic swap can be chained from Spider-Man shooting his webs at enemies, stunning them, to allow She-Hulk to tag in and perform a ground pound. I experimented with other characters, like Storm and Wolverine, Spider-Man and Wolverine, Venom and Nova, and the Cosmic Swap works seamlessly regardless of who you pair.
Overall, the combat feels like a perfect blend of old-school arcade fun with modern polish. The controls are intuitive, allowing you to seamlessly pull off combos and special moves without feeling overwhelmed. The hit animations are satisfyingly weighty, and the sound design makes every punch and power blast feel impactful. What truly sets it apart, though, is how every element works in harmony. The individual character movesets, the Cosmic Swap system, and the beautifully chaotic co-op all come together to create an experience that is both easy to pick up and incredibly hard to put down. It’s a testament to Tribute Games’ mastery of the genre that they can create a game that feels so familiar yet so fresh.
Again, returning to the finer details, Tribute Games has been paying close attention to how these characters are intended to play. Seeing them come to life in this kind of game is an absolute treat. The fact that the developers have gone to such lengths to create unique move sets for each character, filled with recognizable and even obscure references, shows a level of love and dedication that is truly rare in licensed games. They may be designed as pixel-art versions, but every character reveals a significant portion of their personality, and to top it all off, each of them is fully voiced. Not only that, but some of the voices are of the original cast from their classic shows.
Marvel Fans, Assembe!
I’ve already put in more time into the demo than I should have, but damn, it’s just that much fun. I’m hopeful that a build of the demo will become public, though anyone who has been paying close attention to the game probably doesn’t need any more convincing.
If you’re a Marvel fan, you definitely shouldn’t skip out on this one, but even if you aren’t a fan, it’s hard not to already recommend MARVEL Cosmic Invasion because of how much right it does right off the bat. Tribute Games and Dotemu have once again proven that they are the modern masters of the beat ’em up, and Marvel Cosmic Invasion is shaping up to be a true gem. We may not have a release date yet, but after this sneak peek, the wait is going to be incredibly difficult.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion has no release date set yet, but it is confirmed for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC this 2025.
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