Captain America and the Avengers

The Good
Captain America and the Avengers is a good port of the coin-op arcade game of the same name. The Genesis/Mega Drive edition retains the original set of playable characters, enemies, bosses, levels and storyline

The early 1990s Genesis/Mega Drive graphics, music and sound effects are all above average. They cannot match the original arcade game, but this home console version looks and sounds pretty darn cool.

The Red Skull plans to develop a giant laser cannon in outer space, which does not sit well with the Avengers. To help him in his evil plan, the Red Skull enlisted the aid of some familar comic book villians, along with the standard army of minions

In addition to the playable heroes (Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye or Vision), Wonderman, the Wasp and Sub Mariner have small cameo roles.

It is hardly the most original video game, but its certainly a fun time for one or two gamers looking to beat em an army of minions and super villians.

The Bad
Several cut scenes and digital voice work from the arcade fame had been removed and modifed. The comic book look of the arcade's story cut scenes have been greatly simplifed.

Conversations with the bosses seems to have been cut the most, with the arcade comic book conversations butchered in this port.

It may have been an attempt to save memory, but the Super Nintendo port of the game didnt have to cut out as much of much.

I suspect that the design team for the Genesis/Mega Drive port felt the need to make these changes, but it seems unnecessary.

The biggest problem in the game is the odd control mechanics. Whike the game allows you to change the control scheme, none of the games options are as good as they should be.

Genesis/Mega Drive games were almost always setup with the "C" button used for jumping. The game basically gives you the option of having to push two buttons at once every time you want to jump or shoot a projectile weapon.

The standard controller had three availiable buttons to use, so their is no reason for this odd control scheme. While the game play is responsive , having to press two buttons at once for pretty basic moves, is simply inexcusable.

It is possible that some video game designers were initially unfamilar with the design of the Sega controller or how to best use it for games. Nintendo had pressured developers into only designing games for Nintendo systems.

Maybe this was Data East's first shot at programming for a Sega game system. If the Data East developers were so unfamilar with Genesis/Mega Drive game controller could have easily rented/bought some popular games.

The Bottom Line
Captain America and the Avengers is a fun, two player, beat 'em up for the Sega Genesis. Comic fans will enjoy the chance to kick butt as one the Avengers. Its side scrolling action is generally well executed and is probably one of the better arcade ports made for the system.