Captain America and The Avengers (Arcade) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Data East's 1991 license-based arcade beat 'em up Captain America and The Avengers.
Played through as Captain America on the machine's default difficulty setting.
Red Skull has ambitions to take over the world, and he's gathered a huge crew of notorious villains to aid him in his purpose. The fate of the world hangs in the balance, and it's up to Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Vision to put a stop to the madness.
Avengers assemble!
Data East's Captain America and The Avengers was the first game in their trilogy based on the Marvel license, followed by a different game of the same name on the NES in 1992, and finally, the arcade versus fighter Avengers in Galactic Storm in 1995 ( • Avengers in Galactic S... ).
It's a belt-scrolling beat em 'up, like Double Dragon or Final Fight, but it also includes a few shmup style sections to break up the flow every so often.
The fighting flows nicely and you're given access to a fair range of attacks. Each character gets a ranged attack, a block, a combo-able set of punches and kicks, a throw, and they can all pick up anything that's not nailed down to use with a satisfying display of comic violence. You can also call on helpers to drop by for special attacks.
The controls are easy to work with, the difficulty level is usually quite fair, and the huge range of characters that show up over the course of the game should keep Marvel fans happy. So should the presentation. The characters are all well detailed and animated, especially given the their small(ish) sprites, the inter-stage cutscenes look straight out of a comic, and the backgrounds look fantastic. They're all digitized images of paintings, much like Sierra used to use in their computer games of the time, and they elevate the graphical polish of the game well above that of most its contemporaries. The sound is great, too - the music is all appropriately energetic and heroic sounding, the copious amounts of digitized voice work is clear and surprisingly well acted, and the sound effects all pack some real oomph. The sound design is cheesy, but it suits the game to a T.
All told, Captain America and The Avengers is a real tribute to the license it's based on, and the original arcade version is by far the best way to play it.
There were, however, several console conversions that were released in the early 90s. The Genesis version is the best of these, but the Game Boy also hosted a very reasonable effort. The less said about the SNES version, however, the better. Here are a few links if you're interesting in checking them out:
SNES version: • Captain America and th...
Genesis version: • Captain America and th...
Game Boy version: • Captain America and th...
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!

[@LPetal86]

The Red Skull laugh gets me every time. A real piece of gaming history right here!

[@connieroy813]

Captain America and The Avengers (Arcade) Playthrough - NintendoComplete Thanks to the brave and valiant efforts of our heroes. The Avengera. Defeated Red Skull and his evil plan was crushed, and the world could once again breathe easily. But what about to the Red Skull she taken on a we defeating. The Red Skull (Evil Laugh) Hahahahaha! 28:19 Good work our heroes a video game released by VHS of the heroes. Captain America and The Average in 1991 by Data East.

[@NintendoComplete]

Avengers assemble! This is such an awesome beat 'em up.

[@andrewmauney3082]

I agree. One of my favs from back in the day. Too bad Snes port was atrocious.

[@HrvojeGrahovac]

It’s about time

[@HrvojeGrahovac]

@Retromania - Andrey Suvorov Game Rus И очень богато графически

[@HrvojeGrahovac]

@Retromania - Andrey Suvorov Game Rus Что вы имеете в виду под любителем?

[@Dorian_Scott]

@@andrewmauney3082 Yeah, I hate that version. Giving enemies invulnerability after hitting them is the dumbest idea, ever. It's nothing but a time waster.

[@vgaoct91]

It's a game worthy of the license! WHOO! It's awesome to play this on emulation and in real life, too!

[@mackpapi9818]

Love that lesser villains make up the bosses and not just widely known ones, reaper and whirlwind are still great villains in my head.

[@rcblazer]

Ah, my favorite arcade Beat-Em-Up as a kid. I managed to get good enough at the game to beat the whole thing as Iron Man on a single coin!

[@Surfer041]

Likewise.

[@TheShuuman]

Oh my gosh oh my GOSH! I only played this once at the Major Magic's location but never saw it again but my brief playthrough never left me, but I couldn't for the life of me remember the bloody name. The second I saw this I KNEW on thank you for letting me reconnect a childhood memory here *ahem* Childish gushing aside thanks for the upload.

[@louiskeiflin5858]

Gosh this game! Still love classic beat em ups to this day!

[@dennismolina9033]

I still play this game for the Genesis! I'm surprised this game was never re-released in HD for the Switch since the Switch gets alot of games from Data East but it has to be due to license issues.

[@yusakug]

So many great Marvel beat 'em ups from this time period with this, The Punisher, and Konami's X-Men. I love the music and the melodramatic voice samples here. Like the original Resident Evil, the cheesy and over the top dialogue just seems to kind of fit.

[@roberthanthonymartinezrive7383]

There's an interview with former Data East devs. out there where they stated that this game literally saved their asses, as they were damn close to declare bankruptcy at the time. So yeah, Captain America and The Avengers is kind of a historically important game for Data East.

[@roberthanthonymartinezrive7383]

@@Dorian_Scott Pretty much! here's the interview where that statement came from (translated by shmuplations: shmuplations.com/deco/ ). If it hadn't been for Captain America, we wouldn't have gotten their Neo Geo games and their best but more obscure titles...

[@Rykiz_Vidz]

@@roberthanthonymartinezrive7383 very cool read! Thanks.

[@HrvojeGrahovac]

Yeah, they almost went under because of Edward Randy, a pseudo Indiana Jones arcade game

[@luisreyes1963]

Great fighting with Captain America! AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! 🦸🏻‍♀️

[@mindichristoffersen4795]

I like how it's the villains who to play as.

[@Rykiz_Vidz]

Captain America: You won't escape! Red Skull: huahahaha

[@andrewmauney3082]

Amazing how good this game looks after 30 years

[@NickHazletonMusic]

I loved this game on the sega genesis. One of my first memories as a kid

[@Dorian_Scott]

*_SO_* much better than the SNES version of the game! Whoever thought that giving enemies temporary invincibility after hitting them needs to be fired. Played this version and the Genesis version as a kid. It's an *_alright_* game. Definitely no *_"TMNT"_* or *_"Streets of Rage"_* . But, a solid distraction, nonetheless.

[@Peter_Morris]

This playthrough sponsored by Quicksilver’s Pizza Delivery Co. Thank you, Quicksilver!

[@Dorian_Scott]

Haha! It took me a bit to recognize what you were going for there.

[@danalong1237]

And by Wonder Man’s Super Auto Mall. Thank you, Wonder Man!

[@samuelcarrasquillo4590]

Not To Mention Van Dyne Fashions, "Super Clothing For A Super Age!"

[@cstevens82]

I remember that at the mall when I was young.

[@renardleblanc5556]

Oh, man, remember back in the day when concrete rubble and vending machines would violently explode when you threw them? Don't make 'em like they used to. :)

[@Googlesucksballs]

I remember playing this at a 7-11 when I was a kid with my older brother and cousins but they had the big 4 player cab with the extra wide control panel. We only got to the 3rd stage cause we would always run out of quarters by then.

[@stonefacedninja]

"Why should it goes well" ? Ummm.....ok, lol !!!

[@souhiroraven4196]

Back in the day, at the nineties, Avengers were a group of "Have beens, if they ever have been before". Then, at the 2012, something happened. Since then, the avengers are our heroes, and now the X-Men are... well... Deadpool's little friends

[@gary9346]

You said it.

[@justinlaboy6837]

these infamous bad translations make this game all the better lol

[@geddoe316]

oh yes, these games were all the rage in arcade's back then. i chose hawkeye every time. i dont even remember why lol

[@migovas1483]

Iconic arcade. This and X-men beat them up were kind of obscure for its Time, still lots of Fun!!

[@ExtremeWreck]

The Game Gear version: *cries in the corner*

[@pookieizzy7]

Now I wish Marvel's Avengers' nemesis was the Red Skull and that batch of supervillains instead of some no names from AIM...and when they do add Vision, it HAS to be done.

[@samuelcarrasquillo4590]

They Didn't Mention Thanos Attuma Ultron Count Nefaria And The Rest!

[@pookieizzy7]

@@samuelcarrasquillo4590 True and it all could've made the game better.

[@samuelcarrasquillo4590]

@@pookieizzy7 Like, Adding The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl As A 5th Player? Professor Hulk And The Doctors Pym Hank & Janet As Supporting Cast?

[@pookieizzy7]

@@samuelcarrasquillo4590 Nah, just having Wonder Man and Quicksilver would've worked if you're going for a 6 player game. Can't say Namor cause he was used in the Spider-Man arcade game. Hell if X-Men was doing 6P co-op, why not this?

[@samuelcarrasquillo4590]

@@pookieizzy7 Well... How About The Sensational She-Hulk And Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau, Is It Close Enough?

[@poethefallen1333]

Oh, I remember when this game arrived at the local Arcade, I spent so many coins. I remember, there were people in line waiting for their turn. Good memories. I also remember grabbing the snes version and it was kinda meh.

[@scienz]

snes version had good graphics but the lack of a 2 player option made it suck

[@MFields2178]

My first real arcade I ever owned.

[@BJI82a]

This one and X-men were the jewls in the arcades back in the day I’m surprised that neither of them got a sequal seeing as how popular they were this one should have had a lot of sequals cause so many different heros joined or made their own avengers and I always thought vision was white until they gave him some color I would like a sequal to this on the new systems with more villains and heros and a longer storyline and the red skull has the best laugh

[@boynextdoorman]

19:01 Better Ultron than the MCU Ultron.

[@Metalman200xdamnit]

This was a fun beat 'em up.

[@rossdavis428]

Honestly, I like this game's story-line more than Endgame's; it makes more sense, despite it's ridiculously unpolished translation~

[@sklgamer228]

Nice Gameplay

[@SoftwareAgentsTV]

It's too bad The Avengers became too big of a property, and that games like this became passe, because I'd love to see a slightly more advanced version of this with more characters and moves. There's so much potential to make an awesome Avengers game, but instead they're blowing away million on that crap that Crystal Dynamics made.

[@knuclear200x]

The SNES version was such a joke a funny one, not a negative one, i mean.

[@HillVillageDragon]

“You can’t escape!” “YOU will be the one escaping!” Not exactly Shakespearean dialogue, is it?

[@Dorelaxen]

SEEEE MY POWAH.

[@jamesmoss3424]

I play the arcade version and it's excellent. 😀👍🎮

[@Psychof1st]

Took me a long time to notice this but, @1:57 Iron Man kind of looks like "Modular Iron Man." In game he's a lot more basic. I'm not sure what he actually is supposed to be. But, he looks different at that moment than he does in the title screen image. I might have to see if the Marvel Legends figure is still available. Also, wish there was a 6 inch figure of this version of Hawkeye. I want to build an alternate collection based around the arcade beat-em-ups/home console games of the 90's.

[@jcrowellz2000]

Thank y'all for bringing this to us. Only ever see or hear about the snes/ genesis ports and they sucked. A shame because the port of Turtles in Time proves the snes was capable of a good port of the Avengers. This is easy one of my top 5 arcade games.

[@indrachaudhari7874]

Have you completed the NES version of this game?

[@starofjustice1]

Ok, GO!!!

[@jeradpaulson771]

5:38 Avengers Assemble!

[@simonmejia6896]

You Cannot Escape!

[@Dorian_Scott]

*YOU* will be the one escaping!

[@Sakura_Matou]

hahahaha!

[@leet7489]

damn Tony is 425lbs? how much does that suit add on?

[@lacuna17]

So uh, anyone going to mention the dark horse Avengers for NES? The one where I thought it was this game and instead it was crap.

[@juliusperez7729]

Where can i download this game?

[@gantz22ify]

“You can’t escape!” “YOU will be the one escaping!” 😒😒

[@jeradpaulson771]

The Avengers Promo 31:28

[@scienz]

real comic book ish

[@Mai_Shiranui123]

Classic

[@95e]

Hi

[@magoid]

The characters size look small for a game that was only 2 players in 1991. Maybe their hardware coudn't mach the sprite capabilities of Capcom's or Konami's ones. Anyway, still look attractive enough to suck all the money off boys pockets back them.

[@theoddronin1]

There actually is a 4 player version of this.

[@magoid]

@@theoddronin1 That explain the smaller size of the characters then.

[@JuntosXlaLibertadMileyBuIIrich]

@@magoid yes and no... I mean the Konami's X-Men allowed for 4 players too and the sprites were dmn huge

[@solarflare9078]

@@JuntosXlaLibertadMileyBuIIrich 6 players actually, but you would need two screens/cabinets

[@johnsplayworld2402]

Nintendo complete please do a face reveal your profile picture looks like your a hacker