Excuse me if I'm late to the party, but I just played a game that's easily a 9/10. It's Capcom's The Punisher for arcade. Now this game is really great beat 'em up action straight from the '90s. The graphics, which are highly detailed sprites are great. The gameplay is so much fun, the way the punches crack bones and the way your gun just pops off is very satisfying.

I noticed that some of the sounds in the game are ridiculous though! When you do your special attack The Punisher lets out a high pitched yelp/scream that's real stupid. And when you start the game some Japanese guy screams out something with such a thick accent that it's impossible to decipher. I made a very very short sound clip of the game.

So what do you guys think of that sound?! Have any of you any fondness for this title? It's really good!

@migrations: Just one of the many 2d beat'em ups back in the 90's. I played and enjoyed it, the gameplay is very signature for the time. For the sound, this is just Capcoms old arcade audio processor. I think it was called Q Sound, it sounds a lot like the Street Fighter 2 and Final Fight games. The arcade scene was great back in the 90's, I think it died a bit when home consoles started to get so high end, that and the online gaming scene.

Oh man, I was hoping this would be a topic of the underrated masterpiece Volition put out along with the Thomas Jane -film.

Ya, you're about 21 years late to the party.

Seriously, though, I don't think I ever played this one. Huh, weird (it's weird because I thought I played all the marvel games on Genesis, but I guess not).

I did play the other one that VierasTalo is referring to and that game is gold. I agree with him that it is underrated.

Is he a magical fucking gun wizard in that one?

Wasn't this the same one released on the Genesis? The music certainly sounds the same.

Yup it's the same as from the Genesis. Maybe I'm going to have to try this other Punisher game though, sounds cool!

@vierastalo said:

Same here. That was the first "superhero" game to really nail the tone of a license, in my opinion.

BLAM!

@agentboolen: I think the beat em ups started dying out slightly before the end of the arcades, they didn't survive the transition to 3d very well or work too well with longevity when people got them on consoles.

@migrations: If you like the Punisher & you haven't played too many of the capcom arcade beat em ups from the 90s you really have to check out Warriors of Fate, Armored Warriors & Alien vs Predator.

huh, should pick up a genesis copy.

@hone_mcbone: I will play those! Thanks~

@oldirtybearon said:

Was that the one where you torture some fools, and everybody got real up in arms about it, and it maybe almost got an AO or something?

I played so much of this game. Wow. Hearing that scream is like getting punched in the nuts with nostalgia.

Can't believe I forgot this game existed until now. Many quarters were lost. Don't think I ever beat it.

@starvinggamer: Hahah I wish I was you and was able to play this game as a kid. What city and arcade was this in? I live in Colorado and all we ever got were the mainstays such as X-Men.

Capcom made another arcade beat em up that's very similar to this called Captain Commando, which is an amazing game as well.

@bisonhero: I seem to remember that was it yeah. It sure upheld the violent nature of the Punisher.

This arcade game seems real silly and cool at the same time, judging purely from that soundclip.

Yeah, that game IS dope. I love how if you have two players, or depending on which character you choose, all of the cutscene dialogue is completely different.

@migrations: I honestly have no idea. I grew up in the LA area so there was no shortage of arcades. There were like two near my school, on in each of the three nearby malls, and my family would go to mini-golf on most weekends. It's all a big blur at this point.

That's the one.

The hilarious thing is that, in hindsight, it's really tame in comparison to the kind of shit we see these days. Great game, though.

I loved the arcade version of the game.

I'm surprised I'd never heard of this game before, I played all of the superhero Capcom/Konami beat 'em ups back in the day. I would venture to guess it had to be a later release so it never got the same popularity as X-Men or Simpsons.

I just played through it though and it really is a VERY good beat 'em up. The graphics are outstanding and the shooting mechanic is really fun.

My guess since it's on Genesis and I've also never heard of it that version is probably way inferior. The arcade game is great though!

Sorry for the random bump, but it's not way inferior. There's minor censorship of blood/blowing a guys head off/smoking, the graphics are a bit more dull, and the environments are less destructible. It's still one of the best beat-em-ups on the Genesis. Man, it makes me wish Capcom ported Alien vs. Predator to the 32x like they announced they would. Also just more beat-em-ups to the Genesis in general.