Follow TV Tropes

Following

Video Game / Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/71wzryamsfl_sl1000.jpg
Infinity Gems. There are six different Infinity Gems. Each Gem controls one of the forces of either Time, Space, Power, Reality, Mind, or Soul. It is said that the being who obtains all of the Gems will become omnipotent — ruler of the universe. "Someone has started to gather these six Gems. If they can gather all of the Gems, the universe will suffer a new age of evil. You must help!" Adam Warlock asked Earth's mightiest heroes.
Knowing that the fate of the entire universe is at stake, Earth's mightiest heroes assemble to assist Adam Warlock in preventing the Infinity Gems from falling into the wrong hands!

Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems is a Beat 'em Up / Platform Game developed and published in 1996 for the SNES by Capcom, based on a mix between The Infinity Gauntlet and The Infinity War Story Arcs: The six eponymous Infinity Gems have fallen to Earth and Adam Warlock has recruited Earth's Mightiest Heroes to assist him to find the Gems before they fall into the wrong hands.

Gameplay is similar to X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse, also by Capcom. You can choose among Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine (Returning from X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse), Iron Man, or Hulk, each with their own set of moves. As you find the Gems, you can choose to take one to the battle, each one with their unique properties. Each character has also a Special Gem Attack which allow the player to clear the screen of enemies, or deal tons of damage to the stronger baddies.

Not to confuse with Marvel Super Heroes, a Fighting Game also by Capcom, and also based on the Infinity Gauntlet story arc.


STAGE START:

  • Abandoned Mine: Adam Warlock describes Arizona Mining Complex as this.
  • Adaptational Villainy: While Nebula is typically a villain (or Anti-Villain anyway), she spent most of The Infinity Gauntlet as a victim being tormented by Thanos, and actually played a key role in defeating him in the end (albeit due to her own vengeful nature). In War of the Gems, Nebula instead acts as Thanos' enforcer, and is actually the last villain the heroes have to defeat before the final battle with Thanos himself.
  • Affectionate Nickname: According to the profile of each character:
    • Captain America is Cap. Wing-Headed.
    • Spider-Man is Spidey, the Web-Slinger.
    • Wolverine is Wolvie.
    • Iron Man is Shellhead, the Golden Avenger.
    • Hulk is Brucie.
  • Airborne Mooks: The Evil Vision mooks are found in some stages, plus a miniboss at Boston Aquarium.
  • Amplifier Artifact: The Infinity Gems enhance the capabilites of your characters. See Color-Coded for Your Convenience for more details.
  • Annoying Arrows: The Evil Hawkeye mooks; just like the original, they shoot fast and hard-to-dodge arrows at you. This is specially bad when facing three Evil Hawkeye minibosses at Amazon Jungle stage.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Iron Man's Smart Bomb deals a lot of damage, being even able to kill some regular mooks in a single hit, but he's wide open for a split second, and it doesn't come out as fast as one would want.
  • Background Boss: the giant machine miniboss at The Magus's Spaceship.
  • Bald of Evil:
    • Evil Hulk who, unlike his good counterpart, is completely bald.
    • Nebula is a rare female example.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: The heroes have no problem surviving when invading the Magus's Spaceship, and when navigating the Asteroid Belt.
  • Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Evil Sasquatch, the boss of Alaska stage.
  • Big Good: Captain America. According to his profile (And his victory quote below), he will willingly lay down his life for freedom and liberty.
    Freedom! Liberty! Equality! I'll stop anyone who tries to crush those beliefs.
  • Blood Knight: According to his profile, Wolverine is "A hot-blooded warrior who is always looking for a good battle".
    Rookie. What'd I tell ya bub? I'm the best there is at what I do!
  • Boring, but Practical: Wolverine's Drill Claw is not as flashy as his Tornado Claw, but it's easier to perform, and deals almost the same amount of damage if aimed correctly
  • Boss-Only Level:
    • The last two levels consist on the final battle against Nebula and Thanos.
    • The training stage is this, where you fight a holographic copy of one of the bosses of the regular stages.
  • Build Like an Egyptian: The second part of Egypt stage takes place inside an Egyptian temple, and the stage boss comes from inside a sarcophagus.
  • Bullfight Boss: Evil Thing (At Mount Vesuvius) and Evil Hulk (At Egypt stage) charge at you.
  • The Cameo: Doctor Strange makes a brief appearance in Mount Vesuvius stage, to provide you with a magic platform where you can step on, and cross through the sea of lava.
  • The Capital of Brazil Is Buenos Aires: The game shows some Mayan temples in the background of the Amazon Jungle stage, located in Brazil.
    • Seems that they played with the conspiracy of the hidden pyramids of the Amazon.
  • Character Portrait:
    • There's a small one of your character near your lifebar.
    • Averted with the bosses; it appears near their lifebar an italic, capital E (For Evil).
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The color of the Gems is a small indicative of the aspect of the universe they rule over.
  • Combos: All characters have a standard autocombo, performed by rapidly pressing the Y button.
  • Comes Great Responsibility: According to his profile, Spider-Man fights for the responsibility of man, and for the love of his wife, Mary Jane.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Thanos is sometimes able to block your attacks and counter at once, making the final battle a real pain in the rear.
  • Contractual Boss Immunity: Spidey's web has the useful effect of paralyzing enemies in comes in contact with. Naturally, this doesn't work on bosses.
  • Cyborg: With a robotic eye and arm, Nebula certainly qualifies.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Try replaying the game after finishing it for the first time. It's easy to forget that you can't perform Special Gem Attacks without finding at least the first Gem.
  • Dark Action Girl: Nebula, also the Evil She-Hulk mooks.
  • Deadly Gas: Present in the lowest room of Arizona Mining Complex, as a green haze.
  • Death by Adaptation: Thanos seemingly dies at the end of the game, despite retiring peacefully at the end of The Infinity Gauntlet.
  • Death from Above:
    • Evil Sasquatch, the boss of Alaska stage, drops icicles on your character's head.
    • Spidey and Wolvie have diving attacks that cause a lot of damage to their opponents.
  • Death Trap: There's one at Egypt stage: the instant you enter the Egyptian temple, walls collapse behind, and in front of you, and a spiked celiling starts to slowly descend; you have to quickly make your escape, because this trap is One-Hit Kill!
  • Degraded Boss:
    • The first time you fight Doctor Doom, he escapes. You find him again in Asteroid Belt as a miniboss. This time, you have to finish him for good.
    • Inverted with Evil Hulk: you first find him as a miniboss in The Magus's Spaceship; later when you find again as the boss of Egypt stage, it's time to finish him for good.
  • Derelict Graveyard: Adam Warlock describes the Asteroid Belt stage as "A space graveyard where silence rules".
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: If you're able to defeat Thanos.
  • Difficult, but Awesome:
    • Cap can throw his shield in front of him, or also diagonal up or diagonal down, it's hard sometimes to hit a target, but with enough practice, this becomes an almost impregnable defense system.
    • Hulk's Launch-and-Smash attack can also be this, due to the risk of getting too close to the enemy, but it's certainly the most powerful attack of the main characters (Excluding the Special Gem Attacks, obviously).
  • Disc-One Final Boss: At first, The Magus seemed to be the Final Boss, until the game tells you that he only has one of the Gems, and by the time you defeat him, you only have three of the Gems, and there are still three more to find. It is at this point of the game when Thanos enters the storyline.
  • Disc-One Final Dungeon: The Magus's Spaceship, given that The Magus is a Disc-One Final Boss.
  • Diving Kick: One of Dr. Doom's main attacks.
  • Double Jump: Iron Man can jump, and then jump again in the air.
  • Down the Drain: The Boston Aquarium stage, where you have to navigate a flooded building.
  • The Dragon: Nebula is this to Thanos.
  • Dual Boss: Two Evil Iron Men at the end of Boston Aquarium stage.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: The Arizona Mining Complex takes place in a mine several stories below.
  • Eldritch Abomination:
    • Blackheart (In Asteroid Belt) is the most disturbing enemy of the game.
    • Evil Sasquatch, the boss of Alaska stage, isn't too far behind.
  • The End... Or Is It?: Upon the defeat of Thanos, the Heroes deliver the Gems to Adam Warlock, who promises to use the Gems for the benefit of everyone; he then thanks the heroes and sends them back to Earth. The last line reads "will the world ever truly be safe?" END.
  • Energy Weapon: Some stages are full of these.
  • Evil Knockoff: Mooks are basically evil dopplegangers Of the main heroes except Cap and Spidey. There are also evil clones of other heroes like Silver Surfer, The Thing, Daredevil, She-Hulk, etc.
  • Expy: Evil Daredevil resembles a certain pink childlike demon named Majin Buu.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: One of Thanos's attacks consists on summoning two metal plates around you, and viciously close them on you
  • Five-Man Band: Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Hulk are recruited by Adam Warlock to assist them to find the Infinity Gems before the bad guys get their hands on them.
  • Flight: Iron Man can boost horizontally when in the air. Also useful to strike down airborne baddies, such as the Evil Vision mooks.
  • Fragile Speedster: Spider-Man and Wolverine; although not as strong, they're capable of compensating with speed and good combos.
  • Genius Bruiser: Hulk; according to his profile (and victory quote below), he has the brains of a super genius and the brawn of a Titan.
    Did you truly believe you could beat me with muscle? We could have talked. Use your brain!
  • Glass Cannon: Your character becomes this if you equip the Power Gem. If you equip the Soul Gem instead, your character becomes a Stone Wall.
  • Godhood Seeker: Thanos's ultimate goal if he obtains all of the Gems.
    "I will destroy you, and obtain the Gems, and become omnipotent."
  • Gotta Catch Them All: The main premise of the game: Six artifacts of power named "Infinity Gems" have fallen to earth, and Earth's Mightiest Heroes are recruited to find them; however, the bad guys are also after them.
  • Ground Punch: Hulk's Special Gem Attack. He creates a shockwave that is able to knock down even airborne baddies.
  • Guide Dang It!: The player is on his/her own to figure out how to perform Special Gem Attacks.
  • Having a Blast: Cap's Special Gem Attack; he makes a huge explosion that covers the entire screen, damaging all the nearby baddies.
  • Jack of All Stats: In regards of strength, defense and speed, Captain America is the best balanced of the playable characters.
  • King Mook: There is a stronger boss version for some of the regular mooks, such as Evil Wolverine, Evil Iron Man, Evil Daredevil, etc.
  • The Leader: Captain America is the leader of the Avengers.
  • Lethal Lava Land: Mt. Vesuvius. The first part involves crossing a sea of lava riding a rainbow-colored platform, while the second part takes place inside the volcano.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Iron Man hits very hard, and his flight special gives him a good boost, and allows him to take down some baddies in a matter of seconds.
  • Luck-Based Mission: Four of the six Gems are located at random stages every time, so you may or may not find them at the first attempt.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Subverted with Captain America. He can "Shield Slash" any opponent from a distance, or charge at them before they attack, but in general, he can only use his shield to attack, not to block, or guard.
  • MacGuffin: The six Infinity Gems are the main elements of the plot.
  • Mecha-Mooks: The Doombot mooks, present to guard Dr. Doom's castle.
  • Metronomic Man Mashing: Spidey's Special Gem Attack: he catches a baddie with his web, then slams him hard into the ground twice.
  • Mighty Glacier: Hulk: slow but powerful, he has some normals with good range.
  • Mission Control: Adam Warlock; he gives a brief summary of what waits for you at each stage, also warns you about the explosives placed at Boston Aquarium, and the Poison Gas in Arizona Mining Complex.
  • Never Say "Die":
    • When Adam Warlock advises you about the explosives in Boston Aquarium.
    You have to find the Gem and escape immediately. If you don't, you'll perish!
    • Averted when Thanos makes his first appearance.
    "Give me the Gems or you shall die!"
    • Later when you're about to confront him:
    "Prepare to meet your death!"
    • Also averted with Dr. Doom when you find him in the Asteroid Belt miniboss battle:
    "I have been waiting for you. Those magnificent Gems do not become you. Only I am worthy of their power. In exchange of them, I shall give you [a] beautiful death!
  • Oh, Crap!: Thanos's reaction after his defeat.
  • One-Hit-Point Wonder: The weaker versions of the Evil Puck, Evil Hawkeye and Evil Vision mooks are this.
  • Oxygen Meter: You are given one in the flooded rooms in Boston Aquarium and Dr. Doom's Castle, also in the poison gas room in Arizona Mining Complex. If you run out of air, you don't drown instantly, instead, your lifebar starts depleting.
  • Palette Swap: Some enemies come in three different colors, as an indicative of their range (Mooks or boss).
  • The Paralyzer:
    • Spidey's Web Ball paralyzes mooks, leaving them wide open for a combo. It doesn't work in bosses, though.
    • His Special Gem Attack may also count as this, Spidey paralyzes the baddie with his Web, and slams him hard into the ground.
  • Password Save: Of the "Game State" kind. You can retrieve your current password entering the Avenger's Base stage. It saves not only the stages that have been already cleared, but the items stored in your stock, and the characters still alive as well. Passwords are written inputting letters from B to Z (Minus the vowels), numbers from 0 to 9, and a few Greek symbols, such as Alpha, Gamma, and a Greek capital Epsilon.
  • Plasma Cannon: One of the first obstacles in The Magus's Spaceship.
  • Player Headquarters: The game includes the Avenger's Base, a training stage, where you can fight any of the (randomly chosen) bosses of the regular stages. Depending on your performance, the game rewards you with items for your stock.
  • Playing with Fire: Evil Thing (The boss of Mount Vesuvius) attacks you with fireballs. The Final Boss Thanos can also create a fire pillar beneath your character's feet.
  • Power Up Full Color Change: Wolverine's Special Gem Attack turns him golden, and allows him to shoot energy waves from his claws.
  • Powered Armor: Iron Man who, according to his profile, fights evil wih his self-made armor.
    Thanks Goodness! There is almost no damage to my running systems. Now let's move...
  • Quest Giver: Adam Warlock, who charges the Avengers with finding the Infinity Gems to prevent Thanos from gathering them all and become omnipotent.
  • Reformulated Game: Subverted. This game came out almost one year after Marvel Super Heroes for the arcades.
  • Regenerating Health: One of The Magus's main abilities.
  • Rolling Attack: The main attack of Evil Puck mooks.
  • Sequence Breaking: If you're playing Dr. Doom's Castle with Iron Man, you can choose between going through the upper path, or lower path. The upper path was supposed to be only for Spidey and Wolvie, given how they can't break the wall to the lower path, so that would mean the lower path is only for the other three heroes. Iron Man's Double Jump proves to be very useful here.
  • Shared Life-Meter:
    • When you face two Evil Iron Men at the end of Boston Aquarium stage, there is just one life bar for both bosses.
    • Same happens with the trio of Evil Puck minibosses at Alaska stage.
  • Shock and Awe:
    • The Magus can fire a lightning bolt at you.
    • The statue miniboss at Egypt stage also tries to zap you with electricity.
  • Shockwave Stomp: one of Evil Sasquatch's favorite attacks. The stomp per se doesn't hurt or immobilize you, but he can drop icicles on your character's head.
  • Shoryuken:
  • Shout-Out:
    • The Magus's teleport is similar to Akuma's Ashura Senkuu.
    • And, speaking of Street Fighter, Evil Puck's Rolling Attack is similar to that of Blanka, at least, the up diagonal variant.
    • Spider-Man's Special Gem Attack, a Web Throw variant, is similar to Birdie's Choke Chain move.
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Alaska stage. The ground is frozen, so the friction is pretty much non-existent.
  • Smart Bomb: Some Special Gem Attacks can wipe out all enemies on-screen, nanely Captain America's, Iron Man's and Hulk's.
  • Space Base: The Magus's spaceship.
  • Space Zone: The Asteroid Belt stage takes place in outer space, you have to jump from platform to platform till you reach the fortrees where Blackheat is hiding.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": The Magus. Oddly enough, he appears as The Magus only in cutscenes. In-game the name under his Life Meter reads just "Magus".
  • Spikes of Villainy: The armors of Evil Iron Man mooks are covered with these.
  • Spiritual Successor: The game is this to X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse; both games are Beat 'em Up with Platform Game elements, developed by Capcom, both games has the same mechanics and graphic style, even Wolverine's sprites are reused.
  • Standard RPG Items: There is one of these called the "Revive" item, located in hard-to-reach places in stages. If collected, it can resurrect a fallen hero; can only be used in the Character Select screen.
  • Super-Strength: Hulk of all people. According to his profile, he can throw a tank as easily as a normal human throws a baseball. Exaggerated if you equip the Power Gem with him.
  • Teleport Spam: Blackheart, the boss of Asteroid Belt, likes to teleport a lot.
  • Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Captain America's main method of attacking is to throw his shield at the baddies.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: The Asteroid Belt stage is the most platform-like of all. After being beating up a hundred enemies throughout the game, you find yourself jumping from platform to platform and avoiding floating debris. Except for a few Evil Vision mooks, and the battles with Dr. Doom and Blackheart, there are almost no enemies to beat up.
  • Unique Enemy:
    • Evil Silver Surfer mooks only appear in the first part of Mount Vesuvius.
    • And there are also the Doombot mooks appearing only in Dr. Doom's castle.
  • Walk, Don't Swim: This is how the heroes navigate the flooded rooms.
  • Wall Crawl: Spidey and Wolvie have this in their arsenal.
  • The Walls Are Closing In: One of Thanos's main attacks insist on summoning two metal plates around you, and viciously closing them on you.
  • Weakened by the Light: Iron Man's Special Gem Attack: He creates a pillar of light that damages everything on screen.
  • Wolverine Claws: Obviously, given that Wolverine himself is a playable character.

YOU GOT THE GEM! STAGE CLEAR

Top