The Punisher [Arcade]

Who doesn’t enjoy a good Beat-em-Up? This title was on my radar for quite a while, I actually started playing it on the Sega Genesis a few months ago. Although, I was not able to beat it.

The Arcade version is very colorful and does differ from the home console version.

This is extremely fun with 2 players. Player 1 is the Punisher, Player 2 is Nick Fury.

The level of violence is actually surprising, I’m surprised at how Marvel let this one slip through the cracks. Especially compared to how family friendly the X-Men & Avengers Arcade games were. In those games the enemies were robots and exploded when defeated, just like the enemies in TMNT. Justifying their beat down.

In this game you beat down every low life you can find on the street, not to mention T-800s that actually have a human head [and a Mullet].

When you pick up a knife you combo an enemy in the chest and end the attack by stabbing them in the forehead [I’m assuming no one could survive that]. There are also sections which turn into a street shootout, which are pretty fun.

[Now that I remember both characters handle their handguns very well, two handed. But they shoot one-handed-from-the-hip, Arnold-Style when they pick up an automatic weapon]

Why does the bus driver look like he was touched inappropriately?

The 2 parts that really stood out were:

When you defeat the first Boss [whom you actually fight on a school bus], the Punisher questions him Batman style [picking him up by his throat until he spills all the info]. Once the Punisher has all the information he needs he shoots him in the face and level 2 starts.

The other was at the end, when you defeat the final boss. After the Punisher delivers his final monologue he drops the mic [I mean the grenade][yes, an actual live grenade] and walks away.